[Vnbiz] Intel Vietnam refuses to pay bribes

Thu Aug 16 09:47:20 PDT 2007

Hello chi. Lien,
The work on the rule of law has already begun in Vietnam and is proceeding 
well.
It has a decidedly economic feel to it because that's where it's the least 
controversial/most fast-acting.  Most visible are the changes associated 
with implementing the U.S.-Vietnam BTA and WTO accession.  It will take 
time, but hopefully not a lifetime.
An example of how quickly it can be established, besides Singapore, is 
Japan Post WW2 where even the constitution was imposed.
Obviously, that would not work for Vietnam today because of important 
issues such as sovereignty.  That Intel took the lead in establishing 
something like the rule of law for itself should be a wake up call for the 
government, who should by right be the lead actor here.
Best,  HPP

"Bui Bich Lien" <lien.bb at gmail.com> 
Sent by: vnbiz-bounces at mail.saigon.com
08/16/2007 05:35 AM
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Re: [Vnbiz] Intel Vietnam refuses to pay bribes

[ Vietnam Business Forum ]

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 > 
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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