Vietnam Flag Measure Backed

A resolution urging California to recognize the flag of the former South Vietnam and permit it to be flown over state property during Vietnamese-American events cleared a key legislative hurdle Wednesday.

On a 5-0 vote, the state Senate Rules Committee approved the largely symbolic measure after an emotional 90-minute debate.

“There was such a clear sentiment that people wanted to have the ideals of freedom and democracy represented in that way,” said Sen. Debra Bowen (D-Marina del Rey), who supported the resolution.

The resolution, which has stirred controversy in Orange County and elsewhere, was introduced by Sen. Denise Ducheny (D-San Diego), who could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

But Wendy Mitchell, her chief of staff, called the measure “an opportunity to embrace Californians who have emigrated from Vietnam and their rich history,” which, she added, is “emotional and important to the Vietnamese community in all of California.”

Indeed, said state Assemblyman Van Tran (R-Garden Grove), a Vietnamese American refugee who said he helped write the resolution and spoke before the committee on its behalf, the ability to fly the old flag is close to his community’s heart.

“We’re not re-fighting the Vietnamese War here,” Tran said. Vietnamese Americans who support the measure, he said, “just want to reaffirm their identity and their political legacy as a community and a group of people. This is the flag that we cherish, that we fought for and that we believe in, as opposed to one representing a dictatorial and repressive regime.”

The flag, which has three red stripes on a field of gold, was the symbol of the former Republic of Vietnam, from which many fled for the U.S. after the Vietnam War. The country is now under Communist rule and called the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

The idea of flying the current government’s flag, which has a yellow star on a field of red, has incited protests by the former refugees in many locations.