Formerly Saigon, the pearl of the Far East, was the most developed city in the region. After this city was renamed Ho Chi Minh City, this is considered the time when this city was persecuted.
Describing the image of the city being renamed, in the music “1954 Father Abandoned Country, 1975 Son Leaving the Country“, musician Pham Duy described as follows: “One day in seventy-five, the son left all of the country. Twenty years of love. Now in our country there is pain instead of joy. Saigon is already dead, must bear the name of a corpse.”
Indeed, after the day it was renamed, Saigon became shriveled and lifeless. And this city sank into poverty, along with all the Vietnamese people after 1975. Saigon was impoverished when it was named Ho Chi Minh City.
After 1986, the Communist Party of Vietnam renewed (actually correcting mistakes), then HCM City has just prospered again, but it is too late. Compared to Bangkok of Thailand, Jakarta of Indonesia, Kuala Lumpur of Malaysia, or Singapore, the Vietnamese city is far behind.
But despite being far behind cities in the region, HCM City is still the big economic locomotive of the country.
After HCM City prospered, it was burdened with another life of insanity, which is the exploitation of the Communist Party. As much as 82% of the tax contributed by the people in HCM City goes to the central government, to feed the cumbersome apparatus outside Hanoi and feed the poor provinces that specialize in building monuments to let the people starve. For many years, Saigon’s resources have been extracted and wasted by the Central Government.
Although contributing the most budget to the Central Government, senior officials of this city have come from other localities. The two most important positions in the city government apparatus, the Secretary of the City Party Committee and the Chairman of the City People’s Committee, were assigned to people from other localities but not to the people of this city. In general, even though they are Communists, the Saigon-born Communists are only second-class officials.
Currently, HCM City is on the verge of losing its leading position. The cause is clear, the city is being extracted, the city people are prevented from being the city leader. People from outside the province come, they don’t work well with the apparatus, which is mostly from the city, so how can they lead well? The central government should allow the city to self-govern and develop on its own, in order to pull the Vietnamese economic train forward. In contrast, the Communist Party only considers the city a place for individuals to choose the structure of the Central Government, used as a springboard for their political career.
Currently, Secretary of the City Party Committee is Mr. Nguyen Van Nen, a native of Tay Ninh while the current Chairman of the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City is Mr. Phan Van Mai, a native of Ben Tre. These two men are interested in new positions in the central government, rather than wholeheartedly reviving the city’s economy.
The management of the Central Government has long deprived this city of great opportunities. Previously, it was expected that HCM City regained its position as the pearl of the Far East, but now, no one dares to dream of that. Now, Saigon people only dream that this city does not lag behind other provinces in the country.
According to our own investigation, Phu My Hung neighborhood is located in District 7 of the city has long been considered a symbol of the city’s prosperity. There is a Korean neighborhood here, usually where Korean businessmen come to HCM City to live and work, now, they close their doors and return home, most of them return to the country. In the past, foreigners consider the city the best place for them to come, if they wanted to work in Vietnam, they would have left now.
That’s what the Communist government did to the largest city in the country. How will this city get out of trouble when 82% of its income goes to the central budget while local people have no right to hold its leading positions?
Thoibao.de (Translated)
