W.Minh Tuan

In general, our Vietnamese people are a humane people, even though sometimes inhumane things happen, because no people in the world are 100% perfect and good.

Vietnamese people have a saying: “Hit those who run away, not those who run back”, or “Love others as if you loved yourself”.

-In 1044, Vietnam had a war with the Champa people (now Binh Dinh and Nha Trang area), King Ly Thai Tong ordered: “Whoever kills the Champa people will be killed without mercy.”

-That same year, King Ly Thai Tong issued an order “Forbidden prison officials to order prisoners to do personal things”.

-In 1052, King Ly Thai Tong had the Bell of Injustice made and placed in Long Tri Palace, so that anyone who had an injustice could ring the bell to report to the king.

-In 1056, King Ly Thanh Tong, (son of King Ly Thai Tong), said to left staffs and right staffs: “It is winter now, I am in the palace, warmed up, but still cold. So how is the prisoner in prison?” Then the king ordered warm blankets and delicious meals to be distributed to the prisoners.

-In 1064, King Ly Thanh Tong said: “We need to love the people like we love our children.” From then on, the king ordered that all criminals be reduced punishments.

-In 1257, 1283, 1287, the Yuan-Mongolian army invaded Vietnam. All three times they lost the wars. All Nguyen prisoners of war were released, except for General O Ma Nhi, who, because he was too cruel, had his boat sunk and drowned.

-In 1289, when the war with the Yuan army ended, there were many reports that some Vietnamese people surrendered to the Yuan army, when the Yuan army was strong, now the war ended, these people needed to be punished. But emperor Tran Thanh Tong, father of King Tran Nhan Tong, ordered all report documents to be burned, not punishing those who surrendered to the enemy. Venerable Tran Thanh Tong spoke to left staffs and right staffs, with the general idea that the country had enjoyed peace, let the people’s hearts be at ease, and should not dredge up old stories.

-In 1407-1427, Vietnam was invaded by the Ming Dynasty of China. In 1427, the Ming army lost, more than 50,000 Ming soldiers were taken prisoner. Many people petitioned to punish the prisoners to avenge the crimes the Ming army committed against our people Vietnam during 20 years of war.

But King Le Loi said roughly:

“Revenge is a natural thing for common people. But if you do the humane thing, treat the prisoners kindly, so that the hatred between the two nations can be eliminated, then that humane deed will be remembered in history books for thousands of years, and there will no longer be any worries about war after that”.

King Le Loi ordered the release of all Ming Dynasty prisoners, more than 50,000 people. King Le Loi also ordered to give Minh prisoners 500 boats and 20,000 horses to return home. General Minh was moved and cried when they returned back to China.

-In 1789, the Qing Dynasty of China invaded Vietnam and lost. King Quang Trung also ordered the release of all prisoners of war.

-In 1954, the French lost to Vietnam at Dien Bien Phu, more than 11,000 French soldiers were taken prisoner. All were treated humanely, and ordered to be released by President Ho Chi Minh. The only French woman prisoner captured was the first to be released two weeks after the war ended.

-During the Vietnam-American War, there were 591 American pilots and soldiers captured as prisoners of war, imprisoned in Hoa Lo-Hiton prison in Hanoi. American pilots were treated humanely, fed well, played sports, and in 1973, after the Paris Agreement, Vietnam returned all American prisoners of war. When returned, all American pilot prisoners of war were healthy.

On April 30, 1975, Americans predicted there would be a “blood bath”, because Americans predicted there would be revenge against those who worked for the US and the former Saigon Government.

But there was no “bloodbath” at all, only education and re-education.

But, to be honest, this learning and re-education is not very good, not in accordance with the humanitarian tradition of “fighting those who run away, not those who run back” of our Vietnamese people.

-Currently, in many prisons and re-education camps in Vietnam, we Vietnam have Happy Rooms, reserved for well-reformed prisoners who can occasionally meet and sleep with their wives or husbands on Saturdays and Sundays.

In the world, few countries have such humane prison regimes.

But profilerism-CVism is not humane. People whose backgrounds do not belong to the correct class may not be able to enter university, may not be able to work in important agencies, may not be able to join the party, may not be promoted or promoted, etc.

That really shouldn’t be.

In the days of our ancestors, anyone could take the exam to become an official, mandarins. If they passed the exam, they would be appointed as an official-mandarins, regardless of whether they were rich or poor, children of mandarins, children of farmers, etc. They can be promoted to the Chief Executive, like the position of Prime Minister or Minister today, province governor,,,.

Today, let us learn from our ancestors in the past about the humanitarian tradition, hit those who run away, not those who run back. Everyone has the opportunity to repent and correct themselves, everyone has opportunity to be promoted to higher ranking. The law should not be too harsh, should not be too meticulous, too small in detail, but should leave ample room for people to voluntarily act according to reason and conscience.

President Ho Chi Minh said:

“Whatever is beneficial to the people, we must do our best.

Whatever is harmful to the people, we must avoid it.”

That is the humanitarian tradition of our Vietnamese people.///