[Vnbiz] Intel Vietnam refuses to pay bribes

[Tran Dinh Hoanh]

Dear Sister Bich Lien & CACC,

You pose a wonderful question, sister.  Lucky for the students who have you
as their teacher, Bich :Lien they will learn well!

"There must be something else, a part from legislation and individual
citizens, that make the system the way it did.  An open-ended question, to
which I have no answer."  That is so true!  Bich Lien, I had that question
when I was 17, and it followed me for several decades, and during that
times, I searched for the answer in every thing under the sun; you name it,
I have searched in it.

I have such a strong urge to share with you my long journey, but to save
everyone's time, let me just share the final observation: The missing thing
that sis. Bich Lien is looking for is "*the standard of conduct that the
majority of the people demand.*"

If the *majority* of people demand the *standard *that their leaders have to
be honest, that bribery is bad, then the country will have honest leaders
and will have less corruption.  If the majority of people think that their
leaders just have to be "effective" (whatever effective means)but don't have
to be honest, and that corruption/bribery is an OK way to live and to do
business, then the country will be marred with lying/cheating leaders and
corruption will fill the scene.

Please note, I say "*majority of people*." Sister Bich Lien said there are
MANY good officials.  But many is not enough if that many is still the
minority.

And I say "*standard of conduct*," meaning, the character traits that people
look up to and whoever achieves such characters will be admired by most
people, the character traits that people want their leaders to possess .
Standard is usually a bit idealistic, because standard is for "the
best scenario."  Say, the standard score for good student is the perfect
10/10.  But few students ever achieve this.  Most good students would get
9/10 or 8/10 only.  However, everything being equal, the school that has
the 10/10 standard will produce much better students than the school that
sets 8/10 as its standard.

Most people in Vietnam think that paying and receiving bribes is OK, it is
just a way to do things.  The majority of the people will not stand up and
say that it is bad and that it must be stopped.  (Since 18 years old in
college in Saigon, I have fought against most of my friends who would
convinced me that corruption and bribery is the way to live and that I am
just naive.  Imagine you hear this from 18 years old kids (who were my
friends)!  Sad but true.  And today many people still tell me that I am too
idealistic, that they don't need honest leaders, that they believe
corruption is an OK or acceptable way to do business, or corruption is just
a matter of semantic.

We will always disagree in many specific circumstances whether a sentence
spoken is honest or not, or a specific gift or payment is indeed a bribe.
Application of a rule to a specific case may raise disagreement among
friends.  That is OK.  But at least, the majority of the people have to
believe in the rule of honesty and the rule of clean business and clean
government.  If we don't have the majority, the minority of good people
won't be enough.

How to get that majority?  Simple, keep talking, keep preaching, keep
teaching, and keep practicing honesty and cleanliness.  It is hard, because
we all are human, and we all, including me, and especially me, fail often
for our weaknesses, and we need to eat and pay bills and feed our children
too.  I know.  But if we have faith in the ultimate victory of goodness,
will stand up after each fall, and continue talking about honesty and clean
governance again and again and again, time after time after time, regardless
of what the negative people may say, then eventually that majority will be
achieved.

Trust me.  Have faith!

Have a great day, sis. Bich Lien and all.

Hoanh



On 8/15/07, Bui Bich Lien <lien.bb at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> [ Vietnam Business Forum ]
>
>
>
>  Anh Hoanh and CACC,
>
>
>
>    1. The OECD member countries adopted a Convention on Combating
>    Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions
>    in 1997.
>
>
>
>    1. Corruption in Vietnam, as elsewhere, is often systematic.  So I
>    guess that an institutional approach to corruption may help enlighten the
>    problem.  Having said this, I do not mean to underestimate the fact that
>    ethical individuals/citizens are jewels in every society.  But as Nam Cao
>    stated [almost hundred years ago] in the famous Chi Pheo "tao muon lam nguoi
>    tu te, nhung ai cho tao lam nguoi tu te" (I want to be a good person, but
>    who allows me to do that???).  Within my limited circle of
>    friends/acquaintances, I already know MANY public officials in Vietnam who
>    have relatively high ethical standards and want to be good citizens.  But
>    it's the fact that they are operating in a system that is known for high
>    level of corruption.  The system has not been mature enough to facilitate
>    them to do what they want -- life is a matter of choice, and I can well
>    understand one's choice of survival before ethical.  If the US has FCPA,
>    Vietnam has an Anti-corruption Law too.  And I just mentioned, Vietnam seems
>    not lack ethical officials/professionals either.  There must be something
>    else, apart from legislation, and individual citizens, that makes the system
>    the way it is.  An open-ended question, to which I have no answer.
>
>
>
> Rgs,
>
>
>
> Lien
>
>
>
>
> --
> Tran Dinh Hoanh, Esq., LLB, JD
> Washington DC
>
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