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VN News (Mar. 13, 1997)
Mar 13: Vietnam blasts foreign radio stations
Mar 13: Hanoi police crack down on heroin use by taxi drivers
Mar 13: Canadian woman facing possible death sentence goes on trial Friday
Mar 13: Hanoi implements forced labour for city construction
Mar 13: Viet delegation visits college
Mar 13: Vietnam:Tough Laws Proposed For Corruption,Drug Trafficking
Thursday - Mar 13, 1997
Vietnam blasts foreign radio stations
HANOI (AFP) - Vietnam took US-backed radio
station Voice of America (VOA) to task Thursday in an
editorial attacking foreign radio stations for criticizing
Vietnam's lack of press freedoms.
"Without conscience and goodwill sometimes it is those who
brutally trample on the right to live of human beings,
start wars bringing sorrow and suffering to people, and
threaten human life...who are asking for democracy and
freedom in the name of human rights," the official
Communist Party daily Nhan Dan said.
The article referred to broadcasts by VOA and Radio
Democracy Freedom (RDF) calling for greater press freedoms
in Vietnam.
It asked: "What are these two radios trying to accomplish
while US-Vietnam relations are getting warmer and doors for
further mutual understanding are being opened?
"We thank VOA and RDF for their concern about spiritual
life of the Vietnamese people and their wish to bring the
Vietnamese more information. "However they are asking for
more 'press freedom' without knowing that there has been a
press boom since renovation increasing the number of
publications from 350 to 562," it said.
Thursday's article is the latest in a series of editorials
in which the communist party organ has criticised foreign
radio stations.
In December, for example, Nhan Dan slammed US
government-funded Radio Free Asia (RFA), calling it "a
wicked political instrument and a product of the cold war
period." RFA was not even mentioned in Thursday's article.
Visiting officials from the US State Department last week
also noted the issue of RFA was not raised during any of
their three days of discussions with Vietnamese officials.
"We were really surprised the Vietnamese didn't say
anything," one official said.
Thursday's editorial ended on a fairly even tone.
"In spite of these distorted intentions (by foreign radio
stations) it is undeniable that as part of socio-economic
change, our party and state are tossing and turning while
searching for solutions so people can exercise their right
to master democracy and freedom," it said.
"That has a much broader meaning than 'the right to press
freedom' alone," it concluded.
Thursday - Mar 13, 1997
Hanoi police crack down on heroin use by taxi drivers
HANOI (AFP) - Hanoi police have detained a number
of taxi drivers for heroin abuse after urine tests, as part
of a crackdown on drug use and dangerous driving, a police
official said Thursday.
The official confirmed that one taxi driver had been
arrested for smoking heroin and an unspecified number were
also being held by the anti-drug squad.
Local press reports earlier in the week said that testing
at one unidentified taxi company revealed that urine
samples from 26 drivers contained traces of heroin.
Several local taxi companies said that their drivers had
been drug tested by the anti-drug squad of the Hanoi
economic police, but refused to divulge the results.
No charges have been laid so far, police said.
Taxis, which until two years ago were rare in Hanoi
streets, have been blamed for Hanoi's increasingly
treacherous roads. Drivers routinely flout rules, driving
under the influence of alcohol, making illegal turns and
driving on the wrong side of the road.
In December, an American woman and a British man and their
taxi driver were killed in Hanoi when their car collided
with a truck in the early hours of the morning.
Thursday - Mar 13, 1997
Canadian woman facing possible death sentence goes on trial Friday
HANOI (AFP) - A Vietnamese Canadian facing a
possible death sentence goes on trial here Friday on
charges of drug trafficking, a court source said Thursday.
Nguyen Thi Hiep, a 40 year-old naturalized Canadian who
fled Vietnam in 1981, was arrested with her 70 year-old
Vietnamese mother at Hanoi's international Noi Bai airport
on April 25 1996.
They were arrested by police after 5.45 kilograms (12
pounds) of heroin were discovered hidden inside five
lacquer paintings they were carrying as they tried to board
a plane bound for Hong Kong.
Both could face the death penalty, which can be handed down
for possession of more than one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of
heroin.
The Canadian Embassy said it had received permission to
attend the trial, but were denied access to visit Hiep in
prison prior to the trial. The embassy was only given
permission to visit her once shortly after her arrest
nearly a year ago.
A spokesman from the embassy said it would not take any
official action until after Hiep is sentenced.
He said that if convicted, Hiep has 15 days to appeal her
sentence, and that appeals often take up to several months
to be heard.
"Our line is that anything the Canadian government will do
must await the final sentence," he said.
Thursday - Mar 13, 1997
Hanoi implements forced labour for city construction
HANOI (AFP) - Hanoi has introduced new regulations requiring city-dwellers
to contribute 10 days of free labour every year or pay a cash equivalent, a
report here said Thursday.
The regulations specify that all men aged between 18 and
45, and all women aged between 18 and 25 must either work
to help build the city's infrastructure, or pay to be
exempted.
Those in the city who opt not to work must contribute 5.50
dollars for the 10 day period, while suburban dwellers can
pay 3.60 dollars, the report said.
In February, Vietnamese Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet called
nationwide for "the mobilisation of all Vietnamese" for
infrastructure construction.
Mobilising labour has a long tradition in Vietnam, having
been used in pre-colonial times, during the French
occupation, and as an effective tool of the Vietnamese
government, particularly during wartime.
Thursday - Mar 13, 1997
Viet delegation visits college
Singapore -- A 19-member team of educationists from the Education and Training
Ministry of Vietnam recently visited Inti College in Subang Jaya.
Headed by the Vietnamese Embassy second secretary Nguyen Van Nhat,
the the visit was to learn more about Inti's development and its
methods of education and training.
Inti College president Tan Yew Sing briefed the visitors about his
10 years experience of running the college and turning it into one of
the most successful in the country today.
The total enrolment of almost 6,000 students in all of its three
campuses in Subang Jaya, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu, indicated the
college's perpetual emphasis on quality in all levels.
Some of the interesting achievements of the college that caught
the delegates' attention was the innovating of various degree and
diploma programmes and the setting up of branch campuses including
one in Beijing, China.
Inti College quality control vice-president Dr Lian Teck Jin spoke
to the delegates on the college's Quality Campaign.
Launched in 1995, the campaign was to instil a commitment towards
excellence and a desire for continuous improvement among the staff at
the college.
After the briefing session, the Vietnamese delegates were treated
to a Chinese lunch hosted by Tan at the Holiday Villa in Subang Jaya. --
Straits Times
Thursday - Mar 13, 1997
Vietnam:Tough Laws Proposed For Corruption,Drug Trafficking
Hanoi (DJ) -- Legislators will consider a range of new or revised laws aimed
at clamping down on the spread of corruption and drug trafficking, official
media reported Thursday.</p>
National Assembly delegates will meet next month to debate and possibly
approve several proposed bills, the English-language Vietnam News reported.</p>
The ruling Communist Party has vowed to rein in Vietnam's rampant business
and political corruption. The Supreme Court recently handed down several
death sentences as punishment in large corruption cases.</p>
Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet introduced capital punishment for corruption in a
decree issued last year.</p>
Lawmakers in April hope to take corruption legislation a step further. New
corporate income reporting laws, a trade regulation law, and stricter
banking regulation will be considered by lawmakers in April.</p>
The definition of crimes related to corruption and drug abuse are too
ambiguous and need clarification, said a statement from the National
Assembly Standing Committee.</p>
'The Existing civil code definitions and their appropriate punishments have
proved inadequate,' the Standing Committee said.</p>
Vietnam also faces a growing drug problem, with as many as 180,000 heroin
and opium addicts registered by the government. The government hopes to stem
the flow of smuggled opium and heroin through tougher punishments for drug
traffickers.</p>
Vietnam has habitually been slow to enact new laws, in part because proposed
legislation becomes mired in Hanoi's bureaucracy.</p>
Top legislators say they hope to streamline the process for creating laws.