In recent days, not only in state media, but also on social networks, the keyword “Ho Chi Minh” has become a hot trend that has appeared many times.
Let’s start with the news ” Could the person impersonating Uncle Ho entering a bar in Hanoi face a criminal violation?” on Dan Viet newspaper on November 3, 2020. The article said that police summoned a young man impersonating Uncle Ho in a bar in Hanoi to clarify his motives and purposes and to handle him strictly.
Accordingly, “… a widely shared clip on social networks shows that a young man impersonating Uncle Ho went to a bar located at Hai Ba Trung Street, Hoan Kiem District (Hanoi).” At the same time, Dan Viet newspaper also warned that impersonating and “imitating” the leader’s image in an unserious way made many people angry.
According to Dan Viet newspaper, after receiving harsh reactions from netizens, the clip was deleted by the owner from his personal page, and the bar also locked its Facebook page. However, the clip has been copied and shared by many people on forums.
Public opinion and observers believe that the story just happened on Halloween night, a traditional festival held on October 31 every year. In the traditional sense of Halloween, the theme is around the use of “humor and ridicule, to confront the power of death.”
In a free society, the above actions are just citizens’ right to express themselves, there will not be any problems. Many free people copied their leader’s image for the purpose of ridicule, even defamation, but no one was punished.
But in Vietnam, this action is “unusual” when the image of late President Ho Chi Minh is used as “humor and ridicule to confront the power of death.”
The second story is related to the book “Letter to America” by Ho Chi Minh, published by the Writers’ Association Publishing House. It is known that this book was published on the occasion of US President Joe Biden’s visit to Vietnam, in mid-September 2023.
The content of the book includes 32 letters, telegrams, notes, dialogues… of Ho Chi Minh, sent to Presidents, ministers, organizations, individuals… of the United States, during 24 years from 1945 to 1969. Many documents were published for the first time.
Writer Ta Duy Anh discovered information that could be considered shocking after reading the book. Specifically:
“In his letter to the US President dated November 22, 1945, he [Ho] did not hesitate to use the word ‘beg’ to the US President: ‘Therefore, I earnestly beg you for any possible help’.”
Author Ta Duy Anh, as a writer living in Vietnam, has carefully discussed the reality: “Today there are still many people who worship Ho Chi Minh and consider cursing American politics as a guarantee (albeit crude) of their loyalty to him. They may be very shocked, when in most of his letters, Ho Chi Minh effusively praises American values such as Freedom, Democracy, Respect for human rights and justice.”
For a long time, the press and state media of the Communist Party of Vietnam often have articles condemning “slandering Ho Chi Minh” from outside information, not subject to their censorship.
But that is only information that exposes hidden truths, and at the same time presents an image contrary to the portrait of Ho Chi Minh, which has so far been propagated by books and state media described him as a saint.
Even the stories told by witnesses who lived close to Ho before, such as former Colonel Bui Tin, writer Vu Thu Hien…, the Party newspaper all labeled them, saying “they are fugitives betraying the ideals he had pursued, and for decades they have continuously written books, articles, and appeared on foreign radio stations to slander, defame, and distort Ho Chi Minh.”
That means, the truth is that the Communist government of Vietnam tries to deny, on the contrary, they also fabricate fake information to deceive the people. For example, the case of Ho Chi Minh being a world cultural celebrity, after being exposed by public opinion, was fabricated and untrue information.
Or the fact that Ho has several wives and children, it is clear who they are and where they reside, even the Wikipedia page admits it, knowing that it cannot be argued, the Party and the government ignore it and consider it as… ” forget“.
But the case Ho used his pen name “Tran Dan Tien” and “T. Lan” writing the book “Tell stories while walking” to make himself happy, public opinion saw that, even if they wanted to refute it, the Communist Party of Vietnam could not because the evidence was too clear and they cannot protect him.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
