A Physician Among Warriors

The clash of arms over Viet Nam has obscured a noteworthy development: for eleven weeks the nation has gone without a coup. That in itself says something for the government of Premier Phan Huy Quat.

Though no one has yet found a cure for the nation's agonizing dementia politica, Dr. Quat has at least made a start. Since he accepted the premiership in the waning days of General Khanh's regime, Quat has moved with agility and a refreshing absence of dogmatism to ease tensions among South Viet Nam's neurotically suspicious interest groups. To be sure, the Buddhist-Catholic split still gapes awesomely, the warlords of the Armed Forces Council still intrigue among themselves, and South Viet Nam's 40 political parties are constantly quarreling.

On the Road. But Quat has spent long, private hours with Buddhist leaders in an attempt to lower the octane of their disputes. Perhaps as a result, the Buddhists seem willing to give the government a chance: whereas immolation was once a favorite device for advertising Buddhist grievances, bonzes recently snatched away the matches of a gasoline-drenched Buddhist nun.

Quat's unpublicized talks with Saigon's Catholic leaders have won him at least passive support from that quarter, and his handling of the military has also shown promise. When a group of junior naval officers mutinied against Admiral Chung Tan Cang -- thus setting in motion a chain of military movements that could have ended in a coup --Quat quickly brought the mutineers to trial for breach of discipline. At the same time, he suspended Cang pending a full investigation of the mutineers' charges: graft and malfeasance. Military order was maintained, and the customary Vietnamese tactic of taking the law into one's own hands was sternly rejected.

Quat's travels through the countryside have taken him from Hue in the north to the tip of Camau Peninsula, talking to peasants and regional politicians in an attempt to show Saigon's interest in their problems. Also of importance: the Premier's relations with the U.S. embassy are much better than were Khanh's.

Waiting for Rain. For all his efforts, Quat has no real authority over his Cabinet ministers, who show little team spirit, spend far too much time on petty jurisdictional squabbles. As much as anything, Quat's longevity is based on the simple fact that the Armed Forces Council is currently split into four or five groups--none seemingly powerful enough to bring off a coup at the moment. Many of the generals seem too bored with the Council to attend its meetings, and last week there was even talk of dissolving the body--an act which could upset Quat's delicate balance. On the other hand, it could give Quat more freedom of action, particularly if the Council's functions were absorbed into the Defense Ministry.

No one familiar with South Viet Nam's topsy-turvy history could safely predict that Quat's regime will remain in power for another eleven weeks--or another eleven hours for that matter. And many military men believe the Viet Cong are currently lying low, waiting for the rainy season in order to launch an all-out attack in the central highlands. Their probable aim: to capture a provincial town like Kontum or Quinhon, declare it the rebel capital, and thus win an important psychopolitical victory that could topple the Saigon regime. But if they fail (and clearly U.S. policy is determined to make them fail), then Dr. Quat's chances of surviving will climb another notch. And with him on that slippery ladder to governmental stability climbs the whole future of South Viet Nam.

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