Maribyrnong council has rejected claims its decision to fly the yellow Co Vang flag of the former South Vietnam risks starting a “second Vietnam War” in Maribyrnong.
The unanimous decision made at last week’s council meeting was met with enthusiasm by a packed public gallery, although one opponent has since warned the move is divisive.
The yellow flag with three red stripes is seen to represent the Vietnamese diaspora, triggered by the fall of Saigon, now called Ho Chi Minh City, in 1975.
Maribyrnong mayor Nam Quach said the move to fly the flag on special occasions at sites such as the Town Hall and Monument of Gratitude at Jensen Reserve came at the request of the Vietnamese-Australian community.
“It marks the 40-year commemoration of Vietnamese settlement and the boat arrivals in Australia. We had people in the chamber crying tears of joy,” he said.
Cr Quach, whose parents fled Saigon and settled in Australia as refugees, said multiculturalism required embracing difference and celebrating proud heritages.
“It’s important to recognise not only that heritage but also the future,” he said.
But Maidstone resident Anh Vo said the decision was an insult to the ‘red flag’ community aligned with Vietnam’s communist regime.
THE OFFICIAL “RED” FLAG OF VIETNAM
The army veteran, who arrived in Australia in 1984, told Star Weekly a large number of Vietnamese traders and residents in Maribyrnong were ‘red flag’ supporters.
“Maribyrnong will open a second Vietnam war in Melbourne,” he said. “When you come here to Australia you should leave your troubles behind. When you become an Australian citizen you need to fly only the Australian flag.”
Flying the Co Vang flag has sparked division in the Sydney council of Fairfield, but it occurred without incident in a number of other locations in Australia and across the US.
Footscray RSL president Long Viet Nguyen said it was an appropriate recognition of the journey of thousands of Vietnamese people in Australia.
“Australia is a free, democratic country and that’s why we live here,” he said. “At the moment, many people in Vietnam want to leave.”
Mr Nguyen, who lost a brother in the war and spent five years locked up before fleeing to Australia in 1983, said the flag recognised the resistance against the communist north.
Viv Nguyen, vice-president of the Victorian chapter of Vietnamese Community in Australia, said the flag was an important means of celebrating the contribution of the Vietnamese to Australia.
“If people feel strongly about the red flag, good for them, but the [Co Vang] flag is not representative of another sovereignty,” she said. “It represents a journey this community started from a very tough beginning.”
Ms Nguyen said Maribyrnong was significant to the Vietnamese community as many refugees began their new lives at the Midway Migrant Hostel, now the site of Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Centre.
