Mass ceremonies held to mark 25th anniversary of war's end in Vietnam
HO CHI MINH CITY - Triumphant but tightly guarded ceremonies were held here Sunday to mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of Saigon and the
unification of Vietnam after decades of war.
The main event -- speeches and mass parade under a blazing sun at the old southern presidential palace, the scene in 1975 of
the American-backed South's surrender -- was for invited guests only.
Anyone else interested, and not many appeared to be, had to make do with watching television.
Before dawn authorities threw a massive security cordon around the barricaded approaches to the venue.
The old white-facaded palace was decked with red party banners and the same tank that smashed through the iron entrance
gate on April 30, 1975 stood in the grounds with a fresh coat of olive-green paint.
General Vo Nguyen Giap, the ageing architect of the successive victories over the French and Americans, headed the lineup of
dignitaries seated under a huge portrait of Ho Chi Minh, but did not speak.
Ho, the country's leading revolutionary, died before the war ended.
Flanking Giap on the podium were Communist Party of Vietnam secretary general Le Kha Phieu, vice president Nguyen Thi
Binh, and prime minister Phan Van Khai.
In the vast double-laned avenue in front of the palace, where mass parades were held to the blare of martial music, popular hits
and revolutionary songs, only invited guests mingled with plainclothes men, waving small red flags.
The ceremony kicked off on schedule at 6.30 a.m. (2330 GMT) with a far-from-triumphant speech read by Vo Viet Thanh,
chairman of the Ho Chi Minh people's Committee, who used the occasion to warn of a crackdown on drugs and crime.
Thanh first paid tribute to the millions who fought and lost their lives in the 30-year struggle for reunification, and said the
corruption and social evils plaguing the city now should make people ashamed.
"Arbitrary and imperious behaviour, wasteful spending, embezzlement, bribery and other social evils such as the increasingly
widespread scourge of drug addiction...
"Those problems make each and every one of us feel restless and guilty at heart for those who laid down their lives," he said,
warning of a "degradation of law enforcement and moral and spiritual values."
Listing the city's achievements since the communist takeover 25 years ago, he warned against complacency and urged
participation in a "party regeneration campaign."
Addressing foreign investors including overseas Vietnamese, some two million of whom fled the country after the fall of Saigon,
Thanh said the city welcomed "with open arms foreign investment, businessmen and multinational corporations."
Hundreds of clusters of multi-colored balloons rose into the air as huge contingents of military, minorities, laborers, social
groups, state companies and veterans succeeded one another in a massive march-past interspersed with crude floats.
Included was one group waving the blue and red flags of the Viet Cong -- the southern guerilla fighters whose role in the
decades-long war is now all but ignored by Hanoi.
Another was made up of some 50 be-medalled and ageing Viet Cong spies, men and women, who had served as infiltrators
into the southern government.
Some carried huge portraits of Ho Chi Minh. A mockup of the famous first tank to enter the palace carried girls waving
bunches of flowers.
A 75-year-old veteran of the liberation of Saigon, Nguyen Van Nhung, who served 35 years in the North's 5th military Corps,
said he thought it was "a good thing" the Viet Cong had been honored in the parade.
"The NLF (National Liberation front) made an enormous contribution," he said, adding that it was the first time he had been
invited to an anniversary.
A huge red Chinese dragon was carried on poles by children of the city's ethnic-Chinese community, and ethnic minority
children tried but failed to release scores of white doves from cages. The doves would not budge from the ground.
The tank was preceded by groups of Buddhists in their yellow robes and Catholic priests and nuns.
A 55-year-old nun said afterwards that each of the six convents in the city had been told to provide five sisters each for the
parade.
"I cried a lot and was very worried on this day 25 years ago," she told an AFP reporter. "But things are getting better now.
Despite Thanh's welcome to foreign companies, not one was represented in the parade.
Outside the cordon, life appeared to be unaffected with coffee shops and breakfast stalls opening on the sidewalks, and few
paying attention to the televised communist party extravaganza seen on some screens in the central market, which was crowded
with holiday shoppers.
"It's another work day for me," said one sidealk vendor.
But later in the day the atmosphere changed.
The avenue in front of the palace filled with thousands of ordinary people who rushed there to see the arrival of 61 of 75
cyclists who started out from Hanoi 19 days ago on a marathon 1,742 kilometers (1,089 mile) reunification race modelled on
the Tour de France.
The boisterous crowd was in sharp contrast to the formal ceremonies of the early morning, as was the state-sponsored
marriage at the foot of a statue of Ho Chi Minh in the city center, of 25 couples born in 1975.
And at nightfall the city center filled with crude lighted floats bumping through the streets to the blare of canned music.
In Thu Duc, some 130 kilometers north of the city, 412 prisoners were among the 12,000 released nationwide in a "liberation
day" amnesty. Officials told AFP that foreign passport holders were among those freed for good behaviour, but could not give
their numbers or further details.
AFP - April 30, 2000
|
|