[Vnbiz] Vietnam in Uphill Battle Against Corruption

[Tran Dinh Hoanh]

Dear brother Shane and CACC,

Hey, that must be your lucky day, Shane.  How many times a guy gets a chance
to run into a woman?  I'll take that chance any time :-)

Now let me try to play "Plaintiff lawyer," the term used to indicate US
plaintiff personal injury lawyer, also known as "ambulance chaser." :-)

"Your honor, my poor innocent careful client, who was going about with her
business as any model citizen would on the road, was severely injured by
this arrogant reckless white driver who thinks that he owns the road.   Her
internal organs were severely damaged on impact.  The only reason that she
was still able to stand up for a couple of seconds after impact was that her
adrenaline was shooting up sky high and, therefore, numbed her from the
pain.  The adrenaline delayed the pain for a couple of seconds, so she was
able to move for those precious seconds, until of course when the pain
finally hit, she collapsed.  Poor lady, hic... hic..."

Seriously, that happens anywhere in the world, whenever you can make a quick
buck feigning injury.  And that has little to do with the American time in
Vietnam.  Probably you haven't read "Chi' Phe`o" the Vietnamese master in
feigning injury.  But Chi Pheo is not an exclusive Vietnamese child.  He is
all over the world.  Wherever there is a "deep pocket" willing to pay, there
will be a Chi Pheo.

One time I borrowed a car from my friend in Los Angeles to drive around, and
I crossed the border into Mexico (Tijuana, next to San Diego of
California).  After I got back to LA and told my friend I was just visiting
Mexico, he was so upset.  He said how stupid I was to drive into Mexico,
because these Mexicans, when they see a car with a US license, they will hit
your car and make you pay thousands of dollars.  If you don't pay, you will
be stuck in Mexico through the Mexican legal process for months.  (Obvious I
was lucky for being in Mexico for two hours without getting hit).

Vietnamese lawyers in California are notorious of helping their Vietnamese
clients set up car accidents and work with Vietnamese doctors for medical
records so that the victim can collect insurance money.  (I don't know an
actual case myself.  But that is general knowledge within the OV community.
You go to Cali and everyone will talk about it just like weather).  The deep
pocket here is the insurance company.

In the US, there are many people who make a living by going into a big store
and feigning "slip and fall."  They would pretend to slip on your floor, and
injure themselves.  Then they get a personal injury lawyer (an ambulance
chaser) to file a lawsuit against your store, and eventually will get some
settlement money (from the insurance company).  Businesses don't have time
to fool around with lawsuit, so they just pay to get the monkey off their
back.  Many lawsuits in the US have absolutely no merit, except that there
is a deep pocket around, and an ambulance chaser more than willing to file a
lawsuit.  (That is one of the main reasons that I decided to stay away from
the court room and the legal profession).

So I guess you will always have that potential problem, especially when you
are on the road alone.  Solution:  Always have your wife or some Vietnamese
relative with you (Lucky you.  You now know the value of having a wife
around at all time.  Most guys don't understand that benefit!).  Also, hope
that some day the white-faced will have a general reputation of being
poor.  Chi Pheo will leave the poor alone :-)

Great day, brother Shane and all.

Hoanh

On 8/14/06, Shane Wall <shane.wall at translingualexpress.com> wrote:
>
>
> [Vietnam Business Forum]
>
>
>
> My Dear CACC,
>   I would very much like to hear comments from my brothers and sisters
> here
> in Vietnam about the following situation which happened to me. I believe
> this now stretches from the "bottom to the top" - the foreigner is ALWAYS
> wrong.
>
>   When riding my motorbike home at lunchtime, taking my usual shortcut, I
> must cross a very minor, secondary connecting road (no traffic lights,
> etc.)
> from one alley to the next. On this day there was a woman on a pushbike
> coming from my right. The secondary road is only 3-4 meters wide. My brain
> assessed that since she was still about 8-10 meters from where our paths
> would "cross", she was on a pushbike and I was on a motor bike, I could
> "do
> the Vietnamese thing" - not my words, borrowed from a fellow long-time
> resident - and just drive across in front of her. She would brake, swerve
> to
> the left and continue. WRONG!
>
>   The lady's bike had no brakes. It was always going to be a "close call",
> but then again close calls are 40-50 per minute on the streets of Saigon!
> It
> did not bother me that she ran into me. Maybe I misjudged the distances or
> her speed. What really bothered me was that she 'flopped' unhurt off her
> bike after hitting me because she had no brakes to slow down and avoid it,
> then got up saying sorry (in Vietnamese), only to realize that I'm not
> Vietnamese, whereupon she hesitated for a fraction of a second - and then
> threw herself on the ground to fiegn injury!
>
>   Of course a crowd gathered. Despite the obvious fact that her bike had
> no
> brakes which could have been used to avoid the whole incident, I was
> automatically seen as being in the wrong. Even though she hit the back
> wheel
> of my motorbike, got up healthily to 'cuss' me - then "fainted" when she
> saw
> I wasn't Vietnamese.
>
>   I do have to say that in 6 years this is the ONLY time something like
> this has ever happened to me. Of course I have had other minor accidents
> and
> incidents on the roads and elsewhere, but this was the ONLY time I was NOT
> with my wife, family or another Vietnamese person. I think many people
> over-exagerate this behavior from some Vietnamese people, but I can
> certainly attest that this attitude DOES exist.
>
>   As an amatuer, self-avowed student of modern Vietnamese history, it
> occurs to me that this "practice" may have its origins in the "American"
> years in Saigon from about 1965 to 1973. I see some "reflections": lots of
> foreigners with lots of money and little or no cultural understanding of
> Vietnam or its peoples and language(s). In case some brothers and sisters
> don't quite understand what I mean, it is simple: during those years,
> Vietnam was 'flooded' with foreigners (soldiers, etc.), now it is
> 'flooded'
> with foreigners again (tourists).
>
>   Of course the reasons, objectives and attitudes are totally different
> between these two groups separated by time, but I suggest that some things
> have carried over in the Vietnamese psyche (at least here in Saigon).
>
>   Chu Hoanh, you have much more experience about these times - but being
> Vietnamese this is not likely to happen to you. Still, I would love to
> hear
> your thoughts.
>
>   Bac Chuck Searcy (yes, you are older than my dearly beloved father), I'd
> REALLY love to hear what you think.
>
> Xin CACC, stay safe and ask yourself: What can I do today that will
> improve
> somebody's tomorrow?
>
> Shane
> -------------------------------------
> Mr. Shane Wall
> Principal
>
> shane.wall at translingualexpress.com
> Mbl: +84 (090) 9484 753
> Tel: +84 (8) 820 9143
>
> www.translingualexpress.com
>
> --
> Tran Dinh Hoanh, LLB, JD
> Attorney of Law
> Washington DC
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