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Greifensee, Nov. 4th 1998

To: All members of the Vietnamese Scouting (VS) and the International Central Committee of Vietnamese Scouting (ICCVS)

This letter is written as an effort of shedding some light on the unfortunate incident at the general assembly of the ICCVS held at Thang Tien 6 Vietnamese National Jamboree, USA, 1998.

On the eve of June 30, 1998, the electoral committee allowed:
1. An extremely undemocratic process to go on electing a non-candidate to the position of the Chair of the Standing Committee of the ICCVS.
2. One scouter falsely accused the only candidate as communist sympathizer just before the ballot. This was not only a libel action but also a show of total disregard for the non-political, non-governmental characteristic of scouting.

The incident was a very perturbing experience for many scouters including myself. The subsequent reaction from scouter Vinh Dao, the Chair Elect of both the Standing Committee and the ICCVS, toward my query about the episode was even more puzzling, to say the least.
As an effort to gain better understanding of the situation, a small research was carried out. Resulted from this research are the following facts with supporting documents.

In 1988, in an open letter to former Deputy Camp Chief (DCC) Nguyen Quang Minh (Attachment A), scouter Vinh Dao stated that
- He is a member of the Association des Guides et Scouts Vietnamiens (AGSVN) in France.
- AGSVN is an associated member of Scoutisme Francais "SF" (French Scouting).
- He serves as a DCC at Scout de France (SdF), which is one of the member from Scoutisme Francais (SF).

The five Scouts Associations, members of SF (French Scouting), and recognized by the World Organization of Scout Movement (WOSM) or the World Association of Girl Guides & Girl Scouts as of 1988, are:
1. Les Scouts de France SdF (The Scouts of France)
2. Eclaireuses et Eclaireurs de France EEdF (Guides and Scouts of France)
3. Eclaireuses et Eclaireurs Unionistes de France EEUF (Protestant Guides and Scouts of France)
4. Les Eclaireuses et Eclaireurs Israélites de France EEIF (Jewish Guides and Scouts de France)
5. Les Guides de France GdF (The Guides of France)
(Note : Since 1992, Scouts Musulmans de France (SMdF) (Muslim Scouts of France) became a sixth member of Scoutisme Francais).

Regarding the membership of scouter Vinh Dao, Mr. Jean-Marie Montel, International Commissioner of Scouts de France (SdF), confirms via email that there is NO member of his association by the name Vinh Dao (Attachment B.) In the same matter, the International Commissioner of Eclaireuses et Eclaireurs de France (EEdF), Ms. Maryse Desclous, confirms that EEdF has NO member named Vinh Dao (Attachment C.)

Regarding the service as a trainer of scouter Vinh Dao, the National Training Commissioner of SdF, Mr. Michel Payen, states that scouter Vinh Dao is NOT a recognized 4-beads trainer from their association (Attachment D.)

There have not been any communication between the writer with other recognized members of French Scouting namely Protestant Guides and Scouts of France, Jewish Guides and Scouts of France, Les Guides de France and Muslism Scouts of France.

However, the confirmations from the executives of SdF as well as EEdF demonstrate that:
1. Contrary to his claim, scouter Vinh Dao
- Is NOT a member of SdF (The Scouts of France) and
- Is NOT a trainer with SdF (The Scouts of France)

In regard to AGSVN, Mr. Patrick Rolland, the President of SF, confirms that he does NOT know of any member of his federation by such a name. Further more, there is NO associated member status amongst SF. (Attachment E.)

In France, the Ministry of Youth and Sports , amongst many other endeavors, is responsible for adult training and the subsequent issuing of valid Scout Leader certificates. Again, concerning the status of AGSVN, Ms. Sylvie Dodu of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, in charge of the communication on the Internet, confirms that there is NO such an association recognized by the French government. (Attachment F.)

The unequivocal confirmations from the executive of SF as well as the French government official plainly illustrate the fact that, contrary to what Vietnamese Scouting community has been led to believe.
2. AGSVN is NOT a member of SF (French Scouting),
3. AGSVN is NOT recognized in France

The resulting corollary is that contrary to his claim,
3. Scouter Vinh Dao is NOT a member of any scout association
- Registered with SF (French Scouting)
- And recognized neither by WOSM nor the French government.

In short, Mr. Vinh Dao is NOT a scouter in any sense of the word, AGSVN is NOT a registered and recognized scout association! Consequently, Mr. Vinh Dao is NOT a member of the Vietnamese Scouting according to its by-laws. (Attachment G.)

It is a serious offense for a NON-SCOUTER such as Mr. Vinh Dao to participate in Vietnamese Scouting for such a long time with his pretense. It is NOT at all acceptable the fact that the whole Vietnamese Scouting community has been deceived for so long with respect to the status of the AGSVN as well as that of Mr. Vinh Dao. It must be a distress for all members of the Vietnamese Scouting community to learn of these unsettling facts.

Ladies and Gentlemen, all the facts and supporting documents presented herewith are obviously and readily verifiable at sources. In the course of this research, utmost care has been given to protect the integrity of the Vietnamese Scouting community as a whole.

At this juncture, I submit that all duly-elected members of the ICCVS, namely all Regional Representatives in the USA as well all National Representatives in Australia, Belgium, Canada, England, Germany, Holland, Norway immediately:
- Form a special task force independent from the current Standing Committee to explore the seriousness of the situation
- Ask for immediate resignation from Mr. Vinh Dao and all other ICCVS's members from the France contingent pending the outcome of the task force's investigation.
- Ask for the resignation from all Standing Committee's members appointed by Mr. Vinh Dao pending the outcome of the task force's investigation.

The special task force is also responsible for
- The revision of all by-laws and amendments put in force by Mr. Vinh Dao for the last eight years.
- Proposing a set of well-structured by-laws for the ICCVS and its Standing Committee.
- Proposing an electoral regulation worthy of the democratic nature of Scouting.
- Reporting to the Vietnamese Scouting community every two months from the outset.
- The Task force's final report is to be presented to the Vietnamese Scouting community for approval via either a Scouter conference or it can be presented to all duly-elected representatives who in turn, will inform scouters in their respective areas for approval.
- Organizing the election for required positions based on the newly approved by-laws and electoral regulation.

Yours truly,
Anh Kim Nguyen
swisseclaireur@hotmail.com

List of attachments:

Attachment A: Letter from Vinh Dao to Nguyen Quang Minh
Attachment B: Email from SdF (J. M. Montel) to Nguyen Anh Kim
Attachment C: Email from EEdF to Nguyen Anh Kim
Attachment D: Fax from SdF (M. Payen) to Nguyen Anh Kim
Attachment E: Fax from SF (P. Rolland) to Nguyen Anh Kim
Attachment F: Email from MJS (S. Dodu) to Nguyen Anh Kim
Attachment G:Vietnamese Scouting Charter & By-laws.