NCVA REPORTER - April 6, 2004

In this NCVA Reporter:

Events

• Center for Southeast Asia Studies, UC Berkeley 21st Annual Conference – April 9-10

Funding Opportunities

• Variety of Support from Wells Fargo
• Funds for Projects Addressing Early Childhood
• SBC Foundation: Nonprofit Technology Grants
• 2004 Target Community Giving Grant Program
• Herb Block Foundation

Jobs/Internships

• Vietnam Education Foundation – Senior Program Officer

Tips/Resources

• Publication Explores Blurring Boundaries Between Nonprofit and Business Sectors

News

• Collective seeks Vietnamese artists for show and future exhibits (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Their port has its own stormy seas (Christian Science Monitor)
• U.S. to Tap Beijing Embassy Deputy as Vietnam Envoy (Bloomberg)
• San Jose officers train on new stun guns (Mercury News)
• Group official: Vietnamese not happy with Kerry (Houston Chronicle)

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EVENTS

CENTER FOR SOUTHEAST ASIA STUDIES, UC BERKELEY 21^ST ANNUAL CONFERENCE

"Novels and Newspapers in Southeast Asia: Instruments of Modernity"
April 9-10, 2004
150 University Hall

The conference examines the role played by novels and news media, including newspapers, magazines, radio and other media forms, in the emergence of distinctive forms of modernity in Southeast Asia. Papers will address the significance of these forms in an historical or present-day context from the range of disciplinary traditions in the social sciences and humanities.

For additional information, contact the Center for Southeast Asia Studies, UC Berkeley, CSEAS, 2223 Fulton St., No. 617, Berkeley CA 94720-2318. Tel. (510) 642-3609; Fax (510) 643-7062;

E-mail: cseas@uclink.berkeley.edu
http://ias.berkeley.edu/cseas

FRIDAY, April 9

9:00 - 9:15 a.m.
Welcome & Opening Remarks
Peter Zinoman, Chair, Center for Southeast Asia Studies; Associate Professor, History, UC Berkeley

9:15 - 11:00 a.m
PANEL 1: Newspapers and National Identity

"Nagaravatta: Racial Discourse and the Modern Khmer" - Ian Lowman, independent scholar

"Ethnic Nationalisms in Late Colonial Malaya" - Sze Wei Ang, Cornell University

"Secular Nationalism in Newspapers of the Philippines, 1889-1895" - Megan Thomas, UC Santa Cruz

"Searching for Civil Society: Indonesia's New Local Press and Democracy" - Elizabeth Morrell, Flinders University

Discussant: Annette Clear, UC Santa Cruz

11:15 - 12:45 p.m.
PANEL 2: Media and Modern Anxieties

"Broadcast from the Ruins: Producing News of the May 1998 Riots in Jakarta and Solo, Indonesia" - Fadjar Thufail, University of Wisconsin

"Indonesia in the Satellite Age: The Story of a Lighthouse Project and Its Role in the Formation of a National Ideology" - Joshua Barker, University of Toronto

"A Fallen BAT, a Rainbow and the Missing Head: Media and Marginalization in Upland Borneo" - Jay Crain; Vicki Pearson-Rounds, CSU Sacramento

Discussant: Aihwa Ong, UC Berkeley

2:00 - 3:45 p.m.
PANEL 3: Entangled Genres

"The Stories They Tell: Komik Strips during the Japanese Occupation Period of the Philippines, 1942-44" - Karl Cheng Chua, Ateneo de Manila University

"La Independencia and the Institutionalization of Literary Modernity in the Philippines" - Courtney Johnson, University of Wisconsin

"Hikayat Panglima Nikosa and the Sarawak Gazette: Transforming Texts in 19th Century Sarawak" - John Walker, University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy

"The Novel-Newspaper in Late Colonial Sumatra: Entangled Genres in Southern Batak Representations of the Modern" - Susan Rodgers, College of the Holy Cross

Discussant: Benito Vergara, San Francisco State University

4:15 - 6:00 p.m.
Keynote Address
Rudolf Mrazek, Associate Professor, History, University of Michigan

SATURDAY, April 10

9:00 - 10:45 a.m.
PANEL 4: Colonial and Post-Colonial Modernity in Indonesia

"'The legitimate heirs of the world': Indonesia's First Art Journal and Its Mediating Role for a Modern(izing) Indonesian Public" - Amanda Guimeraiz-Rath, Cornell University

"Youth and National Consciousness in Urban and Rural Colonial Indonesia: Comparing Mas Marco Kartodikromo's Student Hidjo with K.H. Saifuddin Zuhri's Guruku" - Stephanie Sapiie, CUNY Graduate Center

"'Gandring's Curse': Masculinities and Modernities in Pramoedya Ananta Toer's Arok Dedes" - Marshall Clark, University of Tasmania

"Jules Verne in the Indies" - Hendrik Maier, UC Riverside

Discussant: Jeffrey Hadler, UC Berkeley

11:00 - 12:45 p.m.
PANEL 5: Vietnam Modernities

"To Tam: Why is it Vietnam's First Modern Novel" - Ben Tran, UC Berkeley

"Thong Reo and the Case of the Missing Author" - Judith Henchy, University of Washington

"Ly Toet: Caricature as a Forum on Tradition and Modernity in Late Colonial Vietnam, 1932-1945" - Martina Nguyen, UC Berkeley

"Ly Toet in the City: Coming to Terms with the Modern in 1930s Vietnam" - George Dutton, UCLA

Discussant: Shawn McHale, George Washington University

2:00 - 3:45 p.m.
PANEL 6: Print Media and Colonial Perspectives

"The Metamorphosizing Dangerous Female: A Gender History of Late Colonial Burma" - Chie Ikeya, Cornell University

"Scaring the Daylights: Boven Digoel and Modernity in the Late Colonial Indies" - Paul Tickell, University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy

"In and Out of Circulation: Mechanical and Other Modes of Reproducing National Heroes Across Southeast Asia" - Leslie Woodhouse, UC Berkeley

"Capitalist Initiatives and Social Identities in Colonial Indonesia: Melajoe Print Media in the 1920s" - Nobuto Yamamoto, Keio University

Discussant: TBA

4:00 - 5:45 p.m.
PANEL 7: Modern Stories and Novels

"The Fall from Utopia in Linda Ty-Casper's Dream Eden" - Sherwin Mendoza, UC Santa Cruz

"Developmental State and Developmental Novel in Indonesia" - Mason Hoadley, Lund University

"Feminist Modernity in Singaporean Novel: Sexual Rights, Violence and Postcolonial Representation" - Es ha Niyogi De, UCLA

"Spectres of Agency in Ayu Utami's Novel Larung" - Laurie Sears, University of Washington

Discussant: TBA

5:45 - 6:00 p.m.
Closing Remarks
Peter Zinoman, Chair, Center for Southeast Asia Studies, UC Berkeley

6:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Informal reception

The Center for Southeast Asia Studies
International & Area Studies
University of California at Berkeley
2223 Fulton Street, #617
Berkeley, CA 94720-2318
Phone: (510) 642-3609
Fax: (510) 643-7062
http://ias.berkeley.edu/cseas/

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FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

VARIETY OF SUPPORT FROM WELLS FARGO
Wells Fargo Charitable Contributions Program

(http://www.wellsfargo.com/about/charitable/index.jhtml)

The Wells Fargo Charitable Contributions Program provides support to nonprofit organizations working to strengthen company communities and improve the quality of life for community residents. The Charitable Contributions Program varies from state to state. However, Wells Fargo generally supports the following areas of interest: community development, including housing, job training, and programs for small businesses and farms; K-12 education, with an emphasis on math, science and literacy; human services, including childcare, healthcare, and basic needs; and arts, culture and civic projects. Nonprofit organizations in communities served by the bank in 23 states, primarily in the western and midwestern United States, are eligible to apply. For detailed information on the funding priorities and application guidelines in each state, locate your state on the Wells Fargo website listed above.

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FUNDS FOR PROJECTS ADDRESSING EARLY CHILDHOOD
A.L. Mailman Family Foundation

(http://www.mailman.org/index.htm)

The mission of the A.L. Mailman Family Foundation is to enhance the ability of families and communities to nurture their children. Projects focused on early childhood that are national or regional in scope are supported. The Foundation's primary focus areas are early childhood care and education, family support, and moral education and social responsibility for children and youth. The next deadline for submitting letters of inquiry is May 15, 2004. Nonprofit organizations throughout the United States are eligible to apply. Visit the above website for more information.

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SBC FOUNDATION NONPROFIT TECHNOLOGY GRANTS

SBC Foundation: Excelerator Grant Program

(http://www.sbc.com/gen/corporate-citizenship?pid=2560)

The SBC Excelerator Grant Program provides grants to help nonprofit organizations integrate technology into their ongoing operations and community outreach. The program will award $5 million in competitive technology-related grants to help organizations in the SBC 13-state service area, build stronger communities. SBC's service area includes Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wisconsin. The program seeks to fund projects that build the technology infrastructure of nonprofits, enabling them to increase their organizational effectiveness and/or service delivery capability. Projects eligible for funding include Internet access, data networking, online outreach, staff technology capacity, and pooled technology resources. To qualify, an organization's major focus and project must be in one of the following areas: education, community development, health and human services, or arts and culture. The application deadline is August 13, 2004. Visit the website for more information.

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2004 TARGET COMMUNITY GIVING GRANT PROGRAM

(http://target.com/target_group/community_giving/index.jhtml)

Target Inc.'s local and regional stores are accepting proposals for its grant program. The funding focuses on three areas: the arts, early childhood reading, and family violence prevention. Target supports family violence prevention including funding for parenting education, crisis nurseries, family counseling, after-school programs, support groups and abuse shelters.

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HERB BLOCK FOUNDATION

PROGRAM: Defending Freedoms; Encouraging Citizen Involvement; Pathways Out of Poverty

SUMMARY: The Herb Block Foundation is committed to defending the basic freedoms guaranteed all Americans, combating all forms of discrimination and prejudice and improving the conditions of the poor and underprivileged through the creation or support of charitable and educational programs with the same goals.

DEADLINE: Letters of Inquiry are due on the following dates:
Encouraging Citizen Involvement – June 21, 2004
Defending Basic Freedoms – October 12, 2004
Pathways Out of Poverty – deadline has passed for 2004 funding (February 23, 2004)

APPLICATION PROCEDURE: The Herbert Block Foundation uses a two-step process for evaluation grant proposals.  First, organizations are required to first submit a Letter of Inquiry.  If after reviewing the Letter of Inquiry, the Foundation will ask the organization to submit a full proposal.

(http://www.herbblockfoundation.org/)

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JOBS/INTERNSHIPS

VIETNAM EDUCATION FOUNDATION - SENIOR PROGRAM OFFICER

THE FOUNDATION

The Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF) was established by the President of the United States on December 20, 2000, as an independent government agency.  VEF’s overall purpose is to promote closer relations between the U.S. and Vietnam by establishing opportunities for Vietnamese nationals to pursue graduate and post-graduate studies in science and technology in the U.S., and for American citizens to teach in the same fields of studies in Vietnam.

THE SENIOR PROGRAM OFFICER

The Senior Program Officer reports directly to the Executive Director, and is responsible for the implementation and management of VEF’s programs (see attached strategy and program announcement).

VEF Fellowship and VEF Seminar Programs

• Oversees and manages the fellowship and VEF seminar programs;
• Establishes, as necessary, and maintains vendor relationships for the recruitment of scientists’ participation in the programs;
• Works with selected vendor to negotiate incentives and secure U.S. scientists’ participation in the initiatives;
• Coordinates and manages the details and logistics of the VEF fellowship program to include recruitment of candidates, prescreening, testing, interviews of candidates by U.S. scientists and subsequent recommendation and placement activities;
• Travels to U.S. educational institutions to secure placement of students and to negotiate tuition and other assistance from these institutions;
• Manages and coordinates all details of the seminar program’s rotation of U.S. scientists;
• Travels to Vietnam and works closely with VEF Field Office, Vietnamese universities, and other businesses and institutions on programs and related issues.
• Other duties as assigned by the Executive Director.

Institutional Bridge Program

• Works closely with universities (foreign and domestic) as part of the Institutional Bridge program to establish, manage and maintain the necessary partnerships, agreements, and resources necessary to carry out this program;
• Manages the flow of students and professors to/from each institution to ensure the best possible match of and educational promise (students) and talents and expertise.
• Acts as a liaison between the participating schools to ensure VEF’s obligations to both parties are fulfilled;
• Travels to participating schools to ensure program objectives are met;
• Conducts periodic reviews of program and universities to ascertain the effectiveness of the program and to make recommendations for improvement, resource allocation, and other items that would ensure the program’s success.
• Other duties as assigned by the Executive Director.

KNOWLEDGE AND QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED BY THE POSITION

• Substantial experience managing international educational and/or research programs or projects.
• Working knowledge of U.S. educational system structure and culture and their associated international students’ initiatives and programs.
• Proven leadership ability and administrative skills.
• Analytical and information-gathering skills.
• Ability to communicate well, to express ideas clearly and persuasively, both orally and in writing.
• Ability to successfully represent the goals and mission of VEF.
• Computer proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite, to include Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook and Access.
• Proficiency in using the Internet.
• Vietnamese language ability a plus.
• Ability to travel for extended periods.

EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS

Graduate level degree from an English-speaking institution in education, science (natural or physical), technology or engineering.  Ph.D. degree and knowledge of Vietnamese educational system a plus.

CONTACT:      Cover letter and resume should be sent to kienpham@vef.gov

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TIPS/RESOURCES 

PUBLICATION EXPLORES BLURRING BOUNDARIES BETWEEN NONPROFIT AND BUSINESS SECTORS

W.K. Kellogg Foundation: Blurred Boundaries and Muddled Motives - A World of Shifting Social Responsibilities

(http://www.wkkf.org/Pubs/PhilVol/SectorBlurReport_00251_03774.pdf)

The report "Blurred Boundaries and Muddled Motives - A World of Shifting Social Responsibilities" from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's Philanthropy and Volunteerism team explores a growing trend: the blurring of traditional boundaries between the nonprofit and private business sectors. The report features descriptions of some of the organizations that are pioneers within the boundaries of shifting social responsibility and the issues they are discovering. Additionally, it highlights some of the motivations and challenges of each, and brings into clearer focus the blurred area all institutions are learning to inhabit. Click on the above link to read the publication.

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NEWS

March 26, 2004

COLLECTIVE SEEKS VIETNAMESE ARTISTS FOR SHOW AND FUTURE EXHIBITS

Kathleen Sullivan

A newly formed group, the VietArts Collective, is looking for Vietnamese American artists -- literary, visual and performance -- to feature in a show that will be held in San Francisco in May.

The deadline -- April 2 -- is fast approaching.

"There is such a limited time to submit work for this particular showcase, but we're also hoping to collect enough artists to feature in future shows as well,'' said Ly Nguyen, 28, one of the founders of the collective.

Nguyen, who is writing a novel, said the all-volunteer collective is open to all forms of art.

"We're looking for traditional artists, as well as new forms of urban art, such as spoken word artists and people who may be doing break dancing,'' she said.

"We don't want to leave anyone out. More and more new arts are coming out in the city.''

Young and old are invited to submit work.

"Some elders who live in the Tenderloin may be working on something,'' she said. "We don't want it to be just a youth event.''

She said the collective was formed a few weeks ago by a group of Vietnamese American artists from Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco who met at an art show -- a fund-raiser for a youth group -- last year.

She said the Vietnamese American art community is fairly new, dating from 1975 when the Vietnam War ended.

The collective hopes to establish support for emerging artists and find places to showcase their work.

"One of the things Vietnamese Americans have in common with other Asian Americans is that art is not necessarily something our families support,'' Nguyen said.

Send samples or a brief summary of your work to VietArts Collective, 4408 Webster St., Oakland, CA, 94609, or to vietartscollective@yahoo.com.

The VietArts Collective Show will be held May 21 at Locus Arts, at 2857 24th St. (at Bryant Street).

(http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/03/26/WBG6O5PL5K1.DTL)

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March 31, 2004

THEIR PORT HAS ITS OWN STORMY SEAS

By Marilyn Gardner

Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. – Like many retirees who see Florida as a land of promise, My Hao Tran was drawn here by the appeal of warm weather, sun, and water.

"I like to go to the beach, be healthy," she says simply.

Mrs. Tran's serene manner gives no hint of the 30-year odyssey that led her from war-torn Vietnam to this idyllic spot. Like others in her homeland who fled in rickety boats under an intense media spotlight after the 1975 fall of Saigon, she escaped with nothing. Now retired after years of low-paying work, she lives invisibly, part of the ranks of older Vietnamese refugees around the United States who long ago faded from public attention. Although some have done well, many like Tran struggle to stretch meager incomes.

Call it the graying of the boat people. "When they first arrived, they were in middle age," says Bun Hap Prak, executive director of the Asian Family and Community Empowerment Center here. "Now they're reaching seniority."

In 1975, the largest number of Vietnamese refugees - 125,000 - arrived in the United States. Some boat people came directly to Florida. Other refugees, former political prisoners, arrived in the mid-1990s, making their homes in a variety of states. Now Mr. Prak sees a third migration as older Vietnamese move to the Sun Belt from states with harsher climates.

Today, nearly 25,000 Asians live in the St. Petersburg area, a number that has doubled in a decade. Of those, about 2,000 Vietnamese are over the age of 65. Another 700 Vietnamese over 65 live in the Tampa area. Add older Laotian refugees and Cambodians who survived "the killing fields," and the numbers increase.

Older Vietnamese often speak little or no English, and many are undereducated. The majority arrived in the US after enduring years of oppression, torture, and imprisonment. Traumatized by the war and malnourished in refugee camps, they faced special challenges.

Much-needed support

Now their needs are beginning to attract attention. Last October, the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center in Washington sponsored the first conference on aging among Southeast Asian-Americans. Although it was held in Sacramento, Calif., and focused on residents of California, the issues transcend state lines. These include housing, transportation, healthcare, and language proficiency.

Groups like Prak's, scattered around the country, offer support and a sense of community.

Shortly before noon on a cloudy Sunday, 75 Vietnamese seniors gather at the All-Asian Center a few miles from downtown St. Petersburg for an afternoon of food, conversation, and dancing. Men in suits and ties and women in silk dresses have come to celebrate the Lunar New Year and attend the annual meeting of the Association of Senior Citizens of Vietnamese Origin, a 400-member group in Tampa Bay. Almost all are refugees, enjoying a chance to socialize.

Inside the stucco building, a hand-painted map of Vietnam decorates one wall. Conversations fill the room, and the aroma of Vietnamese dishes drifts from the kitchen. Tables laden with food offer a welcome feast, especially for those on stringent budgets.

Some come from prosperous backgrounds. One former doctor was educated in France. Another guest, once the director of a cement factory in Vietnam, now works as a guard in a parking lot. The gathering also includes a descendant of the imperial family of Vietnam, a former colonel in the Vietnamese Army, and others who worked as lawyers, architects, and physicians.

Despite the prosperity they enjoyed in their homeland, they were not able to find similar positions in the US. "They are poor people here," says Daniel Luu, president of the association.

Two physicians, Tu Nguyen and her husband, Nhu Nguyen, spent 18 years apart before he was released from Vietnamese prisons.

In 1977, Mrs. Nguyen arranged for their young daughter to flee Vietnam on a boat, accompanied by a family friend. She made her way to Israel and then to New York, where she lived with Mrs. Nguyen's sister. Their second daughter escaped by plane two years later.

Not until 1981 was Mrs. Nguyen reunited with them in New York. She worked for 10 years as a physician's assistant. Her husband finally joined the family in Florida in 1993, but was never able to work here.

Today the couple live frugally in a small condo in Largo, Fla. In retirement, both write for Vietnamese magazines. They take one trip a year to visit relatives. Last week they traveled to Texas for a nephew's wedding.

Another couple, who ask to be identified only as Mr. and Mrs. Chau, explain that he had been a judge in Vietnam. Here in Florida, both worked in minimum-wage jobs for six years, until their employer considered them too old. Four of their six adult children live with them and help with expenses.

That kind of intergenerational support follows the pattern in their own country. "In Vietnam, parents live with you in their old age," Mr. Luu says. "It's your duty to feed and take care of them."

Here, some Vietnamese parents find that their Americanized children do not have the same respect, or lack the time and resources to care for them.

Some, like Tran, are childless. "I have nobody here," she says quietly.

Long, lonely struggle

In 1975, when she was in her early 40s, Tran escaped from Vietnam on a small fishing boat. A freighter took her to the Philippines, and she later traveled to Guam. She spent more than a decade in Pennsylvania and another 10 years in California before moving to St. Petersburg in 2002.

Formerly a midwife in Vietnam, she worked in the US for 11 years in a variety of jobs, including in a shoe factory and a meatpacking plant. For two years she worked in a nursing home in Pennsylvania, earning $3 an hour. "They cheat me," she says.

Now Tran lives in a federally subsidized two-room apartment. Despite its simplicity, she says, "I like it there."

Her meager budget imposes constant limits. She receives $505 a month in Social Security, $77 in Supplemental Social Security), and $28 in food stamps. That totals $610 a month, or $7,320 a year.

"How you going to live on it?" she asks. "It's hard. When I go to supermarket, everything is too expensive. I eat very simply - something cheap, like vegetables. Sometimes fish." Her embroidered blouse cost $4, her purse $2. "I buy only secondhand, never new."

Tran fills her days by going to church in the morning, walking the beach, exercising, and talking with Vietnamese friends.

She learned English by writing unfamiliar words on her arm, then looking them up in a dictionary. Her language proficiency gives her an advantage over refugees who must depend on interpreters. About 80 percent do not speak English well enough to go to a doctor or lawyer, Luu notes.

Now many older Southeast Asians are struggling to learn English to pass the citizenship test. They must become citizens to receive Social Security benefits. Many also cannot afford decent housing. "Sometimes five elderly [people] will cram into one studio apartment," Prak says. "They have to create their own invisible partition and pretend they have privacy."

A few Vietnamese seniors have no home at all. "They just roam around," says Prak. "Their family abandoned them, or they left their family in another state."

It is not the life many expected. Because of the American alliance with South Vietnam during the war, Prak says, "They thought the government here would take care of them. They thought they would have a pension and housing."

As one way to make life more comfortable for older refugees, Prak wants to establish an Asian senior center, where seniors can socialize, play cards and Ping-Pong, and enjoy nourishing meals. Elderly Asians typically do not eat Western food. 

But finding money for such a project is difficult.

"Oftentimes programs for Asians are underfunded," Prak says. "Nobody advocates for them." Americans, he notes, assume that Asian families will take care of their elders.

Grateful for freedom

Whatever their hardships, many of these boat people and refugees express appreciation for their adopted home. Nham Thach spent 13 years in prison in Vietnam and four years in refugee camps in Thailand before arriving in the US in 1995. Wounded eight times in the war, he rolls up one sleeve to reveal an injured arm, and slips off a shoe to point to an injured foot. He was widowed five years ago, and his adult children remain in Vietnam.

"I like freedom - freedom to do whatever we want to do," Mr. Thach says.

Mrs. Chau echoes that sentiment: "We appreciate the American people and the government. We found freedom here."

(http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0331/p11s01-lihc.html)

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April 1, 2004

U.S. TO TAP BEIJING EMBASSY DEPUTY AS VIETNAM ENVOY

Bloomberg

U.S. President George W. Bush plans to nominate Michael Marine, a diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in China, as the next American ambassador to Vietnam, the White House said in a statement.

Marine, deputy chief of mission in Beijing, would be the third U.S. ambassador in Hanoi since diplomatic ties resumed in 1995 after a two- decade postwar gap. Pete Peterson served from 1997 to 2001 and Ambassador Raymond Burghardt has been in the capital since December 2001.

Vietnam's exports to the U.S. rose 87 percent in 2003, the fastest growth in East Asia, buoyed by a trade accord that took effect in December 2001. This made it one of the 40 largest U.S. trading partners and the U.S.'s fifth-largest clothing supplier.

``The real challenge is to frame the trade issues in the context of the overall strategic relationship,'' said Fred Burke, a partner in the Ho Chi Minh City office of U.S.-based law firm Baker & McKenzie. ``The relationship appears to have fared pretty well, despite disputes on dumping cases and human rights.''

Vietnam's exports to the U.S. fell 2 percent in January from a year earlier, affected by garment quotas and U.S. anti-dumping duties on Vietnamese catfish. Shrimp exports, which increased 23 percent last year, dropped in January after the U.S. shrimp industry filed an anti-dumping suit.

`Gone To Bat'

``Burghardt has been very smart about how he's handled the relationship,'' Burke said in a telephone interview. ``He's gone to bat for Vietnam several times in Washington, for example in trying to get them a better textile deal.''

The garment quotas applied to Vietnam were contained in an American-Vietnamese textile accord agreed to in April 2003. Last year also included the first visit by a U.S. Navy ship to Vietnam since the Vietnam War ended in 1975.

``The U.S. is trying to help Vietnam build a better relationship with Southeast Asian countries as an implicit bulwark against Chinese dominance in the region,'' said William Duiker, a retired professor of East Asian Studies at Pennsylvania State University and the author of several books on Vietnam.

``Vietnam is the one country in the region that's most likely to stand up to China,'' said Duiker. ``The Vietnamese don't really want to be put in that position, but they want the U.S. around as a trump card in case things get difficult with the Chinese.''

Still, the U.S. State Department, in an annual report in February, said Vietnam has a poor human rights record and has committed serious abuses. Vietnam's Foreign Ministry protested, saying the report had hurt improving ties.

The U.S. government's position on Vietnam's rights record and other issues may soften because it needs the country's help in anti-terrorism efforts, said Martin Gainsborough, a Vietnam specialist at the U.K.'s University of Warwick.

Strategic Relationship

``It's important to the U.S. to keep various Southeast Asian countries on board,'' Gainsborough said in a phone interview. ``There is a broader strategic relationship developing between Washington and Hanoi.''

Marine, 56, has been deputy chief of mission in Beijing since 2000 after serving as deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya in 1997-2000, a period that included a terrorist attack on the facility.

A former Marine Corps member, Marine majored in Chinese history at the University of California at Santa Barbara and entered the U.S. Foreign Service in 1975, according to a biography released by the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi. Burghardt also has a China background, having served as American consul general in Shanghai from 1997 to 1999.

``If there's one single qualification you want now for an ambassador in Hanoi, it would be a sound knowledge of the triangular relationship between China, Vietnam and the U.S.,'' Duiker said. ``Almost everything the U.S. does with the Vietnamese has the Chinese in the background, whether it's defense talks, human rights or trade.''

Under U.S. law, Bush will need Senate approval for Marine's appointment as ambassador to Vietnam.

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April 2, 2004

SAN JOSÉ OFFICERS TRAIN ON NEW STUN GUNS

POLICE SAY 50,000-VOLT TASERS PROVIDE PRACTICAL ALTERNATIVE TO THE USE OF DEADLY FORCE

By Crystal Carreon
Mercury News

San Jose police Sgt. Nick Muyo stepped up to the firing line Thursday morning and popped off three rounds into the target staring back at him from the shooting-range wall. When the rounds struck, they sent out a surge of sparks.

If the target had been a real criminal, police say, he would have dropped instantly from the 50,000-volt jolt from Muyo's Taser stun gun.

``I love this thing,'' Muyo said moments after firing the Taser X-26 during a training demonstration.

As the San Jose Police Department prepares to become the first Bay Area city to outfit every patrol officer with a Taser, daily training is under way. Police say the less-than-lethal technology will give officers an alternative to deadly force and reduce the number of injuries in confrontations.

The subject of Thursday's class -- the new Taser-X26 -- is the latest battery-powered stun gun capable of firing darts at a speed of 180 feet per second. The darts are wired with enough voltage to temporarily disable an assailant by scrambling the impulses sent by the brain to the rest of the body.

The police department recently bought 629 stun guns, the largest Taser arsenal in the state, and expects to have every officer and sergeant in the patrol division armed with the lightweight stun guns this month.

``If we had this 28 years ago, it would have saved me from several scars and bandages,'' Muyo said. ``Times are changing.''

The decision to arm every officer with Tasers arrives less than a year after police fatally shot a Vietnamese woman who was wielding a large vegetable peeler. The officer who shot her was cleared of criminal wrongdoing, but the incident sparked community outrage and a review of police procedures for potentially deadly situations.

Contact Crystal Carreon at ccarreon@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5460.

(http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/8337433.htm)

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April 4, 2004

Group official: Vietnamese not happy with Kerry

By Edward Hegstrom

Houston Chronicle

Much has been made about Bush and Kerry and Vietnam -- who served, who didn't, and what this means to young Americans, old Americans, Vietnam veterans.

But what about the Vietnamese?

Nearly a million natives of Vietnam now live in America, and many of them have become citizens and voters. Yet no one seems interested in asking them what they think about the issues surrounding Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., a Vietnam war veteran who later opposed the war, and President Bush, who avoided service in Vietnam by joining the National Guard.

The older Vietnamese -- the ones who fought alongside American troops in South Vietnam and then fled to America after the communists took over -- pay close attention to American presidential politics, particularly when it comes to their native country.

These Vietnamese vets do not appear to feel much affinity with Kerry the war hero, as some American vets say they do. Unlike other Americans, for whom Vietnam is mostly a memory, some Vietnamese-Americans continue to dream of overthrowing the communist government in their homeland.

Their opinions of Kerry and Bush have been formed by more recent events.

"The Vietnamese people are not happy with Kerry," said Binh Nguyen, who heads the Houston office of the Vietnamese-American Public Affairs Committee, or VPAC. The reason, he and many others say, is House Resolution 2833.

In 2001, the United States House of Representatives, by a vote of 410 to 1, passed a bill that would link U.S. aid to Vietnam to the improvement of human rights conditions in the country. But the bill was blocked in the Senate the following year by Kerry, who was then chair of the subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

In a statement at the time, Kerry said he believed it was better to push for human rights through engagement with Vietnam. Not mincing his words, the senator openly took on the Vietnamese then protesting near his office, noting that HR 2833 would "strengthen the hand of the Vietnamese hard-liners who have never wanted the United States involved in Vietnam."

Other American vets of the Vietnam war, including Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, have also called for improving ties with Vietnam. And many foreign policy experts share Kerry's belief that engagement is the best way to bring human rights reforms, economic prosperity and democracy to countries like Vietnam.

But Kerry's position on Vietnam is difficult to reconcile with his position on Cuba, where he supports continuing the trade embargo. And while he criticizes "Vietnamese hard-liners," he courts Cuban hard-liners for his presidential campaign.

Kerry obviously worries about the Cuban vote, but not the Vietnamese vote.

"He thinks we are not an important minority," laments Nguyen. "We'd like to have our perspective known to him, but we haven't had the chance."

The discrepancy between Vietnamese and Cubans cannot be explained by simple demographics. There are more Vietnamese than Cubans in America (988,000 vs. 873,000), but since Cubans have lived in the United States longer, they are likely to have more registered voters.

Cultural and generation differences may be a factor. While older Vietnamese worry most about fighting communism in their homeland, the younger generations are more liberal, according to Andrew Tran, a Vietnamese-American active in the local Democratic party. (Then again, some polls show recently arrived Cubans are more liberal than the first-generation exiles).

But geography offers the best explanation. When the Cubans fled their native island around 1960, they all settled in Miami, a small city they eventually took over. When the Vietnamese exiles arrived 15 years later, the U.S. government forced them to settle throughout the country. The unspoken goal of this costly dispersal program was to avoid the creation of a Vietnamese equivalent of Miami.

The Vietnamese did eventually concentrate in areas like Orange County and San Jose, Calif.; Houston; Seattle and New Orleans. But they have five or six centers as compared to one for the Cubans.

And the Vietnamese happen to have settled mostly in states that are not in play in this election. There are not enough of them in California to keep Kerry from winning there, and their votes don't much matter in Texas, a state Bush will almost certainly take anyway.

The Cubans, on the other hand, have the fortune of living in Florida, likely a swing state. So while magazines like The New Yorker run lengthy analysis pieces about the way Cuban Americans may decide the next election, no one notices the Vietnamese.

Judging by the news magazine covers, it appears the Vietnam War will become a major factor in the upcoming presidential election. But the Vietnamese people will probably be ignored.

Contact Hegstrom at edward.hegstrom@chron.com

(http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2486202)

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About NCVA
Founded in 1986, the National Congress of Vietnamese Americans is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community advocacy organization working to advance the cause of Vietnamese Americans in a plural but united America – e pluribus unum – by participating actively and fully as civic minded citizens engaged in the areas of education, culture and civil liberties.