Request to Remove Ho Chi Minh’s Statue at the Museum of Mimasaka City

The Vietnamese American Community of the USA

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December 1^st, 2017

To: The City of Mimasaka, Japan

Subject: Request to Remove Ho Chi Minh’s Statue at the Museum of Mimasaka City

 

Dear Mr. Hagiwara Seiji – Mayor of Mimasaka City

Ms. Suzuki Etsuko – Chairwoman of the City Council

All Members of the City Council of Mimasaka,

We learnt that a statue of Ho Chi Minh – former leader of Communist Vietnam – has been displayed at the museum of Mimasaka City. At the ceremony that marked the 45th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations with Vietnam, your city officials pronounced the statue a symbol of friendship between the two peoples and the deep strategic partnership for peace and prosperity between the two countries. We respectfully argue that Ho Chi Minh statue is not a symbolic icon that represents the values your country is embracing.  Here are a few facts about Ho Chi Minh and his atrocious crimes, we – the Vietnamese American people – earnestly ask for your consideration:

• Ho Chi Minh was a loyal communist agent, the founder of Indochinese Communist Party. The name ”Ho Chi Minh” and dozen other names are aliases that he fabricated to hide his real identity from the international communities.
• After ascending to power on Sep 2, 1945, in North Vietnam Ho Chi Minh ordered the arrest, imprisonment, and killing of thousands of non-Communist nationalists and allies who had fought alongside the Communists against the French, to monopolize his Communist Party’s power in his China backed government.
• By Ho’s order, the Land Reform Campaign (1953-1956) killed an estimated 80,000 North Vietnamese peasants who were labeled as ”landlords’ many of whom, in reality, were either his political opponents or dissidents wrongfully branded as “class enemies”.
• Ho, along with other warmongering Communist party members, started the war against South Vietnam, a free nation recognized by eighty-eight countries. The unjust war led to the death of 4 million Vietnamese. It destroyed the country and culminated in Communist rule over the whole country since 1975. After the fall of South Vietnam in 1975, two million people have fled the country of whom almost 50% perished on the high sea or in deep jungles.
• Ho was the one who brought upon our people the miseries they have been enduring for the last 80 years. He is a hero only to the Communists who hold power and enjoy high privileges, not to all the Vietnamese People. Under the Communist rule, human rights are seriously violated; there is no freedom of speech, press, religion or anything else.

Since Japan is the country we respect most in Asia as the symbol of progress, humanity, and democracy, we are surprised a personality like Ho Chi Minh or even his statue is welcome at the heart of your great City. Ho Chi Minh does not represent the true quality, leadership, and culture of Vietnam; he is far from embracing the values that are revered in Japan and in the City of Mimasaka.

We would like you to take into consideration how hurtful the display of Ho’s statue is to millions of Vietnamese refugees abroad, many of whom are now the citizens of Japan. It also hurts the feeling of tens of millions people in Vietnam who have been suffering from the Communist brutal rule. Many Vietnamese are still trying to flee the country to escape the merciless policies and oppression of the Communist regime. In our humble opinion, the display of Ho’s statue might even embarrass the Japanese citizens who embrace the values of democracy and freedom.

We hereby sincerely ask your council to thoroughly research the history of Vietnam for the true identity of Ho Chi Minh.  Your consideration to remove Ho Chi Minh’s statue from your City Museum is not just for our humble request, but also for your children who would later question the validity of your decision today. No good society or community would display a symbol of death, destruction, and deceit in its museum!

Kind regards,

TraMy Nguyen

CEO President of the Vietnamese American Community of the USA