Irvine, California – “Today, fellow countrymen, executing your mandate to me on June 30, 2002 I am honored to present to you the cabinet of the Government of Free Vietnam , a cabinet responsible for the reclamation of our country and liberation of the Vietnamese people from the dictatorial rule of the communist regime”.

 

Said Mr. Nguyễn Hữu Chánh, Prime Minister of the Government of Free Vietnam in front of 4,120 fellow Vietnamese (figure obtained from the UCI Bren Events Center’s counters) who came to witness the inauguration ceremony of the Government of Free Vietnam in Southern California in the afternoon of January 19, 2003. This location is approximately a 30 minute drive from Little Saigon, the spiritual capital of anti-communist Vietnamese refugees.

 

Bren Events Center, an immense hall, was solemnly decorated with a broad stage on which sat the altar of Vietnam’s Forefathers in front of a map of Vietnam and between two sets of ancient sabres.The altar and the sets of weapons were flanked by statues of Great Emperor Quang Trung and National Hero Trần Hưng Đạo both over 10 feet tall. Further out from the altar were a big drum on the right and a large copper gong. The honorable senior Hoàng Hoán took the responsibility of setting up the Forefathers altar.

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High above the Forefathers alter hung a giant flag of the former Republic of Vietnam which was flanked by two parallel sentences which said “Wisdom and generosity over force and atrocity – Noble cause over evil acts” which are excerpts of the famous “Bình Ngô Đại Cáo” or “Announcement after ousting Chinese invaders” written by the great strategist and writer Nguyễn TrãI after he helped Emperor Lê LợI free the country from Chinese ̣(Ming dynasty) domination.   READMORE >>