[Vnbiz] Intel Vietnam refuses to pay bribes

[Bui Bich Lien]

Pls allow some additional thoughts/observations:

 

1.	Yes, no arguments whatsoever about the essentiality of ethics.  But,
in order to look further into the issue of how ethics work/contribute to
economic/social development of a developing country like Vietnam,
economic/legal perception and analysis would be useful.  Further to Anh
Andi's economic analysis, I'd recommend a book called "Law and Economic in
Developing Countries", published by the Hoover Institution, that includes
some interesting economic analysis of systematic official corruption.  The
approach taken here, in my view, is very sensible because it attempts to
examine the complex relationship between law, governance, and
economic/social development instead of single out one particular
factor/area.  And more importantly, such relationship is put into the
context of developing countries. 

 

2.	Agree with Anh Phong 's point re. the rule of law.  But a country
like Vietnam will need a long long march towards the rule of law.  To reach
this goal, we all will need to work very hard, and I'd love to see the
system improved before I die. In the current context, Intel move is indeed
smart and deserves to be applauded.  Hopefully, we'll see more examples like
this in the future.  I'm not attempting, however, to judge/categorize
whether Intel's action/intention is practical or ethical - only Intel policy
makers know it.  Anh Hoanh lost a large deal in Vietnam, but was deservedly
compensated other deals IN THE US.  I dearly hope that, the same thing would
happen to an ethical lawyer IN VIETNAM.

 

3.	As personal experience of being a lawyer to a number of Singaporean
business clients, the common question that I was asked is how to get a deal
done in the legal/bureaucratic environment of Vietnam (that included some
very direct questions).  Again, I have no personal judgment of whether they
are more (or less) ethical than Americans, Europeans, Australians or other
Asians doing business in Vietnam.

 

4.	Re. legal vs. ethics, the case of chemical companies is a perfect
example. 

 

5.	Teaching ethics to people is a great idea.  Anh Hoanh may be
interested to know that it is in fact mentioned in a Party's resolution on
judicial/legal reform.  

 

  _____  

From: vnbiz-bounces at mail.saigon.com [mailto:vnbiz-bounces at mail.saigon.com]
On Behalf Of Tran Dinh Hoanh
Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2007 8:58 AM
To: vnbiz at vietlinks.net
Subject: Re: [Vnbiz] Intel Vietnam refuses to pay bribes

 

Dear brother Phong & CACC,

 

Let's try to clarify this issue by being practical.

 

I agree to follow brother Phong's logics:  Our people are so corrupt, we
need ruole of law.  But for the rule of law to operate well, we need
non-corrupt people to operate the law.  So we are in the chicken-and-egg
circle.  Where do you, brother Phong, find non-corrupt people? 

 

My solution is:  We find non-corrupt people thourgh promoting ethics, such
as the Intel Vietnam's memorandum, we need to teach ethics in universities
(for all kinds of professional students, including business students), we
need to promote ethic teaching in families (where parents train children to
be honest and socially responsible) or in churches and temples or mass
organizations like Thanh Doan or Hoi Phu Nu.  We need to bring ethics to the
forefront to produce good people, and good people will start good rule of
law. 

 

Where do you  find non-corrupt people to start your rule of law, brother
Phong, or anyone?  I love to hear an answer.

 

Have a great day!

 

Hoanh

 

On 8/15/07, Hong-Phong_Pho at ita.doc.gov <Hong-Phong_Pho at ita.doc.gov
<mailto:Hong-Phong_Pho at ita.doc.gov> > wrote: 

[ Vietnam Business Forum ]

 



Having a legal system in place is not the same as having the rule of law. 
The rule of law, in short, is my quick answer to chi Lien's question. 
The "ultimate victory of goodness" is a lofty goal on the order of the "from
each according to his ability to each according to his needs", they are
great goals to aspire to but are unlikely to happen on a global scale at
this stage of human evolution.  If any force is poweful enough to try to
impose either, we end up with a theocracy or communism, each with their
attendant problems. 
In corrupt countries that have laws, there are those in the ruling class
that consider themselves above the law, hence the is no rule of laws. 
You wouldn't have had to argue with your friends if the rule of law was in
place and none one is operating outside or above it. 
Singaporean have a good sense of ethics.  The question is where does that
sense of ethics came from.  My contention is the rule of law (that was and
is considered so draconian as to infringe on individual freedom/civil
liberty).  How do you explain the decidedly unethical behavior of some
Singaporeans when removed from Singaporean legal proper?  A sudden heart
replacement operation?  How do you explain ethical American companies
belly-aching  about how the FCPA limits them from being corrupted? 
There is nothing wrong with being ethical. 
The issue I have is when you discuss building ethics moralistic terms, even
confusing it with professional codes of ethics are being more than the set
of rules that they are.  I don't see that anyone in this forum is resisting
building ethics or contending that it is not important or necessary.  I
would be interested in seeing how you came to that conclusion.  On the other
hand, you had earlier confused the rule of law with just a bunch of laws. 
I am glad we agreed that being ethical in business is practical.  Logically,
that means that we may not be/cannot afford to be ethical  in business
anymore when it is no longer practical.  In environments that do not support
being ethical, corruption is easily understood in this context.  The
solution is to fix the environment, ie, institute the rule of law first.
Training the heart will then be much more practical and doable because it
doesn't conflict with the reality of survival, and can be accomplished
through general education.  Conversely, no amount of heart training can
overcome the forces of corruption when there is no rule of law or respect
for it. 

-- 
Tran Dinh Hoanh, Esq., LLB, JD
Washington DC 

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