The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum Complex is an important place of pilgrimage for many Vietnamese. A traffic-free area of botanical gardens , monuments, memorials and pagodas, it’s usually crowded with groups of Vietnamese who come from far and wide to pay their respects to 'Uncle Ho'. Within the complex are Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, Ho Chi Minh’s Stilt House and the Presidential Palace, Ho Chi Minh Museum and the One Pillar Pagoda.
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| Vietnamese queueing to visit Uncle Ho |
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| Touring the House-on-stilt |
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| The Ho Chi Minh mausoleum |
Booklet:
ReplyDelete1. Who is Ho Chi Minh?
Ho Chi Minh was the president of Vietnam from 1945-1969.
2. What can be found in the Ho Chi Minh Complex?
A mausoleum can be found at the Ho Chi Minh Complex. The mausoleum was placed there for the preserved body of Ho Chi Minh. The complex allows both tourists and Vietnamese to visit. This morning, we noticed a lot of people were queueing up along the pathway and we were told that they were queueing up to pay respects to Ho Chi Minh.
Although Ho Chi Minh was the president, he was hated and not well-liked by the South Vietnamese. The reason was firstly, he discriminated the Buddhists, who are the majority in Vietnam, as he was catholic.
Secondly, his family took charge of the South part of Vietnam and killed many people.
He went all around the world trying to find the ideal government system for the Vietnamese, and eventually thought that the principles of Communism are the most suited for Vietnam.
Although he was much hated, many people respected him because he was a symbol of struggle for unification during a long and costly conflict with the anti-communist regime in South Vietnam and the United States.
Reflection:
a) How has the activity led to a change in our attitude about Singapore?
In Singapore there were a lot of founding fathers, and we regard them as one group of leaders. In Vietnam, there are a few leaders who led Vietnam’s independence, for example Ho Chi Minh. We now appreciate the Singapore founding fathers more because they helped Singapore to become more well-known and developed. Just like how we respected Lee Kuan Yew, we should give more appreciation to the current leaders of our country.
b) What are the good practices that we learned?
What we noticed in the morning was that there was a large queue of Vietnamese people queueing up to pay respects. We can see that the Vietnamese has a strong sense of identity and value the leadership that their leader had imparted. Even though, their leader had passed on, yet there is still a great number of the population who are willing to queue for many hours on a Sunday morning to pay their respect.
c) From this activity, what and how can we contribute to Singapore?
Ho Chi Minh lived a simple life like all the other villagers though he was a President. Refusing to live in the presidential palace, he lived in a simple house on stilts. From here, we learn that even if we have a high rank, we should live simply like others and be content with what life has to offer. We are all equal and there should not be a significant difference between the rich and poor. We should learn not to be greedy and we should appreciate what we already have. Therefore, with these values, we can help Singapore be a more inclusive society, where everyone from different walks of life are included and non are excluded.