Some Remarks on the National Policy of the Second Republic Government related to the Issue of Ethnic Minorities of the Central Highlands (1964 – 1975)

Learning the failure lesson of the national policy of Ngo Dinh Diem government, with the ambition to control the Central Highlands and block the moving path of revolutionary forces into the coastal regions of the Center and the South, the Second Republic government was seriously concerned about building up and perfecting the national policy, finding out the more practical way to apply it. From the policy “People, Harmony and Mutual Progress in National Unity” to the policy “People’s Benefit, Harmonious Society, People’s Mutual Advance”, the Second Republic government achieved certain successes, particularly in enticing Fulro’s cooperation. However, due to the low process of making policies which was even awkward and sometimes improvising, the implementation of the policies encountered several difficulties in reality when the war broke out in fierce fighting in the Central Highlands under the limitation of human resources. Thus, those policies did not meet the desire and need of the ethnic minorities of the Central Highlands. Consequently, after the Liberation in 1975, the revolutionary government had to deal with this problem.