ORANGE COUNTY VOICES IMMIGRATION : Refugees Made It a Remarkable 15 Years : Southeast Asians have achieved many successes here despite a number of obstacles. The entire county is enriched by their presence.

A short 15 years have gone by since the first wave of 123,000 Southeast Asian refugees began arriving at “Tent City” at Camp Pendleton on April 30, 1975.

The number of Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian refugees throughout the nation has since grown to 1 million. Orange County, with 1% of the national population, is now home to 10% of all the nation’s Indochinese refugees. It is estimated that Orange County has 100,000 Vietnamese, 8,000 Cambodians and 3,000 Laotians.

I am a television newsman who has chronicled the refugees’ dramatic story--from their arrival to the present--in many special reports. I am continually impressed by their resilience and their courage, and also by their rapid transition from desperate refugees to productive Orange County residents.

The Southeast Asians face formidable obstacles, ranging from health-care needs, housing, crime and unemployment to learning English. Of the 150,000 people on the welfare rolls in Orange County, 21,000 or 14% are Southeast Asians. But two years ago, their share was 16%, and it was more than double that 12 years ago. Welfare dependence among Southeast Asians is clearly diminishing as time goes by. In addition, about 20 Southeast Asian gangs--out of a total of 100--are now operating in the county, a statistic that is cause for law enforcement concern.

However, these problems must be seen in the light of a very positive story, one of great achievements. The balance is clearly on the plus side. This story of Southeast Asians’ remarkable accomplishments should be well recognized by all of us who make up what sociologists call the host population.

The Southeast Asians have, in 15 years, created a sense of community in Orange County, and we are all the richer for it. They brought many of their own institutions with them, and they also managed to learn and put to use many of our own. All of this has made for an exciting blend of East and West and has expanded the cultural diversity of this county.

They have built whole shopping complexes out of bean fields in less than a decade. The Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce now lists 1,500 Southeast Asian businesses, industries and professional offices throughout the county providing 30,000 new jobs and $60 million a year to the economy. Most of their children excel scholastically, at every grade level through college. The closeness of their families and constant encouragement have instilled a sense of the value of education in their children. Their religious institutions came with them too. Eighty percent are Buddhist, and they have built and continue to support their temples. About 20% are Catholic and active members of that faith.

There are dozens of community service organizations run by refugees themselves. Cultural ties are cherished as well. The Vietnamese have created a network of 35 schools, which their children attend each Sunday to learn to write, speak and read Vietnamese. These are in addition to the public schools they attend all week long. The annual Tet celebrations give us the songs, dance, poetry and literature of Southeast Asia.

They also have an active media presence in Orange County. Forty-two newspapers and magazines now serve the Vietnamese community. Among these is Nguoi Viet, the largest Vietnamese-language newspaper in the nation. Two small television studios each produce a one-hour Vietnamese-language program carried on Channel 18 each week.

But nowhere is the freedom to make the most of one’s potential more clearly evident than in education, where Southeast Asians have scored impressive accomplishments. These are seen in their performance at local high schools, at state and community colleges, and at UC Irvine. In this year’s freshman class of 2,344 students at UC Irvine, 41% are Asian. Southeast Asians make up 12.6% of the entire class, and they have the highest high-school grade-point average of any ethnic group. Many of America’s future engineers, biologists, mathematicians and computer science experts are among these students.

There is a Vietnamese word I hear again and again in interviews with refugees. It is tu do, pronounced TOO ZAH in English. It means freedom, and it explains their enthusiasm for making the most of one’s life potential without fear of governmental repression or restrictions from anyone.

Perhaps their biggest success of the past 15 years is their recognizing the importance of living in a free society--and putting that freedom to work in their own lives!