PEOPLE

Th Bwt Psople
gwernment ha8 evolved a scheme to help Vicmmesc cope with
housing, schools, shopping, and weIfarc entidements. A spokesman
for the department of immigration and ethnic affairs, which is
organizing the project, said thm had been fewer prbbltms than
expected with assimilating refugees. He desdbed them a5 quiet,
law-ubiding pple, like those refugw who came immediately afta
the second world war. They had settled in very well.
Nguyen Van Dong is twenty-nine and a bachelor. 'Thc msin
problem for Viemamese in Australia is that thtre are not enough
Viemamese women,' he says with a soft smile. Ht sits in his am11
Sydney room - a student's room, with a bed and books and an elcctric
jug - and talks about Vietmm. He is gmteful to Austr~lia but
he wants to talk about Viemam, 'Australia is your country,' he says,
' V i m is mine! He is mefully honest about his people: 'Vietnamese
are stubborn, stubborn and arrogant. Vietmmcse csnnot live
happily anywhere except in Vietnam. They are the most nationalistic
people in the world! He was in the army and left Saigon r few days .
after it fell in 1975. He docs not like the communist rtgime, but supports
it against China. 'The Chinese in south Vietnam made a lot
of money when the French and the Americans were there. They
looked down on us.' He is amused that some formerly rich Chinese
who had arrived in Australia without any money had come to him
for help. 'I gave them something, In a yar or two they will probably
be rich again.' He laughs. 'The Chinese will bt just as happy in Australia
as in Viemam, Singapore or Hong Kong. All they want to do
is make money, Where they make it does not matter!
Prompted to talk ubout his life io Australia, he remarks on the
spacious countryside ~nd the wide streets, which frightened him
when he arrived, Viemamese iike to cluster together. 'We spend
hours arguing about what is happening in our country. Some botheads
want to stir up public opinion in the west, so that the dgime
in Hanoi will be overthrown! He smiles at the fanwsy. 'But most
of us want to keep out of politics in Australia, We art grateful. Australia
has been good to ua We do nor want to be a nuisance! Despite
all the mlk about politics, he klicves most Vietnamew left bemuse
of food shortages. He keeps in touch by letter with members of his
family in Vicmam (the mail, though slow, seems regular),
Some Vicfnamcse in Australia, he said, have had 'bad experiences'
(of racial prcjudiee) in Qutensland and Wcrtem Ausmlia, but those
who have settled in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide have been
made welcome. Could he marry an Aumalian girl? 'It is pdble,'
hc says thwghrfully. 'But there would be cultural problems. We
Vietnamese arc difficult to live with . , . very intense and selfcentred.'
In any case, he is not thinking about marriage, When he
has mrnplettd his coune (in engineering) he intends to work hard
in Australia, to establish himself and also to repay hh adopted
counay, and then, perhaps in ten or fifteen years, he would like ro
return to Vietnam - 'to help my people'.
Scatr dire~wia
What they lose in the way of climate, the h t people who come to
Scandinavia make up in the highly org~niztd welfare-state operation
to assimilate them into Nordic society, Apartments are found for
hem, they are given frtc tuition in their host country's language and
get he same social benefits as a native. Scandinavia h a a libtrsll mitude
on racial questions: protests at the influx of Vietnamese havc
been so rare as to bt virtually non-cxistcnr.
In Sweden, where 1250 refugees will eventually be settled, the
operation to assimilate them into Swedish society proctcds with all
the precision of a Volvo production line. When rhe refugees step
ashore at Ahus in the southern province of She, they are given s
medics1 examination and for the next two to three weeks live colhtively
in a tescttlement centre. Thq then move out to other towns
in the south where they are given apmma whm thcy shop, cook
and look after themselves, There art intensive coursm in Swedish
for adults, and children are looked after in special dny centres, All
children over the age of seven stan school in the ordinary Swedish
educational system, one of the best in the world. Even when the h t
people leave their proteetad environment, the social welfare authorities
will maintain contact with them and they will continue to be
given free language tuition.
As the refugees come into Sweden, thcy will be spread fairly
evenly around the southern provinces. As to how thcy feel about
their new homeland, it is difficult to say. Most of them are still so
pathetieally grateful to havc left the ampr that they arc unable to