VietNam Society: 12/5/10

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Province builds bio-tech centre

HCM CITY — The Centre for Bio-technology Research and Application complex now under construction in southern Dong Nai Province is expected to be one of the leading centres of its kind in Southeast Asia, according to Nguyen Quan, deputy minister of Science and Technology.

Expected to be completed within the decade, the 227-ha complex is being built in Xuan Duong Commune in Cam My District.

The building cost of VND1 trillion (US$50 million) is sourced from the province's budget and investors.

The centre is about 10 kilometres from HCM City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay Highway and Long Thanh International Airport, which is currently being built, and 15 kilometres from Ba Ria – Vung Tau Province.

The province is seeking more investors for the complex, according to the project management board.

From 2010 – 2015, infrastructure such as roads, telecommunications, electricity supply, administrative areas and dormitories will be built.

From 2015 – 2020, state-of-the-art facilities for biotech research and application in agriculture, food, medicine and environment will be built.

The centre will work with local and international organisations to develop human resources as well as biotechnology research and exchange in the province.

In addition, in an effort to save money, the centre plans to co-operate with other biotech centres to prevent duplication of similar work or research.

It plans to create linkages among various hi-tech zones from universities and institutes in and outside the province and other countries.

In recent years, Dong Nai Province conducted biotech research and applied those findings to the fields of agriculture, forestry and aquaculture. — VNS

HCM City development stymied by chaotic waterway management

HCM CITY — Overlaps in authority and irrational regulations mean HCM City's inland waterways are badly managed, affecting the very development of the city, officials have said.

The city has nearly 1,000km of rivers and canals, most of which function as water transport routes and are classified as national-level and city-level routes.

There are 16 national-level routes measuring more than 250km managed by the Viet Nam Inland Waterway Administration.

The city Department of Transport manages 87 city-level routes with a total length of 570km.

The administration manages boat lanes and ports and wharves on the national routes.

However, the areas between the boat lanes and banks are not managed by any agency.

This causes administrative problems related to a clutch of other issues like underwater works, urban order and security, sanitation, urban architecture, housing, illegal encroachment of rivers and canals, and landslides.

Along the banks of rivers and canals managed by the administration, thousands of illegal houses have mushroomed.

For example, along the Kenh Te – Kenh Doi Canal, hundreds of houses have been illegally built in districts 4, 7 and 8, severely affecting the safety of waterway traffic and sanitation.

Ngo Dinh Quang, director of the City Inland Waterway Port Authority, said: "If there are violations, we can only issue warnings and cannot penalise offenders because we lack the authority to do so."

To better manage the national-level routes, the city People's Committee recommended to the Ministry of Transport in August to restructure their management by handing over the authority to the city.

This would help simultaneously manage several issues like waterway traffic safety, ports, wharves, water supply and drainage, sanitation, dredging, and building embankments along rivers and canals, it said. — VNS

Bus collision injures ten in central highlands

Ten people were critically injured when two buses collided in the central highlands province of Lam Dong Thursday morning.

Le Minh Dung, one of the rescuers, said the accident happened on the Chuoi Mountain Pass when a bus from the adjacent province of Dak Lak, heading for Dalat Town, crashed into another bus going in the opposite direction.

Ten passengers from both buses suffered multiple injuries, according to initial reports.

Investigations into the accident’s cause are now underway.

In other news, 18 people, including eight women and a child, were injured when the bus carrying them capsized in the northern province of Ha Tinh on Wednesday.

Witnesses said the accident took place when it was raining and that the road surface was slippery. The bus was overtaking a truck at high speed when the driver lost control.

The injured people were then rushed to a local hospital, and the remaining 20 passengers caught other buses to reach their destination, according to Ha Phi Hoang, deputy chief of the traffic police department in the province’s Ky Anh District.

Bus collision injures ten in central highlands

Ten people were critically injured when two buses collided in the central highlands province of Lam Dong Thursday morning.

Ten passengers from both buses suffered multiple injuries, according to initial reports.

Investigations into the accident’s cause are now underway.

In other news, 18 people, including eight women and a child, were injured when the bus carrying them capsized in the northern province of Ha Tinh on Wednesday.

Witnesses said the accident took place when it was raining and that the road surface was slippery. The bus was overtaking a truck at high speed when the driver lost control.

Student under investigation for attacking schoolgirl

Student under investigation for attacking schoolgirl Police in the northern province of Quang Ninh are investigating a 19-year-old student's involvement in a case where a clip showing an attack on another girl was posted online last week.

According to police, Nguyen Hai Yen from Cam Pha Town, has been accused of “causing public disorder,” “humiliating others,” and “deliberately injuring” others.

In the clip posted on YouTube, Yen and five other girls beat Nguyen Thi Nham, an eleventh-grader at Luong The Vinh High School. They pulled and cut her hair before dragging her along the street.

They then pushed Nham against a wall, tore her shirt and slapped her face, according to the clip that has shocked the public and drawn the attention of local media.

Initial information has revealed that Yen led the attack on Nham because she believed Nham was dating a boy in the neighborhood they both knew.

One week before the Saturday attack, the girls had already fought, police said.

Do Van Luc, vice director of Quang Ninh police, said Nham’s family did not want to press charges and pursue the case.

Representatives from the prosecutors’ office, Luong The Vinh High School, and investigators, however, met with the family, advising them that the case was “too critical" and should be investigated, Luc said.

Police also committed to protecting Nham on her way home from school to avoid any more attacks.

However, so far the family does not want to take further action and Nham has refused to see a doctor to check on her injuries, according to Luc.

Three wheelers thrive despite December ban

A three-wheel motor vehicle parked at the Cua Nam-Nguyen Khuyen crossroads in Ha Noi. From December 31, this type of vehicle will be banned to travel in the city. — VNA/VNS Photo Bui Tuong

HA NOI — Modified three-wheel motor vehicles can still be seen on the streets of Ha Noi, but by December 31, all will have to go because of a State ban the authorities say.

Under Government Decision No 548, all home-made vehicles, dilapidated trucks and unregistered and self-modified three and four-wheel motor vehicles, will no longer be given licences.

The regulation is aimed at reducing traffic jams and accidents.

To enable owners of these vehicles shift to other business, the Government has offered them financial aid to change to more modern vehicles.

However, many drivers prefer to use the three wheelers despite being blamed for accidents and creating congestion.

Duc Hung, a resident living on busy De La Thanh Street, in Ba Dinh District, said that the three-wheelers carried cumbersome loads of steel rods and pipes without covers.

He also accused them of speed-driving and creating traffic danger.

Others say that restrictions on light trucks from travelling at certain hours on many streets, especially the Old Quarter, has created a window of opportunity for the three wheelers.

Lack of strict management and inspections by police and other authorities has created a perfect situation for the three-wheelers to prosper.

Many impersonate war invalids so that they can use the vehicles without registration, documents or number plates.

But genuine veterans, like Nguyen Van Thang, said the three-wheelers had enabled him to make a living since the war, but he was now concerned about his future.

"We had to borrow around VND20 million (US$1,025) to purchase the vehicle. We do not know what job should we change to, although the Government has promised us some money to stop using them," he said.

Lieutenant-colonel Tran Ngoc Anh from Ha Noi's Police said three-wheel vehicles owned by war invalids were allowed to carry people but not goods.

He said it was difficult to punish drivers who did not have number plates, registration or driving licences.

Ha Minh Tuan, deputy head of O Cho Dua Ward Police, said there was a shortage of space to hold condemned vehicles.

According to the municipal Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, the city has about 500 three-wheelers. — VNS

Ministry monitors post-flood diseases

HA NOI — Health Minister Nguyen Quoc Trieu has instructed health departments and relevant authorities in central flood-hit areas to carefully watch for and prevent an outbreak of flood-related diseases.

He asked local health departments to focus on post-flood diseases, including dengue fever, acute diarrhoea, and skin diseases to prevent them from spreading.

Trieu instructed local health departments to look into building health clinics on stilts in order to minimise damages from flash floods and heavy downpours.

He highlighted nine health clinics that are currently operated by local army divisions and people and agreed to provide VND300 million (US$15,300) to each so they can upgrade their medical equipment and facilities.

Local authorities proposed the purchase of sterilisation machines for flood-prone areas to facilitate timely distribution of Chloramine B to submerged households to give them access to clean drinking water.

Transportation systems designed specifically for use during the rainy seasons were needed to transfer patients in serious conditions to central hospitals for treatment, he said.

Dengue fever

Preventive medicine centres reported that dengue fever has broken out in many central areas recently.

In Nghe An Province's Dien Chau District, 32 people were reported with the mosquito-borne fever in recent days. The province's Nam Dan, Quynh Luu and Nghi Loc districts also reported several cases.

Nghe An Province's Health Department has asked relevant agencies to help prevent the spread of dengue by spraying chemicals and cleaning up areas where mosquitoes could breed.

Dr Ton That Thanh, head of the Da Nang City Preventive Medicine Centre, said the fever had hit many districts including Hai Chau, Son Tra, Thanh Khe and Lien Chieu, with 3,500 cases reported since the beginning of this month, five times more than the same period last year. One person had died from the fever, he said.

Hospitals and health clinics in the worst-hit districts of Da Nang couldn't find enough beds to cope with the growing number of dengue cases.

The Preventive Medicine Centre in Quang Nam Province said the number of dengue case was increasing to around 1,300 patients. On average, three patients are being forced to share one bed at the provincial general hospital.

The Ministry of Health has provided 200 litres of chemicals and 28 sprayers to the flood-hit provinces. The ministry's Trade Union also provided VND220 million ($11,220) to these provinces. — VNS

Runaway prompts police probe into gold mine slavery

Relatives of 20 residents in a small central commune worry that their loved ones have been enslaved in illicit mines

Fifteen-year-old Dinh Van Diet was rescued from a forest cave after allegedly escaping from virtual slavery in a gold mine in Quang Nam

A 15-year-old boy who fled a brutal existence as a gold miner has prompted a police investigation into concerns that 20 others from his village have suffered a similar fate.

Dinh Van Diet allegedly lost his way while escaping virtual slavery at a gold mine in the central Quang Nam Province’s Phuoc Son District – one of the areas with the richest gold reserves in Vietnam. Fearing capture, he spent nearly a month hiding in a cave before being rescued by an animal trapper.

Local resident Ho Van Thanh discovered Diet in a stone cave and had him transferred to a local medical center. Thanh said he was checking a wildlife trap in the cave when he came across the boy.

“I thought he was a wild animal,” he said. “I intended to shoot him with an arrow but suddenly I saw he was wearing a worn short. His long hair covered much of his pale face.”

On Monday, local doctors said Diet was recovering from ulcers and severe infections he contracted during his ordeal. Diet is still frightened, they say.

Diet told doctors and authorities that a man named Trung in May offered him a job in a gold mine for a lot of money.

After two months of backbreaking labor, Diet told his boss he’d had enough.

He asked to either be transferred to an easier job or paid the wages he was owed and released from the mine.

The man refused, Diet said, and beat him for making the request. Diet said he managed to flee in late August but got lost in the forest. He spent his days hiding out in a cave and his nights foraging for wild fruits.

On Wednesday (October 27) Dang Phong, vice chairman of Bac Tra My District People’s Committee, the local government, told Thanh Nien that he had called for a police investigation into the case. Phong also commissioned a survey of the number of locals who had accepted jobs outside the area.

Nguyen Thuy, vice director of Quang Nam Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, said the agency is working with local authorities to verify Diet’s claims. He added that the department has proposed a criminal investigation into the involved parties for exploiting child labor.

More concerns

Diet’s father, Dinh Van Nam of Quang Nam’s Bac Tra My District said two of his nine children, including 31-year-old Dinh Van Non and 28-year-old Dinh Van Ny are still working at the gold mine.

He has lost contact with both of them.

Nam’s family is from the district’s Tan Hiep Commune with a total population of 872.

Three quarters of the residents belong to either the Ca Dong or Cor ethnic minorities. Locals say around 20 people are working somewhere outside the commune and have not been heard for a long time.

They are worried that their relatives were also lured to work as gold miners.

When Thanh Nien reporters arrived at the commune to investigate their claims, many locals rushed into their homes searching for photos of their missing relatives.

Dinh Van Doi, 20, has been away at work for several months.

His mother, 60-year-old Dinh Thi Loi, said she’s suffering from a liver tumor and hopes her son will return safely.

“I have a serious disease and can’t eat or sleep well these days,” she told Thanh Nien. “I don’t know when I will die. Please find him soon so that I can see him again.”

In a neighboring house, Dinh Thi Sanh, 51, is also worried about his 17-year-old son, Dinh Van Le, who left eight months ago for work.

She has had no information about him since.

Another resident, Dinh Thi Phuong said she hasn’t heard from her husband, 36-year-old Dinh Van Thanh, since he left. “I am really worried about my husband after learning about what happened to Diet,” she said.

Phuong said a man offered her husband a job as a coffee picker for VND2 million (US$103) a month but she was unsure that he is actually working the job.

“He went away when I was six months pregnant. Our child is six months old now but he has not returned,” she said.

Diet’s case is not the first instance of rural migrant workers fleeing from forced labor in the Phuoc Son gold mines.

Early this year, Dinh Van Thoi, 17, of Tra Bong District’s Tra Son Commune was also lured into a Phuoc Son mine.

He escaped, like Diet, only to find himself in the wilds of the surrounding forest.

The emaciated child weighed around 30 kg when he was found by local residents in Hiep Duc District, last month.

Duong Tan Hoang, head of the Tan Hiep Commune, said many locals have been lured to work outside the community by people who promised them high salaries. Those that took up the offers found themselves toiling at hard labor for low pay.

Some had to sell their belongings in order to afford a bus ticket home.

Upcoming events

* October 29 (Friday): The Vietnam National Opera and Ballet (VNOB) hosts Scheherazade Ballet and concert night at Hanoi Opera House, 1 Trang Tien Street. Sheherazade is a symphonic suite composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1888. The work is inspired by the book “One Thousand and One Nights.” Tickets cost VND500,000, 350,000, 250,000 and 150,000. For tickets, call 0913 489 858 (Mr. Do Phuong).

* October 29 (Friday): The Bui Gallery at 23 Ngo Van So Street, Hanoi presents 10 Years in Hanoi in celebration of Lionel Descostes’ decade-long experimentation with embroidery. This exhibition presents three “families” of his larger body of work: squares, grids and masks. Each of these groups attempts to explore the theme of anonymity. The opening will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. The exhibition will take place from October 30 to November 21, 2010. For further inquiries, contact Gillian Lee Sturtevant at gillian@thebuigallery.com or phone (04) 3 944 8595.

* November 1-7 (Monday-Sunday): The Goethe Institut in Hanoi will host an event - 60 Years of German Cinema: 1999- 2009 – as part of Germany Year in Vietnam. Seven films will be screened – “Policewoman” (Nov. 1), “Goodbye Lenin!” (Nov. 2), “Head-On” (Nov. 3), “Go for Zucker!” (Nov. 4), “Longing” (Nov. 5), “The Lives of Others” (Nov. 6) and “Jerichow” (Nov. 7). Free tickets are available at the Goethe-Institut, 56-58 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, Ba Dinh District.

* November 2 (Tuesday): French-Armenian pianist Jean-Gabriel Ferlan will perform at the French Cultural Center, known as L’Espace, 24 Trang Tien Street, Hanoi. The program includes works by Beethoven, Chopin, César Franck and Gabriel Fauré. Ticket price: VND100,000 and VND50,000.

* November 4 (Thursday): EuroCham Business Luncheon - Salary Results and Labor Trends in Vietnam 2010 – 2011 – will be held from 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at New World Hotel Saigon, Mekong 1 &2, 76 Le Lai Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. Fee: VND550,000 for members and VND850,000 for non-members. For further information or registration, contact Ms. Thuy on events-hcmc@eurochamvn.org or phone (08) 3 827 2715.

* Through November 12 (Friday): The Photo Exhibition on Cluster Munitions is on at the Royal Norwegian Embassy, 10th floor, Block B, Vincom City Tower, 191 Ba Trieu Street, Hanoi. The exhibition focuses on the humanitarian consequences of cluster munitions and highlights the aspect of the Convention that bans the use of these weapons.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Upcoming events

Vietnam makes minor advance in corruption index

Vietnam makes minor advance in corruption index Vietnam has advanced four levels in this year’s edition of Transparency International’s global corruption index which was released on Tuesday (October 26).

Vietnam ranked 116th on the list, up from 120th last year.

The country’s overall corruption “score” remained at 2.7, according to the survey authored by the Berlin-based corruption watchdog group. The nation continued to rank 22 out of 33 in the Asian - Pacific region.

The improvements indicate that Vietnam is making necessary strides in reforming its fledgling anti-corruption mechanisms.

In 2006, Dr. Martin Gainsborough of Bristol University released a report sanctioned by Transparency International just one year after Vietnam passed its first anti-corruption law.

“Generally speaking, Vietnam’s National Integrity System (NIS) is not working well, with the mechanisms in place to tackle corruption either rudimentary or poorly enforced,” Dr. Gainsborough wrote, in his country study.

The British researcher, who was then-Director of the Bristol-Vietnam Project cautioned that the government should not merely pay lip service to reform amid mounting international pressure, but to pursue concrete results that would bolster the Communist Party’s perceived legitimacy and attract foreign investors.

Globally, Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore maintained top positions in the list with scores of 9.3, showing low levels of corruption, while Afghanistan, Myanmar and Somalia came in last with scores as low as 1.1.

The US ranked 22nd on the list, down from 19th last year, with a score of 7.1 out of 10 (compared with 7.5 in 2009).

The aftermath of the financial crisis and its effects on American homeowners has intensified skepticism of public integrity and hurt the country’s ranking, Nancy Boswell, President of Transparency International-USA told Bloomberg.

The group found that the countries which were hardest-hit by the global financial crisis were precipitated by flagging transparency and integrity. This year’s most striking improvements tended not to occur in the world’s most developed and prosperous countries, the report found.

Transparency International said nearly three-quarters of the 178 countries considered in the survey scored under five. The watchdog defined corruption as “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain.”

The watchdog called for governments to integrate anticorruption measures into all spheres, from their responses to the financial crisis and climate change to commitments by the international community to eradicate poverty.

It also advocated stricter implementation of the United Nation’s Convention against Corruption.

“Allowing corruption to continue is unacceptable; too many poor and vulnerable people continue to suffer its consequences around the world,” Hugette Labelle, Chair of Transparency International said in a statement accompanying the release of the findings. “We need to see more enforcement of existing rules and laws.”

Commenting on a possible trial against Vietnamese suspects accused of receiving bribes from the US-based Nexus Technologies Company, an official from Vietnamese Supreme Prosecutor’s Office said the agency is continuing to gather information about the case.

On Tuesday,Tran Quoc Vuong, the office’s head, said he couldn’t confirm anything because foreign prosecutors hadn’t identified the name of Vietnamese citizens involved. He said the agency would continue to work with foreign partners to gather evidence.

Detained Vietnamese fishermen arrive home

Detained Vietnamese fishermen arrive home Nine Vietnamese fishermen released by the Chinese Fishing Patrol Force arrived home safely on Tuesday (October 26).

The crew pulled into the Dung Quat Port in the central province of Quang Ngai a month and a half after being detained while fishing off the coast of Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) Archipelago.

Captain Mai Phung Luu of Quang Ngai’s Ly Son District and his crew were captured by a Chinese patrol on September 11 while fishing in Vietnamese waters.

On October 11, China said that it had released the nine Vietnamese fishermen and their boat.

But concerns over their safety arose after they failed to arrive home the following day, as expected.

Luu said that after spending a month in Chinese custody, their captors confiscated their communications equipment and released them on October 11. The crew began their journey home and their engine broke down soon and they spent five days adrift at sea.

The Chinese confiscated their communications equipment and Luu said the crew was expecting the worst when a Chinese ship arrived and towed their boat to Tru Cau Island.

Due to bad weather from the typhoon Megi, it wasn’t until October 25 that a Vietnamese rescue vessel arrived at the island to tow the boat back to Quang Ngai a day later.

Mai Chi Tam, Luu’s son said they survived their ordeal by catching fish.

“We were really scared,” Tam said. “We had to make a sail from a piece of canvas hoping the wind would carry us into the path of another boat so we would be rescued.”

On Wednesday, Tam and his family members were having their boat repaired in Quang Ngai while other fishermen returned to their homes on Ly Son Island.

“We will head out to sea again to make our livings,” he told Thanh Nien Weekly, adding that the seizure cost the family about VND150 million. The family said they’ll have to take out loans to finance future fishing trips.

In related news, rescuers are searching for the crew of a squid fishing boat that disappeared off the coast of the north-central province of Thanh Hoa.

The nine fishermen lost communication with coastal authorities on October 16.

The boat belonging to Nguyen Van Hop began its offshore fishing journey on September 9 in a floatilla of boats from the Ngu Loc Commune in the province’s Hau Loc District.

However, Hop’s boat was not among the cluster of ships that arrived home early on October 16 to avoid a coming typhoon.

The local government and area fishermen assembled a search party consisting of fourteen ships to search for Hop and his crew but they failed to find any trace of the lost vessel.

Nguyen Van Ap, Chairman of the Hau Loc District People’s Committee, the local government, said they’ve asked for support from the coast guard and other rescue agencies.

Hop’s wife, Nguyen Thi Thuy, said the crew went to sea with enough fuel and food for one to two months. The boat was fully equipped with communications and positioning devices but lost touch with the mainland on October 16.

Nguyen Van Tam, a fishermen on another boat in the group, said he contacted Hop and they agreed to return home to avoid typhoon Megi. Tam lost communication with Hop a few minutes later.

Nguyen Van Ngu, chairman of Ngu Loc Commune People’s Committee, said that a total of 130 fishermen have been lost in similar cases since 1996.

Pumkins are synonymous with Halloween throughout the world. Many hotels in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are gearing up to offer Halloween-loving families a place to party.