My Singapore Misadventure, 1979
In The Same Boat
34-Year Facebook Connection
A Miracle Happened Online
Prior to connecting with Vincent Leduc on Facebook in September of 2013, images of my misadventure from the refugee camp in Buton to Singapore with that “Crazy Cowboy” Gary Ferguson existed solely in my memory. Seeing images of the boat ride and myself in Vincent's photographs, and learning about his experience as a photojournalist, are all parts of a greater story which I will never forget.
Following are comments and screenshots from our Facebook connection in September, 2013:
"Vietnamese boat people rescued by a ship named Akuna" Facebook Page"Hi, I just came into this page while making a research about the Akuna. I was in Pulau Buton in may 79, 11 to 24 and on board the ship from june 18 to 28, 79. I took many photos. Could scan some of them if you like."
Vincent Leduc Facebook Page
"Vincent, glad you found this page. I'd love to hear your story. Please share your photos on this page with captions if possible. I was rescued by Akuna along with 67 others in Mid April 1979. On the ship for 10 to 15 days before landing in Indonesia via local fishermen's small boats... My name is Nam Nguyen, BTW."
Photojournalist Vincent Leduc on the Akuna ship, funded by Food For The Hungry International, documenting Vietnamese Boat People in the South China Sea, June 1979.
"Nam, I was a young free lance reporter at that time, based in bangkok. I spent the whole year 79 reporting on refugees from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. I came down to Singapore with an American friend, Gary Ferguson from Phoenix, he was financially supporting Food for the hungry. We were supposed to go with the Akuna, but Gary changed his mind, that was in early may 79. The ship had just sent groups of Vietnamese rescued at sea, to the Riau Indonesian islands. In Pulau Buton. They were left alone without help. So we went there Gary and me, we stayed a week, building a school and other facilities to help the community. Then Gary had the idea to try to go to Singapore with one of the small boat from Vietnam. He believed that being American, he could convince the American ambassador to accept the people he would brought. 62 people came along. We were two days at sea, stopped by the Singapore navy. Gary could not succeed. We came back to Pulau Buton. Then both of us were arrested by the Indonesian police and expelled from Indonesia. I will start scanning photos tomorrow and post them on FB."
"OMG! Vincent, I was too on that boat with Gary that the Singaporean navy ship pulled us out back to sea. I even wrote a post on my Facebook. When I get home from work tonight, I'll look for it to show you. I bet you have many great photos of Akuna and the Vietnamese refugees/boat people, maybe I'll be in one of your photographs. Can't wait to see them. Thanks for sharing your story so far!"
"Vincent Leduc: here is a scanned copy of my high school essay from 1984, telling my unforgettable and short runaway boat journey to Singapore with Gary Ferguson, and you:"
My 1984 high school English journal, describing the runaway boat trip to Singapore with Gary Ferguson in May 1979.(view high resolution image)"Great story ! While scanning the photos, I remember that the idea came to Gary because the family who came from Vietnam with that boat did not want to leave it. They where staying on board, refusing to get down to land. At that time, as you know very well, the conditions in the "camp" where rude. They where thinking of continuing their journey, even toward Australia..."
Waiting with uncertainty for several days just off shore of Buton, many of the people on this newly arrived boat were women and young children. They were denied entry to the refugee camp in Buton. Contrary to Leduc's account, my understanding, at the time, was that the local Indonesian Government had just imposed a new law not to accept new Vietnamese boat people, partly due to the already overcrowded refugee population.
"... After few days talking with them, Gary said he could try the Singapore option. I remember very well that observation plane flying over us and later on the Singapore navy ship coming to stop us. Gary went on it. He stayed two or three hours while we were waiting in hope. He succeeded to convince the ship captain to call the American ambassador and he talked a long time with the ambassador on the phone trying to push him to accept the group on board. And he was so disappointed to come back with the "no" answer. Everybody was saddened at the moment. I can understand your words "It was the most stupid and embarrassing time in my whole life."
"I am so glad you could find some of your photos. It is great, 34 years later! On Pulau Buton and the boat trip I probably have more (I will double check), for I have ceased the best photos in 80/81 to the UNHCR in Geneva. I guess they still have them in their archives. Although, I have more photos on the Akuna and boat people rescue in South China Sea. Very happy we have "met" again. Do you know anything about Gary? I could not find him since this time."
Gary Ferguson, the man referred to as “Cowboy” by the Vietnamese refugees, attracted a large crowd of mostly children (including me) during his short visit to the Buton Refugee Camp, Indonesia, in the summer of 1979.
"The Gary that I saw in Buton always wore cowboy hat and cowboy boots."
"That's me wearing the very same tee shirt with horizontal stripes that I wore in photographs with my brothers in Saigon before I left them behind for the boat journey. It was my only tee shirt for months during my stay in Buton refugee camp in Indonesia.
"Thanks Vincent for sharing photos and more info about Gary and the Singapore boat journey. You really have great memory with such details... This is Nam again. I think I found me for sure in some other photos of the boat people wearing the same tripe shirt, the only shirt I had, throughout the boat journey... Thanks Vincent!"
"Vincent, I can not thank you enough for coming into my life with all these wonderful photographs of Buton Camp and the boat ride to Singapore with Gary Ferguson --- with me in many of the images."
. . . .
"... I feel so blessed to see these images after all these years. The story never left me. Thanks for working hard to share your incredible photojournalist work with me and others."
"Nam... You did not only went through a boat people journey but also a journey into life, alone."
Screenshots of Our 34-Year Facebook Connection
NEXT
A Wonderful Surprise
Six months after I published this website, a London film studio contacted me and expressed interest in producing a documentary about my story and to help me search for the “Crazy American Cowboy”.
34-Year Facebook Connection - 2013
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My Singapore Misadventure, 1979
Songs about the Refugee Experience
"Sea of Memory (Biển Nhớ)"
- Mỹ Hạnh, 2011
"Sea of Memory (Biển Nhớ)"
- Khánh Ly, 1980s
"Refugee"
- Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, 1979
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