"The Problems of Governing"

Item

derivative filename/jpeg
363-02149 to 363-02159.pdf
Digital Object Identifier
363-02149 to 363-02159
Title
"The Problems of Governing"
Description
Original title: "The Problems of Governing." Article by Keever on the provisional constitution and transitional government. This is article 5 of a 7-part series reflecting on the overthrow of Ngô Đình Diệm
Transcript
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deepe
article 5 of 7 article series
page 1
THE PROBLEMS OF GOVERNING
SAIGON--Viet Nam now has a provisional constitution.
It has a transitional chief of state. It has a transitional
prime minister.
This has but a whisper of a chance of lasting barely
more than 49 days, in the view of many.
Saigonese,
who possess both a sense of humor and
superstitution, explain that the newly-announced provisional
constitution has seven chapters and forty nine articles,
numbers which are symbolic in a Buddhist funeral. They explain
his soul wanders around
that when a Buddhist believer dies,
helplessly for 49 days when it becomes re-incarnated.
"And that is the new constitution," one Vietnamese
businessman explained. "It's soul will wander around lost
for 49 days and then it will re-appear in another form. It
already has the smell of death around it."
(More)
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deepe
article 5 of 7 article series
page 2
But at least at its inception, the new government,
headed by Phan Khac Suu has the public support of the Americans,
the Armed Forces, the Buddhists,
at some levels by the Communists,
Communist Catholics.
considered to be penetrated
and the staunchly anti-
This support is considered to last only
if the new government makes concessions to each power group.
Some observers believe that the new government--the
ministeries in Saigon which supervise the provincial administration
may be a middle bettleground between the two most powerful
groups on the nationalist side--the power of the armed forces
versus the mass political power of the Buddhist movement,
which has developed in the past year into a significant,
if not dominant, force. Instead of having the armed forces
being with the civilian government, as originally thought,
it would appear that the armed forces may be pitched against
the political forces of the Buddhists. During the next two
upcoming months, the new government will must decide the new
ministers, the new budget, the new province chiefs, who
are scheduled to be civilians instead of the army officers
now present. But, for example, will be the new budget be
drawn up and implemented according to the needs of the armed
forces in their fight against Communist guerrillas and secret
agents, or will it be slanted to the social needs of bhe
civilian population in line with the "social justice" pleas
of the Buddhists.
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deepe
article 5 of 7 article series
page 3
The current series of political maneuverings to
decide on the new government announced this woek is regarded
as the first round in a long series of more to come. The next
crucial session is scheduled to be the selection--perhaps
by popular election-of a "National Congress," which would
act as the House of Representatives while the 17-man High
National Council would act as the Senate. The "National
Congress would be responsible for approving the newly-appointed
government and for drafting the permanent constitution to be
finished sometime next year.
The Buddhist movement,
considered to have pre-
neutralist and pro-Communist lead leanings and loadership,
believe that they have more mass support at lower levels than
any other political party or organized group--and hence they
can wind up with a majority of the votes in the "National
Congress." They already claim to have a majority of the
votes on the "High National Council"--two of their members
are considered to have pro-Communist leanings.
Current plans for the selection of the "National
Congress" is that they would the members would be elected in
government-controlled or influenced areas, but arees under
Viet Cong Communist control would be accorded election
privileges. This arrangement, which may undergo many changes
before the final decision is made, would be in marked contrast
to the legislative elections held throughout the country only a
year ago
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deepe
article 5 of 7 article series
page 4
In short, barring unforeseen developments, such
as an escalation of the war in South East Asia, Viet Nam
faces a glimmer of a prospect of having in de facto coalition
legislative branches of both anti-Communists and pro-Communists
based on an official recognition of a de facto partition of
the country into government areas and Communist-held areas.
A year ago, this prospect would have been considered
unthinkable.
but
Observers here believe that the strongman of the new
regime will not be a member of the civilian government,
will be General Nguyen Khanh, former prime minister, who is
scheduled to be commander-in-chief of the armed forces and
the highest ranking officer in the army and the member of
the important four-man High Security Council.
Some observers believe that Khanh, as chief of the
armed forces, has more actual power than at any time since he
entered the limelight on during January 30 coup.
He may be
one of the few men in history to have sustained two "half-coups"
Tor hanh
against him, yet become more powerful than ever,
entered the prime minister's office one January 30 as a
front-man for the powerful Dai Viet political party and the
his long time friend, Haj, Gen, Tran Thien Khiem,
supplied the military power and plans for the coup,
who
In addition,
Khanh was forced to ask Maj. Gen. Duong Van Minh, leader of
the first junta, to remain as chief of state, which had the
effect of draining popular support from Khanh.
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deepe
article 5 of 7 article series
page 5
Hence, Khanh did not have total support of the army
or of his political party--and both turned against him during
the late August onslaught of pro-Buddhist student demonstrations
and religious rioting. But after 270 days in the prime minister's
office; the Dai Viet party appears to have been crushed, Khanh's
military rival Gen. Khien is now enroute to Washington, supposedly
to be Ambassador, and after the final round of voting for the
new chief of state this week, Gen. Minh has at least temporarily
lost out to Phan Khac Suu--an elderly statesman-type whom Khanh
willingly supports
During a secret military conference of 40 armed forces
officers at the seaside headquarters of Cap St. Jacques this
weekend, Khanh was given a big sizeable vote of confidence to
be named as Commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. According
to reliable sources he received 31 of the 40 votes cast; his
nearest rival was Maj. Gen. Tran Van Don,
former Minister of
Defense whom Khanh toppled in his coup with four votes.
received the votes although his young generals wore openly irked
that he had re-instated four generals had had toppled on January
30 on charges--which he could never prove--that they were
pro-neutralist.
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deepe
article 5 of 7 article series
page 6
The basic problem facing the new Phan Khao Suu government
is the same one that faced Khanh and faced previous regimes-
Communism. But the problem has become greatly exacerbated during
the past year;
it has become obvious to observers here during
the past year that the problem is more complex than the growing
number of military guerrillas in the countryside--but also
includes serious political subversion within the nationalist ranks.
While it is often easy to criticize the nationalists
for divisions and in-fighting,
for student demonstrations and
religious conflicts, observers here believe that Communist
subversion is a direct contributor to this condition.
Secret Communist cells are known to exist in almost
every high school in Saigon, one Communist-front organization
was uncovered in a highschool in the old imperial capital of Hue,
400 miles norht of Saigon. Some university students and
university professors in Saigon--and even more so in Hue-
are known to have pro-Communist sympathies. Anti-Communist
but seldom report
professors and students know who they are,
them, for the difficulty is to get proof of their activities.
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deepe
article 5 of 7 article series
page 7
Communist cells are known to exist in the Saigon
labor unions, newspaper offices--and individual agents
reportedly work within the government itself. Communist agents
are considered to play a party in the actions and policies of
the Buddhist movement. Roman Catholic layment and priests
say that Communists have even infiltrated the tightly-knit
organization of the Catholic Church. The biggest question is
how many agents have already infiltrated the regular army,
police and secret police-pro-Communist agents and sympathizers
have been picked up in the regional forces. Since 1962 the
people's Revolutionary Party (Communist) in South Viet Nam
has maintained a specialized administrative section of "Action
Among Enomy Troops."
Another section specializes in "Action Among the
Civilian Population." Through the use of "people-divider"
teams (also called agitation and propaganda teams), the
Communist exploit grievances which already exist.
The Communist agents and sympathizers attempt to
play groups of persons against other groups, or the government.
So, the workers are set in motion against their labor leaders;
one labor leader hurls charges at another leader;
antagonizes another; one religious or regional group is played
off against another.
one union
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deepe
article 5 of 7 article series
page 8
The effectiveness of this technique was seen
recently in the countryside. In one single day in one province
alone there were seventeen Communist-inspired demonstrations.
"The Communists take a local grievance and exploit it,"
one reliable source reported. "Their covert 'people-divider'
teams give general lecturers to large groups. Then they break
the large group down into small groups of common interest--
students, women, farmers--and in detail point up the gripes.
They know the people are not sympathetic to the government, and
they creat imaginary ills or government faults. In English,
we call this 'brainwashing'; in Vietnamese it is known
literally as 'brainsqueezing!*
He estimated one pro-Communist member of the
"people-divider" teams per each government outpost; five in
a 140-man Vietnamese army company. They generally operate in
he said.
seven man teams to work with the civilian population,
Information from the secret agent then passos through a liasion
man to the overt Communist agent--maybe the guerrillas--who
act on the information either politically or militarily,
such as contacting potential defectors inside the national
army.
(More)
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deepe
article 5 of 7 article series
page 9
The problem of Communist subversion has become
even more complicated during the past year because of the
Buddhist movement, which is known to be penetrated at some
levels by expert Communist cadre. At least in some areas at
some times, Buddhist laymen and priests have helped the
Communists more than they have helped the government. Buddhist
priests, for example, have been known to carry plastique
explosives through checkpoints into Saigon under their saffron
robes. In other areas, pro-Buddhist laymen have wiped up
demonstrations among the population, which were then exploited
by the Communists.
The Buddhists, especially during the crisis last
year, displayed the talent of manipulating both time and
space-their campaign operated in phases, increasing tension
to the maximum in Saigon, then letting it relax by moving
their campaign to the central coastal provinces. Their tactics
this year in their "demi-coup" against Khanh during the
pro-Buddhist student demonstrations inlate August showed
vaguely the same trend, but more diversity.
(More)
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deepe
article 6 of 7 article series
page 10
During the next few months,
observers believe the
The
Buddhists will make an all-out, though semi-underground, push
to have members under their influence selected for the "National
Congress." A longer-range aim of the Buddhists may well be a
year from now when the permanent constitution is drafted.
choice confronting the Buddhists movement appears to be to
protest openly against the government--as they did in late
August against Khanh--in a drive for mass support while
simultaneously going semi-underground to undermine the strength
of the newly-formed government and the armed forces.
inconceivable, for example, that proneutralists may be
handling American funds in the Saigon ministeries or in the office
of the chief of provinees.
It is not
The Buddhist leaders-adroit politiciams-have for months
been launching a campaign to enlist the active sympathy or
support from Vietnamese generals.
been at least partially successful.
Their campaign has already
The senior generals jokingly
call the most pro-Buddhist officers as "Thich" (meaning Venerable)
instead of general;
one general described a colleague as "more
Buddhist than the bonzes."
The problems of the new government then are to fight
Communist guerrillas on the military battlefied and Communist
and pro-Communist subversive agents within its own ranks.
The problems are formidable%3B the solutions are complex
and difficulty but not impossible.
-30-
Date
1964, Oct.
Subject
Vietnam, 1961-1975; Interim governments; Constitutions--Vietnam; Vietnam (Republic)
Location
Saigon, South Vietnam
Coordinates
10.8231; 106.6297
Size
20 x 26 cm
Container
B3, F3
Format
dispatches
Collection Number
MS 363
Collection Title
Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers
Creator
Keever, Beverly Deepe
Collector
Keever, Beverly Deepe
Copyright Information
These images are for educational use only. To inquire about usage or publication, please contact Archives & Special Collections.
Publisher
Archives & Special Collections
Language
English