A TALK WITH THICH TRI QUANG

In an unusual private interview, one of the relatively few he has granted to Western newsmen, Thich Tri Quang talked for an hour last week with TIME Correspondents Frank McCulloch and James Wilde at his Saigon residence, a room in a maternity clinic. The interpreter was Than Trong Hue, a Vietnamese member of the TIME staff, who addressed the monk with the "venerable" title reserved for the Buddhist clergy. Tri Quang was clad in a hospital gown, white pantaloons, and brown leather sandals.

Q. Are you satisfied with the present arrangements for elections to the constituent assembly and with the timing for those elections?

A. No arrangements have really been made yet, so I cannot say whether they satisfy me. It is only after they have been made that I will be able to make such a judgment. As for the timing, I would like to see the elections in three months instead of five.

Q. Do you believe the Ky government should remain in office until elections are held?

A. A government with only three to five months of existence left to it simply should not be a subject of great attention. It is a trivial thing. I am much more concerned about possible disloyal actions by Thieu and Ky, whether or not they remain in positions of power. I cannot guess the future, but to this point the words of these men have not been supported by their actions. The Marine battalions remaining near Danang are an example of what I mean.

Q. Do you believe that an elected constitutional assembly should reconstitute itself as a legislative assembly, or that the legislative assembly should be separately elected after a constitution has been enacted?

A. Even if the constitutional assembly did reconstitute itself, it should serve only a very limited session, and then the legislative assembly should be popularly elected.

Q. Do you feel that the chief executive should be popularly elected?

A. That is really too remote to comment upon. But as far as my personal feelings are concerned, I think he should be elected by the assembly. Experience has shown that prime ministers or presidents elected by universal suffrage do not truly represent the aspirations of the people.

Q. How do you feel about the report that the Ky government intends to remain in office if it can until a legislative assembly has been elected?

A. That will be up to the constituent assembly to decide. But, personally, I would like to see all the generals back with their units as soon as possible. The army is not being used in full strength now against the Communists. Rather it is being exploited for political purposes. An example is the regiment of the Seventh Division that is now in Saigon. I suppose its primary mission is to check on demonstrations, but it must have other missions. For example, there are many rumors that Ky intends to put Thieu out of power, or that Thieu intends to put Ky out of power. All the generals would be better off with their units, and the army would be better off too. The weapons supplied by the United States should be used against the Communists, not by those who seek power and fight among themselves.

Q. What preparations will the Buddhists make for the coming elections?

A. Naturally, we must prepare ourselves, and those who have not already done so must do so now. However, let me emphasize that I personally believe and hope that the elections will not yield a Buddhist majority. I wish that any Vietnamese Catholic, Hoa Hao, Cao Dai and Protestant who has proved his sense of loyalty to the people and wishes to serve the people could be elected. What I would like to see as a result of this election is an equity for all, not a predominance for anyone. After all, Diem's assembly was elected with a predominance for Diem, and because of that Diem fell. So no Buddhist will make that mistake in these elections. For us, the national assembly is not a forum from which to seek advantages but a place to serve the nation. I feel the assembly should be the place where every Vietnamese can find his pride in seeking union and equality.

Q. What are your suggestions for keeping the Viet Cong from participating in the coming elections?

A. I feel that the men at the grass roots of this country know better than anyone else who is a Communist and who is not. They will be the judges of who should participate, and I have faith in their judgment. As for the Buddhists, we will try to inform all the faithful of the danger of such elements.

Q. What are your suggestions for keeping the Viet Cong from intimidating or infiltrating either the elected constituent assembly or the elected legislative assembly?

A. Elected representatives in a sense will be soldiers, and like any other soldier, a representative must be prepared to take risks. But really this is only a matter of detail and not an important thing.

Q. If stability returns to Viet Nam and the war against the Communists is waged successfully, do you believe that eventually some sort of negotiations must be held with the Viet Cong?

A. Of course, in raising such a question you have really answered it yourself--obviously any war must be finally ended by some kind of negotiations. But negotiations are worthwhile only if conditions are favorable for them. If you negotiate without benefit to your cause and struggle, that is a surrender in the guise of negotiations. And I am certainly not in favor of any such surrender.

Q. Do you believe there are non-Communist elements within the Viet Cong?

A. If so, they are completely exploited and led by the Communists, so we can have no hope for them. Even if they are only followers, they can be of no use to us. Being led or directed by Communists is the same as being a Communist.

Q. What do you think of the Viet Cong movement?

A. This is mostly a matter of semantics to me. People try to separate North Vietnamese Communists from South Vietnamese Communists. No such separation exists. They are both Communists. And as far as I am concerned, as a religious man, the ideology they possess is much more dangerous than the guns they possess.

Q. Can you comment on rumors that the first thing a legislative assembly might do would be to ask the Americans to leave Viet Nam?

A. Rumors such as these are sheer libel. No proof or substantiation for them exists. One should not ask whether Americans should remain in Viet Nam. It is agreed by all that the struggle against Communism here must be made with the assistance of the Americans. So the problem is really how to enhance the value of that assistance. American assistance is not now fully supported in Viet Nam because there is no popular representation to give it such support. When an assembly is elected, it will, by giving its moral endorsement to such assistance, enhance its value and its acceptance.

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