TTTT
The Vietnam state-run Phap Luat (Law) Magazine on Sunday, June 2, 2002,
published a news story that seems incredible in democratic and civilized
countries: A Vietnamese exile living in
Germany was fined for having held wedding ceremony with a woman in Vietnam
before the local Communist authorities approved their marriage.
The
groom is Hua Thien Cao, legal resident of Germany coming back to Cho Gao
District, Tien Giang Province (50 miles
south of Saigon) to get married to a woman living there. In the bride’s
hometown, the couple held a marriage ceremony including a wedding party.
Shortly after the wedding, they applied for registration and marriage
certificate.
Three
months later, they came to the provincial “Office of Justice” (registrar’s
office) to get their certificate as expected. But instead of issuing the
certificate, the registrar gave them a decision of the provincial Public
Security Department, holding them liable to a fine of 15 million VN dong (about
US$ 100) for their violations.
The
first count was of their “having held the wedding ceremony before local
authorities granted them legal permission to marry.”
The
second count, a local official Nguyen Van Tuan Hanh said, was that Hua Thien
Cao had stated in his application for visa of entry that the purpose of his
travel to Vietnam was to visit his relatives. So the fact that he got married
to a Vietnamese woman constituted a violation against the visa regulations: he
acted not in accordance with the declared purpose on his visa of entry document
where marriage was not mentioned as a purpose of the trip.
Hanh
said that the central Public Security General Department had issued a decree
concerning marriage registration, which ruled that a marriage prior to local
government’s approval is illegal. He also said a foreigner can be fined for
actions not conforming to declared purposes in visa application, including
getting married. But Hanh refused to produce a copy of the decree, as he said
it was stamped “secret document.”
That’s
what Hanh, an official of the provincial Public Security Department explained
to the couple. However, another official at the visa office in Saigon
disagreed, asserting that he has never received any decree like that.
He
said in Saigon, the responsible authorities don’t care whether a Vietnamese
exile’s wedding takes place before or after the marriage certificate is signed,
provided that nothing of political security concerns is found. Similarly, a
Vietnamese exile on the trip to Vietnam can do anything not against the laws,
even though his or her stated purpose is only to visit relatives.
Tran
That, a director of Hanoi Justice Department, confirms that according to the
Law of Marriage and Family in 2000, wedding without official registration is
not a violation of the law. Such wedding is not recognized by the laws and
therefore, it is not legally effectual. Inside the law books, every article is
fair.
This
is one of the hundreds of cases of contradicting explanation of laws and
regulations routinely occur in Vietnam. Despite the fact that the regime exerts
a high centralization of power in political security and matters of the
Communist Party existence, local Party leaders are enjoying considerable
autonomy over other domains, such as in administrative and financial
managements.
There
is little clearly defined limit of the local party and government authority.
Therefore, each local government may implement its tasks in ways far different
from the others. One thing considered illegal in a district, could be legal in
the neighboring province. Consequently, local authorities at districts and
provinces can always cause many kinds troubles to almost every business and
firm, foreign or Vietnamese, particularly small and medium-size enterprises. In
many cases, the central government is unable to intervene when facing the
powerful Communist feudal lords.
The
situation is made worse as many laws and regulations contain vague, ambiguous
clauses allowing every official to explain the laws to his or her knowledge, as
if he or she were a judge of the Supreme Court in democratic nations.
Last
week, the Japanese International Cooperation Bank released a report on the
survey of business environment of the private sector in Vietnam. According to
the report, the Communist government in Vietnam has numerous problems to be
solved. The problems are resulting from ill management, the lack of
accurate
and speedy information. Consequently, businessmen are unable to know what their
interests are.
If
a foreign investor asks what should be remembered in when doing business in
Vietnam, the answer could be “the Communist local authorities are those who can
cause the most serious problems. If bribes are offered to officials at central
level, don’t forget to include local authorities in the list.”
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