Vietnam 60 years on
It was 60 years ago that Ho Chi Minh, the enigmatic leader of Vietnam's independence movement, proclaimed his country's independence on Sept. 2, 1945.
In the opening paragraphs of the declaration statement, Ho Chi Minh referred to inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as contained in the American Declaration of Independence of 1776, and the credo of liberty, equality and fraternity as embodied in the French revolution of 1791.
It is ironic that the two countries which founded the principles of modern democracy that Ho Chi Minh quoted should be the very forces of entrenched colonialism Vietnam would eventually need to expel.
After being part of French Indochina since 1887, Ho Chi Minh's forces finally defeated the French in 1954 and took total control of the northern half of the country.
But the south remained very much out of grasp as U.S. military presence increased through the 1960s. It was not until the submission and withdrawal of American troops in 1973 that Ho Chi Minh's dream of a unified Vietnam was realized.
Ho Chi Minh's bold move was in parallel to that of a group of young nationalists in Jakarta who proclaimed Indonesia's independence just two weeks earlier.
Thus, while revolutionary struggles persisted throughout the region, only two colonized peoples -- those of Indonesia and Vietnam -- unilaterally proclaimed their respective independence.
Both former colonies had to bear the wrath of colonial powers bent on reoccupation by waging fierce and bloody revolutionary wars.
However, the historical paths of the two countries since then have differed.
An intriguing historical footnote that could have changed the course of bilateral ties occurred toward the end of 1945 when American war correspondent Harold Isaacs, who was working for Newsweek magazine, who, after interviewing Ho Chi Minh, was asked to deliver a letter to the Indonesian leadership in Jakarta.
In the letter Ho Chi Minh suggested "coordination" of the two revolutionary struggles against Western "imperialism" and "capitalism".
The then Indonesian prime minister, Sutan Sjahrir, conveniently ignored the letter on the political calculation that Indonesia would gain international recognition of its independence sooner than Vietnam. Sjahrir reasoned that Indonesia's nemesis at the time was a small European state -- the Netherlands -- while Vietnam would have to face the wrath of France, which remained more influential and powerful in global politics.
Through a combination of guerrilla warfare and tactful diplomacy, Indonesia's sovereignty was recognized by the Netherlands in 1949, after a relatively short military conflict. Vietnam, however, had to face the military indignation of France and later the ferocity of a superpower's war machine -- the United States.
The fortitude of the Vietnamese people to overcome is living proof that war machines cannot defeat the interminable human desire for freedom.
After a period of political consolidation dominated by conservative leadership policies, Vietnam in the late 1990s engaged in a process of economic liberalization that was later followed by structural reforms which provided the foundation of a modern competitive and export-driven industry.
With strong political will and consistency in policy planning, Vietnam has now fully recovered. The wounds of the wars are healing and its 83.6 million people have propelled the country toward an investment-driven 7 plus percent growth rate.
With primary exports in crude oil, marine products, rice, coffee, rubber, tea and manufactured goods, Vietnam is even competing against Indonesia, which is still struggling to make its own political and economic adjustments.
Our kudos should go out to Vietnam, which has overcome so much adversity to bring growing prosperity to its people and become a responsible neighbor in Southeast Asia.