Strained welcome for returnees in Vietnam HO CHI MINH CITY - Long-time foreign residents in Vietnam know to avoid the international airport in the former Saigon just before the Lunar New Year holiday. Bedlam reigns as thousands of Vietnamese immigrants stream back to their country of birth to mark the event, known locally as Tet, dripping with jewellery and presents for excited relatives jammed 10 deep at the arrivals gate. The overseas Vietnamese community, which numbers 2.7 million, also remits around $1 billion to families across Vietnam each year, a figure equivalent to 10 percent of the nation's export earnings. But this image of generosity fails to mask lingering unease between communist authorities and people whose links with the U.S.-backed Saigon regime prompted them to flee before the Vietnam War ended in 1975 or economic hardship in later years. Hanoi regularly exhorts the overseas Vietnamese to express goodwill to their country of birth and return with capital and brainpower to develop one of the world's poorest nations. That plea has largely fallen on deaf ears. SUSPICION DOGS RETURNEES Investment is negligible and a mere 500 overseas Vietnamese professionals work in the country's business hub Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, according to official figures. Indeed the overseas Vietnamese, referred to as Viet Kieu in Vietnam, are still ridiculed in newspaper cartoons for their flashy clothes and reputation for shady business deals. Robert Templer, author of ``Shadows and Wind,'' a book on contemporary Vietnam, says suspicion of the Viet Kieu goes back to the Vietnam War and policies against the losers. Despite public posturing to the contrary from the Communist Party, little has been done to diminish anxieties that remain nearly 25 years after the conflict, he said. ``The party seems unable to trust overseas Vietnamese so they send out mixed messages -- on the one hand they welcome back those who bring money with them but they constantly make blanket accusations against the Viet Kieu,'' he told Reuters. Not so says Nguyen Ngoc Ha, former head of the state-run Ho Chi Minh City Overseas Vietnamese Committee. Ha, who held the post for 18 years before recently retiring, insisted there was no discrimination towards the Viet Kieu although a small minority were engaged in unspecified ``negative activities'' and held a hostile attitude to Hanoi. Overseas Vietnamese groups abroad draw attention to Vietnam's poor human rights record on Internet websites and call for Western-style democracy, something that annoys Hanoi. The feeling among overseas Vietnamese about discrimination in Vietnam is mixed. Some complain about the obstacles to doing business because they are Viet Kieu while others say official attitudes have relaxed in recent years. ``Usually we are treated worse than other foreigners because of the suspicions,'' said one Viet Kieu businessman who declined to be identified. ``We are treated like this because of isolated cases or because of incidents where local Vietnamese were ripped off. Also we are still regarded by some as traitors,'' he added. TOUGH BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT IS DISINCENTIVE Ha said Hanoi appreciated the contribution made by Viet Kieu, adding officials wanted to halt the drawing of cartoons, comics and artwork that depicted them as unsavoury. He rattled off impressive figures -- combined Viet Kieu incomes worldwide of $30-40 billion and 500,000 professionals holding university degrees. ``We need to mobilise their capital and skills,'' he said. David Thai, an American-Vietnamese businessman with interests in coffee, said that apart from the problem of trust between Viet Kieu and the authorities, many of his compatriots felt it was too difficult to make money in Vietnam. ``Unfortunately many talented Viet Kieu know how tough it is in Vietnam and do not want to waste their time,'' he said. The legal process for investment was still complicated, not just for Viet Kieu but all investors, he added. Ha, the former official, agreed that some Viet Kieu investment went through families living in Vietnam because of the administrative difficulties. But Thai, whose family left Vietnam in 1974, said he believed Viet Kieu could play a greater role in the country, especially offspring of the generation who left because they carried less baggage associated with the fall of Saigon. Those that have invested in Vietnam have put funds into the import/export trade, consumer goods and restaurant business. One Viet Kieu restaurateur said that while economic reforms adopted a decade ago had prompted him to return, the business was still in the name of his wife, a local Vietnamese. Templer said the ultimate impact of the Viet Kieu on Vietnam's development would be limited. ``The Viet Kieu will never be like the overseas Chinese -- they simply do not have the level of capital to invest in Vietnam. Most have only been overseas for a generation and unlike the Chinese are focused more on professions,'' he said. ``Hanoi likes to talk about Viet Kieu with high-level educations in the U.S. and how they could help Vietnam but why would these people leave good jobs and settled lives to be treated with suspicion and contempt?'' Reuters - May 17, 1999.