How a nation deals with the past: An Asian story

How do countries deal with their past? To some, this may be an academic question. But if you are an Indian, you know it not an issue confined to the seminar circuit.

In this country, dead Mughal emperors animate political discourse for months. Sangeet Som, a leading light of the ruling BJP, has the unique distinction of labelling the Taj Mahal, India’s pride and one of the world’s most iconic monuments, as a “blot on Indian culture” built by “traitors”.

As elections draw closer, expect more prattle about the past, more talk about Mughals who ruled centuries ago, their monuments, their mayhem. Now, no one with a nodding acquaintance with Indian history sees Mughal rulers as the poster boys of the post-Enlightenment ideals of equal rights for all citizens and freedoms as we understand it today. If only the commotion over the Mughals had ignited a wider discussion about other pre-modern empires and comparative history. Alas, what we have got so far instead is high-decibel rhetoric, reducing Mughal history to a morality play.

As a country with a zillion real problems, should we spend our collective energies trying to undo the past, continuously savage those who don’t fit into our frame of analysis, or should we move on without being oblivious to history or its often-contradictory interpretations?

On a recent vacation to Vietnam, it was fascinating to see how this feisty nation has dealt with its past, including its most painful chapters.

Most Indians see Vietnam through the images of war, bloodshed, suffering, and iconic photographs such as the one of a naked little Vietnamese girl fleeing her napalmed village. In Vietnam, they call it the “American War”. Millions of Vietnamese were killed; more than half were civilians; thousands of Americans also died.

I have always been fascinated by Vietnam. I was too young to cotton on to the politics behind the slogans but as a child growing up in Kolkata in the late 1960s and early 1970s, I remember “Amar nam, Tomar nam, Vietnam... Vietnam”, which literally translates as “My name, Your name, Vietnam... Vietnam”. Kolkata must be also the only city where the American consulate is located on a street, rechristened as Ho Chi Minh Sarani, as a tribute to Vietnam’s national hero.

Today, a visitor to Vietnam can’t help but be impressed with the progress this war-battered country has made. What is most fascinating is that while every bit of memorabilia from that protracted war which ended in 1975 is memorialised and merchandised, war talk is missing on the streets or in the cafes or in the malls that have sprouted in recent years.

A visitor to the memorial to Ho Chi Minh in the centre of Hanoi is shown the bunker where Vietnam’s first President used to shelter during the American air raids. As one walks through Hanoi’s national museum, one is greeted with war memorabilia all around, tidbits from the personal lives of war heroes and heroines. Different kinds of bombs that were dropped on Vietnam are exhibited, with detailed descriptions. A damaged statue of Buddha caught the eye — the inscription below said it was from a pagoda that had been destroyed by American B-42 bombardment on the night of December 18, 1972. There is a photo of a medical treatment and research centre in Vietnam destroyed by American bombing that was repaired and restarted operations in December 1974.

It is hard to miss the irony in Coca Cola vending its wares in Hanoi’s national museum, right next to the war memorabilia. As one drove  into the Hanoi Hilton to fetch two more members of our sightseeing group one day, our guide regaled us with stories about a prisoner of war camp for US Air Force pilots in the city, which the locals used to jokingly call the other “Hanoi Hilton”.

Vietnam remains Communist. But it has embraced the  market warmly. Today, the country has emerged as one of Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing economies. The Vietnamese brand of Communism is deeply pragmatic. Money is seen as good and great; those who make it by the sackfuls are admired, many state-owned companies have been privatised and Vietnam woos foreign investment with a fetching ardour.

On the streets of Hanoi, there are stores with signages saying “propaganda posters”. Local shopkeepers have figured out there is money in memorabilia. A particular favourite is one that says: “Nixon Phai Tra No Mau”, which a local shopkeeper translated as “Nixon must pay for the blood debt”. Another strong favourite is the poster with the inscription “Make Art, not War”.

In many ways, Vietnam is like India. Both are predominantly young countries. Most Vietnamese are too young to remember when Saigon fell in 1975. Seventy  per cent of the population is below 40. Young Vietnamese, like young Indians, are hugely aspirational, ambitious and want to catch up with the affluent West. We were told students in Hanoi learn about the “American War” in elementary school.They are regularly shepherded to the capital’s Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum — which has the embalmed remains of Communist leaders.

But outside of history classes and school trips, there doesn’t seem to be much enthusiasm in reminiscing about the past. Their grandparents died fighting but most Vietnamese millennials have grown up without direct experience of what is called the “American War”. A Vietnamese college student we met told us cheerily how his English had vastly improved since he started studying at the Hanoi campus of an American university. Many of his teachers were American. The young man had an American accent, was interning at a US fast food chain in the city. His fantasy: living the American dream. That dream may be dying in the United States but it lives on in countries like Vietnam and India.

I left Vietnam, thoroughly fascinated and with a keen desire to go back. Hanoi’s architecture and its street food lived up to their legendary reputation. But the unforgettable Vietnamese takeaway was a statement made by our guide in Hanoi the day we took a city tour. “We don’t forget the past. Nor the pain and suffering. We choose to close it, and move on.”