Story about politician Nguyen Phu Trong

General Secretary - President Nguyen Phu Trong.

General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong was a student of the 8th class of the Faculty of Literature, Hanoi National University. More than half a century ago, to become a student of the prestigious Faculty of Literature, one usually had to be a good Literature student of a high school, having passed the Literature competitions for excellent students in the North. I was also honored to be a student of the Faculty of Literature, class 11, 3 classes after Mr. Trong's class.

Mr. Trong's 8th grade Literature class was quite special not only because it had the largest number of students at that time, but also because of its diverse composition. Some were students from Eastern Europe who returned for special reasons. Some were students from the Library Department of the University of Culture, and the rest were excellent high school Literature students. Mr. Trong was among them.

Class 8 entered the 1963 school year, the year when the American invaders began to evaluate. So the Literature 8 class had to continuously move from the Chinese High School to the dormitory in Me Tri, until 1966, the last year, they evacuated to Van Tho commune, Dai Tu district, Bac Thai province. When we, the Literature 11 class, arrived at the evacuation area, we were welcomed by the Literature 8 class seniors who went all the way to Doi stream, the starting point of the evacuation area.

General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong took a souvenir photo at the meeting of Literature Class 8 (1963-1967), Faculty of Literature, Hanoi National University.

More than half a century has passed, until now I still cannot forget the poetic places of the evacuation area, Tuong Tu mountain, Doi stream, Trang Duong valley... but no less hard and difficult with the days of climbing steep slopes into the forest to cut bamboo to build houses, get firewood for the communal kitchen to cook and the days of lying flat on the edge of the field watching flocks of planes fly overhead to bomb Thai Nguyen town, Dong Bam bridge, the beloved capital Hanoi.

Not long after entering school, our junior Literature 11 class witnessed another special thing about our senior Literature 8 class. After completing their third-year thesis, more than half of the class were sent to the battlefield, leaving only 30 students to stay and do their thesis, including student Nguyen Phu Trong.

At that time, compared to his classmates in the 8th grade Literature class, Trong was just like the other students. He did not stand out because of his talents like some urban students who played instruments or sang. He was also not among the upperclassmen who often came down to chat and socialize with female students and students who liked sports and cultural activities like me.

In the 8th grade Literature class, Mr. Trong was purely a hard-working, serious country boy who always complied with all the Faculty's requirements, from the smallest things like cutting his hair high, tucking his shirt into his pants, and wearing sandals with enough straps. All living regulations and contributions from going to the forest to collect bamboo, firewood, and night watch... were fully implemented. Those seriousnesses, combined with his attitude and study results that were always at the top of the class, led to Mr. Trong being elected as the Secretary of the Youth Union of the class in his second year and being one of the rare students admitted to the Party in the school. When he was the Secretary of the Youth Union, Mr. Trong always arrived before the meeting time to wait for everyone.

All the students of Literature class 8, when telling the writer of this article, commented that the Secretary of the Youth Union of Literature class 8, Nguyen Phu Trong, often spoke slowly and clearly. He was thoughtful, devoted to his friends and remembered things related to them for a long time. Photographer Vu Huyen said that his older brother, Mr. Vu Trung Truc, unfortunately died of illness, but after 6 years of graduating, when they met again, Mr. Trong still asked about and expressed condolences about that loss to Vu Huyen.

In life, we often meet many people who have changed a lot with their friends, classmates, and neighbors throughout their lives. How different are the times of poverty and success? Not so with General Secretary-President Nguyen Phu Trong.
The Literature Class 8 graduated in 1967 because of the assigned job positions and task requirements of the new graduates, especially since that time was during the war, so the students in the class did not have the opportunity to meet each other.
From 2000 until now, for many reasons, the Literature 8 class has had the opportunity to meet each other and class reunions are held almost every year. During this period, most of the former Literature 8 students have retired. When they were still working, they were Editors-in-Chief of major newspapers, national news agencies, General Directors, Deputy Ministers, and Ministers, now they have all returned to being ordinary citizens. Only the student - Secretary of the Youth Union Nguyen Phu Trong, who was gentle, simple and thoughtful years ago, is still the leading and important politician of our Vietnam.

Normally, there is a great distance between ordinary citizens and the General Secretary - President. The common thing between them is the love of classmates and old friends. But this distance was quickly erased by the opinion of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in a class reunion: "Each of us has a different social position, but the most precious thing that I always respect and will forever exist is the love between teachers and students, classmates". With that in mind, the General Secretary - President is one of the people who attends class reunions the most, unless he is busy and he also informs his classmates to ask for permission.

Receiving the notice of a class reunion on the occasion of Mr. Trong's nomination to the Central Committee to congratulate him, he carefully asked for permission from the class because he had taken his wife by motorbike to visit his old teacher at Nguyen Gia Thieu School. Another class reunion was at the Cultural Preservation Center on Hang Bong Street. That day was a holiday, so Mr. Trong called journalist Vu Huyen - a classmate who lived near his street to take him by motorbike to the meeting place. During the meeting, he chatted and joked with his classmates. Journalist Tran Dinh Thao jokingly asked him, "Have you paid the class fund yet?". He smiled, before he could answer, Ms. Thai Thanh in the class's contact committee opened the book and happily announced, "Mr. Trong always pays in full and on time."

One time, the class returned to visit Trang Duong, the old evacuation site. At that time, Mr. Trong was the Chairman of the National Assembly, and his wife went with the class in a big car. That time, he and his wife spent money to buy a TV to give to the old evacuation commune. When giving it to him, Mr. and Mrs. Trong immediately announced that this was a gift from the 8th grade Literature class. Journalist Vu Huyen said that during that trip, Mr. Trong told the class organizers to take good care of the driver and refused the reception plan that Mr. Nguyen Bac Son - the Secretary of Thai Nguyen at that time intended to organize. He said, "I am a former student who came back to visit the people who took care of us during the evacuation, so I request that there not be a grand reception." At the class reunion right when he was elected as the Party General Secretary, someone suggested congratulating the General Secretary, Mr. Trong immediately said, "That is the assigned task, but when it comes to the class reunion, I am just like all the other brothers and sisters in the class." After that, he respectfully gave the gift bag to the teachers and the gift bag to contribute to the class like every other meeting.

Once, when visiting photographer Vu Huyen's house, cameraman Vu Duong - Vu Huyen's son, said, "Your hair is white, you must work a lot." Mr. Trong smiled and said, "Everyone in my class and your father's class works a lot. Many people work even harder than me. Like when I was in school, my class performed the play "Noi Gio", Uncle Tran Duc Chinh played Lieutenant Phuong, Ms. Hong Due played Ms. Van. Your father held the loudspeaker to announce that everyone should sit quietly, I was just the one carrying the battery to help your father."

There are many stories about the famous politician - the great "furnace man" Nguyen Phu Trong, but through just these two or three stories, we understand that: The man who lit the blazing furnace that burned down many corrupt logs was a great yet ordinary man. A man who knew that titles were the vanity of life. A man who respected personality, devoted his strength and intelligence to serving the career he pursued. A man who did not crave fame, did not trade his dignity for profit. That was the character of a true scholar.