By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Columnist

Pham Sanh Chau, deputy director for the Institute for International Relations in Hanoi, Vietnam, has given The Advertiser an exclusive account of how Hawai'i is helping his country take its rightful place in the world by explaining how to operate a golf club.

We're not talking here about the stick that whacks the ball, but about the social organization that meets at a golf course.

Pham has played at Ala Wai, dined at Oahu Country Club, and has conferred with Allan Lum, general manager at Waialae, so that he can pass on to fellow members of the fledgling Hanoi Golf Club how to organize, what the board of directors is supposed to do, the meaning of "nonprofit," etc.

The interest in golf in Vietnam at the ministerial and ambassadorial level began, Pham explained, with a conversation between Nguyen Manh Cam, deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Vietnam, and Abdulla Badawi, now prime minister of Malaysia, at an ASEAN conference of top Asian leaders.

At the time, Vietnam was emerging from isolation and stepping onto the global stage. Badawi advised Nguyen that if Vietnam wanted to join the family of nations, its leaders must first learn to speak English and, second, learn to play golf, both essential to conducting official business at the top level in Asia.

Pham said he interpreted for the Vietnamese delegation at the conference and thus participated in the historic conversation. Nguyen, who spoke several languages, quickly became fluent in English and learned to play golf.

However, other government officials lagged in the golfing area. You have to understand that there are only eight courses in Vietnam and only 300 to 400 golfers, most of them in the south. What the nation needed was a country club on the ministerial level.

Fortunately for Pham, one of his friends in Hanoi, a Scotsman named Gordon Simons, is an avid golfer. He taught Pham how to play. They decided to form a golf club: Simons would raise the money, Pham would recruit members and Nguyen would see that they didn't make political mistakes.

As state interpreter, Pham had plenty of opportunity to point out to Vietnamese officials that it is their political responsibility to play golf. Vietnam must be part of the world, and besides, it's good for your health.

The golf club was coming along fine until Pham was appointed ambassador to UNESCO and had to spend three years in Paris. He's in Honolulu now for a course organized by the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies.

In his off time, he's boning up on how to organize a golf club. Already the club has about 70 members but no course. They lease a driving range and have hired a golf pro from Indonesia. Many of Vietnam's leaders now know how to conduct themselves on a golf course. The ambassador to London has a handicap of 12.