O.C. Friends Bid Eu Adieu as She Takes Diplomatic Post

It has been 25 years since March Fong Eu smashed a commode on the Capitol steps and launched the political career that led to her 18-year stint as California secretary of state.

Remind her today of that Sacramento protest against pay toilets and she has a good laugh, then gets serious about opportunity for women: “The sky’s the limit. If women keep trying, their dreams come true. First, they must get a good education, some experience. After that, they should go for it.”

On the eve of her swearing-in last week as ambassador to Micronesia, Eu and her husband, Henry Eu--son of one of the wealthiest families in the Far East, according to reports--joined local Asian leaders for a farewell party in the Costa Mesa banking offices of Topaz Tran.

“There was a farewell party for her in Los Angeles, but I wanted to have one here so my friends could meet her,” said Tran, who has been Eu’s friend for 15 years.

Of her ambassadorship, Eu said: “I never dreamed it would happen, but it has been a secret wish for many years. While I’m there I’ll be concentrating on what the President and State Department have asked me to do--help the people become more economically sufficient.

“Micronesia was a Trust Territory of the United States for more than 40 years, then became independent eight years ago. They are in the process of nation-building, trying to be self-sufficient. It’s the responsibility of the United States to help them achieve those goals.”

Eu will leave her palatial digs in Hancock Park to live in the Western Pacific. “It’s going to be very different living on an island--I don’t quite know how to prepare for it,” she said. “I’ve told (the U.S. government) that I’d like to go, take a look, then come back and get what I need.”

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Tran, director of the United American Bank in Little Saigon, will accompany Eu on her maiden visit to Micronesia this month. “I’m just going along as her friend--to help her feel comfortable,” she said. “I’m a Republican, but she is my good friend, so I try to help.”

While guests waited for Eu to arrive, they sipped wine and sampled Asian specialties--homemade spring rolls, fried rice and chicken noodles--and talked of their special projects.

Tran--who was dressed in a champagne silk suit by Chinese designer Joyce Kay (a favorite designer of Eu’s)--plans to open an orphanage in Vietnam. “My good friend Chuong Bui, who ran an orphanage in Vietnam, was captured and imprisoned after the communists came in 1974,” Tran said. “Now I want to build a new orphanage. I am hoping that some of the 70 children who had to flee will come back to volunteer there.”

Bui, who attended the party with his wife, Cam Ha, recalled when he broke out of prison: “I was an anti-communist so they put me in jail for four years. But one morning, I ran away. It was a very hard trip. I was in the jungle for nine days and nine nights with nothing to eat, no water to drink. I made it to Saigon where somebody gave me enough money to buy a boat so I could go to Malaysia.” Bui plans to help Tran raise funds for her orphanage.

“I’d like to give back,” he said. “It’s good to be here-- free --in this country.”

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Cam Ha Bui, who wore an ao dai , a traditional Vietnamese dress, was “one of the boat people,” she said. “I came over to Malaysia after I was on an open sea for eight days with 50 women, 70 men and 80 children.” Cam Ha works with children in the Head Start Program in the Santa Ana School District.

Also among guests was Diane Truong, an arts activist married to Dr. Daniel Truong--director of the Parkinson and Movement Disorder Clinic at UCI--who is serving on two local concert committees that will next year mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of Saigon.

“The Pacific Symphony has commissioned a commemorative piece that will be performed at the Orange County Performing Arts Center next April,” she said. “And the Vietnamese community has planned a concert at the Cerritos Center (for the Performing Arts) next spring as part of its Project 20” on behalf of the anniversary.

Also enjoying the festivities were architectural designer Alie Chang and her husband, Phil Paul, a builder. Chang, who lives in Santa Monica, is known for the living environments she has created for show-biz super-celebs such as Rod Stewart, Larry Hagman, Hugh Hefner and Merv Adelson.

But her career is taking a new turn. Chang hopes to become a lifestyle commentator, a la Robin Leach, with a television series called “The Art of Living.”

She has already filmed March Fong Eu’s home for the show. “Actually, I hope to do a lot more with my show than Leach has done with his,” she said. “He has stayed on the comfort side of things. I want to show lifestyles and how people made it--portray their hardships and their philosophies of life.”

Also among guests were Gayle Anderson, Orange County chief of protocol; David Tran, owner of a 20,000-square-foot supermarket in Little Saigon; and Irv and Julia Rappaport, who recently returned from a trip to Vietnam.

“Get to the Mekong River Delta soon ,” Irv Rappaport told guests. “It is perfectly beautiful. But it won’t be long before it is exploited.

“In Vietnam, you have a group of people who are highly intelligent with a tremendous work ethic. Labor is cheap, so it will be exploited to the fullest rather quickly.”