VOICES

President Clinton’s decision to lift the trade embargo against Vietnam hit home with Vietnam war veterans, business leaders and members of Orange County’s Vietnamese community. The news brought anger, jubilation and hopeful talk of future cooperation. On Thursday, several people offered their thoughts on the decision.

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Ngoc Anh, a 44-year-old mother of three, fled Saigon with her family in 1975 and has lived in Garden Grove since 1988. She works as a beautician in Cerritos and also writes about politics and women’s issues for Tieng Chuong, a conservative newspaper published in Little Saigon.

“I think (Clinton is) going a little too far. Not to lift the embargo is better because lifting the embargo means that you make the government there stronger.

“I went back there last year--my mom is buried in the cemetery (and) they wanted the land so they can sell it, so all the country can make money, not for the people but so they (the government leaders) can put it in their pocket. They told everybody, the relatives that have the graves there, to come and dig it out.

“So I was there. They’re really corrupt. They got money from me. Everything I had. I go through (the airport), I had to pay. You don’t have money, it means that you can’t do anything. I’m the one who has experience with it. The government is really bad.

“Right now, if Americans come in, it means there (will be) more corruption because the money comes in. The people won’t receive it; it all will go to the government. The government there, the officials there, they try to get money so they can save for themselves. They are very rich right now. They are very, very rich.

“Lifting embargo, it means that the government will be more corrupt. If a company here wants to go back there, if they want to go to a certain deal or something, they (will) have to give some money to officials so they can sign the paper. Also I think it’s (going to bring) more inflation there, and the small business there will die.

“Right now, small business, it means they sell little thing here and little thing there. If America and every country comes in, any kind of big business, it’s not going to (go to) the people, it’s going to (go to) the government. It means that no money will come to the people, the people will go with very low pay, like $200 a year or something.

“Without lifting the embargo, we (can) still send the money back there, we can help them, we can visit them, we can bring money to our relatives. If they lift embargo, it means inflation will go up over there and the money (we send) won’t be enough any more. Inflation means the officials who have the money will be better off, but the people with the low pay will be suffering.

“Clinton doing it right now is like back-stabbing. It’s back-stabbing Vietnamese Republicans, it’s back-stabbing South Vietnam, and it’s back-stabbing all the American soldiers that fought for the freedom over there.”