PM’s US visit was more than business as usual

Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc on Thursday wrapped up his long-awaited trip to the United States with an hour-long talk face-to-face with President Donald Trump, almost half a year after their first contact via a phone call.

Time to rehumanise our bureaucracy

Red tape is not usually a matter of life or death, in the literal sense.  And it usually attracts the ire of those affected for the needless inconvenience it seems to cause.  Sometimes, the ire is justified, and at other times, not.

The case for going slow on Bus Rapid Transit

Just before the four-day-long vacation last weekend, Hà Nội People’s Committee Chairman Nguyễn Đức Chung issued a direction to stop the super priority of the bus rapid transit (BRT) in the city by piloting to let the ordinary buses to also run in the BRT-dedicated lanes.

Sober reflections on drinking laced liquor

A young girl recently shared a sadden story about the death of her father on Facebook. The 48-year-old man died of drinking methanol-tainted alcohol, the tragedy that the Hanoian said she never thought of even though she said she was aware of such type of accidents now and then from the media.

I can’t bear the fact either.

Child abuse: When silence becomes criminal

A 13-year-old girl in Cà Mau Province and her family reported to local police that she was abused by a neighbour eight times and petitioned that the perpetrator be taken to court. The answer they got from the police last November was a decision not to investigate further because “there was not enough evidence”.

Train accidents: Prevention is the cure

Taking a deep breath and calming down before responding to someone or something is good advice, and it has become ubiquitous advice of late. But several deep breaths later, one feels like screaming “Not Again”, after the latest deadly train accident that has left three dead, several injured and maybe many more scarred for life.

Code of conduct: Playing the devil’s advocate

In what can be described as an overzealous move, authorities in the capital city have seriously drafted a Code of Conduct to “guide and correct” people’s behaviour in public places.

Got to start looking up to kindergarten teachers

Expressions of anguish and outrage came in thick and fast as two young teachers of the Sen Vàng Kindergarten in Hà Nội, both in their early 20s, were recorded using slippers to slap and beat children, and scolding them rudely and cruelly.

Inequality challenges, next phase of Đổi mới?

After 30 years of the Đổi mới (Renewal) reform, Việt Nam has recorded significant achievements in socio-economic development, lifting  nearly 30 million people  out of poverty. However, increasing income and wealth inequality is threatening the progress made in decades.

TPP’s demise sounds no death knell

Here in Việt Nam, a TPP member long hyped as its largest beneficiary, the agreement is no longer an issue of major concern. The focus is on how trade liberalization will move in the coming months and years, with or without the US, and what the new directions are for smaller TPP members, especially export-driven economies like Việt Nam.

Teacher’s more of a lesson than what is taught

Stories about unsavoury incidents at schools have been doing the rounds a lot these days.

However, most of them have involved some kind of misbehaviour by students, followed sometimes by improper responses from teachers or school administrations. The latest one was a bit different.

Measures we need to take to measure up

Imagine risking your life every day just to go to school.

If you’ve been in Viet Nam long enough, chances are that you’ve heard of all the ways many poor kids in the country, especially in remote and mountainous areas, have to take to go to school.

The correct person, wrongly appointed?

Aida Hadzialic became the youngest ever minister in the history of Sweden at the age of 27. Before taking office as the Minister for Upper Secondary School, Adult Education and Training in 2014, the talented, young woman who fluently speaks five languages already served as a deputy mayor of the city of Halmstad when she was only 23. Though having to resign following an alcohol limit breach while driving in August, Hadzialic basically represents a breeze of fresh air that every Vietnamese looks for in the Government filled with old men and women who seemed out of breathe catching up with the world moving too fast.

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