Farewell to the loyal and upright officer Nguyen Dinh Huong

Although I knew that he had been seriously ill for more than 10 years, and the last time I visited him before Tet Canh Ty, he was very weak, almost just skin and bones. I also vaguely thought that one day I would have to... leave him. Yet when I heard the news: At 4:10 p.m., May 3, 2020 (April 11, Canh Ty year), the heart of veteran revolutionary Nguyen Dinh Huong stopped beating, I was still extremely shocked and saddened. A loyal cadre, an honest Party organizer, a simple veteran revolutionary had left this world.

"The son of the homeland"

In 2019, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Huong turned 90 years old. To pay tribute to him, our Café Số Club discussed and decided to make a book for him. The book is a collection of articles he wrote, articles that journalists wrote about him, and interviews with him that were published in mainstream newspapers.

The story of making a book seems simple. It is really simple: A collection of articles that have been published over the past 10 years, and have been accepted by the public, so there is nothing to be excited about. A book company is also very excited, because the press and the public really admire Mr. Nguyen Dinh Huong.

For us journalists, it seems that after every event, especially important events such as Party rectification or dealing with a certain figure involved in corruption, we seek him out. He always speaks frankly, speaks straight to the point, without dodging or beating around the bush, even on matters considered “sensitive”. His 55 years of “unblemished” work in organizing and protecting internal politics is enough for him to speak without having to “look ahead or behind”. That is why the press appreciates him.

To show gratitude to him, the book was also made for him. But then, a month, two months passed, his birthday was near, he had been to the hospital several times, he was visibly thinner and weaker, the book still… could not be published. The book company explained that it had sent it to many publishers, but some said “publishing in the newspaper is one thing, making a book is another”; some asked to remove this article, that article; this article had the beginning cut out, that article had the end cut out…

When reviewing the articles that people asked to be cut, most of them were articles in which Mr. Huong talked about fighting corruption, specifically naming “this guy”, “that guy”, “this group”, “that group”. It turns out that Mr. Nguyen Dinh Huong’s “authority” is “terrible”, even though he has been out of politics for 13 years.

Fortunately, the book "Nguyen Dinh Huong - Son of the country" was finally completed.

The person who made great contributions to the publication of the book is Master Kim Quang Minh, General Director, Editor-in-Chief of the Publishing House of Environmental Resources and Maps. I would also like to add that Mr. Kim Quang Minh is a person who greatly respects Mr. Nguyen Dinh Huong. Mr. Minh mobilized almost the entire apparatus of the Publishing House so that in a short time the book could be published in time for Mr. Nguyen Dinh Huong's birthday.

On October 17, 2019, at the Chon Art Auction House, 63 Ham Long, Hanoi, journalists, writers, artists, and admirers of Mr. Nguyen Dinh Huong packed the hall. Mr. Huong was moved: “This is one of the most memorable events in my life.”

A loyal and honest officer

Mr. Huong is a straightforward and honest person. Once when we met, when talking about personnel work, Mr. Huong said: “Once, Mr. Muoi (former General Secretary Do Muoi - PV) blamed me: “For more than 50 years you have been working in personnel organization but you have not been able to choose any Politburo member’s child to be in the Politburo”. I said: “Uncle, the Politburo, the Central Executive Committee is the highest organ of the Party, not a place to connect the children of the rich and powerful”. Mr. Muoi laughed. When I worked at the Central Organization Committee, the elders were very strict. Therefore, no one from Le Duan, Pham Van Dong, Nguyen Van Linh, Pham Hung… entered the Politburo or the Central Committee. Except for Mr. Dang Xuan Ky, son of comrade Truong Chinh. And Mr. Ky deserves to be a member of the Central Committee”.

On the occasion of his birthday and the book launch “Nguyen Dinh Huong - Son of the Country”, Mr. Huong also said that Poet To Huu, former member of the Politburo, First Vice President of the Council of Ministers “titled” him “a water pipe”. “Mr. To Huu asked me: “What do you do?”, I said “I just make a ‘fire pipe’”. Mr. To Huu smiled and said: “You are a ‘fire pipe’, but a big one - a water pipe. And a water pipe makes a very loud and terrifying sound”.

Meanwhile, according to Mr. Huong himself, the late Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet also gave Mr. Huong the nickname "Architect" in personnel work, and the late General Secretary Do Muoi called him "Dictionary" in organizational work.

It can be said that although he has been a long-time organizer of the Party, full of authority, he is always strict to the point of being cruel to himself. It is not that he does not have the opportunity to have a big house.

People who have worked with and known Mr. Huong for many years all have the same opinion, he is a straightforward person and "very difficult to bribe". Once, while "drinking tea and wine", he said that many times organizations and individuals suggested arranging villas for him in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and even Vung Tau, but he refused. "I am used to living frugally. This is enough for my needs" - he waved his hand to point to the house where he lives.

He said so and I believe it. Because I know, in his position, if he wanted to have a mansion and money, he could do it. He once told me that he was assigned by the Politburo, directly by General Secretary Do Muoi, to verify the case of a Politburo member who was accused of being captured by the enemy. He had told the enemy that many revolutionary bases were broken and many revolutionary soldiers were captured by the enemy. He completed the task, although it was not easy. As a result, he was expelled from the Party and stripped of all his positions.

"I did this case alone, I knew it alone. If I wanted to "eat" it, I just needed to throw away a few pages of handwritten documents and I would have a car and a house right away" - Mr. Huong said.

After more than 20 years of knowing him, the same house in the old apartment complex, in a narrow alley of Doi Can street (Hanoi), the same living room of about 10m2^2,still the same shabby table and chairs. “And yet, the heads of the Central Organization Committee, the leaders and former leaders of the Party and State, the Ministers and former Ministers… when they came to visit me, they all sat in the chairs that you are sitting in!” - he pointed to the chairs we were sitting in, smiling kindly.

The day we visited him was before the 7th Central Conference of the 12th term of the Communist Party of Vietnam (from May 7 to 12, 2018). A conference that, according to him, is extremely important, discussing personnel work. He gave us a long interview about the fight against corruption and personnel work.

“Uncle Ho said, if you want to build a beautiful house, you must first sweep away all the rubbish,” he said. “The same goes for personnel work. First of all, it must be clean and not be involved in “group interests.” Those are two very important criteria for a cadre, especially a strategic-level cadre. The other criteria were clearly stated in the 3rd Central Conference, 8th term from June 1997.”

His small living room seemed to heat up with the current story of anti-corruption. He talked about the “dry sticks” that had been put into the “fire” such as Trinh Xuan Thanh, Dinh La Thang, two former Chairmen of Da Nang, then Vu “Nhom”, Ut “Troc”… and also the “fresh sticks” that were catching fire.

A humane organizer

Strict with himself, determined to deal with corrupt officials, but he has a humane and compassionate perspective.

At the book launch ceremony “Nguyen Dinh Huong - Son of the Country” on the occasion of his 90th birthday, Mr. Le Doan Hop, former Minister of Information and Communications, Honorary Chairman of the Vietnam Digital Communications Association, told the story of the 2006 National Award for 4 writers of the Nhan Van Giai Pham group: Tran Dan, Phung Quan, Le Dat, Hoang Cam. At that time, Mr. Le Doan Hop was the Minister of Culture and Information and also Chairman of the State Award Council.

“After the award was announced for the four writers mentioned above, there were many different opinions, including the opinion of former General Secretary Do Muoi, and Ms. Vu Thi Thanh (wife of Poet To Huu), former Deputy of the Central Propaganda Department. Therefore, the Secretariat asked me to report,” Mr. Hop said, “Many people told me that if the award was given to these artists, I would burn my own resume. And the person who lit the fire was Mr. Nguyen Dinh Huong.”

"Faced with objections and requests for a re-meeting, I decided to ask Mr. Nguyen Dinh Huong for his opinion," Mr. Hop recalled.

“After listening to my presentation, Mr. Huong said: “Let’s do it together, I support it. We must bring artists back to the Party, back to us. This is not only beneficial for public opinion in the country but also for public opinion abroad. These writers and poets were disciplined 50 years ago. If they were wrong, they would have been punished, but now with a series of advantages, if we still maintain the same viewpoint, it would be unfair and unjust. And the council’s vote was completely correct.”

Mr. Hop also said that later, Mr. Huong lent him the entire Nhan Van Giai Pham case file. “Mr. Huong helped me get out of a difficult situation. I think that is the mindset of a politician towards artists, very open and humane,” Mr. Hop said.

Thanks to that, the National Award Council decided not to meet again and continued to present the award. At that time, 4 writers were awarded, only poet Hoang Cam was still alive and came to receive the award, in a wheelchair. Poet Tran Dan's family placed the prize money and the National Award Certificate on the altar, burning incense for 3 months and 10 days.

Poet Huu Thinh - Chairman of the Vietnam Union of Literature and Arts Associations, Chairman of the Vietnam Writers Association - recalled: "Every time I visited poet To Huu, he mentioned Mr. Nguyen Dinh Huong with great respect and deep affection. Before he passed away, poet To Huu told me that if I needed anything about organizational work related to the Vietnam Writers Association, I should ask Mr. Nguyen Dinh Huong.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Huong is a "living dictionary" on the Party's organizational work, and at the same time, is very interested in and knowledgeable about the events of the Vietnam Writers' Association over the past 60 years. I have met him many times and asked him questions that are not easy to answer, such as about Nhan Van Giai Pham and the policy towards writers in the Nhan Van Giai Pham group.

With his affection, tolerance and understanding of artists, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Huong gave me many correct instructions. We have restored Mr. Nguyen Huu Dang's entire salary from the time he was disciplined until he returned to normal life."

Poet Huu Thinh emphasized: Mr. Nguyen Dinh Huong stood at the center of the Party's organizational work, the center of social movements, especially before the great changes of the country. He was not only a witness but also participated in the major events of the country: organizational work, apparatus, personnel, selection of options, etc. Therefore, he was truly a revolutionary, a leader at the macro level.

Through many Party Congresses while in office and after retirement, his voice contributed to the Party's common thinking and intelligence. From there, we have a good apparatus and personnel - the first factor deciding the victory of the Party and the country.

"We believe in the intelligence, honest, impartial and objective voice of organizer Nguyen Dinh Huong. Mentioning Nguyen Dinh Huong is mentioning an exemplary cadre of the Party, an excellent son of the country" - Writer Huu Thinh said.

Both husband and wife, both comrades

Speaking of Mr. Nguyen Dinh Huong, it is impossible not to mention his life partner - Mrs. Truong Thi Xin. He and she were both born in the year of the Horse (1930). He was born at the beginning of the year, she at the end of the year. Like him, she participated in the revolution by joining the Ha Tinh military industry, then became a "military soldier" of Mr. Tran Dai Nghia. She was admitted to the Party in 1949. The two were from the same hometown, the same unit, met and became husband and wife. In 1957, Mrs. Xin was transferred to work as Head of the Cotton and Textile Station (Ministry of Domestic Trade). She then became Deputy Director of Garment Factory 10 (now Garment Corporation 10), then Director of Chien Thang Garment Factory (now Chien Thang Garment Joint Stock Company) until her retirement.

When asked if he ever discussed “raising one person up and putting another down” with her, she laughed: “Each person does his own work. Besides, it is an important national job. I never interfere in his work.” The couple has 4 daughters (6 grandchildren, 4 great-grandchildren) who are all successful.

Bà kể, toàn bộ công việc nội trợ, nuôi dạy con cái một tay bà chăm lo để ông “toàn tâm, toàn ý cho công việc của Đảng”.

Ông Nguyễn Đình Hương là vậy, ngay thẳng, bộc trực, liêm khiết và trên hết, như ông nói ông “là một đảng viên cộng sản, cả đời tôi trung thành với lý tưởng mà tôi theo đuổi, tôi đấu tranh đến cùng để bảo vệ sự trong sạch của Đảng”./.

Những hình ảnh cuối cùng ông Nguyễn Đình Hương xuất hiện trước công chúng

(Tại Lễ kỷ niệm 90 năm ngày sinh của ông và ra mắt cuốn sách "Nguyễn Đình Hương - Người con của non sông đất nước")

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Huong's "resume" is quite simple: he is from Nghe An, born in 1930. He joined the revolution by joining the military industry of Binh Tri Thien military region. In 1948, he became a communist party member. In 1952, he was assigned to serve in the famous Ben Binh Ca (Tuyen Quang). In 1956, he was assigned to the Central Organization Committee and worked there until 2007, when he retired. Mr. Nguyen Dinh Huong is a member of the Party Central Committee, term VI and VII, Head of the Internal Political Protection Committee, Standing member of A47.

It can be said that almost his whole life was associated with organizational work, through many generations of Heads of Department: Le Van Luong (1948-1/1956), Le Duc Tho (10/1956-1973), Le Van Luong (1973-1976), Le Duc Tho (1976-1980), Nguyen Duc Tam (1980-6/1991), Le Phuoc Tho (6/1991-7/1996), Nguyen Van An (7/1996-7/2001), Tran Dinh Hoan (7/2001-4/2006).