Since then, his name has been associated with great works in all parts of the country. The imprint as well as the echo of the thinking of “Mr Sau for the people” still follow the times of the country and remain in the hearts of many generations.
… A gray, bleak picture of food, of city life in those years.
In mid-1978, I followed Comrade Director of the Food Department of the city Le Thanh to report the food situation of the city to the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee. I will forever remember the image and words of Comrade Vo Van Kiet in that meeting.
The meeting room is air-conditioned, but it doesn’t seem to ease the uneasiness and agonizing worries about rice shortages and unpredictable fluctuations that may occur in comrades’ hearts. The windbreaker opened all the zippers, his face was full of thought…, the comrade went back and forth listening to the report and every statement, and finally stood in the middle of the long table and spoke slowly and firmly “.. .It is impossible to accept this absurd situation, rice is full of fields, people are short of rice, the state compensates for losses… If I cannot solve the problem of rice for the people of the city, I would like to resign as Party Secretary of the City. commission”.
My body got goosebumps when I heard comrade Secretary of the City Party Committee gamble with his political life to take care of the food of millions of city people… I can clearly see the high determination in his words like an oath of Comrades; But I could never have imagined that your thoughts in that meeting and the guidelines and measures you directed to implement immediately after that created a miraculous transformation of Ho Chi Minh City, dragging following the strong transformation of the Mekong Delta and of the whole country in the future.
The life that Mr. Sau made for himself in which there are many situations and twists and turns, challenging him in how to handle, cope and overcome. Many times, he told his close associates, that standing by him in difficult times of work always has the image and voice of people from all walks of life that he always finds opportunities to be close to and always has. really listen.
Listening to people, no matter what situation they are in, whatever position they are in, for him it is the best way to understand people, to grasp the reality of life and from there to give practical and concrete insights.
Listening to people, in Mr. Sau is the way of listening directly, listening attentively, listening to learn, to compare and dialogue. Absolutely not the customary way of listening, listening to others and believing it without verification…
Mr. Vo Van Kiet has repeatedly emphasized that: Lesson The biggest and most profound lesson in his life of revolutionary activities was the lesson of promoting the strength of national unity and realizing freedom and democracy. It is the source of all successes in the country’s history up to now, the way to win hearts and minds for a cause for the revival of the country…
In Vo Van Kiet, a highlight is that he really respects intellectuals, not only in his thoughts and words but also in practice respecting, boldly using and promoting intellectuals’ talents and intelligence. in consulting for leaders to bring intellectuals into action, directly attached to leaders and life…
During his time holding a leadership position in Ho Chi Minh City, with the famous saying “No one chooses the door to be born”, he removed the guilt of the number of young people living in temporarily occupied areas or families with members of the family. join the old government apparatus, engaging them in city-building movements in the days after liberation.
Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet exchanged cordially with overseas Vietnamese intellectuals, 1993 – PHOTO: FAMILY DOCUMENT
He believes that great national unity is associated with openness to all patriots and patriots; He also expressed regret that in a number of years after the country’s unification, narrow-mindedness, prejudice, and envy had hurt national feelings, unable to gather people who were earnest with the cause of construction. build the country. Mistakes in the policy of land reform, reform of industry and commerce, etc., which our Party has recognized, have also partly affected the great national unity bloc…
What intellectuals respect Mr. Vo Van Kiet more and more is because he was very interested in his private life and the status of each person. Around 1978, facing many difficulties and many intellectuals leaving our country, he met with his brothers and advised them to stay. He said: “You guys try to stay for another three years. , if the situation remains unchanged, I will take you to the airport.”
At that time, Prof. Nguyen Trong Van replied: “We are ready to stay again, but if the situation does not change in three years, then it is not us who are leaving.” Later, he told us: at that time, hearing that sentence, he was also very painful, but thinking about it again. then we can see that they are right; because it is our responsibility to let the situation of the city become so bad; intellectuals leave not only because life is difficult; it is true if after three years, the situation If the picture doesn’t change, the one who leaves must be us…
Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet meets revolutionary veteran cadres and Vietnamese Heroic Mothers in Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City, May 1995 – PHOTO: VNA
It is the tolerant, “gentleman” attitude of the head of the Government that has attracted the enthusiastic intellectuals to work with him in big affairs. When I was a resident reporter of the Voice of Vietnam Radio in My Tho, I also knew a rather touching story. Once sitting on the sidewalk for breakfast, I saw the couple selling the toad shop mentioning his adoptive father Vo Van Kiet!
I found it strange that I found out and found out that my sister-in-law (very beautiful), once mistakenly became a girl, and her husband was a drug addict. Both were admitted to the camp. While at the camp, they made a lot of progress and fell in love with each other.
Once the Prime Minister visited the camp, heard the leaders of the camp report their cases, the Prime Minister immediately suggested that he would cooperate for them and even adopt this couple. When I heard about it, I once pretended to accidentally ask my husband: Have you seen your adoptive father again? The husband honestly said: He is far away, so he has never met again. But he firmly said: My husband and I consider him as a father for life!
I have rarely seen a leader who has extensive connections with many walks of life, and at any level, he is deeply sympathetic to them. He is a man whose both time and space always exist majestically. A capitalized HUMAN.
