[Vnbiz] Worshipping @ MPI

[Tran Dinh Hoanh]

Dear brother Toan & CACC,

Thanks for posting MPI's explanation.  Summary: Ministry of Defense
gave MPI an Uncle Ho bust some years ago.  That bust has been
stationed in MPI's main conference center, which MPI feels "lack of
solemnity" and "inconvenient due to the heavy weight of the bust."
(Probably too many activitities may create an unsafe condition with a
heavy bust standing around?).  Also, Uncle Ho was the original founder
of MPI.  For these reason MPI decided to use a room for "Uncle Ho
Memorial" so show respect and for MPI folks to burn incense for Uncle
Ho during holidays.

I think the explanation is decent enough.  The reasons are reasonable
and acceptable.  But here is the governance issue:  What should be the
procedure a government agency to decide how to spend the citizenry's
tax money to build a memorial of any kind?  (Even if the room is
already there, its use can be translate into so many dollars each
year).  Does any agency have any authority to open a memorial?  Or
that authority belongs to one central agency only, such as Ministry of
Information and Culture?  What if every agency decides to have its own
memorial, for Uncle Ho, Tran Hung Dao, Hai Ba Trung, Quang Trung,
etc.?   How would that affect the use the public facilities to do
public work?

Just some questions to ponder over.

Have a great day!

Hoanh
__________






On 11/6/06, ToanDucPham at GMail.com <toanducpham at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> [Vietnam Business Forum]
>
>
>
> You asked, anh Hoanh, and MPI replies at:
> ===
> http://www.vnexpress.net/Vietnam/Kinh-doanh/2006/11/3B9F01A3/
> ===
> Em Toan.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 11/7/06, Tran Dinh Hoanh <tdhoanh at gmail.com> wrote:
> > [Vietnam Business Forum]
> > Dear CACC,
> > This is interesting.  Thanks, brother Toan.  For non-Vietnamese
> > speakers, this article is about the Ministry of Planing and
> > Investment's last-week opening of a "worshiping center" on the 5th
> > floor of the MPI building, fully quipped with incense, incense bowls,
> > etc...  It is supposedly for officials to do their praying/worshiping
> > in the Vietnamese traditional style.
> > Well, this is really interesting.  Is the government religious?  That
> > would send the "religion state separation" folks over the roof,
> > wouldn't it?
> > I would love to hear an official explanation from MPI.  In the
> > meantime, my guess is that this is not religious, but cultural.  I
> > think the government is trying to emphasize the importance of the
> > Vietnamese culture.  The so-called worshiping center is no more than a
> > typical Vietnamese cultural expression.  The Vietnamese main culture
> > expression generally looks religious with incense sticks, incense
> > bowls, bells, gongs and altar. The Vietnamese traditional culture is
> > very spiritual.
> > That is my guess for the reasoning.  I would still love to hear some
> > words from the MPI itself though.
> > Have a great day!
> > Hoanh
> > ___________
> >
-- 
Tran Dinh Hoanh, LLB, JD
Attorney of Law
Washington DC