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Re: Tru*o*`ng So*n Road ...to Mr. Tuan Pham
Hi Mr. Tuan Pham
It could be a surprise to you but I can agree with most of what you say.
Taking the heat out of it, it is enough to say simply that the politics
should not be the only reason behind this kind of project. However, the danger
lies in the opposite direction as well. The world-famous problem of traffic
in Bangkok is a good example. They have the money, they have the technology
the knowledge... but every time a new government want to do that, the opposition
parties try their best to stall because they do not want their rival to
take the credit. If you live in Vietnam for the past 10 years, you could
realize that things like the Mao era is not likely to happen. In fact,
I think that there is more danger in the other end. ( I could be over-
optimist here but that is what the debate is for )
I also see that you don't feel good with the term catch up and I am willing
to withdraw it. Actually, it come to my mind because I want others to focus
on the year 2020 and realize the need for this road at that time.
My main concern is that given the importance and the SIZE of this project,
we better start it now. 20 years for such project is not too long.
In no way I support the idea of dropping every thing else to do that.
With a cool head, you could see that 10 days of salary a year is more
like a hike in the tax than the mass mobilization. It is kind of extra
effort that we make for the 20 years from now. After the WW II, Japan was
at the bottom, japanese people had to make sacrifice too and now they
are on the top. Isn't that a catch-up thing ?
>
>>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...
I start to feel regreting on putting the word "risky" in my post.
Maybe next time I wouldn't take that risk.
>>
>>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.
Right here too but I think that except some few words on about 5% of
my post quoted here which I am willing to drop anyway, my post is
more "cool-headed" than this post of yours.
Actually, I felt that the talk on the foreign media about the forced
labor issue is too artificial and adding too much heat to a problem
which need a cool head. That was part of the reason of my last post.
Very sorry if the effect of my post was just the opposite.
>
>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?
So, this could be another problem among many that we have. Should we drop
everything else because of it? Should we wait for a new generation of
leadership to take on the Tru+o+`ng So+n Road ?
But this point is too politic to my personal taste. Anyway, discussions,
in Quo^'c Ho^.i and in forum like this could alleviate this problem, don't
you think ?
Regards
Nguyen N.D.
>
>Cheers
>Tuan Pham