The Minister poured hot, thick coffee into white porcelain cups.  “Coffee grown here in the highlands has a special fragrant taste and so does the tea,” he said.  “I believe the local coffee can match any of the best varieties found in Latin America.”

He lifted his cup and enjoyed a small sip to prove his point, then turned his attention to me.

Denman expressed himself with broad hearty gestures.  He stated his opinion about the lamentable quality of the Vietnamese press.  Many of his observations would have been sound if placed in the context of the United States, with its elaborate communications infrastructure and liberal democracy.  I, however, was waiting for him to discuss issues in another area.

He proceeded instead by asking me what I thought were the reasons behind the dismal condition of the local press.  I answered half-heartedly, blaming it all on poor means of communication and on strictness of censorship.  He then moved on and discussed the necessity of limiting freedom of the press in countries where communists are present, and supported his argument by mentioning his own experience in several Latin American countries.

As if sensing my impatience, Davis reminded the Minister of the purpose of our visit.  But Denman did not show any sign of haste.  He coolly turned to another subject. “This morning,” he said, “I visited a Rhadé village about eight kilometers from here.  While there, by chance, I witnessed a bargaining session between an American officer and the tribal chief.

King of Fire - Photo by Oscar Salemink (1991)

The Special Forces captain wanted to buy a few elephants to be used in transporting supplies to some newly established camps in the forest.  They kept on haggling over the price for a long while, with no end in sight.  The Captain finally lost his temper and shouted: ‘Why don’t you want to help us wipe out the communists?  After all, they are Vietnamese also, and you want to kill all Vietnamese, don’t you?’  The unexpected result was that the American captain got the number of elephants he needed at a dirt-cheap price.”

Dr. Denman had related the episode without showing his stand regarding it.  At this juncture, he began to elaborate on the heart of the matter.

“In my opinion,” he commenced, “objectively speaking, there has been an age-old antagonism between the people living in the mountains, popularly known as Thuong, and the Vietnamese living on the plain, popularly referred to as Kinh - origins of the antagonism resulting from discrimination and contempt for the Thuong held by the Vietnamese Kinh.  The Kinh-Thuong relationship is very bad due to the deplorable attitude of the Kinh toward tribal minorities, whom they scornfully call Mọi, savages.  In actuality, highly educated Thuong do exist, but are not allowed to participate in the government.

“Highlanders do not enjoy any more rights when they become Vietnamese citizens.  Sometimes, they are even thrown on trucks like animals and brought down to town to welcome VIPs who purportedly came to visit them.  On such occasions, they must sacrifice a buffalo during the oath-taking ritual and engage in a foot-washing ceremony while wearing their bracelets, in order to show their sincerity and fidelity to the guests.  When the show is over, they are herded back into the jungle to continue their life of poverty and hunger.” NEXT

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