For that reason the most visible man at the festivities was Triet, a southerner who had been with the old National Liberation Front, the Viet Cong guerrillas and activists who fought in the South before the Americans arrived in force in 1965 and the North Vietnamese took over. It seemed equally logical that Nong Duc Manh, who may have more power than Triet in his role as the Communist Party of Vietnam's general secretary, was not in attendance. He is a northerner and rumored to be the son of Ho Chi Minh, which he has denied.
The route of the parade ran a couple of miles up the broad avenue leading to the palace, and all those in the cheering throng had to have passes to attend. But non-stop television coverage on a panoply of government and party networks insured maximum publicity. It was the biggest event of the holiday, this city's day to wallow in pride — or, more accurately, the chance for the Ho Chi Minh People's Committee and the local branch of the party to breathe inspiration and loyalty into a populace that quietly resents the ultimate dominance of Hanoi.
In that spirit, the vice chairman of the HCM People's Committee dwelled on the vibrancy of a metropolitan region that rivals that of some of the major cities of China in its rapid pursuit of industrialization and economic modernization. "You can see a lot of changes here," he reminded a group of foreign journalists, many of whom had covered Vietnam in the old days before April 30, 1975. "We are the most vibrant center for economic advance. We are a city of enormous economic potential with an average economic growth rate of 10 percent a year."
While such figures are always difficult to prove, this city does appear to be a driving force of expansion, a commercial hub whose tendrils extend throughout at least the southern one-third of the country. Ho Chi Minh City, now bursting with at least 9 million people, including 2 million who have moved in from outlying provinces in search of jobs, contributes 21 percent of the country's gross domestic product, 13 percent of the national budget and an astounding 40 percent of the country's export revenue.
The question is whether the people of Ho Chi Minh City — and much of the rest of the southern reaches of the country, including the Mekong Delta rice bowl — will eventually grow restive under the grip of the less commercially dynamic northerners. The answer for now and at least the near future is maybe — but certainly not to the point of a rebellion that would end the economic boom and result in tremendous hardship and suffering, reminiscent of the tragedy of the Vietnam War.
As the holiday parade suggested, the policy of Hanoi is to display nationalist benevolence, to encourage free enterprise and let the good capitalist times roll. There is just one catch: all news and views, everything in print, on the air, in theaters or on the Internet must be reviewed and is often censored. And, of course, there is no bona fide political opposition in a society where the party politburo, which includes the president but is controlled by the general secretary, reigns supreme.
A retired general, Nguyen Van Tai, spoke about the "Ho Chi Minh campaign" that precipitated the downfall of the Saigon regime. He said that Gen. Duong Van "Big" Minh, who took over as president for the last 43 hours of the regime's existence in order to arrange the surrender, and his cabinet were free to "return to their families" after the Communist victory.
He claimed, however, to have no information when asked about the re-education camps to which thousands of southerners, notably officers of the South Vietnamese armed forces, were consigned and from which many never returned.
"Our policy is to put aside the past and look to the future," said Col. Nguyen Van Bach of the Veterans' Association. "The victory was a victory of the whole nation."
That's a message repeated constantly as television channels broadcast endless footage of communist forces on the march to victory. There is no mistaking the need to hark back again and again to those days. People here need no better reminder of the need to stick to business and leave policy to the conquerors from the north. If Ho Chi Minh City dominates the economy, no one forgets that Hanoi, 1,500 kilometers away, remains the center of power — and final dispenser of fear and favor.