Sad memory at the time as “FULRO Deputy Prime Minister”

Nahria Ya Duck looks much younger than his 54 year-old age with the chivalrous features of an ethnic minority intellect and the happy appearance of shouldering duties of the province’s Fatherland Front. However, his eyes and smiles reflect the indescribable torment and sadness regarding the recent unrest in Tay Nguyen. He has experienced so many upheavals in Tay Nguyen.

Nahria is a big clan family, having given significant contributions in expanding land for cultivation and resettlement for villagers in Ka Do, Don Duong district, Lam Dong. Born into an influential family, Ya Duck was one of the few ethnic youths receive a good education. The oppression of the Ngo Dinh Diem puppet regime against Tay Nguyen people forced some locals including Ya Duck to rebel. Then, Ya Duck became a close officer of Ybraham, a member of Ba Na group and leader of FULRO. Ya Duck joined FULRO’s activities from 1964 to 1969. After taking office, in order to compromise, Nguyen Van Thieu, former Saigon president, set up the Ministry of Ethnic Minority Groups, aimed at getting Tay Nguyen people to rule over Tay Nguyen people which was considered as hoodwink and demagogy. FULRO leader sent Ya Duck to join the Saigon puppet administration. He was appointed head of Department for Ethnic Minority Groups in Tuyen Duc district...

 After the south was liberated, members of the former regime felt greatly confused and Ya Duck was no exception. He said that he knew nothing about the policy of tolerance, preeminence and humanity created by the Communist Party of Vietnam and the new administration. He recalled: “At that time, I constantly suffered crisis. People in different areas gossiped that the communists would take a bloody revenge. Would they liberate Tay Nguyen people after they liberated the south of Vietnam? Meanwhile, there appeared continuous incitements and inducements from some bad elements. I returned to the forest to work for FULRO in such puzzled mood...” In 1975, Ya Duck moved from Don Duong to Lac Duong to undertake the rank “colonel and commander” of Bidoup division under FULRO force. In 1978, he became one of the force’s leaders and was appointed “first deputy prime minister” in charge of politics and external affairs. Until 1983, Nahria Ya Duck’s life entered a bright turning point when he decided to return to his village and the revolutionary administration.

He said: “I had aspired for many years to bring about happiness and equality to Tay Nguyen nationalities, but I chose the wrong way. In fact it is being implemented by the Vietnamese Party and State, but in a different way which has recorded great and positive achievements. Useless blood shedding could have been avoided if I and many others had realised such truth!”

Ya Duck had to overcome the feeling of separation to regain the trust of Tay Nguyen people. He became a propaganda activist, calling the remnants of FULRO force to report themselves to the administration to enjoy leniency and end their hunger and diseases in the forests. Ya Duck was able to become an active member of the Highlands Fatherland Front with the trust of the Party and people. His current position was the result of his long-term efforts made to change his personal awareness and to understand the tolerance of the communist regime and belief of people in Tay Nguyen. In the capacity of Vice President of the Lam Dong Fatherland Front, Ya Duck really has a “land” to promote his abilities in the spirit of national great unity and people’s happy and prosperous life.

Stop meddling with Tay Nguyen people’s peaceful life

The ups-and-downs of his life helped Ya Duck define improvements created by the Party and State for Tay Nguyen people. His life also mirrors vivid evidence for such truth. Ya Duck said: “I was wrong. It’s true, but the important thing is that I could find a better way for myself after returning to native land to set up a new life in the tolerance and favour of the Party and people. The current regime is the best so far. Tay Nguyen people are given the same development conditions like other nationalities in the community of Vietnamese people...”

Ya Duck expressed his unhappiness regarding the unrest in Tay Nguyen in February 2001 and April 2004 when some unthinking people were incited by the bad elements to join their attempts of causing public disorders. He was also very indignant at the bad elements who worked as the tool of hostile forces to carry out terrorist acts aimed at dividing the national great unity and destroying the peaceful life of Tay Nguyen people. “Who is Ksor Kok? When I entered the forest to work as a FULRO officer, Ksor Kok was just a puppet soldier and my guard. He is a poorly educated person and easy to be conned. I thinks he cannot understand the serious consequences caused by his recent acts. He is the illusion of evils for Tay Nguyen villages and a crazy lackey for foreign hostile forces. Kok and his accomplices had induced his people and relatives to commit illegal criminal acts. Living in exile for many years, how can he know about the wonderful changes in Tay Nguyen? However, I believe that Ksor Kok and his accomplices will have to pay a price because Tay Nguyen people have realised their ill-minded attempts and those behind them...” Ya Duck’s words were based on his personal life experience and the reality in Tay Nguyen.

Under the French rule, Tay Nguyen people lived a miserable life in the forests. They had to work for the French colonialist without any rights. Under the oppression of the US aggressors and Saigon puppet administration, Tay Nguyen nationalities were unequally treated to serve the aim of eliminating their customs and cultural identities. Their policies on ethnic minority groups were obscurantism and demagogy so as to create dispute among nationalities. Tay Nguyen people only stepped out of the shadow of hunger, diseases and illiteracy when the light of the Party came. After the country was reunified, Tay Nguyen people were able to be recognised as citizens of an independent and free country, living and developing equally among different nationalities. The Vietnamese Party and State have made many resolutions and deployed many social programmes to boost soci-economic development in Tay Nguyen. More and more electricity supply, roads, schools, medical stations projects have appeared in Tay Nguyen. All people in Tay Nguyen have land to till and set up farms to improve their living standards. In addition, Tay Nguyen people are given priority support in education and health care. However, hostile forces, with their ill-minded nature, continued to produce slander against Vietnam and incite Tay Nguyen people. Ya Duck stressed: “We are not surprised at the voices raised by reactionary elements, but feel very sad about the thoughtless acts of a number of Tay Nguyen people in joining the stupid plot hatched by the enemy.”

Ya Duck also recalled some significant details during his meeting with the US Ambassador Peterson to Vietnam in June 2001. The US ambassador asked him: “You said that the Vietnamese Government were very concerned about the ethnic people, so why were there some of them having to escape to Cambodia as refugees?” Ya Duck answered: “You know this more clearly than me.” Ambassador Peterson continued: “I don’t understand why the ethnic people cannot know the Kinh language while the Government asked them to speak and write the Kinh language?” Ya Duck replied: “We have only one great nation of Vietnam including 54 nationalities. Kinh language is selected as the popular language based on the support of 53 nationalities, so it is not the State’s obligation. Please be advised that the US is also a multinational country, so why do you use English as the popular language instead of local languages?” He said, smiling

By UONG THAI BIEU        
Nhan Dan Newspaper’s      
correspondent in Lam Dong