W.Minh Tuan

Recently, reading the domestic press, I saw many opinions in interviews with the press, the respondents said “There’s still the party, there’s still me“, to refer to the interviewee’s absolute loyalty to the party.

Surely knowledgeable and educated leaders of the Party and State will not welcome this “stupid loyalty” statement. Don’t think it’s a good thing to say.

Because it was General Secretary Do Muoi who once boldly said “Put aside the past, look to the future”, to proactively invite General Nguyen Cao Ky of the former Saigon Government to return to Vietnam for an intimate meeting with most leaders of the Vietnamese Party and State, to show that “the Vietnamese people are one, and are eternal”, more than one polity, more than one party.

Comrade State President Nguyen Minh Triet also once told overseas Vietnamese people: “You may not like communism, but you must be a patriot.”

President Nguyen Minh Triet understood that the Vietnamese nation is eternal, while doctrines and political institutions are only temporary and historical.

It is true that the Party is great, because the party has led our Vietnamese people from one victory to another, and is now successfully leading the Doi Moi cause, and the “zero-border, zero-prohibited- zone” anti-corruption work.

However, the party is only recent, only established on February 3, 1930, and our Vietnamese people, our country, have been established and existed for over 4,000 years.

The 18 Hung Vuong Kings did not have a party, but why were the 18 Hung Vuong Kings as great as the party today, if not greater than the party, and all 18 Hung Vuong Kings stood firm in our Vietnamese hearts and in our Vietnam long history?

Hai Ba Trung, Ba Trieu, Ly Nam De, Trieu Viet Vuong do not have a party, but they are extremely great, just as worthy as the party, or even better than the party, and are all worshiped and remembered by our Vietnamese people, gratitude forever?

Phung Hung, Ngo Quyen, Ly Cong Uan, Ly Thuong Kiet, Tran Hung Dao, Le Loi, Quang Trung, Nguyen Trai did not have a party, but why did they have glorious victories, defeating all invaders and regaining the independent of mountains and rivers of Vietnam, worthy of being worshiped and praised for their merits by the Vietnamese people forever for thousands, millions of years?

So why today we only say “There’s still the party, there’s still us“, but why not say “There’s still the country, there’s still us”?

President Ho Chi Minh once said at the 1946 National Assembly session, that “I only have one party, the Vietnam Party”.

That’s right, the Vietnamese Party, the Vietnamese people, the country of Vietnam, has existed for more than 4,000 years, and will exist forever in world history. Otherwise, the party was only recently established, only a few decades ago, and the party is only historical.

One day there may no longer be a party, but Vietnam nation and Vietnam country will remain forever.

In Japan, before saying something on forums, answering questions to the press, or answering questions at the National Assembly, all Japanese Government officials bow their heads and salute the Japanese national flag first-a red sun on white background-before expressing opinion. Although most Japanese officials are members of the LDP, the longest-serving ruling party in Japan, and the LDP has its own party flag, shaped like a 14-petal chrysanthemum. But they not salute party flag, instead, salute Japan Nation Flag.

That means the ruling LDP puts the interests of the nation and Japan country above the interests of the party.

Just like President Ho Chi Minh, in 1945 he dissolved the Vietnamese Communist Party and withdrew into secret activities, because President Ho Chi Minh also put the interests of the Vietnam country and the nation above the interests of the party.

Or in the Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, President Ho Chi Minh never mentioned a single word about the communist party, but only said “Vietnam has the right to enjoy freedom and independence, and in fact, it has become a free and independent country. The entire Vietnamese people are determined to use all their spirit and strength, their lives and property, to maintain that right to freedom and independence.”

We all know the word “stupid loyalty“, which means loyalty to the King and the country, but being stupid, so it actually harms the King and the country.

This, the two words “stupid loyalty”, Mr. Lenin in the great Soviet Union already knew, right from 1917, right when the Bolshevik Soviet government was first established, there were many childish and stupid and hazardous actions were happened, because the uneducated Russian proletariat suddenly became leaders, so the simple, kind, but uneducated proletarians did not understand how to manage the country, so they only knew how to manage the country in a “stupid loyalty” way, and the result is more destruction than construction.

At that time, Lenin had to lament that “Revolutionary enthusiasm combined with communist ignorance creates the most terrible destruction”.

Therefore, in today’s Vietnam, those who keep opening their mouths and saying like a parrot “the party is exists, me still exist“, should look at themselves and see if they are a “stupid loyalist”?

Does revolution combined with ignorance create the most terrible destruction?

Just like the North-South high-speed railway project in 2008-2009, the Japanese Government has agreed to help Vietnam build a high-speed railway, a project with tremendous benefits for the whole country of Vietnam, long-term benefits lasting many hundreds of years, or even thousands of years.

Comrade Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung at that time, on behalf of the Government, explained to the National Assembly about the North-South high-speed railway project, clearly saying that the North-South high-speed railway project we “cannot help but do, impossible not do”, that the debt repayment plan more than 25 years after starting to repay the debt, the Government had carefully calculated, each year paying about 3 billion USD in debt was completely within the budget capacity of our Vietnam country at the time of paying off debts.

The Politburo of party, and the Government of Vietnam have agreed and given the green light to proceed.

However, “stupid” journalists and some “stupid” National Assembly delegates at that time tried their best to criticize and destroy the national-benefit project, with the reason that ‘The brewery can only recover its capital in 5 years, while the high-speed rail project will take decades or hundreds of years to recover its capital’!!!.

Those stupid people compared the brewery business to the North-South high-speed railway project.

And now, in 2024, the Vietnamese Government is “restarting the North-South high-speed railway project“, but the good times in Japan have passed, the Japanese Government is no longer enthusiastic enough, as well as not having enough resources to help Vietnam do this railway project anymore, it is unknown when Vietnam will be able to build the entire a like Shinkansen high-speed railway system according to modern technology standards of Japan?

Have those “stupid” journalists and those “stupid” National Assembly delegates absorbed their destructive ignorance?

Therefore, with today’s saying “As long as there is a party, there is still myself”, perhaps we should boldly add the words “As long as there is still a country, there is still myself” next to this word, to show that the situation of “stupid loyalty” has gradually decreased in the party, in the country, in the Vietnamese people, so that our country can develop quickly and firmly, with intelligence, creativity, with a high level of education and understanding, and with “take the lead by going a short cut, get a newest knowledge”, so that our country “can stand shoulder to shoulder with the powers of the five continents“, as President Ho Chi Minh wished.///