Word: huong
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...Saigon. Premier Nguyen Van Loc resigns, and Tran Van Huong, a former Premier, is named to replace...
...Buddhist, a southerner and a close friend of Premier Tran Van Huong (a former student of ex-Teacher Huong, Minh still addresses him as "Master"), Minh would be an obvious asset in any national reconciliation effort...
Buying Out. Yet he lacks the power to bring about sweeping reforms. Province chiefs, who hold important positions in the patronage system, are appointed by the President. Thieu has sacked 16 of them, but Huong would clearly like to see more relieved. So, too, would Thieu, but competent replacements are hard to find. Old avenues of corruption persist as well. Draft exemptions can still be bought: it costs only $425 to become a secret-police agent or $250 to join the Regional Forces and thus escape regular army service. And big names still enjoy protection. Not long ago, an ARVN...
Political squabbles, economic pressures and social problems add to the government's burden. The Assembly, a hawkish group of men mostly from a middle class that stands to lose more from peace than the war-weary peasantry, distrusts Huong. Assembly members consider him soft on the issue of negotiations with the Communists. A Lower House deputy, Tran Quy Phong, recently threatened that "if Huong's government seeks a compromise with the Communists, it will be overthrown by the people." Inflationary pressure has mounted. Since Tet, the government has issued a billion piasters ($8,500,000) in new currency...
Despite all the problems, or perhaps because of them, Thieu and Huong seem to be working reasonably well together. The Premier holds far more leverage than Nguyen Van Loc, his predecessor whom Thieu fired, mainly because Thieu cannot afford another Cabinet change at this time. The President listens to Huong's suggestions although he does not always act on them, particularly when they involve corruption among the military or the subject of peace talks. Huong was upset when Peace Candidate Dzu was sentenced last month to five years at hard labor for advocating talks with the National Liberation Front...