Biography of Mr. Nguyen CongBang, General Secretay of the Vietnam Populist Party Biography of Mr. Nguyen CongBang, General Secretay of the Vietnam Populist Party
Mr. Nguyen CongBang was born in 1955. His family is native of Kien-Giang province in Southern Vietnam.
In 1973, he joined the Army of Republic of Vietnam and served the nation against the invasion of Communists until the end of the war.
After the Communists took control of South Vietnam, he formed an anti-communist group and actively campaigned for a free Vietnam until he was arrested in 1977 and sent to labor camp without a formal court sentence.In 1978, he escaped from the camp and seek refugee at Pulau Bidong island in Malaysia.
In 1979, he settled in Houston (Texas) and continued his drives of liberating Vietnam.
In 1983, he founded Hanh-Trang Magazine, a publication campaigning for a free Vietnam.
In 1985, he formed a group of youths campaiged for the liberation of Vietnam from Communist regime.
In 1987, he worked with the United Front of Laotian People for the Liberation of Laos (led by the ex-Prime Minister Phoumi Nosavan) aimed to build a logistic line for the Vietnamese resistant forces active in the Vietnam-Laos border zone.
In 1990, he traveled back to Vietnam to visit the land for attentive observation.
In 1991, he helped the Vietnamese People's Party (Đảng Nhân Dân Việt Nam) and Lien-Viet Coalition organizing a public protest in Saigon for farmers from rural areas.
In 1992, he formed the Social Assistance Program for Vietnam (www.sap-vn.org) a.k.a. Green Cross, carried out humanitarian programs to help the needy and handicapped people throughout Vietnam. (see L.A. Times archive)
In 1994, he was detained in Saigon for 53 days for false accusation of underground anti-government activities.
In 1996, he resigned from the charity works and continue his efforts of restore democracy and freedom for Vietnam.
In 1998, he joined the Free Vietnam Coalition Party (Lien Dang Viet Nam Tu Do) and Free Vietnam Government (Chinh phu Viet Nam Tu Do). In 1999, he was elected for a 3-year term for the post of Vice-President of the party. He was also appointed as Spokeperson of the organization. In 2002, due to disagreements, he resigned from the posts and formally left the organizations.
In January 2005, he founded Hoa-Mai Group, a dedicated group of overseas Vietnamese pro-democracy advocates, introducing New Vietnam Platform -- an elaborate and systematic plan of action, aiming for a Free and Fair General Election in Vietnam and a constructive proposal for a desired government of Vietnam. The proposal receives enormous supports from Vietnamese inside the country and abroad.
In 2006, encouraged by pro-democracy groups in Vietnam, he co-founded the Vietnam Populist Party (VPP) which is also referred as "For the People Party" by media in Vietnam. Since then he has been in charge of the Liaison Office based in Houston (Texas), also acts as the General Secretaty of the VPP.
