While Dr. Ngai Nguyen is flying to Hanoi to be at the funeral of his famous patient Hoang Minh Chinh, here is a brief biography of the elder statesman and their relationship. It is based on interview with Dr. Nguyen Xuan Ngai in his San Jose medical office in November 2007. Additional research sources are Que Me (Penelope Faulkner, author and Vice-President of the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights in Paris); from the BBC in London, February 8 2008 (Nga Pham, author); and press releases from the Democratic Party of Vietnam in Hanoi on the death of Hoang Minh Chinh February 7, 2008. Detailed chronology from these sources, beginning with Professor Hoang Minh Chinh's birth in 1922, his leadership in the Communist Party and government until 1967, when he is imprisoned for writing "Dogmatism in Vietnam" and stripped of his official duties. Professor Hoang Minh Chinh suffers three periods of imprisonment totaling thirteen years, the last being one year in 1995 when he was 73 years old. Author Jean Libby, editor of VietAm Review, is the English translation manuscript editor and author of the preface of the English language publication of the prose stories of Nguyen Chi Thien on prison conditions in Communist Vietnam, the Hoa Lo/Hanoi Hilton Stories (Yale University Southeast Asia Studies, 2007. ISBN 978-0-938692-89-8) A retired teacher of United States History and Ethnic Studies at community colleges in northern California, she is a member of Amnesty International USA Group 19 in Palo Alto.   more »

Professor Hoang Minh Chinh, Secretary-General of the Democratic Party of Vietnam. (DPV), after a long illness, passed away in Hanoi at 11:08 PM on 7 February 2008, the First Day of the New Year "Tet Mau Ty". Professor Hoang Minh Chinh has parted serenely, after achieving the task of senior activist for democracy. He has guided the democratic movement in Vietnam in the right direction, and in June 2006, he reactivated The Democratic Party of Vietnam (established in 1944 but later banned by the controlled government). Prior to his death, he prepared and carefully transferred all operations of the Party to the next generation that will assume his responsibilities. The Standing Central Committee of the Democratic Party of Vietnam calls upon the members of the DPV to transform the suffering loss into strength, to unite within the party and reach out to others to move forward for the ultimate goal of the democratization of Vietnam as he wished. As we grieve this great loss, the Standing Central Committee of the DPV would like to announce this sad news to the people of Vietnam and to all the world who believe in peace and democracy. Representing the Standing Central Committee, Nguyen Tam. CONTACT: Democratic Party of Vietnam Overseas Office Dr. Ngai Nguyen, 1-408-603-5030 ngainguyen@aol.com   more »