Shady Libyan construction firms and crooked labor brokers are allegedly exploiting Vietnamese workers!

Vietnamese workers at a construction site in Tarhoona, Libya. Hundreds of Vietnamese guest workers in the Northern African nation say they are working under harsh conditions for pay that often comes in low and late.

Every day, Dai, a 26-year- old Vietnamese construction worker, wakes up and works 11 hours under the hot Libyan sun.

For the past four months, Dai has endured sandstorms and siroccos – the notoriously hot and dusty winds blowing out of the Sahara desert. What keeps him working is the hope that he will provide a better life for his relatives back home in the northern province of Ninh Binh.

But, here in Libya, there are no guarantees that his hard work will pay off.

Dai and hundreds of Vietnamese workers in the Northern African nation are working under harsh conditions for pay that often comes late. When pay does arrive, workers said, it is lower than the contracted amount. There is no compensation for overtime.

Before arriving in Libya, some of the poor rural men said they had been fleeced by fake labor brokers in Vietnam. Others say they had bribed employees at “legitimate” personnel firms in order to secure positions with “good” companies abroad.

Long road to Libya

Can Van Chien, a 24-year-old carpenter from Hanoi, said he had faced a number of difficulties before being sent to work at a residential construction site in Souq Al Ahad, some 80 kilometers to the south-east of Tripoli.

In 2006, he said, a man posing as a labor broker took him for VND10 million. Chien had been promised a job in the Czech Republic. A year later, he failed to qualify for a mechanic’s position in Egypt with the Vinaconex Company. Chien says that Vinaconex collected application fees from Chien and promised to send him to Algeria to work. After five months of waiting, he was told that his contract in Algeria had been canceled. But there was work in Libya.

Like many other workers, Chien had to take out bank loans to cover broker fees and his plane ticket. Interest on the loans continued to accrue during the months that he waited for his assignment to come through.

Khuong, a construction worker in Souq Al Ahad, said he and seven other workers were sent to Libya last year by Vinaconex after bribing a company representative in Libya VND2 million each. Khuong said he and the others were told that the man could arrange them to work for a Turkish company in Libya that was supposed to be better than others.

Underpaid

After overcoming all odds, the workers have complained that their payment has come in low and late.

In October 2009, late payment prompted 500 Vietnamese workers (80 percent of the STFA Construction Company workforce) to strike for three days. The workers complained that the company had delayed the transfer of funds to their accounts for five consecutive months. They claimed to have lost between US$10 and $100 per transaction.

In another case, 91 Vietnamese employees at the Ahua Company said they had signed contracts to work eight hours a day for $260 a month. They claimed to have been paid just $240 a month in Lybian dinar.

“For four months we worked an extra three hours a day and weren’t paid for it,” a worker said.

At the Hadsa construction site, owned by South-Korean Halin Company, 27 Vietnamese workers reported a similar story.

Bang, a 37-year-old worker from the northern mountainous Son La Province, said he and his co-workers signed contracts for $260 a month but the company only paid 260 Lybian dinar, equaling only $208. What’s more, Libya took a 20 percent tax bite out of their checks.

Desert hope

For workers from the tropical Vietnam, Libya’s desert-like climate proved to be an unforgiving working environment.

The 41-year-old carpenter Minh prepares for his daily work by covering himself tightly, from head to toe, in ninja-like garb. “Everyone dresses like this,” he says. “You will know why when going out. The construction site is just like a pan of boiling fat. Any uncovered body part will be immediately badly burnt by the sun.”

The construction site is surrounded on all sides by endless sand dunes. Without a tree in sight, the whole place heats up quickly under the scorching sun.

Minh said that 300 workers from his village, Huong Ngai in Hanoi’s Thach That District, were sent to work as plumbers in Libya. Nearly half of them developed respiratory diseases soon after arriving due to the dusty working conditions, he said.

Khoai, a 39-year-old construction worker, said he spent his days painting a layer of mazut oil onto formwork to prevent them from sticking to plaster. “The smell of oil in the unbearable heat has made my nose bleed,” he said. “Some pass out due to sunstroke.”

Quyen, a Vietnamese plumber who has been working in Libya since early this year, said he accepted the gig despite regular underpayment in order to support his family.

“I hope my daughter will pass the university entrance exam this month so she won’t have to work hard like her parents,” he said.

Officials call for more regulation amid shady dealings between Docs and Drug Suits

Inpatients at Nguyen Trai Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. Several experts and policymakers have said that Vietnamese hospitals are paying unreasonably high prices for medicine.

Vietnamese hospitals are paying unreasonably high prices for medicine, according to several experts and health policymakers.

Critics have alleged that backroom deals between drug manufacturers and hospitals have resulted in doctors prescribing drugs that patients don’t need in exchange for kickbacks.

The recent dust up goes back to December of 2009 when inspections in public hospitals turned up irregularities and outright scams.

Officials and Ho Chi Minh City residents were outraged this spring when city inspectors revealed that doctors at the 115 People’s Hospital had pushed outpatients to purchase medicines at the pharmacy for inflated prices. The hospital had not complied with laws requiring it to hold competitive bidding prior to purchasing pharmaceuticals.

In March, investigators from the Drug Administration of Vietnam found that a HCMC University Medical Center physician had received VND528 million ($27,687) in July last year in kickbacks from the US Schering Plough Pharmaceutical office for selling hepatitis medicine.

He was not alone.

Legislators have found that public hospitals have purchased pharmaceuticals, particularly imported drugs, at 150-300 percent mark-ups, said Nguyen Duc Thu, deputy head of the Social Affairs Section at the National Assembly Office.

“Some hospitals have spent more on medicines than one would at local retail outlets. Such high prices have badly hurt patients and health insurance companies,” he said at a June 26 health policy seminar in the northern Vinh Phuc Province.

“Patients have not benefited from pharmaceutical promotions aimed at wholesalers and prescribing doctors,” he added. Thu claimed to have evidence that many hospitals hadn’t held competitive bids and that it was difficult to prevent backdoor deals.

In Vietnam, everything from unemployment to health insurance is regulated by a governmental body, Vietnam Social Insurance (VSI). Representatives from VSI are fuming about the rising costs of medicine.

The organization recently reported that drug costs account for 60 percent of its annual health expenditures.

“This is an unreasonably high proportion,” said the agency director Le Bach Hong. “Several countries in the region spend far less. China pays 45 percent, Indonesia pays 38 percent and Thailand pays 35 percent.”

Experts are concerned that health insurance policyholders are paying exorbitant prices for medicine due to poor management of public hospitals.

Hong said that many hospitals paid between 10-30 percent more than their retail value. “Wholesale prices are higher than retail. It is really unreasonable,” he said.

In Vietnam, the government used to cover all health costs for those who could not pay their way. This included the nation’s poor, children under six years old, orphans and those who contributed to the nation’s fight for independence.

Early this year, a new health insurance law changed all of that. Several members of this group now have to cover between 5-20 percent of their health care costs.

Where’s the bid?

In 2007 the ministries of Health and Finance passed a law requiring public hospitals to hold competitive bidding before purchasing a specific drug and prescribing it to patients.

Experts have charged that some hospitals have agreed to buy medicines at unreasonably high prices and have kicked back commissions from drug manufacturers.

Vietnam’s state insurance provider is left footing the bill.

“The insurance agencies bought these medicines,” said director Hong of VSI. “But the high prices were negotiated by the hospitals and pharmaceutical firms.”

Critics have offered, as evidence, the lack of consistency in prices. Ta Van Bang, a senior official at VSI’s Health Insurance Department, said that some public hospitals paid exponentially more for the same drug than others.

Experts also said certain doctors over-prescribe medicines in the hope of receiving large illicit dividends.

Hong said that, in a recent case, a 70-year-old man was prescribed nine different drugs—some of which he did not need. “This means patients paid more for drugs that could do more harm than good,” he said.

“The insurance agency could save VND1 trillion per year if hospitals cut 10 percent of [unreasonable] prescriptions. With that money, we could cover 2.5 million of the nation’s poor,” he said.

Poor management

In a recent report to the National Assembly, Vietnam’s legislature, the Drug Administration of Vietnam committed to take action to control medicine prices. The agency vowed to establish maximum retail prices and promotion rates.

By law, pharmaceutical companies and importers are required to report a product’s price to authorities before it goes on the market. Manufacturers are required to announce all rate increases. Authorities reserve the right to demand that manufacturers lower prices that are deemed unreasonable.

The Drug Administration has admitted, however, it could not tackle such a Herculean task.

Vietnamese authorities oversee more than 22,000 pharmaceutical products. They have not, thus far, established maximum prices for all of these drugs, much less established a definition for “unreasonable cost.”

Some members of the government are suggesting that VSI should assume control of negotiating purchases.

Dang Nhu Loi, deputy head of the NA’s Social Affairs Committee, said the Health Ministry should prevent unreasonably high drug prices at public hospitals “at the root of the problem by allowing the insurance agencies to hold open bids before public hospitals buy medicines.”

He said the arrangement could eliminate the risk of doctors favoring certain medicines for the wrong reasons.

Doctor Tran Van Ban, a member of the NA’s Social Affairs Committee, argued that the Drug Administration should be able to obtain information on the production costs of imported drugs rather easily. Based on that information, he said, they should be able to establish “reasonable” prices inside Vietnam.

Ban added that India dealt with a similar problem in 1975. Costs were reduced by making the purchasing process more transparent, he said.

Reducing drug prices benefits all: WHO official

The Vietnamese government and its people, particularly the poor, would all equally benefit from policies aiming to reduce drug prices, Dr. Jean-Marc Olivé (photo), the World Health Organization Representative for Vietnam told Thanh Nien Weekly in a phone interview.

Thanh Nien Weekly: How do drug costs in Vietnam rank, regionally

Dr. Jean-Marc Olivé: I think that there are very limited surveys [on drug prices] that have been done in Vietnam. [My] recommendation would be to continue to do surveys. It is important to analyze the insurance  claims of the expenditure on medicines, and all of this should be monitored by the government as well as the price of the top 20 medicines reimbursed by health insurance. The idea is that the government should adopt a general policy for drugs and monitor prices of medicine. That is what it is all about.

But in a recent report sent to the National Assembly, the Drug Administration of Vietnam pointed out many difficulties in monitoring the drug prices in Vietnam. Do you think the job of monitoring drug prices will be tough for Vietnam?

To adjust and monitor the price of medicine and ensure the price is affordable is a challenge faced by many countries like Vietnam that are growing very fast.  One of the recommendations that we have made to the government is to monitor drug prices. I think many of the instruments are in place, and should be used to monitor and find ways to reduce prices, as other countries have done. Just by monitoring you can achieve a lot.

Is the WHO aware of any untoward or illicit activity on the part of pharmaceutical companies selling medicines to Vietnamese public hospitals?

No, the WHO has not done any study in this area. We are giving support to the Ministry of Health, developing guidelines and regulations for appropriate drug use in hospitals. That’s the only thing we are doing. This is the business of the government, we are not involved.

We are just technical advisors. It is up to the government to implement laws and guidelines. It is not the role of the WHO.

What should the Vietnamese health authorities do to better protect poor and vulnerable patients?

I think the big challenge for the government is covering 100 percent of the Vietnamese population. One easy way would be to reduce the price of drugs seeing as they total 60 percent of reimbursement. [But] this is still far more than most developed countries where the proportion of drugs that are reimbursed overall is 10-15 percent.

It will be difficult to sustain this because of the cost of healthcare that increases regularly, and the higher proportion of drugs to be reimbursed by health insurance in the future.

One very good way to ensure sustainability and reduce costs of medical expenses would be to reduce the costs of drugs.

From what I understand, the government is trying very hard to address this issue; one of the priorities of the government is [to] increase access to healthcare for all Vietnamese while giving priority to the poorer ones. They have dramatically increased the coverage and now they are trying to ensure that the poorer people have the same access to healthcare as the wealthy. This is easier said than done. Many poor people are in remote regions and there are difficulties to do with transport and accessing healthcare. But we are on the right track. By increasing access to health insurance, you will include all the strata of the population, particularly the poor. (Reported by An Dien)

Vietnam has just begun to enter the thriving Asian semi-conductor boom.

Some say that if Vietnam plays its cards right, the nation could compete with tech powerhouses like South Korea in the next ten years.

In the interim, Professor Hiroshi Ochi from the Kyushu Institute of Technology (Japan) has advised Vietnam to invest in its highly talented students.

Thanh Nien Weekly: How is the semiconductor industry going at this moment?

Hiroshi Ochi: The semiconductor market is growing worldwide thanks to smartphones, Ipods and all these electronics devices which are very popular. Today, even in developing countries, everyone has a computer. The market size is getting bigger and semiconductor manufacturing is changing: yesterday’s leading producers (like Japan and the US) are lagging. China, Taiwan’s and Korea’s are on the rise. So they compensate each other.

Those Asian economies are becoming very strong. So, as a result, we can say that semiconductor production is increasing. In the future, Vietnam and Indonesia could be the third generation of semiconductor producers. You could be the next generation.

Why do you say that?

If the government goes in the right direction Vietnam can become like Korea. You are growing. You organize high-tech conferences. The Vietnam National University (VNU) is a great university, and you have ICDREC (IC Design Research and Education Center), the design center. So there are a lot of possibilities to bring the semiconductor industry to Vietnam.

What do you predict for the IC industry over the next ten years?

China is a good example. At the beginning of their economic development, they earned a lot of money from low tech production – mass production. Then, as the next step, they invested all this money in the semiconductor segment and the automobile industry. They opened their market to the world. That’s why a lot of foreign companies decided to invest in China.

So this big investment of money stimulated the economy and education. They still don’t have big electronic companies, they just have companies for mass production, and appliances. They don’t produce high-tech semiconductors or applications like the iPod or the iPhone. Still, they have been successful. Because the government wanted to invest in this field.

So China is a success story even if they don’t have high-tech companies: the secret is the government control. If the administration decides to invest in a certain field, like semiconductors, you don’t need big companies, you have the government that can help local companies to develop. The same thing can be applicable to Vietnam. Your government is strong and, if it has the money, it can invest in this field.

So how much do we need in order to have substantial production in Vietnam for this industry

I’ll reply with another example: Taiwan. In Taiwan, the target was semiconductor fabrication plants. The company TSMC needed huge investments. At the beginning they didn’t build any plants. They waited for the foreign money. So this can be a model for you: if your government doesn’t have the money right now to invest in the semiconductor industry, wait. And while you are waiting you can educate your students and engineers.

But even if your government has the money, it should think very carefully about the right way to spend it. In Taiwan, they invested in semiconductor fabrication plants. They became successful but I don’t think you should follow Taiwan’s lead. TSMC is already a strong company, you can’t compete with them, you should avoid investing in costly plants.

Are you suggesting that Vietnam should only concentrate on design?

Exactly. And when you design something, you can ask Taiwan to make it.

What do you think of Vietnamese students?

Vietnamese students are top quality. My direct experience can better show what I’m talking about. I’m the director of the LSI (Large Scale Integrated) Design Contest. We hold it annually and we invite universities from many Asian countries. Usually Kyoto or Osaka wins first prize.

But recently things have changed. In Indonesia there is the Bandung Institute of Technology, and it is one of the top technological universities. They won three times. But the achievements of the Vietnamese students are far better than the Indonesian or Japanese students. Last time your students won. That proves that your education system and the caliber of your students are very good.

About ten Vietnamese children continue to drown every day; concerned agencies scramble to address the crisis

A group of children play by the Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi. Concerned agencies are seeking to reduce drowning rates among children in Vietnam as about ten children die of drowning every single day of the year on an average.

Two children drowned on July 11 while picking snails with their grandmother on a riverbank in the south-central Khanh Hoa Province.

Nguyen Thi Trang Nha, 14, and her younger sister, Nguyen Thi Anh Huyen, 10, fell into a deep underwater hole along the bank of the Tac River in Nha Trang’s Phuoc Dong Commune.

Neither child could swim.

The sisters’ horrible end is just a piece in a larger tragedy: about ten Vietnamese children die from drowning every single day. It is the leading cause of injury-related deaths in children and adolescents in Vietnam. Official statistics found that over 3,500 children and adolescents, aged 0-19, died from drowning nationwide in 2008.

“[Drowning] accounts for about 50 percent of injury-related mortalities among children and adolescents,” said Jean Dupraz, UNICEF Acting Representative in Vietnam, told a conference in Hanoi on July 16. The conference was aimed at building a communications campaign to battle the epidemic.

“They die close to their homes and close to their playgrounds, often left alone without adult supervision and care,” Dupraz said. “Compared to other countries in the region, Vietnam has the highest fatal drowning rate. This reflects the extent of the problem in Vietnam, which requires urgent and strong action from all of us.”

“Evidence has shown that creating a safe environment for children can help to save them from drowning,” he said.

Seeking solutions

At the conference, the leaders of 15 provinces where the problem is most acute signed a commitment to reducing child drowning cases.

The leaders pledged to raise community awareness about the urgent demand to prevent drowning deaths and call for the urgent action from families, community and local leaders to address the issue. In the meantime, representatives from the central government pledged their full support.

“The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs will cooperate with other ministries and mass organizations to guide and monitor the implementation of child drowning prevention activities in the 15 provinces with the highest rate of child drowning” said Dam Huu Dac, Deputy Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs.

“It’s important that all children and adolescents live in safe and secure environments”, he added.

Dupraz said UNICEF would continue to aid Vietnam in the prevention of child drowning.

“We will continue to work closely with the government in its efforts to protect children from injury in general and from drowning in particular”, he said.

Over the last couple of years UNICEF has continued to play its part by supporting the government of Vietnam in its efforts. Recently, they helped fund programs to teach children how to swim and perform first-aid.

The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs reported that other countries have succeeded in reducing drowning casualties by building fences, covering water jars, and stressing child supervision.

Positive examples are found in cities and provinces such as Da Nang, An Giang, Dong Thap, where due to leadership commitment, regular swimming classes are offered to children in addition to other prevention activities. The measures have helped to dramatically reduce the number of child drowning deaths in those provinces in recent years, the ministry said.

Progress is paving its way through Vietnam’s ancient cities and no one knows what to save and what to toss.

After several debates regarding preservation efforts in Hanoi, the nation still lacks an agency capable of evaluating the historical significance of a given site. What’s more, Vietnam needs technicians who know how to preserve the relics it wants to keep.

Olivier Tessier, researcher from the French School of Asian Studies (École Française d’Extrême-Orient, EFEO), sat down with Thanh Nien Weekly to discuss what Vietnam can do to hold on to its cultural heritage.

Thanh Nien Weekly: How do you assess the historical value of a place like the Thang Long Imperial Citadel?

Olivier Tessier: The imperial citadel has great historical and cultural value. It was the capital of the Ly, Tran and Le dynasties as well as a major center for cultural and economic exchange between Vietnam, China, Champa and other countries in Southeast Asia.

A section of Hoang Hoa Tham Street, thought to be part of the citadel, was recently excavated during the construction of an overpass. What are your thoughts on that?

- Cities run into this problem all over the world – Rome, Paris, Athena, etc. We want to preserve our heritage as well as develop our cities. Meanwhile, cities can’t develop if everything is preserved. Hanoi is a city with a long history. When you build roads, you’re going to run into relics of the past – as was the case in Hoang Hoa Tham Street.

So, what can Vietnam do in this case? If you ban all construction, you’ll stymie socioeconomic development. Every year in France, some 700 square kilometers of land are set aside for the construction of roads, railways and private and public buildings. Underground relics are definitely destroyed during the construction. Inevitably this leads to disputes among politicians, scientists, residents and economic sectors. So, in 2002, the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP), was established to research the protection of archaeological relics.

While researching 20 percent of the 700 square kilometers, INRAP combs the project sites, work out their maps, and photograph them, before a decision on the use of the site is issued. Construction projects are seldom stopped. INRAP doesn’t make the decision, politicians do, but only after considering our findings regarding the site’s historial and cultural value. They weigh those findings against issues such as land planning, and the development demand of the surrounding community.

Such an agency can’t make everyone happy, but it can cool down disputes by establishing a legal procedure for potential construction projects. Such an agency could help Vietnamese authorities make decisions in cases like Hoang Hoa Tham Street. Once again, however, you can’t please everyone.

But, we should strive to maintain our cultural heritage for posterity...

- Right, you are right. Everyone agrees with you. But, you can’t save everything. Hanoi might not have become the capital of Vietnam if construction had been banned, a thousand years ago, to maintain historical integrity.

There are a number of ways you can approach the preservation of a given site. You can preserve relics on-site. You can study relics and then remove them to museums. Additionally, you can bury them so that future generations, with more advanced technology, can study them further.

There are different methods (for preservation) but the goal is to maintain something that scientists can continue to study and preserve evidence of the past for future generations

What should we do about the Thang Long Imperial Citadel?

- The discovery of archaeological relics at the imperial citadel is of great significance to Vietnam’s history. The relic site has two unique features. The first is that the site sits on top of five meters of sediment filled with objects that span 13 centuries (from the 8th-19th). The second is that the space above ground continues to be used.

There are older and better heritage sites in the country, but Thang Long is especially interesting because it contains a long-term history. It is here, in the space of a few hectares, that Vietnam’s political center has been established over the course of a thousand years.

This historical gem sits in the middle of Hanoi, an expensive city that’s rapidly modernizing. Moreover, it is in the center of Ba Dinh political area, adjacent to the National Assembly’s building. For that reason, its development has been widely debated in recent years.

So, what’s the best option in this case?

- Now, we must determine how to best preserve the site and develop a working plan for the project. Foreign and local experts agree that there’s no single best recipe for handling this scenario. It’s not like baking a cake.

Research proposals from the Institute of Archaeology (of Vietnam) have proposed that part of the site be left open for sightseeing, while the rest be covered with land and soil to protect it from the elements. This should be urgently implemented. In fact, the relic has been affected by rain, sunshine, and moisture since it was unearthed eight years ago.

Is there anything else Vietnam can do to preserve its cultural relics?

- I think Vietnam should train more experts in the technical aspects of preserving archaeological relics in particular, and cultural relics in general. Archaeologists cannot succeed without this technical understanding and capacity. This is a subject that is taught at many universities, especially in Europe.

The history of Vietnam-US relations is still crazy (after all these years)

Former US President Bill Clinton is greeted on the street in Hanoi, Vietnam on Wednesday, December 2006

In the days following the liberation of Saigon, Nayan Chanda, the young Saigon correspondent for the Far East Economic Review, thought he had a scoop.

He went to the man he hoped would be his source: the editor in chief of the Vietnamese Communist Party’s Nhan Dan (The People) newspaper, Hoang Tung.

“I said I know that a lot of official US documents were left behind in Saigon, which your government now has in its possession. Would you help me get access to these documents?” Chanda told Thanh Nien Weekly via phone.

Tung’s answer was no.

“I was surprised,” said Chanda. “He [Tung] said: ‘Look, the war is over, there is no reason to throw salt in the American wounds.”

According to Chanda’s history of postwar Indochina Brother Enemy: The War after the War, American banks and oil companies were invited to Hanoi as early as 1976 to explore possibilities of trade and financial relations. “They [the Vietnamese government] wanted to seek everyone’s help. It was this [US-imposed] embargo that prevented western countries from helping Vietnam,” he said in the interview.

This July 11 marks 15 years since the US decided to open its doors and lift the embargo.

Warren Christopher, US Deputy Secretary of State 1977-1981 and Secretary of State 1993-1997 (during normalization) wrote to Thanh Nien Weekly via email:

“In 1995, with the war almost two decades behind us, I believed that the time had come to establish a working relationship with Vietnam, to recast the word in the American consciousness as a place rather than a war.”

What took so long?

After the fall of Saigon, Vietnam was invaded by the Khmer Rouge several times. Vietnamese-led forces then crossed into Cambodia and ousted Pol Pot in 1978, ending a genocide that had killed two million Cambodians.

The US was not pleased. In 1981, US Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. said the US would not recognize Vietnam because of its actions against Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.

Edwin A Martini, author of Invisible Enemies: The American War on Vietnam, 1975-2000 and Associate Professor of History at Western Michigan University, told Thanh Nien Weekly what the US was up to in Cambodia at the time:

“The US was providing all these supplies and materials to what they called the ‘non-communist resistance’ when everybody knew full well that most of those supplies and most of those materials were going to the Khmer Rouge.”

This relationship made normalization seem virtually impossible for the Vietnamese.

“After the war, the US led a coalition of nations to establish a political blockade and economic embargo on Vietnam, preventing Vietnam’s development of regional and international relations,” recalled vice chair of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Committee Ngo Quang Xuan, who served as Vietnamese ambassador to the United Nations during the normalization process.

Martini added that even ostensibly non-political organization like the IMF and World Bank, whom Vietnam had invited into the country post-1975, were under the influence of the US and couldn’t work here under the embargo.

But now, with Vietnam a World Trade Organization member and major trading partner with the US, Xuan considers the large economic gap between the two nations to be their greatest challenge.

However, even given the richness of the friendship, Xuan still felt relations were not yet “comprehensive.”

“I believe that US-Vietnam relations will only be comprehensive once the Agent Orange matter has been resolved.”

Flying high

In a press conference on June 29, US ambassador Michael Michalak announced the winner of the anniversary logo contest: a soaring kite, made up of the two nation’s flags.

Michalak went on to describe the various millions of dollars the US government has invested in Vietnam since the end of the embargo: including $46 million that had been donated since 1989 to help the disabled.

“I feel very strongly that relations between the US and Vietnam have never been stronger,” he said in his closing remarks.

‘Propaganda’ no more

Seated at her District 1 office in confident repose, Madame Ton Nu Thi Ninh, retired diplomat and former vice chair of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Committee, seems comfortable in the light of Vietnam’s bright future. She plans to open a major new private university and is always happy to speak with the press.

Though she holds no grudges, Ninh remembers the harshness of the embargo with great clarity.

The stateswoman told Thanh Nien Weekly that a high-ranking UNICEF official had explained to her that even for a multilateral body, normal relations with the US were an important prerequisite for serious cooperation.

She considers Agent Orange the only problem between the two nations. “But AO will never capsize the boat,” she said.

To illustrate how far the two nations had come, Ninh recalled that years ago, a former US ambassador had dismissed Vietnam’s Agent Orange toll as “propaganda.”

“No US ambassador will use that word anymore,” she said.

Encouragement

Nguyen Duc is perhaps Agent Orange’s most famous victim.

He was joined at the leg, from birth, to his brother Viet – who remained bedridden following their 14-hour separation surgery.

Viet never fully recovered following the operation. He died in 2007.

Now, Duc walks with one leg.

He is married and living in a home made possible by international donations and the salary he earns as a computer technician.

He was just a child when relations normalized. “Over the past 15 years, I have seen remarkable progress in the relations between the two countries,” he said over the phone. He was encouraged by the recent arrival of four US Senators willing to discuss dioxin cleanup and hopes that the Vietnamese government will continue to lean on the US for a resolution to the Agent Orange problem.

“If I had a chance to speak with the US leaders, I would tell them to stop all other wars waged elsewhere in the world,” he said.

Freedom fighter

Nguyen Kim Phuong, 80, fought in the guerilla resistance movement against both the French and Americans. His father was killed by the French and his father-in-law was confined at Con Dao prison, notorious for its infamous “tiger cages.”

Like most Vietnamese, Phuong is forgiving about the war and is happy to see US-Vietnam relations moving forward.

“Since normalization, the lives of our people and our economy have both improved. Our relations are mutually beneficial. The Vietnamese people are grateful to the generous support from the US,” Phuong said.

“But... history cannot be forgotten.”

Inquiry follows wave of Agent Orange interest in wake of Senators’ visit

Tran Thi Hoan, 23, with her friends at Peace Village in Ho Chi Minh City’s Tu Du Maternity Hospital, a home for Agent Orange victims. Hoan, who was born without two legs and a hand due to her mother’s dioxin exposure, is testifying about the plight of Vietnamese Agent Orange victims at the US House of Representatives this week.

The United States House of Representatives is set to hear the testimony of the first Vietnamese Agent Orange victim to ever speak on capital hill this week.

Tran Thi Hoan, a 23-year-old 2nd generation victim told Thanh Nien Weekly her testimony on July 15th would focus on the agonies she and her peers have suffered, “and the aspirations of Vietnamese Agent Orange victims to be fully redressed by the US government and chemical companies.”

Hoan’s testimony coincides with a rising tide of US interest in Vietnam and its estimated 3 million Agent Orange victims. Hoan was born without a hand and both legs, which doctors have attributed to her mother’s exposure to Agent Orange.

According to an article written by Charles Bailey, Director of the Ford Foundation’s Special initiative on Dioxin/Agent Orange: “Between 1961 and 1971, the US sprayed close to 20 million gallons of Agent Orange and other herbicides over 10 percent of what was then South Vietnam.” Bailey added that the chemicals contained Dioxin, defined as a “persistent organic pollutant that even in tiny amounts (parts per trillion) can seriously harm the health of anyone exposed and potentially their offspring and future generations.”

Nearly 50 years later, members of the US government are stepping forward and taking ownership of the act.

“We as a country and a government formulated this policy of using this chemical toxic substance to supposedly fight the war in Vietnam only to find out that the consequences were just unbelievable,” Congressman Eni Faleomavaega (D -Am. Samoa) chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Sub-Committee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment told Thanh Nien Weekly.

Faleomavaega used the words “chemical warfare” to describe the US spraying campaign.

The Congressman was stationed with the US Army in Nha Trang from 1967-68. He summoned the first congressional hearing on Agent Orange that included the US-Vietnam dialogue group in 2008. He called another in 2009. In this third hearing, members of the House will come face to face with the consequences of the spraying.

“When I see these children in the hospital there in Vietnam who are deformed, it’s almost like being exposed to nuclear radiation in a way,” he said.

Rep. Faleomavaega is the second US official in two weeks to acknowledge a direct moral obligation on behalf of the US government to increase aid to Vietnamese Agent Orange victims.

The Samoan Congressman was unaware that a group of three US Senators had visited Vietnam last week and toured Agent Orange treatment centers in and around Da Nang.

During the delegation’s visit, the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported that Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Ia.) expressed a desire to raise the current allotment of $3 million to $20-30 million.

“[What] I want to do is to get the money for the compensation for the same illnesses here as we are doing in the US,” he was quoted as saying.

In an e-mail, Sen. Harkin’s staff said they could not commit to a specific number. “Sen. Harkin is working hard to increase funding,” a spokesperson said.

Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and AL Franken (D-Minn.), who accompanied Harkin to Vietnam last week, declined repeated requests for comment on the nature of their trip and plans for future action.

During the fiscal year of 2007, Congress approved $3 million for Vietnamese Agent Orange victims. The amount was approved again in 2009 and 2010.

“This 3 million is just pittance,” Rep. Faleomavaega said. “I really hope that we’re gonna see what we can do to increase our efforts.”

Both Harkin and Faleomavaega independently praised the work of the Ford Foundation, a charitable organization that has worked to develop a $300 million clean-up plan with the US – Vietnam Dialogue Group on Agent Orange/Dioxin. The plan requires funding largely by the US government –money that has yet to arrive.

“I don’t know where this is going to end up,” said Rep. Faleomavaega. “I’m just doing the best I can. Hopefully there will be members who will see the rightness of the issue and say we just need to correct it that’s all.”

Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong, who will testify alongside Hoan and was the first Vietnamese citizen to speak on the issue before congress in 2008, said the money that comes into Vietnam for Agent Orange assistance needs to be used properly.

“The money should be directed to Vietnamese NGOs for better distribution. As far as I understand, the already meager assistance has been trimmed by US NGOs tasked with bringing the money to Vietnam,” said the former president of HCMC-based Tu Du Maternity Hospital and current vice chair of the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA). Phuong has conducted extensive research on the impact of Agent Orange on breast milk in Vietnam.

“Imagine how much Vietnamese Agent Orange victims would receive given the fact that such [US] NGOs often come to Vietnam in large delegations and stay in five-star hotels.”

SHOW ME THE MONEY

Congressman Faleomavaega was the first to hold a hearing on Agent Orange that included the Vietnamese government. He served in the US Army from 1967-8 and was the first Asian-American in the history to chair a sub-committee on Asia and the Pacific.

In 1989 he was elected to Congress by the people of American Samoa. They have been re-electing him ever since.

During an extensive interview with Thanh Nien Weekly, Congressman Faleomavaega spoke on a range of issues, excerpted below.

We’re gonna spend another $100 billion on the 100,000 soldiers we’ve got on the ground in Afghanistan. And we’re right in the middle of saying, are we justified, does this smell of Vietnam again?

... Every time I read about the billions and billions of dollars that have been wasted on the war on Iraq and out of Afghanistan... that really burns me up, you know?

... We can’t account for billions and billions and we can’t spend a few million to alleviate [Agent Orange]? Billions and billions we can’t even account for? Give me a break. That’s not right.

In my review of the situation, this started under the Kennedy Administration, these major chemical companies like Monsanto... They pointed the finger at the Department of Defense. They are both responsible for what happened.

... What makes it worse is that this didn’t go on for a few months, it went on for close to 10 years!

... I have to put the ball squarely on the pentagon and those officials who conducted the war effort are responsible for what happened.

A Son Dong sage passes on the art of Chinese calligraphy

The 69-year-old retired farmer and veteran Nghiem Quoc Dat practices writes Chinese calligraphy, which is helpful for people to perfect their character

Every Sunday afternoon, nearly a hundred students gather to listen to the teachings of Nghiem Quoc Dat.

On a recent afternoon, the old man sat in the cramped quarters of his living room—his former classroom. A blousy kerchief hangs from the slight 69 year-old man’s neck like a flag. A large plush blazer ruffles against his narrow shoulders as he paints the beautiful tapered lines of a single Chinese character.

Dat, a retired farmer and former soldier, is perhaps his village’s most vital mind.

Five years ago, he began teaching the lost art of Chinese calligraphy. “I principally began doing this because I wanted the children in my family to carry on our traditional love of learning,” Dat says. “But, what’s more, my village is famous for its lacquered boards and wood panels which are all engraved with the complex characters. The younger generation needs to know about this so they can preserve the village’s traditional trade.”

Located some 25 kilometers from Hanoi, Son Dong Village has long been a home to craftsmen and artisans. The town boasts a number of Confucian scholars still capable of rendering and interpreting the nearly 4,000 year-old pictorial alphabet.

The characters first appeared in Vietnam in the first century BC.

Because the language is character-based (each word is represented by a symbol that must be memorized to be understood) it requires intense study to master. Modern Chinese dictionaries contain more than 47,000 symbols; a “literate” adult may only know between 3,000-4,000.

Portuguese missionaries began developing the current Romanized script in Vietnam in the 16th century to advance evangelical efforts. By the late 19th century, the Chinese alphabet had all but disappeared.

Since then the art has been carried only by artisans and scholars.

Startled by the possibility of its disappearance, Dat consulted the small educational board chaired by his extended family (the Nghiem clan). They encouraged him unanimously to begin teaching at the end of 2006.

The old man shelled out a huge chunk of his meager monthly pension to buy ink and brushes for his students.

He refused to accept any money from the children’s families and cleared out his 25 square-meter living room to make space for students.

The first class was made up entirely of Nghiem kids. He called it Sao Khue, after the Chinese astrological constellation that has served as symbol of art and literature in Chinese and Vietnamese culture.

Dat had no teaching experience when he began his Sunday lectures. But he soon found himself peppering his lessons with poems, puzzles and stories. The old scholar’s lessons don’t merely focus on the technical aspects of classical calligraphy. When teaching a given character, he inevitably delves into its complex Confucian meaning. For example, the symbol for “rest” combines the symbol for “man” and “tree.” Thus, a man sitting near a tree is deemed to be at rest.

His method worked. The floor of Dat’s living room swelled with students crowding onto the floor. He was forced to cap classes at 20 pupils until a local secondary School principal offered him the use of a classroom.

Dat believes in the old Vietnamese adage: net chu net nguoi - literally, “handwriting reveals your character”.

Dat’s tutelage has won praise from satisfied parents.

“We all know that Dat has a profound knowledge and, more than that, lots of personality,” said Van Thi Duyen whose ten-year-old son attends the old teacher’s class. “We all love watching naughty children improve under Dat’s moral guidance.”

In addition to kids, Dat’s classes are frequented by teachers, artisans, farmers, and Buddhist priests who attend whenever they can. Shocked by their dedication, Dat tends to gush when speaking about his pupils.

In some cases, it seems as though the old man’s calligraphy lessons have given some men a new hope in life.

“Tien is a war invalid,” Dat said. “But for the past two years he has driven his three-wheeler some 20 kilometers to come to class. He used to be a hot-tempered man but after a while in my class, he has developed a patience that extends into all things.”

Nguyen Phuc Hiep was born to a poor family in Dong La Village— some 15 kilometers away. Though he loved to learn, Hiep had to leave school to begin working at the age of 13. He now works on construction site and is one of Sao Khue’s top students.

“Studying calligraphy is very interesting,” said Hiep, who enrolled in the class three years ago. “Besides studying the meanings behind each character, I’ve fallen in love with the act of writing them. I really enjoy every lesson and want to organize a class to teach people in my village”

Several Sao Khue alumni have gone on to pursue calligraphy professionally. Thrilled by their success, Dat has no plans of stopping. “I still want more students,” he says. “I will continue to teach free until my health forces me to stop. The biggest reward for me is seeing my students absorbed in their work.”

Workers build a ship for delivery later this year at a Vinashin shipyard in the central province of Quang Ngai. The government has decided to restructure the state-owned shipbuilder, whose debts totaled more than US$4 billion.

Loss-making shipbuilding giant Vinashin has admitted its massive expansion efforts over the past few years had been overconfident and had led to the “necessary” restructuring it is now undergoing.

“We want to apologize to the Party, the government, the public and everyone who put their faith in Vinashin,” CEO Tran Quang Vu said in a series of reports published by Tien Phong newspaper last weekend. “We have failed to live up to expectations.”

As shipbuilding is a comprehensive industry, comprising many other sectors like steel, machinery and paint, Vinashin had created “an ambitious plan” to build a well-rounded business in order to control quality and cut production costs, said Vu, who took the CEO position at the state-owned company on July 1.

“However, we have to admit that we became overindulgent. Besides shipbuilding, which is our core business, we also invested in stocks, real estate and insurance markets.

“Since our business was based on loans, Vinashin faced difficulties when the economic crisis hit the global market, severing the company from its financial plans.”

Vu said the company regretted being “too confident” about raising funds that never materialized.

“If we could have forecast accurately and took aggressive preemptive measures, we would not be in this situation today.”

Overhaul

The situation that Vinashin finds itself in now is indeed dire. The government said last week that the shipbuilder’s debts totaled more than VND80 trillion (US$4.2 billion).

As a result, it has to be restructured so that it can focus only on its core business, the government said. Projects that are not necessary to the company’s development will be transferred to other state-owned enterprises, like Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) and Vietnam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines).

“When we are no longer capable, it’s better to transfer our subsidiaries to other companies that still want to make investments,” Vu said.

“This is a reasonable decision and will benefit the whole economy; much better than us just holding onto them.”

But not everyone thinks that the restructuring plan is a good one. Economist Pham Chi Lan, a former advisor to the government, called it “problematic.”

“Passing parts of the debt on to other companies doesn’t make the debt go away,” she said in an interview published on Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper on Monday. “Moreover, it’s not rational for the government to continue offering loans to Vinashin while the company hasn’t made any change yet to prove their competence. The new capital flows can become new debts in the future.”

“The government has chosen the easiest rescue plan for Vinashin by passing the debt burden to the economy, other businesses and, in the end, tax payers,” she said.

‘Too lenient’

MARKET IMPACTS

Le Trong Nhi, independent financial analyst, talks with Thanh Nien Weekly about how Vinashin’s loss has impacted Vietnam’s bond and equity markets.

“Vinashin’s VND80 trillion, or US$4 billion, in losses has affected Vietnam’s bond and equity markets. State-owned Vinashin issued US$750 million with guarantees by the government. The big loss has downgraded bonds issued by state-owned businesses and the government on the international market. It will also affect bonds to be issued by the sector and other private corporations in the coming time. PetroVietnam, or National Oil and Gas Group, plans to issue bonds on the international market this year. The group was assigned to share the loss with Vinashin as the latter’s affiliates were ordered by the government to merge into the group. The affiliates have also undergone some losses. The group’s bonds will be cited as more “expensive” after the Vinashin “scandal.”

From what I know, some local banks and financial funds invested in projects introduced by Vinashin, or indirectly in those financed by Vinashin. The loss has shaken financial investors such as the banks and funds which hold listed shares in Vietnam. Some international financial funds which operate in Vietnam have faced pressure from shareholders to divest from the market. This combination will create more pressure on the stock market in the country.”

Vinashin was established in 1996 with a charter capital of VND100 billion, according to a government report. The company has made great strides over the years, turning Vietnam into one of the strongest shipbuilders in the world.

But due to the economic downturn, Vinashin faced numerous financial difficulties. Many customers canceled shipbuilding contracts or delayed payments, the government said.

Analysts have said that Vinashin’s failures created a storm of outrage among a public that had been kept almost entirely in the dark about the company’s operations.

People knew almost nothing about the state-owned company, except that it was “a major shipbuilder,” until they found out it was on the verge of bankruptcy and needs a serious overhaul. Many in fact assumed the company was strong.

Analysts said the public had the right to know about the operations of a state-owned company that uses state funds.

Like many state-owned enterprises, the shipbuilder barely disclosed its financial figures, leaving the public oblivious to what was going on, even when it incurred huge losses of billions of dollars.

The issue of ineffective business at Vinashin and other state-owned enterprises has been raised many times but concerned agencies did not pay enough attention to it, Lan said.

“I think both Vinashin and government agencies have to take responsibility. Specific individuals and agencies have to be held accountable because public funds are not charity funds,” she said.

“Censure would be too lenient a penalty for Vinashin. Legal actions should be taken against those accountable for the losses and debts at the company.”

Favor?

“The government should have let inspectors and auditors find out what Vinashin had been doing over the years, particularly as pertains to its debts, losses and excessive investments,” Lan said, noting that the state-owned company had taken advantage of preferential treatment from the government.

Inspections of several large companies, including Vinashin, were delayed last year when the government decided to give the firms more time to recover from the global economic downturn.

Lan said the lack of oversight had allowed Vinashin to always demand large land areas for its projects, which she called “a waste”.

In what other experts have called preferential treatment, the government raised $750 million by selling bonds in 2005 and then lent the proceeds to Vinashin. The company late last year won government approval to sell as much as $600 million of bonds overseas to fund construction of new ships.

The government has already rejected speculations that it showed a preference for Vinashin.

Pham Viet Muon, deputy head of the Government Office, told a press briefing last week that the government has supported the shipbuilding sector as it is one of the key industries for the country’s development.

“However, the government has not favored Vinashin. The company, like any other business, has to operate in accordance with the laws.”

Muon said while Vinashin’s business was affected by the global economic crisis, the company had its own weaknesses in financial management.

“The decision to restructure Vinashin aims at four goals: to maintain and develop the shipbuilding industry; to use resources and infrastructure effectively; to prevent negative impacts on credit institutions; and to ensure jobs for workers,” he said.

“The lesson learned is that the government has to monitor the operations of businesses closely even after they are given autonomy,” he said.

Restructuring a company or an economy is a normal task, Muon said, noting that after Vinashin, other companies will undergo reforms to improve their operations.

BAD REPORT CARD

The authorities have censured Vinashin Chairman Phan Thanh Binh for irresponsibly using state funds and pushing the company towards bankruptcy. According to the Inspection Commission of the Party’s Central Committee, Binh also appointed his family members to key positions in the company against state regulations.

These violations have caused serious consequences, inspectors said, noting that Binh may have acted out of his own self-interest.

The Inspection Commission also said Vinashin was dishonest in financial reporting and had invested aggressively beyond its major business of shipbuilding, causing losses to the government’s budget. According to a report in Tuoi Tre newspaper Wednesday, Binh was appointed CEO of Vinashin in 1996 and two years later he also took the post of the company chairman. Holding the highest authority in the company, Binh made many investment decisions which other managers and board members said they did not know of, the report said.

For instance, Binh decided on his own to buy a ship worth VND1.39 trillion (US$72.8 million) in 2007 and the purchase had not been reported to concerned ministries beforehand, the report said. Binh also appointed his son Pham Binh Minh, 30, to multiple key positions, including chairman of Vinashin Design Company and deputy general director of Vinashin’s Dung Quoc Shipyard, expected to become the largest shipyard in South East Asia.

Farmers whose lives have been ruined by pollution in the Thi Vai River are not going away, and neither are their demands that Vedan pay for the damages in full

Farmers in Thanh An Commune, an impoverished area on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City that is still reeling from 14 years of pollution from an upstream Vedan factory that destroyed sea stocks and crops

Nguyen Xuan Ty said he might as well have died several years ago along with the section of the Thi Vai River killed off by Vedan’s secret and illegal discharge of untreated wastewater.

In 2003, upon learning that his stocks of clam and blood cockle had been all but wiped out by the pollution, Ty had no idea what he would do.

“I was at a loss. I was just kneeling down [in front of the dead stocks]. It was sheer luck that I didn’t commit suicide,” Ty told Thanh Nien Weekly.

The water in which he bred his animals, mostly clams and cockle, in Ho Chi Minh City’s Thanh An Commune had been seriously polluted since 1999, Ty said. As Vedan had already paid out compensation to local farmers whose stocks it damaged with pollution in 1996, residents had been suspicious of the Taiwanese firm. But they couldn’t prove their claims with evidence until a decade later.

In September 2008, Vedan Vietnam, the Taiwanese monosodium glutamate (MSG) maker, was caught by government inspectors dumping its untreated wastewater into the Thi Vai River in the southern Dong Nai Province. The company had avoided detection by hiding pipes deep in the river, and had been sending toxic liquids through those pipes for 14 years, inspectors found.

An Environment Ministry-authorized study by the Institute of Environment and Natural Resources found in December 2009 that Vedan was responsible for 90 percent of the pollution then plaguing the Thi Vai River.

The 2009 report indicated that Vedan should compensate farmers in Dong Nai Province, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province and Ho Chi Minh City with a total of VND1.7 trillion (US$89.2 million) for the damages it had caused, including the destruction of sea farms and damages to land crops on the banks of the river.

But the company has dismissed the damage figures presented by the institute as groundless. Vedan already inspected and assessed the damage by itself and has offered compensation far less than the government-sponsored study said the farmers are entitled to.

The waiting game

The Institute of Environment and Natural Resources concluded that Thanh An Commune in HCMC’s Can Gio District, 60 kilometers to the southeast of the Vedan plant at the mouth of the Thi Vai River, had been hit by Vedan’s wastewater. Despite the severe damages to the area, the level of pollution there was low compared to the most affected areas, the institute said.

“I don’t know how serious the pollution is. I just know it had completely annihilated my stocks in 2003,” Ty from Thanh An Commune said.

Ty lost around VND1.3 billion he had invested in 2003 alone and has been in heavy debt since. His only income now is from a small sweet soup eatery in the commune.

Many other locals in the commune whose meal ticket used to be fishing and breeding seafood have also switched to other jobs to eke out a living, said Le Hong Phuc, chairman of the Thanh An Commune Farmers’ Society.

The commune is one of the five poorest in Can Gio District and among the 20 most impoverished in HCMC.

Thanh An Commune locals had filed complaints about the suspected pollution caused by Vedan for years before 2008, when the company was caught red-handed, Phuc said.

But they’ve been waiting in vain.

“The farmers have had enough of waiting for the compensation,” Phuc said. “Vedan said the pollution level was not that serious and they had assessed the damage by themselves. But we have never ever seen a single Vedan official come here to ‘assess.’”

Thanh An farmers have demanded compensation totaling around VND46 billion. Vedan said in a statement to the HCMC government that it would only pay VND7 billion.

Elsewhere, farmers in the provinces of Ba Ria-Vung Tau and Dong Nai, where the pollution level is concluded to be much more serious than that in Thanh An Commune, are also destined for the same fate as Vedan has been offering only one-fifth of the claim to Ba Ria-Vung Tau and less than one-one-hundredth of the claim to Dong Nai.

Now or never

Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet said during a meeting with locals in HCMC’s Cu Chi District on June 24 that the government would not tolerate any pollution activities of any company in the country

Triet pointed to the Vedan case.

“The US$20 billion BP pledged to compensate for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill could not bail the company out of the public outcry all over the world. The crime Vedan had caused to the Vietnamese people was much more serious than just a pollution crime.”

Earlier this month, Environment Minister Pham Khoi Nguyen indicated that the government was determined to press criminal charges against major polluters in the country.

“We’ve backed into a corner in terms of protecting the environment and it’s time for strict measures against those who try to cover up acts of pollution,” he said.

Lawyer Nguyen Van Hau, the legal consultant for Thanh An Commune farmers in the Vedan case, said everything is ready for the lawsuit he plans to file at the Can Gio District People’s Court later this month.

“They [Vedan] have defied not just the affected farmers. They have challenged the public and the country as well,” Hau told Thanh Nien Weekly.

Hau said he would first propose that HCMC farmers boycott all Vedan products at a meeting with the municipal farmers’ society on July 2.

Farmers in Ba Ria-Vung Tau and Dong Nai have also indicated their determination to bring the case to court, according to local media reports.

Hopes for justice

Wayne Lewis, a HCMC-based environment consultant, said he was convinced that the lawsuit would deliver solid results, given the national support behind the farmers.

[The impact of the environment pollution] here is far greater than it would be anywhere else in the world because there is no infrastructure in Vietnam for waste management,” Lewis said.

“What do Vietnamese people think about foreign companies coming over here and polluting your country? What do you feel if those major polluters are coming to kill your people, and to maim and deform your children?”

Ty of Thanh An Commune said he was also ready for the lawsuit.

“I will go to the end of it, it could be my last chance,” Ty said.

“I only hope justice will be done.”

Growth of Vietnam’s IT sector depends on its ability to combat piracy, Rebecca Ho, IP program strategist with Microsoft, tells Thanh Nien Weekly.

Thanh Nien Weekly: Where does Vietnam stand now, in terms of IT development and copyright protection?

Rebecca Ho: The IT sector and software industry are growing rapidly in Vietnam, while the piracy rate has steadily gone down since 2005. Inevitably, as we have seen in many countries around the world, there are those who will seek to exploit this thirst for technology by producing and selling inferior counterfeit products to consumers and businesses across the region.

In 2009, despite the financial crisis and consequently the general expectation that piracy will worsen, Vietnam was able to contain its piracy rate to 85 percent (according to the Seventh Annual BSA and IDC Global Software Piracy Study, 2010). This is higher than the regional average piracy rate, and it will need to be further reduced in order not to impede the growth of the IT sector.

No country is immune to the impact of software piracy – it is a global issue that needs to be addressed in every market and Microsoft is working in partnership with local ecosystems, including local governments, educational and industry bodies to ensure we are focusing our efforts in a way that will make the most positive impact and increase growth opportunities for local economies.

Which products of yours are most vulnerable to piracy?

In part, today’s high rates of piracy reflect the surge in demand for software in emerging markets as the benefits of technology are realized. Usually the more popular the products, the more widely they are pirated, such as Windows, Office and Windows Server.

These high rates of piracy represent a need for continued education on the value of genuine software to individuals, business and the economy, and the risks inherent in using counterfeit software.

We are committed to supporting governments as they boost their economies by educating their communities on the value of intellectual property and the opportunity it represents.

In Vietnam, the Business Software Alliance (BSA), of which Microsoft is a member, formed a partnership with VINASA, and the Copyright Office and Inspectorate of the Ministry of Culture, Sports & Tourism, to protect intellectual property rights.

How does copyright infringement in Vietnam affect your company?

Counterfeit software has an enormous impact on the software industry. Microsoft invests a tremendous amount of human and monetary effort in its software development and distribution, which is impacted greatly by the effects of piracy.

Microsoft is determined to protect its customer, reseller, and partner ecosystem from the threats and losses associated with piracy, and to prevent counterfeiters from taking advantage of innocent victims and gaining an unfair advantage over our honest partners.

More importantly, copyright infringement impedes the growth of local IT industry. The government of Vietnam has a clear goal to turn Vietnam into an IT power by 2020, aspiring to export software and digital content services to the world.

To realize that goal, we believe that innovation needs to be fostered. Innovators, however, will not have sufficient incentive to innovate if their intellectual property will not be protected. Emerging economies which have strong intellectual property laws can also benefit from technology and knowledge transfer and strategic alliances with multinational companies such as Microsoft which in turn will help enhance the competitiveness and innovative capacity of the local IT industry.

Has your company sued any individuals or organizations in the country for piracy?

No, we have not. At Microsoft, we believe in first educating (the public) about the benefits of using genuine software, and working with law enforcement agencies as well as our industry association, Business Software Alliance. We believe in taking legal action as a last resort to show that there are serious consequences to the crime.

What measures do you take to minimize piracy?

We focus our activities and investments on combating software counterfeiting and other forms of piracy into a single coordinated effort, the Genuine Software Initiative (GSI). The initiative focuses on increasing investments across three strategic areas: education, engineering and enforcement.

Vietnam finds it difficult to balance the reduction of software use and respect for copyright, while prices of legitimate software are too high compared with people"s income. Does your company have any pricing strategies for the Vietnamese market?

Pricing is only one component of why people choose to pirate software, and not purchase it. Microsoft has many options for delivering value and cost savings for customers. The best pricing usually comes through either the pre-installation from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) or from our home and student packages for Office, for example.

Just lowering pricing does not result in less piracy; there is more to it than that. As an example, Lac Viet, another BSA member, whose Dictionary software is priced at US$2.5, probably the same cost of a KFC meal in Vietnam, is also widely pirated. This is clear proof that pricing is not a main factor for piracy.

Many firms find it hard to implement the intellectual property law due to limited financial capacity or awareness. What would you say to them?

Intellectual property protection is an essential part of maintaining a healthy cycle of innovation in the IT industry and it is important that intellectual property rights are respected across borders.

Intellectual property rights protect legitimate businesses by making it possible for companies to focus on the areas which differentiate themselves and their products from the competition, improve product features, and speed up delivery to the market. This spurs growth and job creation that benefits consumers, industry and the economy.

 A Vietnamese farmer pulls off dying rice plants in Ben Tre province

The rivers that should nourish his thirsty rice paddies are too salty, and the rains are late this year. Dang Roi does not know if he will be able to salvage anything from this spring’s crop.

Vietnam is the world’s second-biggest rice exporter and the Mekong Delta, where Roi farms, accounts for more than half of its production.

But Roi’s paddy fields in Ben Tre province are burning up during a drought which meteorologists say is the worst in decades.

The dry season should have ended already, but in the yard of Roi’s house in Que Dien commune, barrels that collect rainwater for his family’s cooking and washing show the desperate situation. They are half-full, or empty.

Experts say Vietnam is one of the countries most threatened by climate change, whose effects are seen in worsening drought, floods, typhoons, exaggerated tides, and rising sea levels.

The country is planning for a one-meter (three feet) rise in sea levels by 2100, which would flood about 31,000 square kilometers (12,400 square miles) of land – an area about the size of Belgium – unless systems such as dykes are strengthened, said a UN discussion paper released last year.

It said the threat of floods is greatest in the Mekong Delta, where 17 million people live.

If that land becomes unusable there are “serious implications” for the region, Helen Clark, administrator of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), told AFP last month.

She said Vietnam faces a “huge challenge” from climate change.

Over the past 50 years the sea level has already risen by 20 centimeters (eight inches) along Vietnam’s coast, according to the increasingly worried communist government.

While delta farmers cope with drought, they are also challenged by sea water intrusion, which experts also link to climate change.

There is little water in the rivers near Roi’s fields “and it’s salty so we can’t pump it” for irrigation, he says.

Recalling easier times on his 1.2 hectares (three acres), Roi says, “The rice fields weren’t dying like this.”

The Vietnamese government emphasizes the role of climate change in disrupting its agricultural environment, but experts do not rule out an effect from dams upstream in China. That impact could be worsened by the opening of more dams further south in Laos and Cambodia, they say.

“The Chinese dams have made the system fragile, but the impact of the downstream dams will be cumulative,” said Marc Goichot, of the WWF.

Goichot said a delta is influenced by three forces which affect one another: subsidence, which causes the delta’s bed to fall; coastal currents; and sediment brought down by rivers.

Dams retain sediment, reducing the amount that collects where the coastal current and waves are strongest downstream, meaning the salty water can more easily penetrate, he said.

The impact of sediment needs to be better understood, Goichot added, calling for a suspension of dam projects pending further research.

China has eight planned or existing dams on the Mekong River, but rejects activists’ criticism that the hydropower dams contribute to low water levels downstream.

There are proposals for another twelve dams in the lower Mekong countries.

Vo Tong Xuan, a leading Vietnamese rice expert, said the flow of the Mekong River – whose long journey ends at the delta – is “extremely reduced” this year.

He is concerned about the impact of Chinese dams, but also blames Vietnam’s increasingly intensive methods of rice growing.

As the delta’s population has expanded, farmers have gone from planting one to two and sometimes three rice crops each year.

Xuan says that too many farmers plant three crops, draining crucial water from provinces such as Ben Tre during the dry season.

Ultimately, he says, the Delta may need new varieties of rice more adapted to a dry and salty environment.

Roi, 64, grows rice only twice a year and is not waiting for new strains.

Squatting beside his sorry-looking paddies, he points out about 30 baby palm trees he has planted along the edge of the rice field. They are better adapted to the delta’s harsh environment.

“If one day we can’t grow rice any more, we’ll grow coconut palms,” he says.

 Marc Moynot, 66, in his HCMC chocolate lab in Tan Binh District

Marc Moynot, 66, stands in the garden of the French General Consulate during a Bastille Day celebration.

The little old man’s soft, gentle face seems to disappear behind his trove of handmade chocolates. They are white and black, milky and dark. Some have the yielding texture of truffles. Others feature firm shells that burst open to yield tropical bonanzas: passion fruit jam, orange peel marmalade and kumquat liqueur.

Cinnamon and other piquant spices swirl through the buttery softness of these little marvels and a je ne sais quoi that is distinctly Vietnamese.

The following day, I decided to trek out to the small workshop he shares with his Vietnamese partner and her two children out in Ho Chi Minh City’s sprawling Tan Binh District.

The intoxicating aroma of 50 kilos of chocolate almost knocks me out as I step through the door of 27 Nguyen Van Mai Street – Moynot’s home and the headquarters of Astair Chocolates private company. The ground floor of the private home features Moynot’s neat laboratory. Shelf after shelf of pots and trays line the walls. The slight man slinks along a long stainless steel table and goes to work.

Moynot’s production team consists solely of his partner, Nguyen Thi Mai Huong, her two children and a maid. Together, the crew is endlessly experimenting with new fillings based on distinctly Vietnamese flavors - white honey from Da Lat, kumquat, mango, peppercorns.

The nose knows

Laurent Severac has made a living scouring Vietnam for thrilling smells. For the past 16 years, the stout Frenchman has tromped through the nation’s forests in search of seeds, leaves and aromatic woods that delight the senses. He makes his livelihood distilling his finds into essential oils and selling them to Western perfume designers.

For this olfactory epicure, Moynot’s chocolate is sui generis.

Last year, Severac ordered around 200 boxes of kumquat chocolates to give to friends and clients for the Lunar New Year. “Marc’s chocolate surprises me most with its purity and simplicity,” Severac said. “I’ve been in Asia for 22 years. Every time I come home, my father asks me to bring him two things: Tiger Balm and Astair chocolates.”

When Severac tries to slip a French-made truffle to his staff in Hanoi, they turn up their noses.

“I prefer chocolates from your friend in Saigon,” they say.

Moynot has agreed to customize chocolates to suit Severac’s thirst for Vietnamese flavors. In his small lab, he’s whipped up fillings derived from ingredients harvested in the mountains of the north: star anise, wild pepper, and wild ginger – to name just a few. “They are simply the best I’ve eaten in my life,” Severac said.

Moynot B.C. (before chocolate)

The master candy man once made his living as an Apline guide, leading ski trips, forays and search parties into the mountains in Savoir, France. He was busiest during the snow-packed four- month winter season. The rest of the year was slow and Moynot got by on taking tourists hiking and camping.

In 1993, he decided to visit Vietnam on a one-month holiday.

After returning to France, he was determined to change his life. In 1995, he moved to HCMC and took a teaching job. He didn’t care much for the work and toyed with the idea of becoming a water sports instructor in Mui Ne. During the transition, Moynot’s friend, a successful HCMC caterer tried his two standby dessert recipes: chocolate mousse and dark chocolate truffles.

His friend was blown away.

“I had these two recipes when I was in France,” Moynot says. “I learned them from a box of chocolate.”

The apprentice

Moynot’s caterer friend helped him import ingredients and supplies from France. Seeking further guidance, Moynot approached Serge Rigaredin, the former head chef of Sofitel Saigon Hotel, to learn more chocolate recipes. (Rigaredin has since returned to France and could not be reached for this article).

The budding chocolatier felt very lucky at the time. “Serge Rigaredin was a very kind, skillful and devoted teacher,” said Moynot. “He also loaned me several good books.”

In 2001, the standard for chocolate was fairly low in southern Vietnam; Moynot worked hard to change that.

Around the same time, he met his partner in Da Lat. Soon after the meeting, the two began making chocolate together. Huong said that it was difficult to enter the field at the time. Step by step, she added, things became easier.

After a few months their chocolates were being served at some of the finest restaurants and hotels in HCMC.

A tiny, happy empire

After nine years, Moynot’s empire is confined solely to the four walls of his little lab.

He has played a role in every aspect of his operation. He sketched out a design for the heated cauldron he uses to mix the chocolate and built the device he uses to cut wrapping paper.

His major problem has been marketing. “When I started I had very little money for marketing but I am conscious that we need a marketing team for our chocolate,” he said. “Many of the hotels in HCMC make their own chocolate these days.”

Moynot still takes orders from luxury hotels, but he’s on the lookout for new customers across Vietnam. Though he sometimes finds himself pining for the quiet of the Alpine forests, he remains a satisfied man in busy HCMC.

“I have a happy family here and I make something that other people like,” he said.

For thousands of years, farmers in Vietnam’s rural communes have supplemented their incomes by producing handicrafts in the post harvest season.

These villages tended to specialize in a specific craft item: from fine crockery to baskets to traditional lacquered woodwork. The trade secrets have been passed from generation to generation.

At the moment, these villages are finding it increasingly difficult to survive in the new global economy. Complicated procedures have hindered them from accessing subsidized bank loans and government efforts to expand this cottage industry have proven ineffective. General Secretary of the Vietnam Association of Craft Villages, Luu Duy Dan sat down with Thanh Nien Weekly to explore the bigger picture.

What is happening these days in Vietnam’s handicraft villages?

Vietnam’s handicraft villages have developed in line with Vietnam’s rural economic growth. According to last year’s statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam is home to 2,790 craft villages which produce 200 kinds of products.

However, these craft villages have stayed afloat largely on their own. Cooperation is weak among the small scale operations. They face a whole host of difficulties: limited production spaces, poor production infrastructure, unqualified laborers, unstable material sources, you name it. What’s more, the limited coordination between these production households has prevented some craft villages from securing big contracts.

Kids coming up in these villages often love the traditional careers, but they avoid them due to the low income involved. These children end up leaving their villages to work in cities as construction workers, motorbike taxi drivers, and stevedores.

We are not doing enough to save this crucial aspect of our society. Many of our policies are not in line with the reality these craftsmen face. Local authorities have proven unmindful and irresponsible towards these communities. As a result, some investors flinch at the prospect of investing in these villages.

In a glaring catch-22, craft firms wishing to secure government subsidized loans must employ 50 laborers or more, under current policy. Meanwhile, most of the firms are small and cannot expand production because they don’t qualify for subsidized loans.

If we don’t start paying more attention to them, many handicraft villages will be lost or continue to limp on in this half-dead manner.

What role do craft villages play in the rural economy

Craft villages have made an important contribution to the export economy. But, most importantly, they create jobs in rural areas. In 2007 craft exports accounted for only US$760 million of the country’s total export revenues of $35 billion. On the other hand, craft villages generated jobs for 11 million people, including the disabled, the elderly, and children. As more and more arable land is seized for large development projects, handicraft production is emerging as the only viable endeavor for rural farmers.

A thriving village economy can help reduce social ills, foster close sentiment among villagers, and attract visitors curious about Vietnam’s traditional culture. Many craft villages have become successful tourist destinations.

Under current policies, some craft villages are thriving, while others are stagnating. What are the reasons for this?

It all comes down to production planning. Bat Trang craft village has a pottery market. Its production is organized under existing business law and the small firms operating there have a good understanding of that law. The village market promotes trade, promotes technological advances in production, and has secured stable material sources for its manufacturers. As a result, Bat Trang has been able to net large contracts from straight-laced companies. What’s more, the village’s pottery makers have managed to infiltrate the overseas market, while at the same time attracting domestic buyers with reasonable prices.

After the economic recession (in 2008), some craft villages succeeded in tapping the domestic market, where there’s a large demand for stone, wood, and bronze products that bear cultural significance.

Don’t some craft villages become even poorer after following their traditional career?

That’s a serious problem. Some craft villages are struggling right now. Non Chuong Village is a good example. Each production household in the village makes about two or three hats per day. They cannot possibly survive in the new global economy using their traditional production model. This should be cause for alarm. We still lack many things. We have not yet developed a school that specializes in the training of craftspeople; we only have general policies [on handicraft village development]. Meanwhile, production space in the villages is shrinking. Many villages have no ponds or sewers - a circumstance that poses grave risks to the environment.

So, what should we do to deal with these issues?

The main difficulty is the trajectory of capital and development. We need to have a long-term vision for these villages.

The procedures for accessing bank loans should be simplified, advanced technology should be applied, and we should work towards tapping both the domestic and overseas markets. Current regulations on capital need to be brought in line with reality.

Craft villages also face difficulties in terms of manpower, and material sources. The government has planned to train one million laborers for craft villages between now and 2020. We (the Vietnam Association of Craft Villages) have proposed three training models: training laborers for developing new craft villages, training laborers for production of materials and improving manpower in production areas.

Now, most craftspeople are trained by skilled veterans. The training is not officially organized with the support of local authorities or the government.

We should regard the development of these villages as a rural and social development issue, which will help generate jobs, contribute to poverty reduction and reduce social evils.

Regulations on the trade and processing of dog meat have been awaiting government action for over a year, according to a Ho Chi Minh City animal health official.

In the meantime, the popular food item continues to pose grave public health risks.

“We are not encouraging dog meat consumption but we need regulations to ensure food safety for the current situation [dog meat demand],” Phan Xuan Thao, head of HCMC Animal Health Agency, told Thanh Nien Weekly on July 19.

A survey conducted last year by Thao’s agency identified around 175 restaurants and eateries in HCMC that served dog meat daily. At that time, the agency found up to 350 dogs were being slaughtered per day to meet city demand.

Early last year, the city’s Animal Health Agency produced draft regulations that would require strict inspections of dog processing - from the farming to the slaughtering of the animals. According to Thao, the regulations also contained stipulations on the trade of the meat.

“[Dogs killed for human consumption] must have a clear origin,” Thao said. “They must be vaccinated against rabies and other diseases and quarantined 15 days before being slaughtered,” he said.

While the regulations await action from central authorities, the industry remains largely unregulated.

In Vietnam, dog meat has long been considered a tasty drinking food with traditional health properties. A study conducted by a Thai researcher from

Chulalonkorn University estimated that as many as 30,000 dogs are trafficked from Thailand to Vietnam every month along a single road.

At the moment, Vietnamese laws only require that dogs slaughtered for consumption have a certificate of origin and proof of rabies vaccination.

However, a 2007 study by the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology showed that 20 percent of sick dogs tested in Hanoi area slaughterhouses tested positive for rabies.

Meanwhile, the city’s enforcement wing bears a heavy load.

Thao and his officials are only permitted to inspect vaccination certificates.

Inspectors at the year-old HCMC Food Safety Agency have the authority to seize dog meat from slaughterhouses and restaurants if the owners fail to produce certificates of origin. Officials from the Food Safety Agency declined to comment on their capacity or status.

Thao said the fledgling force is restructuring to more effectively enforce existing regulations.

The trafficking of Thai dogs into Vietnam appears to be a growing problem for the country, as demand for dog continues to rise. Last year, the Global Post reported that “Hanoi’s leftover Thai dogs were once re-sold in China, according to researcher Thanyathip Sipana, but now Vietnamese consumption leaves little for the Chinese.”

Meanwhile, at home, the thriving trade in the meat is only occasionally stymied by health raids which are usually prompted by outbreaks of communicable disease.

Early this month, officials from the Hanoi Department of Health closed dozens of dog restaurants and slaughterhouses in Hoai Duc and Ha Dong districts after samples of dog meat tested positive for cholera.

In response to last year’s demand for controls, the city Agriculture Department instructed HCMC’s Animal Health Agency to draft regulations on dog meat trading. The draft proposal has been submitted to the central Department of Animal Health twice in the last year and the issue continues to be batted around like a hot potato.

In February 2009, the central Department of Animal Health declined to enact national regulations on the trade, thus shifting the onus of approving the regulations back onto the HCMC People’s Committee – the city’s municipal administration.

Seven months later, in September 2009, city officials asked Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to issue nationwide regulations on trading and slaughtering dogs. The problem is too large to be managed by city officials, they intimated. This time, city officials recommended that the ministry consider limiting or banning dog meat altogether.

The ministry told Thanh Nien Weekly that they have re-submitted the request to the central Department of Animal Health – the very organization that declined to establish national regulations in the first place.

Thao says that the city has not received any feedback from the ministry so far and that an outright ban on dog meat would be unfeasible due to existing demand. He further indicated that such a ban could exacerbate smuggling, thus complicating the prospect of effective food safety management.

“I think the ministry and department [of animal health] were afraid that [a decision] would draw opposition from international organizations for human health and animal protection,” he said.

Indeed, one such organization has publicly taken credit for defeating the measure.

Animals Asia Foundation (AAF), an international nonprofit organization, claims to have been instrumental in the central government’s decision not to enact the regulations.

AAF’s website claims that the Vietnamese government solicited their opinion in February of 2009 on a plan to extend existing standards for the slaughter of “cattle, pigs and chickens” to dogs. After writing an opinion denouncing the measure, they claim, the government relented.

“Vietnam Central Department of Animal Health (DAH) issued an official directive stating that they would not enact legislation designed to regulate the processing of dog meat for human consumption,” AAF stated in a release posted on their website.

The release quotes the organization’s Vietnam Director, Tuan Bendixsen, as saying that individual localities can still attempt to enact their own regulations. “Usually they will not go against the Central Government"s directive,” he says in the release. “I"m now looking at getting the Central Government to officially ban it [dog eating] instead of just not enacting regulation.”

A young barber from Kim Lien Village cuts a customer’s hair in an open air barber shop

The next time you need a haircut in Hanoi, eschew the high-end, luxurious salons.

Instead, make your way to Kim Lien Village (Phuong Lien Ward, Dong Da District) just a twenty minute amble from Lenin Park.

If you’re lucky you’ll find a barber from the century-long birthplace of the nation’s barbers. If you’re not in the mood to wander, take my Uncle Minh’s advice and go see Pham Duy Hao. “He’s not only a good barber,” Minh told me. “He’s a cute, funny, little guy.”

Nestled behind the cluttered clothing clothes stalls in Kim Lien’s second-hand market, Duy Hao Hairdressing Shop doesn’t bear any outward signs of belonging to a local master. But once Hoa’s scissors are out and snipping, Hoa will unfold Kim Lien Village’s great legacy like a hot towel.

“I am the third generation in my family doing this work,” Hao said, as he worked. “My grandfather Pham Duy Hien was among the first barbers in Kim Lien Village; he opened the first barber shop in Hanoi nearly a century ago when he was just 19-year-old.”

Hao swelled through the tiny shop as he recalled his ancestral past. “My grandfather’s skill brought him the great honor of an invitation from King Bao Dai to come to his citadel in Hue and work as the private barber for the royal family,” he said. “The king was so pleased with his skill that he took my grandfather with him on all his trips, even abroad. Thanks to the king, my grandfather earned enough to buy a big house and provide a rich life for his family in Hanoi.”

After some political upheavals, Hao’s grandfather left the palace and opened a chain of lucrative barber shops on Hang Quat and Hang Dao streets. He soon became the man to see about a haircut.

Hao can recall his grandfather belonging to a dapper circle of barbers who dressed like silent film heartthrobs. They wore felt hats, smoked wooden pipes, and maintained meticulous bi-bop hairdos in the style of King Bao Dai – imagine a sort of slicked-back mini-pompadour sans height.

While Hanoi’s famous barber class enjoys numerous stars, no one knows precisely who pioneered it all.

“According to Tu Hinh, who used to be a famous barber and now is tending the village’s pagoda, no one knows who the ancestor of our hairdressing trade is,” Hao said.

Hao introduced Thanh Nien Weekly to a pair of veteran barbers. These old-timers said that in feudal times, when Vietnamese men twisted long, luxurious hair into chignons, Kim Lien Village became the place to come for a shave.

Most of this work was done out of the home, Mau and Hien agreed. In their eyes, the trade took off with the arrival of the French at the end of the 19th century.

“The French guys brought scissors or clippers,” 84-year-old Nguyen Van Mau remembered. “They heard about us and came to instruct us on the use of these new tools. Some of our Vietnamese customers were gradually influenced by their style.”

Sixty-nine-year-old Nguyen Duc Hien is one of the few veteran barbers still working now. He clearly recalls the heyday of Kim Lien’s barbers. “When the French came, we started to open a lot of shops in Cot Co Street to serve them,” Hien recalled. “These foreign clients were very finicky. Before working on their hair, we had to clean every tool with boiling water and alcohol. They wanted their ears covered with cotton and asked to have scented water sprayed on their hair. When finished, they demanded that not a trace of hair be left on their clothes.”

Because most of their customers were French and aristocratic Vietnamese, Kim Lien barbers at that time all learned to speak some French. “Thanks to the high standard of these foreign customers, we always strove to become perfect barbers with professional manners. These demands made Kim Lien barbers famous throughout the country,” Mau added.

Beyond all the pomp, Hien says it was their sense of humor that really hooked the city’s elite. “Besides learning hair design, we had to figure out how to make our customers feel at ease. We told jokes and funny stories while we cut their hair,” he said. “Our customers came from different cultures and varied economic and social positions; we had to learn how to be able to talk to all of them.”

From the early 1950s to the late 1960s, Kim Lien’s hairdressing trade hit its peak. The town’s barbers enjoyed so much renown, they were able to leave Hanoi and establish businesses based on their hometown’s reputation. In the capital, barbers grouped themselves into a collective managed by Hao’s father.

“I started helping my father at his barber-shop when I was just a kid,” Hao remembered. “Anyone who wanted to work there had to pass an entrance exam and attend a course. I aced the first course, but I had to pass a few advanced placement exams to become a first-class barber – the highest-paid honor.”

Hao looks much younger than his fifty-plus years. His short hair is streaked with ruby-red highlights and quick, delicate hands. He carries a fanciful, stylish air about himself. Hoa says he needs just an instant to determine what haircut you need. Today, Hao is free to improvise with hair and take his time experimenting. He remembers a time when he served around 30 customers per eight-hour shift. “At that time everyone wanted the same haircut,” Hao said. “If we were inspired by a beautiful face and added a few flourishes, they docked our pay.”

As the capital continues to open up to the global economy, Kim Lien’s youth has its sights set on white-collar work. Many of them have turned away from their ancestors’ trade.

“In the 1970s and 1980s, 80 percent of our village was still doing the job,” Hao said. “Now that figure has shrunk to around 10 percent (about 200 people).”

The remaining barbers have had to equip their shops with modern tools and techniques to meet evolving customer demands. Yesterday’s barbers are now known as hair designers. Gone are the men who would arrive at your door carrying their wooden toolboxes offering a simple shave.

Now they are confined to open sidewalk stalls struggling to continue their line.

This spring, Kim Lien’s remaining barbers went head-tohead in an exciting hair design competition. The event was held to honor their traditional trade and encourage young people to follow in their ancestors’ footsteps.

A hairdressers club was also introduced on this occasion.

The chairman of Phuong Lien Ward’s People’s Committee, Bui Minh Hoang, has expressed a desire to preserve the barbers in Kim Lien. Hoang personally called on villagers to organize the competition. When we asked what he would do next, the young chairman said that he wanted to have a small street here dedicated to the preservation of the town trade.

Veteran barber Pham Duy Hao says he’s willing to open a class to teach the traditional job to the next generation.

Nude photos of a provincial leader were found in the cell phone of a sex worker

Defendants are escorted out of a trial in February of a high school principal having sex with his students in the northern mountainous Ha Giang Province. The Party’s Inspection Commission has proposed dismissal of Ha Giang head while police sources accused that he had involved in the sex scandal.

Communist Party inspectors have recommended the dismissal of a provincial head due to his “unhealthy relations” and “irresponsible way of life.”

The inspectors said Nguyen Truong To, chairman of the northern province of Ha Giang’s People’s Committee, the local government, has committed several violations. Most of these violations pertained to To’s lifestyle.

According to several police sources, To might have had sexual relations with a sex worker in 2005, when he headed a department in the people’s committee. Two other sex workers earlier this year also accused To of having sexual relations with them.

During the 32nd meeting of the Party’s Inspection Committee, inspectors recommended that To be dismissed from his posts as Deputy Secretary of Ha Giang Province Party Unit, Chairman of Ha Giang People’s Committee and Deputy of Ha Giang People’s Council, which acts as the provincial legislature.

In a statement released on July 5, the Party’s Inspection Commission said that To had “seriously violated the conduct [expected] of a [good] Party member” and “negatively impacted the image of a leading official.”

The Party’s Inspection Committee had warned To about his violations but he failed to admit wrongdoing and did not seem receptive to improving his behavior, according to the statement.

The inspectors ordered the provincial Party Unit chief and director of Ha Giang Police Department to file official reports regarding their knowledge of To’s wrongdoing. In their statement, the inspectors also proposed punitive measures against the two officials who had known about To’s dalliances since 2005 but failed to report it to higher ups.

Nude photos

The inspectors did not articulate the specifics of To’s wrongdoings in their official statements, but according to the police sources, To was alleged of having patronized sex workers on two occasions.

According to the police sources, the first instance took place in November 2006 when Ha Giang police busted a prostitution ring. Police found nude photos of To posed “in different positions” saved in the phone of the sex worker, in addition to several text messages sent from his cell phone number.

The case was reported to Nguyen Binh Van, Director of Ha Giang Province Police Department and Hoang Minh Nhat, secretary of the provincial Party Unit and only resulted in internal rebuke.

Fast times at Viet Lam secondary schoo

Nguyen Truong To, deputy secretary of Ha Giang Province Party Unit, Chairman of Ha Giang People’s Committee and deputy of Ha Giang People’s Council

In the second case, a high school student accused To of having sexual relations with her when she was under 18.

Last November, the Ha Giang Court sentenced Sam Duc Xuong – former principal of Viet Lam Secondary School in Vi Xuyen District – to ten and a half years after he was found guilty of statutory rape.

Prosecutors alleged that the principal had abused his position to coerce young women into having sex with him. Two of his students, Nguyen Thi Hang, 19, and Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, 18, were sentenced to six and five years respectively for procuring other young girls to have sex with older men.

All three defendants appealed for more lenient sentences. Then, during their February appeals hearing, they changed their pleas. They were not guilty, they announced.

Two years earlier, the young women claimed, they were forced to have sex with local officials.

For the first time, Hang and Thuy named ten men, including To and other senior government officials, whom they claimed had had sex with them when they were underage.

The accusations came to light during the February 1 hearing of the Ha Giang Court of Appeals. The court found that last year"s trial by the Vi Xuyen District Court (as well as the supporting investigations) had "seriously violated" regulations. As a result, they ordered a fresh investigation of the case.

According to an anonymous police source, Hang has told the investigators she had sex with Xuong [the principal] and other Ha Giang officials for money between 2008 and 2009. The source says that she implicated senior officials from the Ha Giang People’s Committee, police and entrepreneurs in the province.

Tran Dinh Trien, Thuy’s defense attorney, told the Tuoi Tre newspaper on July 7 that he was not surprised by the results of the Party’s Inspection Commission.

“In the Sam Duc Xuong case, the defendants produced a black list accusing several Ha Giang officials of having sex with them,” he said. “Nguyen Truong To topped the list.”

Trien also said he heard about To’s nude photos after Xuong’s trial but he couldn’t verify the information as a lawyer. “Now the [Party’s] Central Inspection Commission has clearly concluded the issue,” he added.

Party officials call for Ha Giang leader’s ouster

A senior official has endorsed the a recent proposal by the Communist Party’s Inspection Commission to dismiss the chairman of Ha Giang Province’s People’s Committee for his alleged role in a wide-scale sex scandal.

“I think violating ethical norms is not a minor issue,” Hoang Trung Luyen, head of Ha Giang Party Unit’s Propaganda and Education Commission, told the Tuoi Tre newspaper on July 8. “There should be stricter [measures] if violations of the Penal Code were found,”

Luyen was speaking to the media about the case of Nguyen Truong To. Party inspectors recently called for To’s dismissal from his current posts as Deputy Secretary of Ha Giang Province Party Unit, Chairman of Ha Giang People’s Committee, the local government, and Deputy of Ha Giang People’s Council, the provincial legislature.

Luyen confirmed that police notified Party officials after finding To’s nude photos in a cell phone belonging to a sex worker. Luyen said that the revelation resulted in internal rebuke. He also confirmed with Thanh Nien that To remains on next term’s ballot for key posts in the province.

Nguyen Dinh Huong, former vice head of the Central Party’s Organization Commission, said To deserves to be subjected to stricter measures.

“A Party member who is the head of a locality and has deteriorated should be dismissed from the Party, not just his posts,” he said, adding that there should also be repercussions for officials who knew of To’s actions but failed to report them to higher authorities.

Meanwhile, Le Quang Trieu, head of Ha Giang Party Unit’s Inspection Department said any measures against To would be taken by the Party’s Secretariat.

 For expats in Vietnam immersion is the best way to learn Vietnamese

Vincent Milliot was late, again.

“He spent at least 15 minutes trying to tell the taxi driver where to meet us,” complained his friend, Frank Picatto. “Finally the guy got it.”

Picatto didn’t understand what took so long. The fact is, his pal Milliot, a French diplomat, was practicing his Vietnamese.

Like many other expats who have just arrived in Vietnam, Milliot took every opportunity to try his hand at the language.

He is not alone.

Four expats told Thanh Nien that when they first arrived, they took language lessons at least two times per week (the price of a private lesson ranges from US$5 to $15) and sought to practice Vietnamese everywhere with everyone. But in many cases, this “fever” doesn’t last forever.

In fact, there are many expats who live in Vietnam without speaking Vietnamese.

“I think if an expat works in Vietnam for more than two years they have to study Vietnamese seriously,” said Alberto Fabeiro Linares, trade adviser of Spanish economic and commercial office in HCMC, Embassy of Spain. “My contract to work in HCMC is nine months, and at first I [studied] Vietnamese at university. Then when I tried to speak Vietnamese with people like taxi drivers, I suddenly felt like people do not understand. “English” they asked so I started speaking in English,”

Last week, Linares and his friends gathered in his apartment to watch their home team battle the Portuguese. A note pad on the door offered pointers on how to buy fruit and ask for directions. The sign offers the only trace of that initial enthusiasm to learn Vietnamese.

Alberto’s colleague, Joan Navarro, IT manager of Spanish Economic & Commercial office in HCMC agreed with him. “I studied Vietnamese for the first three months during my nine months in Vietnam. I find it is very difficult to study. I could always speak English with my friends. Now I only use Vietnamese to order food, ask for directions, and deal with money. If I lived in Vietnam for two years I would learn more.”

Joan Navarro said that he travelled from HCMC to Hanoi on train, bus, and motorbike. “These were moments that I really wished I could speak Vietnamese more than ever. During the trips to small villages, I enjoyed discovering the place but I could not speak to the people there.”

As a language with six distinct tones, Vietnamese can quickly discourage expats who work here for a short time. For those who live here for a long time, learning Vietnamese allows them to break into all aspects of Vietnamese society.

Sarah Johnson started working in HCMC two years ago as a journalist. “When I got to Vietnam, I was determined not to learn Vietnamese because at the beginning I planned to stay for just nine months,” she said. “But then I changed my mind and I found out that learning Vietnamese would make life easier. For three months, I took private lessons with a tutor. Then as I made more friends I practiced Vietnamese with them and people on the street.”

Jon Dillingham, an American editor also agreed with Sarah. For his first three years in Vietnam he kept picking up and dropping Vietnamese classes. At first, he felt very stupid for living here and not speaking the language. “You can speak English with middle and upper class people but there are so many more other people outside these classes,” Dillingham said. “At first I learned on my own and I did not pay attention to the tones and that was stupid. After two months, my tones became better. I was lucky to have lots of encouragement from my friends.”

Encouragement and help from friends are important contributing factors to learning Vietnamese. But, the main factor is you.

Chantelle Woodford is one of many expats who can speak Vietnamese quite well. When this young diplomat makes a speech in Vietnamese, she receives high praise from Vietnamese audiences.

Chantelle Woodford has been working as Vice Consul (trade, economic) to the Australian Consulate-General in HCMC for one and half years. It is her first overseas diplomatic post. She was so passionate about her job that, in her first year, she studied Vietnamese every day for three to four hours.

She says she now spends around one hour per week studying with her teacher. She makes a point of reading Vietnamese newspapers, listening the radio and watching Vietnamese TV. “Now that I can speak Vietnamese I understand people more and Vietnam is more accessible to me. I can integrate with people from all corners of life. I like to talk with children and people in the market and school.”

Woodford says she is a long way away from fully understanding Vietnamese culture but speaking the language is an essential tool.