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Ly Tong: the Epitome of Vietnamese Heroism

Ðằng Vân

Point of View

Week Ending 22 April 2007

 

According to the Encarta World English Dictionary, the term “hero” is commonly used to describe someone who has performed an act of remarkable bravery or who has shown great courage, strength of character or another admirable quality. Accordingly, each nation has its own heroes. France has her Joan of Arc (1412-1431), England King Arthur (5th Century) and Robin Hood (13th Century) and China Kinh Kha (3RD Century BC).

But all these heroes performed their deeds hundreds or thousands of years ago. The veracity of their deeds had been tainted by the passage of time or glorified exponentially by popular demand at the expense of historical truth.

By contrast, Ly Tong’s story is current, part of contemporary history and nonetheless fascinating. To discuss heroism, even at the conceptual level, without mentioning his extraordinary acts of bravery, would be doing a grave injustice to the integrity of such concept itself.

According to Wikepedia, he was born in 1946, in the Province of My Tho, South Vietnam. His birth-name was Le Van Tong. He was trained as a pilot in the South Vietnam Air Force. In April 1975, while on a mission in North Vietnam his A-37 was hit by enemy missile. He was captured by the Vietnamese Communists and imprisoned for 5 years. He escaped through the Cambodian jungle, through to Thailand and reached Singapore where he applied for political asylum in the USA. In 1984 he migrated to the USA. He completed a Master’s degree from the University of New Orleans.

In 1992 he allegedly hijacked a Vietnam Airline airliner and flew over Ho Chi Minh City to drop thousands of anti-Communist leaflets calling on the people to rise up and overthrow the Communist dictatorship. Then he parachuted down to organize a resistance. But he was caught and sentenced to 20 years.

In 1998 he was released as part of a general amnesty.

In January 2000 he flew over Cuba and dropped thousands of leaflets calling on the Cuban people to rise up and overthrow the Communist dictatorship of Fidel Castro. On his return to Florida, the US authorities did not proceed with charging him with any offence but they cancelled his flying license.

In November 17, 2000 he allegedly hijacked a plane in Thailand and dropped 50,000 leaflets over Ho Chi Minh City, calling on the people to participate in armed demonstrations against the Communist regime. On his return he was sentenced to 7 years and 4 months imprisonment by a Thai court. In March 2006, at the request of the Vietnamese Communists, the Thai government agreed to extradite Ly Tong to Vietnam to face charges for violation of Vietnam airspace. The Vietnamese Diaspora and his Cuban supporters protested. On 14 September 2006, the Thai court system agreed to the extradition. This sparked further protests and demonstrations by his supporters across the world.

In September 26, 2006 the Thai Court of Appeal finally reversed the decision of the lower court, declared that his actions were politically motivated. He returned shortly afterwards to the USA to a hero’s welcome.

As fittingly put by Vietnamese poet Nguyen Chi Thien during a function in Ly Tong’s honor: when compared to the Chinese hero Kinh Kha, Ly Tong’s heroism is greater. For one thing, Kinh Kha only attempted once to assassinate the First Emperor Qin Shih Huang Ti and lost his life in the attempt. Whereas Ly Tong made three attempts to ignite revolts against 2 totalitarian Communist regimes. Yet he survived, not only to see the light of the day, but to continue his struggle for human rights and democracy for the victims of Communism across the world.

To Nguyen Chi Thien’s assessment, I would add also the following points in Ly Tong’s favor:

  1. Qin Shi Huang Ti, for all his much touted cruelty, was a one-man dictatorship. As such he killed less humans than Communist dictators the like of Stalin, Mao-Tse Tung, Kim IL Sung or even Ho Chi Minh. These various Communist leaders were leaders of regimes with systemic and totalitarian control over their people. These regimes were much more difficult to tackle than the First Chinese Emperor.
  2. Kinh Kha was only a lowly swordsman serving his suzerain or feudal lord. For him loyalty to his lord was paramount. The welfare of the people of his state Yen was of secondary importance. Ly Tong by contrast is a man of intellect in addition of being a man of courage. His master’s degree at the University of New Orleans is ample evidence of his intellect.

Most importantly, in my last article entitled “We are Different from the Chinese- and ‘Vive la Difference’”, I made the point that the Chinese, for all their bragging about heroism, are really a nation accustomed and condemned to servitude by the fat men of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). By contrast, Vietnam, with a population of merely 84 million, (compared to the Chinese population of 1.3 billions) has put up a better fight against the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) than anything the Chinese in mainland China have ever done against the CCP (after the massacre in the Tiananmen Square).

Ly Tong is the epitome of this superior Vietnamese heroism. He encapsulates the indomitable fighting spirit of generations of Vietnamese throughout history, much more so than these despicable members of the politburo of the CPV, whose only skill at survival is to prostrate before their Northern Masters, at the expense of national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

By his actions, Ly Tong has not only restored our people’s honor, lost at the hands of these contemptible CPV leaders ever ready to serve their Chinese masters. He has also emphatically given credence to my thesis that the Vietnamese people are much more heroic than the Chinese.

Ly Tong has justly earned his place in the annals of Vietnamese history. Whether his transition from heroism to statesmanship will be successful is another matter. But it will be irrelevant because his courage and self sacrifice have found resonance within the hearts of millions of freedom-loving Vietnamese.

Nothing and no one in the world will be able to take this away from him.

Ðằng Vân

23 April 2007