| Straits Times June 27, 2007 VIET PM'S FIRST YEAR IN OFFICE HANOI - NOT a lot of people know he
likes to sing. He loves cai luong, the unique folk music from his native southern Vietnam, which is usually accompanied by old-style traditional instruments. But there is nothing old-style or traditional about Mr Dung (pronounced Zung), whose shrewdness and vigour marked him for high office from an early age. A year ago, on June 27, he received the keys to 55 Phan Dinh Phung Street, the French colonial mansion in Hanoi that is the official residence of the prime minister. Since then, he has been such a dynamo of activity that it often seems as if he alone is running this booming nation of 85 million people. Said Dr Dang Hung Vo, a recently retired deputy minister: 'He's so energetic - a typical southern 'doer', unlike many from the north who are only good at thinking and speaking.' Certainly, Mr Dung's aggressive can-do attitude has endeared him to investors. Said Hanoi businessman Nguyen Anh Hieu, who runs a trading and telecoms company: 'He is not only dynamic, he is broad-minded and really wants to open Vietnam to the world.' But oddly, Mr Dung remains an enigma to most Vietnamese. Even top officials claim not to know his wife's name, how many children he has, or where he grew up. In fact, Mr Dung was born in the small riverine town of Ca Mau, in Vietnam's southernmost province of the same name. When he and his elder sister and younger brother were growing up, Ca Mau was a hotbed of support for communist forces led by the nation's founding father, Ho Chi Minh. Teenage 'Ba Dung' (Vietnamese for second child), as the Premier is still called, was drawn to the Viet Minh movement and joined the communist party at 18. As the Vietnam War raged, he went to a teachers' training college in Guanxi, China, to complete his education. He then served in the army as a medical officer and party commissar, rising to the rank of second lieutenant. When the war ended in 1975, he resumed his rise up the party ladder - and married an attractive fellow loyalist, Ms Tran Thanh Kiem, who is smart, chatty and more outgoing than the wives of most Vietnamese leaders. Hairdresser Dao Xuan Tan, who visits the residence to trim the Prime Minister's hair, told Vietnamnet: 'Sometimes his wife appears. She wears simple clothes and speaks softly.' Settling in the deep south after Mr Dung became party boss of Kien Giang province bordering Cambodia, the young couple have two sons and a daughter. All three have inherited their father's intellect and vigour, though unlike Mr Dung who speaks only Vietnamese, they are fluent in English. Elder son Nghi studied civil engineering at George Washington University in Washington DC, and met his wife, another Vietnamese student, in the United States. Dr Nghi now heads the post-graduate department at Ho Chi Minh City's University of Architecture. The couple have now made the Premier a proud grandparent. Daughter Phuong is an MBA graduate from Geneva, Switzerland, who now runs VietCapital Fund Management in Ho Chi Minh City and is said to be a financial wizard in the making. But with the Premier's younger son Triet also attending university in Europe, there have been rumblings about the kids' expensive overseas schooling and their flirting with foreigners. In his online interview, Mr Dung said: 'My son was sent to study in the US by the Ministry of Education. He now works in Vietnam and has been a party member since college.' 'My daughter did not study in the US. And she has not married,' he added, testily. At 58, Mr Dung is likely to serve two five-year terms, which means he will be Prime Minister until 2016. So far, the trappings of power have not changed him much and he has even been seen donning the olive-green pith helmet favoured by Vietnamese workers. Admittedly, he has taken up the 'capitalist' sport of golf and uses a southern tailor for his snappy suits instead of Hanoi's infamously slipshod cutters. But he still uses Mr Tan, a common barber who charges just US$1.25 (S$2) for a trim. And the firmly anti-corruption Premier pays the exact sum, no more, no less. 'He is kind and friendly,' said Mr Tan. 'When I finish, he looks in the mirror and smiles. You don't need to fix anything, he often says.' Right now, Mr Dung is fixing Vietnam rather well by all accounts - and singing a happy tune. rogermitton@gmail.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'He is not only dynamic, he is
broad-minded and really wants to open Vietnam to the world.'
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