The 65th anniversary of Vietnam – Poland diplomatic relations ( February 04 1950 – February 04 2015) presented us, a group of reporters, with an opportunity to visit Poland. For so long, Poland has been in our heart with deep affection as a country that bravely fought against the ruthless Nazi regime during the Second World War. Upon our arrival in Poland, we took a trip to the suburban Wolka Kosowska of Masovian province, which is about 30km away from Warsaw and densely populated by overseas Vietnamese.
En route to Wolka Kosowska, by a happy chance we met and talked with Boryslaw, a Polish journalist majoring on public policy research and writing, with a view to a better understanding of the local Vietnamese community. “The Vietnamese community in Poland consists of about 20,000 – 25,000 people, including merchants and a small number of overseas students. Most of them maintain good compliance with local laws and the community is viewed as a successful one in Poland”, said Boryslaw. However, he also expressed his disappointment over several violations of Polish laws aimed for illegal benefits, especially those by Tran Ngoc Thanh and his so-called Committee for the Protection of Vietnamese Laborers (formerly known as the Federation of Free Vietnamese Labor). As far as we had known, Thanh was an overseas student in Poland who managed by trickery, sometimes in defiance of Polish law, to make money. It didn’t take him long to become the owner of two stores in Warsaw and Gdansk. And what’s more, Thanh profited from bringing illegal immigrants into Poland - a kind of “human trafficking”. In 2002 alone, Thanh brought more than 300 people into Poland and Yugoslavia for a fee of $7000 - $10,000 per person. In 2006, Thanh out of the blue “gave birth” to the so-called “Committee for the Protection of Vietnamese Laborers” and entitled himself “the protector of laborers”, which is a disguise for his frauds and political conspiracies.
Our traveling was fueled with excitement by Boryslaw’s stories about the “trickery” of Tran Ngoc Thanh and his organization in Poland. Boryslaw insisted “Vietnamese laborers in Poland are always protected and given the best conditions by the Polish government to live and study in the country, whereas Thanh keeps spreading a false image of unprotected and abused Vietnamese laborers in Poland at various forums and conferences. Even more, Thanh traveled to East European countries with a Polish passport to propagate his so-called “Democratic Party” but no mention of laborers’ rights or interests was heard. Thanh, in the name of laborers’ protector, wrote open letters to the Polish press, Senate’s Marshal, Sejm’s (lower house) Marshal and Archbishop in order to enlist support for the movement of democratization in Vietnam. “Included in the documents I received are not the requests for the protection of laborers but his political ambitions”, Boryslaw added. He wondered why such an organization established to protect laborers’ legitimate rights and interests never carried out any practical activity rather than denouncing and criticizing the shortcomings of Vietnam’s policies. As a result, Thanh’s activities are no longer advocated by the Vietnamese community in Poland.
In Wolka Kosowska, we saw with our own eyes the lives of the Vietnamese people here. Although the economic downturn in Poland had affected the Vietnamese community’s livelihood, not a single sign of Vietnamese laborers abuse was seen, which was contrary to what Thanh had been telling. No laborer, on the other hand, made mention of Thanh’s efforts in protecting their rights.
Short as our stay in Poland was, we still had the opportunity to visit the cities, temples and palaces of this culturally rich country that has a history of a thousand years with the influence of both Eastern and Western cultures. Nevertheless, what worries us is Thanh’s doings to our people in a strange land. He should have taken actions to protect his compatriots, but he did the opposite. His activities have caused an adverse impact on the lives and jobs of the Vietnamese community in Poland. Therefore, we should stay alert to the activities of Thanh as well as those of his “Federation of Free Vietnamese Labor” for the time to come.
En route to Wolka Kosowska, by a happy chance we met and talked with Boryslaw, a Polish journalist majoring on public policy research and writing, with a view to a better understanding of the local Vietnamese community. “The Vietnamese community in Poland consists of about 20,000 – 25,000 people, including merchants and a small number of overseas students. Most of them maintain good compliance with local laws and the community is viewed as a successful one in Poland”, said Boryslaw. However, he also expressed his disappointment over several violations of Polish laws aimed for illegal benefits, especially those by Tran Ngoc Thanh and his so-called Committee for the Protection of Vietnamese Laborers (formerly known as the Federation of Free Vietnamese Labor). As far as we had known, Thanh was an overseas student in Poland who managed by trickery, sometimes in defiance of Polish law, to make money. It didn’t take him long to become the owner of two stores in Warsaw and Gdansk. And what’s more, Thanh profited from bringing illegal immigrants into Poland - a kind of “human trafficking”. In 2002 alone, Thanh brought more than 300 people into Poland and Yugoslavia for a fee of $7000 - $10,000 per person. In 2006, Thanh out of the blue “gave birth” to the so-called “Committee for the Protection of Vietnamese Laborers” and entitled himself “the protector of laborers”, which is a disguise for his frauds and political conspiracies.
Our traveling was fueled with excitement by Boryslaw’s stories about the “trickery” of Tran Ngoc Thanh and his organization in Poland. Boryslaw insisted “Vietnamese laborers in Poland are always protected and given the best conditions by the Polish government to live and study in the country, whereas Thanh keeps spreading a false image of unprotected and abused Vietnamese laborers in Poland at various forums and conferences. Even more, Thanh traveled to East European countries with a Polish passport to propagate his so-called “Democratic Party” but no mention of laborers’ rights or interests was heard. Thanh, in the name of laborers’ protector, wrote open letters to the Polish press, Senate’s Marshal, Sejm’s (lower house) Marshal and Archbishop in order to enlist support for the movement of democratization in Vietnam. “Included in the documents I received are not the requests for the protection of laborers but his political ambitions”, Boryslaw added. He wondered why such an organization established to protect laborers’ legitimate rights and interests never carried out any practical activity rather than denouncing and criticizing the shortcomings of Vietnam’s policies. As a result, Thanh’s activities are no longer advocated by the Vietnamese community in Poland.
In Wolka Kosowska, we saw with our own eyes the lives of the Vietnamese people here. Although the economic downturn in Poland had affected the Vietnamese community’s livelihood, not a single sign of Vietnamese laborers abuse was seen, which was contrary to what Thanh had been telling. No laborer, on the other hand, made mention of Thanh’s efforts in protecting their rights.
Short as our stay in Poland was, we still had the opportunity to visit the cities, temples and palaces of this culturally rich country that has a history of a thousand years with the influence of both Eastern and Western cultures. Nevertheless, what worries us is Thanh’s doings to our people in a strange land. He should have taken actions to protect his compatriots, but he did the opposite. His activities have caused an adverse impact on the lives and jobs of the Vietnamese community in Poland. Therefore, we should stay alert to the activities of Thanh as well as those of his “Federation of Free Vietnamese Labor” for the time to come.
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