While the government has begun to open up the economy and completed a far-reaching trade agreement with Washington two years ago, Vietnam remains one of the poorest and most corrupt nations in Asia.
Ky said the Vietnamese government needed to move faster or risk the country being left far behind. So far he has given two main pieces of advice to government officials: cut down on corruption and narrow the gap between the rich and the poor.
This week he has given this message, he said, to Thanh Vo Viet, until recently a mayor of Ho Chi Minh City and now Ky's new golf partner there.
In his autobiography, Buddha's Child, written with Marvin Wolf, Ky gives an unvarnished account of how he fled the country.
As the North Vietnamese were pushing ever closer to Saigon in 1975, he proposed defending the city house to house, person to person.
But when he failed to persuade anyone, Ky said he loaded up a helicopter with some colleagues and flew out to sea. As he approached the US aircraft carrier Midway, Ky said, he ditched the ivory-handled revolver that John Wayne had given him.
The Americans would disarm them, and Ky said he preferred to disarm himself. After Ky landed, the American sailors unceremoniously pushed his helicopter over the side.
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