marks,“ I don’t know why I protested. It was fun at the time. We were all students then, and students love to cause trouble. So when we heard that we would be defying the police, we were excited and went out and made trouble.” Khiem, however, regrets that he protested. He didn’t understand the significance of the issue at the time. Khiem realizes that historians blame Diem’s suppression of the Buddhist movement on the grounds that he is Catholic and dislikes Buddhists. Khiem refutes,”I know that Diem had no other choice. The Americans and the Viet Cong stated that Diem’s roots in Catholic religion was why he oppressed the Buddhist. But this is not true. The proof is that I and my family were Buddhist and so were the majority of the population in Saigon, and nothing was ever done to us. Diem opposed the protests because the Buddhist leaders were influenced by the Viet Cong.” When asked about Quang Duc, Khiem replies, “ I have deep respect for Thich Quang Duc. He loved his country and did what he had to do. But they were all tricked by the Viet Cong. Proof of this is in Thich Chi Quang. He was one of the leading Buddhists authorities at the time. Everyone claimed that he acted on his own but that is not true. Vietnam intelligence similar to the FBI in America followed him and investigated his contacts, and knew he was in contact with Viet Cong. Further proof was that after the war ended, the Viet Cong locked him in his monastery to make sure he would not talk to anyone. The Viet Cong wanted people to believe that the Buddhists acted on their own thus making the Viet Cong seem righteous.” Khiem’s view here must be examined carefully. If the Buddhists movement was independent, then Diem’s actions were wrong either out of paranoia or religious suppression. But if the Buddhists leaders had contacts with Viet Cong, it is certain had their protests were a communist ploy. E...
