REVISITING THE PAST A TRIBUTE TO PROFESSOR PHẠM BIỂU TÂM

This article is intended to be solely a recollection of the author’s very personal memories he had with Professor Phạm Biểu Tâm. The author will strive his utmost to remain objective while writing in memory of the centennial birthday of a respected educator who left indelible marks in the medical field of Vietnam during the previous century. Ngô Thế Vinh

*

Today, 12/11/2013, marks the 14th anniversary of Professor Phạm Biểu Tâm’s death and there are only two days left to his centennial birthday. As I came to offer my condolences at his funeral, Mrs Phạm observed that I would be a well placed person to write an article about him. I did not have the chance to fulfill her wish when I received the news that she also had left us.

Doctor Phạm Biểu Tâm’s full biography was already made known by my  colleague, Hà Ngọc Thuần, from Australia. It should be noted here that under the shared pen name Hà Hợp Nghiêm, Hà Ngọc Thuần and his friend Nghiêm Sỹ Tuấn had coauthored a valuable work on the history of medecine named “Lịch Sử Y Khoa” while they were lead writers for “Y khoa Tình Thương”, the official publication of the School of Medicine in Saigon, Vietnam. Their work was serialized in that publication up to its last issue in 1967.

In this writing the author will attempt to recollect the personal experiences he shared with Professor Phạm Biểu Tâm – not within the amphitheater or hospital settings but in everyday, ordinary life.  Throughout my college years, I was not fortunate enough to be counted among his close or favorite students. Nevertheless, I always held him in deep affection while I studied under him as well as after my graduation. The impacts he left on the medical students extended far beyond the 12 years (1955-1967) he served as dean at the school to even reach people who never attended the school or met him.
In contrast to the imposing physical appearance of Professor Trần Quang Đệ, a renowned surgeon in Vietnam, Professor Tâm was of rather frail build. Both of them obtained the “agrégation in medicine” in 1948 in Paris. Professor Tâm did not impress people as a good-looking man but his face radiated an exceptional intelligence that was characterized as an “uncommon trait of physiognomy” by my schoolmate Đường Thiện Đồng.

A SOJOURN IN THE DELTA A RETURN TO ĐỒNG THÁP

To the Friends of the Mekong Group

[Foreword: this is only an excerpt from notes taken during a field trip to the Mekong Delta in December, 2017. Đồng Tháp was also the last leg of that trip].  

Reaching Cao Lãnh at almost midnight. The van driven by Sang was equipped with Wi-Fi so throughout the trip we were able to log on and use our iPhones, iPads. The following day, 12.12.2017, we woke up early to embark on our journey to Đồng Tháp Mười, via Gò Tháp.

Picture 1: The observation group to the Mekong Delta in 12.2017, from left: Ngô Thế Vinh, Lê Anh Tuấn PhD Research Institute for Climate Change UCT, Dương Văn Ni PhD Department of Natural Resources Management UCT, Phạm Phan Long P.E. Viet Ecology Foundation, Nguyễn Văn Hưng MD, Nguyễn Hữu Thiện MS Expert in Wetlands, Lê Phát Quới PhD Institute of Natural Resources and Environment - National University HCM City, and driver Sang.  

Picture 2: Gò Tháp with the archeological site Ốc Eo served as a base for the resistance group against the French led by Thiên Hộ Dương, nowadays it is a special national archeological site. (source: Gò Tháp, Nxb Văn Hoá - Văn Nghệ, Saigon 2016)

At the Đồng Tháp Mười lowlands, we were instantly reminded of the brief travelog Bảy Ngày Trong Đồng Tháp Mười authored by Nguyễn Hiến Lê. At the young age of 22, he graduated from the School of Public Works in Hanoi/ Trường Công Chánh Hà Nội in July of 1934. As a technician, he chose to go to the Mekong Delta in the South to do his survey works “navigating the canals from Hồng Ngự down to Thủ Thừa, from Cái Thia up to Mộc Hóa, at times walking for a whole week in a vast area overgrown with reeds for twenty or thirty kilometers without seeing a house or encountering a soul”. (Nguyễn Hiến Lê (1912 – 1984), was known as an educator, author, scholar, and translator. His works include over 100 books, compilations, translations covering a wide field of interest.)

CHÍN MƯƠI SÁU PHÚT VỚI THƯỢNG TOẠ THÍCH TRÍ QUANG [05.05.1966]

Đã 44 năm sau cuộc Chiến tranh Việt Nam, vẫn còn những câu hỏi chưa có lời giải đáp. Chỉ riêng tên tuổi Thích Trí Quang đã gây ra rất nhiều tranh cãi.(1) Có nhiều nhãn hiệu gán cho ông: với một số người Việt chống cộng thì cả quyết Thích Trí Quang là cộng sản đội lốt tu hành hoạt động với sự chỉ đạo của Hà Nội; nhưng ngay với giới chức cộng sản cũng đã từng coi Trí Quang là một loại CIA chiến lược; còn theo tài liệu giải mật của CIA thì đánh giá Trí Quang không phải cộng sản, mà là một nhà tu hành đấu tranh cho hòa bình và muốn sớm chấm dứt chiến tranh. Thêm nguồn tài liệu còn lưu trữ về những cuộc đàm luận giữa Trí Quang và các giới chức Hoa Kỳ, cho rằng Trí Quang chống cộng mạnh mẽ và hiểu được sự việc xử dụng quân đội Hoa Kỳ để chống lại Cộng sản Bắc Việt và Trung cộng. 

Và trong phần trả lời phỏng vấn của báo Sinh viên Tình Thương 1966, khi "đề cập tới sự nguy hiểm của Cộng sản, TT Trí Quang đã so sánh họ với những chiếc lá vàng có đóng đinh, phải cần tới một cơn gió lốc cách mạng thổi đúng hướng, không phải làm bay những niềm tin mà là bốc sạch đám lá vàng có đóng đinh là Cộng sản."

NINETY SIX MINUTES WITH REVEREND THÍCH TRÍ QUANG [05.05.1966]

Fourty four years had passed since the end of the Vietnam War. Questions still remain to be answered. The mere mention of the name Thích Trí Quang is enough to conjure up a lot of controversy. (1) Many labels have been associated with his name: in the eye of the anti communist Vietnamese Thích Trí Quang was definitely a Communist masquerading as a monk working under the orders from Hanoi. On the other hand, the communist leaders   considered him to be a strategic CIA agent; declassified CIA documents on their part determined Trí Quang was not a communist, but a religious activist fighting for peace and an early end to the war. In addition, archived records of the conversations between Trí Quang and American officials showed that Trí Quang was a committed anti-communist who was able to understand the reasons for the use of American troops in the fight against the North Vietnamese and Chinese.

In his answers to the interview conducted by the journal Sinh viên Tình Thươngin 1966, when "mentioning the dangers posed by the Communists, Rev Trí Quang compared them to nailed down gold leaves, that need a revolutionary whirlwind blowing in the right direction, not to carry away the belief but sweep clean the gold leaves that represent the communists."