Campaign Letter No.11: The Identity Of Free Vietnamese People
Election Campaign Letter No.11
THE IDENTITY OF FREE VIETNAMESE PEOPLE
On the occasion of World Refugee Week, 14 to 21 June 2026
This article was presented at Collingwood Town Hall on Saturday, June 13, 2026, commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Free Vietnamese Community in Victoria. But first, we invite you to listen to SBS’s interview with the candidates of the Building and Development Team for the Victoria Vietnamese Community Election 2026-2030: https://www.sbs.com.au/language/vietnamese/vi/podcast-episode/bau-cu-cdnvtd-victoria-2026-2030-lien-danh-xay-dung-va-phat-trien/yr3yymsm0
Dear Community Members,
World Refugee Week this year falls at the very moment our Community is preparing to enter the election period. At this same time, the term “refugee identity” has been raised by many people, even used by some as a yardstick to judge others. This is a fitting occasion for us to think clearly together about this matter.
Why we are Free Vietnamese People, not Refugee Vietnamese People
Among us are those who have been part of this Community for over forty years, and who took part in the debates that occurred right from the very beginning, including the question of why we did not call ourselves Refugee Vietnamese People but instead chose Free Vietnamese People.
The answer given then still holds true today. From the very start, the founders of our Community wanted to open their arms wide to those Vietnamese who would arrive later, anyone who had to leave their homeland for a reason that was simple yet noble, the wish to live in freedom on Australian soil. The name Free Vietnamese People embodies that generosity of spirit, a generosity grounded in principle, not a generosity that abandons who we are.
Furthermore, “refugee” is a temporary legal status, one that has a beginning and an end once a person becomes a citizen. After becoming an Australian citizen, in legal terms a person is no longer a refugee but an Australian citizen. An organisation named after a refugee status would become outdated the moment the first generation completed naturalisation.
“Refugee” also describes a victim, someone passive in the face of circumstance. “Free” asserts an ideal, an active stance that is not bound by time or legal status, one that can be passed down from generation to generation without losing its meaning.
In short, “refugee” answers the question of how we arrived here. “Free” answers the question of who we are and where we stand.
We left in tears because we had no other choice
We are people who left in tears. One in ten survived. We did not know where we would drift, whether we would live to see land, whether our loved ones beside us would still be there when the boat reached shore. Hundreds of thousands perished at sea. Those of us fortunate enough to survive shed further tears upon setting foot in Australia, knowing we had to start again from absolutely nothing, with no language, no recognised profession, nothing but our bare hands and our will.
We did not leave because of poverty. We left because we had no other choice. To stay was to accept a life without freedom, to bow before a regime that had taken everything from us. To leave was to risk death while keeping our human dignity.
It was precisely because we had no other choice that we fought with everything we had to build and protect this Community. Not out of extremism. Not out of hatred. But because this is the only home of Free Vietnamese people on Australian soil.
On 10 February 1976, less than a year after 30 April 1975, the Free Vietnamese Community in Victoria was established in Richmond, the very place where we first set foot in this state, and was officially recognised by the Victorian Government on 31 March 1987. Fifty years have passed. Protecting this Community is a sacred duty for all of us.
Legal identity and identity of the spirit
Legal identity is the document issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, one that has an issue date and an expiry date. Once we become Australian citizens, that document no longer has legal effect. This is an objective fact that no one can deny.
Identity of the spirit is something entirely different. It is a deep awareness of where we come from, an indelible memory of why we had to leave our homeland, and a loyalty to the values of freedom and democracy represented by the Yellow Flag with Three Red Stripes. This identity of the spirit has no expiry date. It lives in the heart of every Free Vietnamese person and is passed down from generation to generation.
To receive a ballot, one must voluntarily commit
Some have argued that no one has the right to examine another person’s papers. That is true in everyday life.
But when a person voluntarily puts themselves forward as a candidate for the Executive Committee or the Advisory Board of our Community, that is an entirely different matter. Chapter Four, Article 26.1 of the 2024 Constitution states clearly that to be eligible to vote, a person must sign to confirm their support for the purpose, objectives, Constitution and symbols of the Free Vietnamese Community, which include the Yellow Flag with Three Red Stripes. And to receive a ballot, each voter must provide proof of Australian citizenship with a photograph and a permanent address.
This is not bureaucratic procedure. This is how we ensure that the Free Vietnamese Community continues to be led by people who are genuinely Free Vietnamese. The 2024 Constitution did not come about by accident. It is the result of more than a year of negotiation with Consumer Affairs Victoria to defend every word and every clause. This is the legitimate and necessary self protection of a community built by people who had no other choice but to leave and start again from nothing.
Identity of the spirit must be shown through action
Identity of the spirit is not a declaration. It is action carried out every day.
A person who genuinely carries the identity of Free Vietnamese people does not need artificial intelligence to explain what refugee identity means. We live it in every cell of our being. We understand, without needing it explained, why the Yellow Flag with Three Red Stripes is sacred, why 30 April is a day of national mourning, and why there can be no compromise with values opposed to freedom and human dignity.
And a person who genuinely carries that identity does not need to prove it by attacking or defaming others. We let our actions speak for themselves.
Closing remarks
Dear Community Members,
World Refugee Week is an occasion for us to remember the arduous journey that the generation before us undertook to reach the shores of freedom. We left in tears. We arrived in tears. And we built this Community with sweat and determination so that future generations would have a shared home worthy of that sacrifice.
That sacred memory cannot and should not be exploited for any small political purpose.
On Sunday 28 June 2026, your vote is not simply a choice of executive committee. It is a choice of direction for the Free Vietnamese Community in Victoria for the next four years. It is how we honour and carry forward the identity of the spirit that our forebears shed blood to preserve. And it is also how we give a worthy answer to the question that those who perished on the South China Sea no longer have the chance to ask: are we worthy of their sacrifice?
We respectfully invite you to cast your vote for Team No. 1: the Community Building and Development Team.
ENCOURAGE EACH OTHER TO VOTE. VOTE IN NUMBERS. VOTE WISELY. CHOOSE WELL.
Yours sincerely,
Nguyễn Quang Duy
Team Representative and incumbent President
Free Vietnamese Community in Victoria
Melbourne, Australia, June 2026
