The Jacaranda Textbook, and Võ Nguyên Giáp
Dr. Bùi Trọng Cường, Mr Đoàn Việt Trung (former VCA Federal Presidents)
Editor’s Note: Nhan Quyen would like to introduce a series of articles by author Doan Viet Trung dedicated to Nhan Quyen on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the search for freedom. Article 1 is about the Consular Agreement between Australia and Vietnam to protect Vietnamese Australians if they are detained in Vietnam. Article 2 is about a number of opinion articles by the Vietnamese community published in major Australian newspapers. Article 3 is about how the community convinced a publisher to revise its Australian high school textbooks that had provided a one-sided view of the Vietnam War. Article 4 is about one of the first Vietnamese newspapers in Australia, published on November 1, 1975. Articles 1, 2, and 3 are also published in the Yearbook that the Vietnamese Community in Australia/Queensland Chapter is about to publish (see attached front and back covers). Dr Cuong Bui passed away on 06 March, aged 80. Over nearly 30 years, the 2 men collaborated on a wide variety of community issues.
Article 3 of 4
When thinking about writing for this VCA Qld book, the two of us recalled some of the work we collaborated on, speaking the truth about the history of Vietnam.
The Jacaranda Textbook
Around 2000, both of us were on the VCA Executive Committees. By chance, we read a high school textbook from the publisher Jacaranda, which many Australian high school students used to study modern Australian history. The chapter we read was about Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War.
The book only mentioned the U.S. helping the South, but didn’t mention the Soviet Union and China aiding the North. It only talked about the Mỹ Lai massacre but said nothing about the bloody terror carried out by the communists across the South or the fact that communist soldiers blended in with civilians, using them as human shields. It spoke of corruption in the South, but not the dictatorship in the North.
We wrote a letter to the publisher Jacaranda, and when they kindly invited us to submit suggestions for their next edition, we divided the work between us: one person (Dr. Bùi Trọng Cường) researched by reading many English books about the history of the Vietnam War, while the other (Mr. Đoàn Việt Trung) drafted the submission.
We discussed extensively, often in the evenings since we worked during the day – for example, the book researcher would say, “Mr. Trung, this part of the book quotes Chinese archives showing that China sent 300,000 troops to help North Vietnam. You should use this,” while the drafter would say, “Dr. Cường, I want to include the amount North Vietnam owed the Soviet Union after the war. Please find that figure and give me the source reference.” (It was at least $10 billion).
After months of work, we sent our proposal to Jacaranda. The content consisted of multiple sections, each saying: “In the Jacaranda textbook, page .. paragraph .. says ABC, which is inaccurate (or too one-sided). We VCA suggest the next edition should say DEF. The supporting evidence for this suggestion is Appendix No. ..”
The following year, the Jacaranda director wrote back, saying: Thank you, we have used most of your suggestions.
One thing we noticed was that the Jacaranda director said: We appreciate your approach, because instead of simply complaining and criticizing, you helped us to understand the issue and you provided concrete solutions. And you provided evidence to back up your claims.
Each textbook is usually printed in tens of thousands of copies. So, perhaps we helped tens of thousands of high school students learn the truth. In fact, this is a small percentage compared to the total number of high school students in Australia. Nonetheless, this was a small contribution from the two of us to Australian education and to our Vietnamese community.
Võ Nguyên Giáp
In early October 2013, General Võ Nguyên Giáp passed away, and some Australian newspapers reported him as a brilliant general, attributing the victories of the North Vietnamese Communists to his talent. And newspapers in Vietnam lavishly praised his genius.
Despite being busy, we decided we had to speak up. Once again, we collaborated, writing an article titled “Vietnam War: Historical myths about General Vo Nguyen Giap,” which was published by News Weekly on 09 November, 2013.
We opened the article with: “ Vietnam’s late General Vo Nguyen Giap (1911-2013) is credited with having single-handedly defeated French and United States forces. Or did he? This is a nice little romance, but is contradicted by awkward facts which are amply documented by historians. The truth is that while Saigon, capital of South Vietnam, was supported by one giant, the United States, Hanoi, the capital of the communist North Vietnam, was supported by two — the Soviet Union and China.”
– – –
Those who achieved victory through terror and violence give themselves the right to do all sorts of terrible things, from twice changing the currency to wipe out people’s savings, to erasing the name of Saigon, to distorting history to indoctrinate children in the country.
Abroad, we must speak the truth.
– The End –
