SOCIETY-VIETNAM: Sex Case Highlights Scandals Involving Officials

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Tran Dinh Thanh Lam

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, Mar 4 2004 (IPS) - Accusations that a senior government official had sex with a young girl have not only created an uproar, but have also allowed room to discuss and debate the sensitive issue as well as scandals involving high officials.

Many questions remain unanswered in the case, leaving room for all kinds of speculation about the charges against Luong Quoc Dung, deputy chairman of Vietnam’s Sports and Gyms Committee (VSGC), accused of having had sex with a 13-year-old Hanoi schoolgirl in December 2003.

Dung was dismissed by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai on Feb. 24, six days after Dung’s arrest, but the case continues to be discussed among many Vietnamese.

– It’s a shame. I cannot believe that such a high official like Mr Dung could commit that immoral action," says 67-year-old war veteran Nguyen Chinh.

But ô(this) could be a rarity among officials, but it is hard to say that the majority of them always behave according to the traditional moral codes," remarks 32-year-old Tran Truc, who works for a law office in this southern Vietnamese city.

Still, the case is but the latest in a string of scandals that local media have been reporting on in the last few years. Several government officials have been prosecuted for frequenting prostitutes, taking drugs, accepting pots of wine or engaging in smuggling.

Communist Party and government leaders have vowed to do away with these ôsocial evils". But the ideal image of officials heartily devoted to the revolutionary cause has been tarnished a lot.

ôThis is one of the most serious cases that testify to the high degree of immorality and decadence among cadres and officials," says Hoang Long, an old veteran from Nghe An in central Vietnam who now lives in Ho Chi Minh City.

However, Le Hoang, director of the popular ‘Gai Nhay’ (Bar Girls) – a film that hit the box office last year with its scenes describing drug and prostitution in modern Vietnam – disagrees.

He says, ôI don’t think this sex scandal is a sign of immorality and decadence among officials. This is a personal case. This is not typical. To inflate it and make it a social phenomenon is thus going too far." Reliable statistics of sexual abuse of children are hard to come by, but ôthe ongoing case is more critical because it involves a state official. He should be punished severely," adds Pham Thi Huyen Thanh, vice director of Hanoi’s Committee for Population, Family and Children.

Lawyer Duong Dinh Khuyen, deputy secretary of Vietnam’s Association of Lawyers, says: ôThe higher position one person gets, the greater responsibility he will have."

Rumours going around have it that Dung had tried to lobby in order to evade the accusations against him and that the victim’s family had at first accused Dung of sexual abuse right after the offence, but the police only arrested him two months later.

They also pointed to the disappearance of the results of a DNA test that was taken for evidence.

But the chief of Hanoi Police, Lt Gen Pham Chuyen, maintains that there was no evidence of undue lobbying. ôNobody has interfered into our business. We have received direct guidance from Police Minister Le Hong Anh (to investigate carefully) because this is a dangerous case with serious nature," he said.

Meantime, many Vietnamese are following Dung’s case with interest.

ôThis is a sad lesson about cadre management," VSGD Chief Inspector Nguyen Van Son was quoted by ‘Nguoi Lao Dong’ newspaper as saying.

His comments spurred discussion about what cadre management means – some people have gone as far as suspecting that Dung was in reality a victim in that too rapid a rise in the administrative echelons earned him many enemies.

ôI think he has been fallen into some Machiavellian plots," 52-year-old businessman Tran Tung Van says, but adds that ôDung is victim of his own bad behaviour".

Van pointed to the fact that as a VSGD deputy chairman, Dung was in charge of the financial management of the South-east Asian Games that Vietnam hosted, including the construction of facilities for the most important sporting event that the country has ever carried out.

Van cited the fact that after Dung’s arrest, many newspaper articles complained about the bad condition of the newly-built My Dinh stadium in Hanoi to prove that Dung’s arrest was linked to bad financial management.

Local newspapers have also reported that policemen had gone to Dung’s office and took away all his documents.

ôI cannot say whether it is (a case of) child sexual abuse or corruption. But the results (of the two) remain the same, they show the bad side of some public personalities," Van concludes.