On November 14, General Secretary To Lam made an assessment that the state apparatus is too cumbersome and ineffective. According to Tuoi Tre newspaper, Vietnam has about 52,000 associations from the central to local levels, supported by the state budget. Accordingly, in 2023, the amount of expenditure to support Vietnam’s socio-political and professional organizations will be more than VND92 trillion ($3.7 billion).
This is probably one of the reasons why Vietnamese social networks have recently been in turmoil, with many extremely indignant opinions. This is the case of 3 famous people in Vietnam: singer and musician Chi Dan, model An Tay, and idol Nguyen Do Truc Phuong, who were temporarily detained by the police, on the grounds that they had purchased drugs from the subjects arrested in the VN10 case, to organize illegal use of drug.
Notably, Phuong, a person famous for her charity activities – who was awarded the “Beautiful Youth” award in 2020 by the Central Committee of the Vietnam Youth Union, and is also the main character in the “ Việc tử tế/Deeds of Kindness” program of Vietnam Television VTV.
According to the Ministry of Public Security, so far, related to this case, the police forces have dismantled 146 more drug trafficking and transportation rings operating between districts, towns, provinces, and cities, and probed 630 more defendants. Police seized 323.5 kg of various drugs, and many military weapons, with a drug trafficking transaction value of more than VND28 trillion.
This is the result of an expanded investigation into the case on March 16, 2023, when 4 Vietnam Airlines flight attendants were detained at Tan Son Nhat airport after the Customs force discovered more than 11 kg of drugs hidden in toothpaste tubes in their luggages.
After 1 week of investigation, the Ho Chi Minh City Police Department decided to release the 4 flight attendants, citing insufficient grounds for prosecution, because they did not know that the transported goods contained drugs. However, immediately after that, a large-scale project codenamed VN10 was established, leading to the dismantling of many large-scale drug rings as mentioned above.
State media has denied the allegations that four flight attendants are relatives of Vietnamese leaders, and at the same time, affirmed that there are no signs of involvement of high-ranking leaders in the case. Currently, the four flight attendants have been released and have not been prosecuted.
Returning to the story, the Standing Committee of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Youth Union has just decided to revoke the 2020 “Beautiful Youth” award of idol Phuong. Public opinion sees that this is an inevitable consequence of the disease of achievement but irresponsibility of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Youth Union in particular, and the public authority in Vietnam in general.
Why has Phuong – a subject who used illegal drugs, as well as participated in buying drugs, become a symbol of charity with the title “charity fairy” or “fairy of the poor”?
Although the Vietnam Youth Union has denied responsibility by claiming that the honoring of Phuong, with the “Beautiful Youth” award, was carried out in 2020, before Phuong committed the crime. After Phuong was probed and temporarily detained for drug-related crimes, the agency immediately decided to revoke the award on November 14.
This is a lesson showing that the associations, the extended arm of the Communist Party of Vietnam, from the central to the local levels, funded by the state budget, are ineffective and even a burden to the country.
Tra My – Thoibao.de
