Mark Tuan Le: "We are all Vietnamese"
Jesse Raglmar: A call to assistance for refugees from Vietnam.

 

November 30, 1998

"On October 21, 1998 three relatively young Vietnamese men came in their thirty-three-foot boat to Yap, The Federated States of Micronesia in search for freedom, safety and a chance to start anew. They had fled Vietnam in 1989 as 'boat people' because of the harsh treatment in their home land which included labor camps and threats to be sent to fight in a foreign war in Cambodia. The Communist regime's plan was to send people who were not Communist to fight on the front line because their lives were expendable and of no consequence to them. These refugees left Vietnam as most 'boat people,' and today about 1 million such people have lost their lives at sea.

"I write to seek information about how we can best help these people and information that I can use to help my own government make a humane decision on both due process of law and humanitarian grounds.

"These three men are now aged twenty-seven, thirty-four and forty-years old respectively. They left Vietnam in separate boats, loaded with about sixty people each, and arrived in Indonesia. The authorities there took them and place them on Galang Island, where about 20,000 Vietnamese refugees were situated awaiting the decision on their fate. When they learned that the Indonesian Authorities were planning to return them to Vietnam, these three left the Galang Island Camp together and went to another Island called Sebangka, where they stayed and worked with fishermen. At Sebangka, they were able to purchase a small boat, which took them to Borneo. The three men, all being Catholic, were permitted to stay at a Catholic mission there. In early September, they set out for Yap in a thirty-three-foot boat they were able to purchase with the help of a priest at the mission. They arrived here on October 21, 1998.

"Our government will have to make a decision on their ultimate status and fate, but what I am asking is for information that can assist me in presenting a case for asylum of these three people. I know that even if we lose, my government must establish a process to ensure that refugees safety lives should be secure in their passage and at their final place of disembarkment should my government conclude that these refugees should have to go. They are to go to a democratic and free country, that is what they want.

"Thank you for your assistance."

JESSE RAGLMAR-SUBOLMAR
Legal Counsel and Spokesman for the three Refugees

 

May 17, 1997

"Dear Mr. Cuong:

"It saddened me to see how you feel about the Vietnamese. I thought we were all Vietnamese, whether you immigrated to Vietnam this generation or your ancestor had done so several generations ago. The point is that when we were in Vietnam, you, Mr. Cuong, were treated and given the same opportunities as I was by the government and by the common people. Yet is was you who took advantage by forming networks with the other overseas Chinese which provided you an opportunity I never had. We didn't even mind much about that--the proof being that you and others like you did quite well in Vietnam. Now you turn around and try to distinguish Vietnamese from Chinese Vietnamese. It saddens me Mr. Cuong. It is like having a friend betray you in your absence. Vietnam has been a generous country by allowing you to assimilate with her people. It is you who decided to keep your Chinese ethnicity. Many, many Chinese Vietnamese had assimilated to become like us and we never make much of a fuss about that. Not many countries would allow you to do so Mr. Cuong. Look at Japan for example. It sure saddened me to read your story. Please do not bite the hand that feeds you. Anyway, now that we all live here in the U.S., it is best to think more in terms of human beings rather than nationality and ethnicity. It would make the world a more peaceful place."

-MARK TUAN LE