Re: Xa lo^. Tru*o*`ng So*n

[Tuan Pham <tuan.pham@unsw.edu.au>]

wind015 <wind015@ipch.ynu.ac.jp> wrote

>2) We are very behind comparing with other countries and have no choice 
>but to play the catch-up game...
>
>3) Please remember that we are poor but we have to catch up, that mean 
>we have to take the risk and have to go out of the beaten track...
>
>Nguyen N.D.
>

Hi

Frankly, I find this kind of reasoning EXTREMELY scary.
It is the same kind of reasoning that Mao used to justify his
"great leap forward", backyard steelmills and all. China is
too far behind, he said,  we must take risks or will never catch
up... The result is that China fell backwards more and more.
It was only when Deng came to power and rational economic 
decision making began to be made that China started to reverse 
its slide and started to make real progress. China is now 10 years
ahead of Vietnam. That's not such a big lead - with patience
and keeping a cool head, Vietnam may well catch up. By losing
its cool and taking poorly calculated gambles, it may well
slide back.

Let's make it clear - I am not saying here that the TS highway is 
(or is not) a poorly calculated gamble, I am addressing the general
line of reasoning of the above message.

There is a saying whose author I have forgotten:  The world belongs
to the enthusiast who keeps cool.

It must also be pointed out that in a real race, in order to venture
SUCCESSFULLY outside the beaten track, you must be BETTER 
trained, BETTER informed, MORE clever than other competitors,
otherwise you will simply stumble and fall. IS VIETNAM'S LEADERSHIP
BETTER TRAINED, BETTER INFORMED, MORE CLEVER than those of other 
countries?

Cheers
Tuan Pham