Tieng Viet lovers club

[jackbl]

Adults are the…barrier to sex education
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VietNamNet Bridge – The policy on saying “no” to pre-marriage sex and the scrutiny kept by parents and teachers are the biggest barriers to the sexual health education to minors.

Only threats and warnings…

A survey conducted by the Center for Health and Population Initiatives, more than 1/3 of polled minors said they have sex at least one time, but they considered these the accidental things, which were out of their control.

The center has also found from the survey that it is popular that minors have lovers. Especially, 24.27 percent of the minors said they have three and more lovers. However, the polled minors proved to have very ambiguous knowledge about pre-marriage sex, and they did not have proactive protection when having sex.

Fifty percent of the minors aged from 16 to 18 who had sex revealed that they did not use any protective measure when having sex for the first time. Meanwhile, 40 percent of them said they also did not apply any protective measure when having sex lately.

Most minors have the willingness to learn more about sex and emotional relations from their parents and teachers. They believe that sex education can bring important knowledge necessary for their lives, and they want to be able to learn about this right from primary school. However, what they have received so far is just threats and warnings from parents and teachers.

Students complained that parents and teachers have been unfair in behaving with minors, while they do not think that juveniles’ sex and love are serious matters.

A parent said frankly that if she finds contraceptives in her daughter’s pocket, she would tell the daughter to stop, if the girl wants to grow up into useful person.

“If my daughter really wants to become corrupted, I will let her leave home,” she added.

Most of the parents express their uncompromising attitudes to their children in the matters relating to love and sex. This explains why children tend to be not open to their parents and teachers. Since they cannot get useful advices from adults, they may make mistakes in their lives.

… and dry, academic knowledge given to students

Scientists have pointed out that sex and reproductive health education is not the matter of the juveniles aged 16-18, but the education should be started when children get 12 years old.

Tran Thi Hoa, a doctor in Hanoi, said she receives a lot of patients, who came to her private clinic not to treat normal diseases, but the sexually transmitted infections.

She believes that a lot of minors suffer from diseases just because they lack necessary knowledge about sex and reproductive health. Therefore, she has suggested opening an exhibition on sex education for minors.

“I have learned that two girls have given birth recently at the age of 15. It’s necessary to do something to stop the problem,” she said.

The Ministry of Education and Training has recently decided to bring sex education curriculums to general schools. However, this still has not helped much, because the knowledge given to students is dry, academic and unattractive.

“General schools don’t have social workers, though the supply is profuse. As far as I know, some 40 training establishments in Vietnam produce the graduates in social works,” said Nguyen Hiep Thuong from the Hanoi University of Education.

Tien Phong

[jackbl]

Starbucks “teaches Vietnamese a lesson”
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VietNamNet Bridge – The Vietnamese people’s high sensitivity to the new things, and the overly high enthusiasm of the mass media have both helped promote the US Starbucks brand in Vietnam.


In general, the opening of a new retail chain would not catch the special attention from the Vietnamese who hear about the opening of shops every day.

However, the opening of the first Starbucks shop in Vietnam, located in district 1 of HCM City, was a special case. Opened on February 1, 2013, the café has been attracting a high number of Vietnamese over the last half a month. Long queues of people still can be seen every day in front of the café. People stand there and wait in patience for their turn to enjoy the coffee from the US.

Observers said they have not seen such a thing before in HCM City, where most of the big consumer food brands have made their presence when penetrating the Vietnamese market. Here in HCM City, people have got used to the presence of the global big brands, including the well-known coffee brands from Australia, the US or Italy.

On the first days after the opening, Vietnamese had to queue up under the baking sun to buy the “low-quality coffee” as described by real coffee addicts, at the exorbitant high prices of between VND60,000 and VND100,000.

In fact, the “Starbucks phenomenon” not only takes place in Vietnam, while the phenomenon is foreseeable, because Starbucks is a gigantic brand. Moreover, marketing experts said the brand has experiences in creating Starbucks phenomenon in the markets it lands in. Howard Schult, President and CEO of Starbucks, has been considered as the businessman who has many great ideas to catch the special attention from the targeted customers.

Marketing experts have noted that Starbucks has made a wise move when deciding that its first shop should be opened in early February. The month is the transitional period between the old and the new lunar years, when a lot of domestic cafes close their door but Vietnamese people still have the demand for going out and having meetings.

Vietnamese mass media has also helped a lot in making Starbucks brand more popular in the Vietnamese community. The appearance of a series of stories with the keyword “Starbucks” on websites and newspapers has helped the US coffee brand advertise for its products free of charge.

Hoang Tung, a well-known marketing expert, has noted that Starbucks has succeeded in using events to attract the mass media.

In the countries, where Starbucks once landed in, especially in Asia Pacific, it is quite a normal thing that people have to queue up for services on the first days after the opening.

The long queues and the series of stories on local newspapers prove to be the most powerful tools for Starbucks to polish its images. In the eyes of businessmen, the long queues and the stories are obviously less costly than the expenses to be paid for advertisement campaigns.

However, analysts said when the “Starbucks fever” is over, no one would be ready to stand for a long time under the summer heat to buy a cup of coffee, even though it is Starbucks coffee. They believe that the Vietnamese buy Starbucks coffee nowadays just because they want to try the US coffee, while the “Vietnamese coffee culture” would not change overnight.

However, Vietnamese enterprises have been told to be cautious with Starbucks, while they should be aware that the Starbucks’ way of doing marketing is great for them to inquire.

DNSG

[jackbl]

Women paid 13% less than men
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VietNamNet Bridge – The income gap between men and women in Vietnam is on the rise, although the rate of women working is still high compared to global levels.

Around 72% of Vietnamese women are working and this rate is higher than in several other nations around the world, the International Labor Organization (ILO) said in a statement.

However, Vietnam is among the few countries that have a widening gap in salaries between the genders, going against the global pattern in 2008-2011 compared to 1999-2007.

The Global Salary Report 2012-2013 of ILO shows that the gender income gap of Vietnam has surged 2% in recent years. Meanwhile, the 2011 statistics of the General Statistics Office indicate that incomes of women are lower than those of men by 13%.

A survey of workers’ incomes among local companies conducted by the Vietnam General Federation of Labor also shows that salaries of female workers only account for 70-80% of incomes of male colleagues.

Tim De Meyer, a senior expert of ILO in Asia Pacific, said: “The rising gender income difference unveils a worrisome tendency even though it is difficult to get exact figures of salaries and incomes in Vietnam due to the incomplete data collection and surveys at home.”

A labor investigation report made in 2012 says that the monthly average income of women is lower than that of men in State and private economic sectors and foreign investment sector. Even women in the industries of healthcare services, social activities and sales are subject to lower salaries than their male colleagues.

Source: SGT

[jackbl]

Gender stereotypes hold women back
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VietNamNet Bridge – Gender inequality remains a huge problem in the field of employment in Viet Nam, with a pay divide between men and women growing and experts warning that there is continued discrimination against women in recruitment and benefit policies.

According to the General Statistics Office's Labour Survey Report for the first nine months of 2012, female workers had a lower average monthly income than their male counterparts in all economic sectors - State, non-State and foreign-invested. The pay gap was estimated at about 13 per cent.

The International Labour Organisation's (ILO) Global Wage Report 2012-13 also shows that the gender pay gap in Viet Nam has been widening in comparison to the declining tendency of the gap reported in many countries.

Dang Quynh Dung, a former employee of a construction company in Ha Noi, said she quit her old job because she felt it was unfair that she was being paid less than her male co-workers for the same job.

"I was assigned as many responsibilities as my former male co-workers but was paid US$300 less," Dung complained.

Tim De Meyer, ILO's senior specialist on International Labour Standards and Labour Law pointed out that the gender pay gap increased when employers were given too much freedom with their staff policy, implying the need for intervention.

Meyer added that women could not enjoy the same career path as men as they were more burdened by family-related responsibilities and had more frequent breaks because of these domestic duties.

Tran Thu Phuong, head of the Viet Nam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL)'s women workers department, said gender inequality can be seen in public job advertisements.

A reporter at Viet Nam News observed that postings on the front page of the job placement website Vietnamworks.org showed that some companies, including a construction company in HCM City, a food company in northern Bac Ninh Province and a service company in northern Ha Long City, stated an obvious preference for male applicants.

Despite these companies requesting that only men apply, there was no clear reason given why the vacant positions (accountant, chief executive officer and project manager) could not be filled by women.

Phuong argued that inequality in recruitment and salary payment are having a considerable negative effect on the working spirit and professional ambition of women.

"This means that half of the labour force may feel less motivated, contributing to decreased productivity and decreased work efficiency," she said, adding that any reduction in the financial income of individuals and the operational efficiency of enterprises would have negative consequences for the country's floundering economy.

Breaking stereotypes

According to Nguyen Kim Lan, ILO's national programme co-ordinator in gender and employment, inequality was caused by gender stereotypes which started among boys and girls at a very young age.

She said that due to their interaction with parents, children formed an early idea about which subjects they should choose to focus on in schools and later which kinds of professions they should pursue.

For example, boys tend to choose natural sciences as their major at college, while girls tend to pick social sciences and foreign languages.

Suzette Mitchell, country representative of UN Women in Viet Nam said the country needs to break its stereotype about suitable professions.

She argued that women are under-represented in decision-making and management positions, citing the 2/20 ratio between women and men holding ministerial positions in Viet Nam and the much lower ratio of women sitting in the National Assembly compared to men.

Nguyen Mai Huyen, a traffic policewoman in Ha Noi, gave an example of gender discrimination when responding to media questions about the mobilisation of policewomen to leave offices and control traffic circulation on the roads at the beginning of the year.

Huyen said her accquaintances and friends were initially under the impression that their new assignment was only a strategy to create a nice image for the police force, and many still believed that men were better suited for the job.

Huyen pointed out that in reality the group had proved their ability with their work performance.
"In addition to fulfilling family responsibilities, women nowadays are capable of doing the tasks that had previously been seen as being the domain of men. They may even be doing them better," declared Huyen.

Call for change

Pointing out that indirect discrimination had the biggest effects on the gender pay gap, Tim De Meyer from ILO said Viet Nam should adopt the principle of "equal pay for work of equal value" instead of the current principle of "equal pay for equal work".

De Meyer cited an example by comparing the professions of motor mechanics and nurses.

He pointed out that motor mechanics working in a male-dominant environment are paid more than nurses who are mostly women, even though nursing should score higher in terms of required skills, training, tolerance of working conditions and responsibility.

He said a comparison between the remuneration of women and men when they do different jobs can make it apparent how women earn less because the remuneration reflects the worker's gender rather than the actual contents of the job.

De Meyer added that the retirement age should not be based on gender at present as women retire five years earlier than men - an opinion that mirrored the positions of many labour experts, including senior State officials.

Nguyen Thi Thu Hong, vice president of the Viet Nam General Confederation of Labour, pointed out that reducing the gender gap was a process that involved the combined efforts of employers, trade unions and female workers themselves.

"Don't limit yourself," said Mitchell of the UN Women as she called for young people to fight for their ambitions and break free from professional stereotypes about women and men to create equal opportunities for all.

Source: VNS

[jackbl]

Rise in infertility in Vietnam
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VietNamNet Bridge – A latest survey showed that the rate of childless couples in the country has gone up by 8 percent or a total of one million Vietnamese couples.

This upward trend is worrisome as even medical experts warn of more and more couples in the country facing infertility.

The survey also pointed out that in some regions of the country the rate of childless couples was higher, such as in Hanoi with 13 percent and the central province of Khanh Hoa with 14 percent.

Infertility puts a lot of pressure on Vietnamese women and affects the quality of their marriage. X.Hoa, 35, a director of a private company in the northern province of Hai Phong, said although he married more than three years back, he is still issueless because both he and his wife suffer from a problem in the reproductive system.

The National Maternity Hospital in Hanoi used to receive only five such couples a week, which has now increased to 10 infertile couples a week for treatment.

Noticeably, the Hanoi-based Military Hospital's Embryo Technology Center treats around 10,000 childless couples annually. Doctor Quan Hoang Lam, the center's director, said the demand for infertility treatment is increasing and most infertile couples are between the ages of 25-32.

According to scientists, stress, improper diet, and consuming contaminated food are the main causes of infertility. Even living in a contaminated or unhealthy environment can cause infertility.

Infertility in men can be attributed to low sperm count, up to 90 percent, and the condition can be brought on by work pressure, alcohol and smoking.

More worrisome, infertility in women can be caused by unsafe sex resulting in infection in sexual organs, leading to miscarriages and abortions. Statistics show the rate of Vietnamese women undergoing abortion is around 32 percent or one million cases a year. This is the highest rate of abortion in women in the world.

Health Deputy Minister Nguyen Viet Tien said infertility is a grave challenge for the country.

Vietnam now has a total of 14 centers for infertility treatment. Skilled physicians in these centers are as good as their counterparts in the world with a higher rate of success of 35-40 percent or even 50 percent in Tu Du and the National Maternity Hospital, along with lower cost of VND60 million (US$2,867) while it is more than $15,000 in the US.

Source: SGGP

[Honey Boon]

survey also xnn .....

Originally Posted by jackbl

Rise in infertility in Vietnam
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VietNamNet Bridge – A latest survey showed that the rate of childless couples in the country has gone up by 8 percent or a total of one million Vietnamese couples.


Source: SGGP

[jackbl]

The ones who earn big money in economic crisis
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VietNamNet Bridge – While tens of thousand of businesses went bankrupted, a lot of others still can earn big money with small scaled business.


The benefits brought by crisis

AppeRice, a rice burger chain, which started up its business five months ago, has had tens of shops on advantageous positions in HCM City. AppRice has invested one million dollars on the production line, which is a big sum of money for the investor who cannot get the finance support from banks.

However, the investor not only sees the financial difficulties, but great advantages as well.

It is now easier than ever to lease retail premises: the rents are low, while the supply is profuse, which allows AppeRice to easily access consumers, cut down expenses and become more competitive.

In the economic crisis, people tend to look for stable sources of income instead of big but risky ones. Since the required investment rate is small, just VND50-100 million for an AppeRice shop, which fits the pockets of many people, a lot of investors have been running AppeRice shops under franchising contracts.

Facing the high inflation, people have to fasten their belt, but they still need to spend money on basic needs such as meals and drinks. Therefore, AppeRice still can attract a lot of customers, especially with the competitive prices.

Niche markets can bring fat profits

The Nui Ba Cable Car Company in Tay Ninh province, carrying passengers and cargoes with cable car, has a modest chartered capital of VND31.97 billion. However, its profits have been always very big in the last many years, far higher than the chartered capital, despite the economic recession.

In 2008-2010, the company’s profit grew by 15-16 percent per annum. In 2011, the growth rate jumped to 50 percent with the profit reaching VND47.76 billion, or 50 percent higher than its chartered capital.

The company planned to obtain VND62.5 billion worth pretax profit in 2012. However, it had got VND68 billion just by the end of September. The encouraging business result has been explained by the fact that the company has been concentrating on the core business field by providing services in the Ba mountain area, while it did not borrow capital and throw money into many other business fields which were out of its control.

The company’s shares have been traded at VND76,000 per share, the highest level now seen in the market. The share price has increased by 86 percent just over the last year from the deepest low of VND3,000 per share.

Earning fat profit by providing safe food

The Vietnamese husbandry met a very tough year in 2012, but some enterprises in the field still could find the ways to develop.

Lam Thanh Duc, the owner of the Thanh Duc fowl farm in Dong Nai province, believed that developing animal husbandry and making food was the wisest investment for now, because food can be consumed everyday, no matter they have much or little money. That explains why the demand for meat, dairy products and eggs keeps increasing.

However, Duc understands that smart consumers nowadays only want clean and safe products. And the thought then gave him a good idea to earn money – providing clean and safe products.

In early 2012, Duc decided to spend VND8.5 billion dong to install two German production lines which allow to raise animals in an automatic and clean process. Though the husbandry scale has increased recently, Duc does not have to expand the farm area. Meanwhile, he can save the production costs and earn more money thanks to the higher productivity.

Tran Thuy

[jackbl]

Vietnam’s five most beautiful East Sea paradise resorts
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VietNamNet Bridge – CNN has judged Vietnam boasts five of the top nine most beautiful paradise resorts in the East Sea.

The central province of Khanh Hoa’s stunning landscapes and pleasant climate have seen its international tourism prestige steadily rise. It is home to two of the five highlighted Vietnamese resorts.

Vinpearl Nha Trang or Hon Ngoc Viet, located on Hon Tre Island, is a tourism, resort, and entertainment complex encompassing parks, a golf course, and a water palace. Whale Island is an internationally accredited dive centre and offers patrons peaceful green space and traditional bungalows along the coast of Van Phong Bay.

Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism Director Truong Dang Tuyen credits the ascendancy of Nha Trang as a world-class tourism destination to Khanh Hoa Province’s natural bounty.

Vietnam’s other three resort “paradises” include Six Senses Con Dao, Phu Quy Island, and Cat Ba Island. CNN also listed destinations like Sheraton Sanya, Ritz-Carlton Sanya (China), El Nido (the Phillipines), and Gaya (Malaysia).

Source: VOV

[jackbl]

The problem of opening casinos in Vietnam
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VietNamNet Bridge – The first lunar month is the month for leisure activities, bonus games, thus, have been mentioned recently.

The license for casinos was a controversial issue on the headlines in recent months. Especially when the Ministry of Finance has drafted a decree tightening casino business, which says that casinos are conditional business so the license of casinos would be tightened. At the same time, only foreigners and overseas Vietnamese are allowed to get into casinos in Vietnam.

Currently, only the Ho Tram project is licensed to open a large-scale casino (180 desks and 2,000 electric game machines). To date, Vietnam has had five small-scale casinos, including 2 in Quang Ninh province and the 3 remaining casinos in Hai Phong, Da Nang and Lao Cai. In particular, the Do Son casino in Hai Phong is the largest. Some hotels have small casinos, offering only card playing or electronic game machines. All of these facilities open for foreigners and overseas Vietnamese only.

It is said that the Vietnamese people must be allowed to enter casinos as long as the authorities coordinate closely to manage casinos because casinos bring about very high revenues for the state and investors. The revenues from bonus games for foreigners and overseas Vietnamese in 2011 is estimated at about VND5 trillion ($250 million).

Worldwide, there have been 124 countries and territories that license casinos. Global revenue of bonus games in 2010 is estimated at $109 billion, of which the U.S. accounted for 51.8% with $56.5 billion, Asia $32.3 billion, accounting 29.6%, and the Europe, Middle East, and Africa reached $16.2 billion, accounting for 14.8%.

Vietnamese people are not allowed to enter local casinos so many people take their money to casinos across the border in Cambodia or pour money into casinos in Macao and Las Vegas ...

In contrast, may others said Vietnam should not open casinos for Vietnamese people because they are afraid of social evils.

What are the problems posed to the open of casinos in Vietnam? Should casinos are opened and opened for Vietnamese to become a profession that pay taxes to the state? And if it is allowed in Vietnam, how it will be managed?... All these issues need to be carefully considered by specific solutions.


TVN

[jackbl]

Travelers complain services at airports too expensive
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VietNamNet Bridge – At the Noi Bai airport, travelers have to pay VND25,000 for a bottle of water, which is six times higher than the price posted at supermarkets. Other products and services are also very expensive.

Nguyen Thanh Tung, a passenger, while waiting for his flight to South Korea, had to pay VND45,000 for a bowl of instant noodle, while a pack of noodle can be bought at just VND5,000 at supermarkets.

Nam, who arrived in the Noi Bai airport on February 24, complained that he had to pay VND200,000 for a bowl of pho and a bottle of mineral water, while both the things can be bought at VND30,000 at a traditional market.

The prices of food, drinks, fruit at the airports all have been found as much more expensive than that at the markets. A 350 ml water bottle, which is VND4,000 at supermarket, is sold at VND15,000-25,000 at the airport. A kilo of apple, which can be bought from a vendor at VND20,000. Meanwhile, a pack of 1.5 kilo is sold at VND85,000 at Noi Bai. Especially, a tiny pack of snacks, which has the sale price of VND5,000, is available at the airport at VND20,000.

In general, the prices posted at private owned kiosks here are 20-40 percent higher than the prices at state owned enterprises’ kiosks. The price gap could be up to VND45,000 for a glass of orange juice, VND10,000 for a glass of ice tea.

While the service fees are sky high, the service quality is not high at all. Joe, a Thai traveler, complained that only after he repeatedly asked to clean a table at an airport café, his demand was satisfied, but the waiter just did this perfunctorily with some tissues.

After having a bowl of instant noodle which cost him VND40,000, Joe noted that the services at Noi Bai is far worse than at the Bangkok airport.

“There are many shops and wide range of goods for choice. The prices, of course, are more expensive at the airport, but the quality is quite good,” he said.

Meanwhile, the service providers at the airport said that they have to charge high fees on food and services because the retail premises rents at the airport are as high as the A-class office rents.

Dang Xuan Cu, General Director of Nasco, said the company has to pay $40 per a month for every square meter of the premises at the airport. Meanwhile, the premises at more advantageous positions would be 20-30 percent more expensive.

Besides, like other companies which do business at the airport, Nasco has to pay one percent of total revenue every year to the airport authorities.

“As we have to bear a lot of kinds of fees, while we have to pay higher for workers, we have to raise the sale prices to cover expenses,” Cu explained.

Nguyen Thi Hien from Nasco said that she has to seek the permission every time when she plans to raise the sale prices of goods or services, because Nasco is the enterprise where the state holds 51 percent of stakes. Meanwhile, private run kiosks can set up prices themselves.

Meanwhile, a businessman noted that he feels as if he goes to a market when setting foot in Noi Bai, while Noi Bai should be the place for passengers to stay for relax while waiting for their flights. This could be a reason which explains why Vietnam finds it hard to attract foreign travelers to the country.

VNE

[jackbl]

People high up also do illegal things, let alone commoners

Forest rangers also smuggle wood
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VietNamNet Bridge – Forest rangers, the ones assigned the duty of protecting the forests, have been found as lending a hand to illegal lumberjacks to smuggle wood.


Forest rangers sell sua tree at VND600 million

A sua tree at the Cuc Phuong National Park has been sold at VND600 million by the local forest rangers.

The sale of an old precious tree at the national park raised controversy. The Cuc Phuong commune people’s committee did not agree on the sale, requesting the local foreign ranger unit to stop the sale agreed before with the Vinh Phuong restaurant, the buyer.

However, Vinh Phuong won the case by force. Some 10 strong men were sent to the national park, who said they needed to bring the tree away as previously agreed. They threatened that they would chop down the tree, because the local forest ranger unit had received the deposit money of VND20 million.

The local forest ranger unit had to make a compromise, selling the sua tree at VND600 million. However, the tree has not been used by Vinh Phuong. It has changed many hands so far, while the price of the tree has been escalating.

Forest rangers smuggled wood, 10 people died

In December 2011, a truck carrying smuggled wood got an accident in Con Cuong district in Nghe An province, which then killed 10 people and injured another four. All the victims were the poor people in Quy Hop who worked as hired porters.

The noteworthy thing was that a lot of high ranking officials of the local forest ranger unit got involved in the case. These included Trinh Thanh Long, Deputy Director of the Pu Huong Sanctuary and Head of the local forest ranger unit. The others were all high ranking officials of the forest ranger units.

The investigation agency found out that Long bought 13 cubic meters of wood from some people in Xieng My commune and then carried the wood away for sale.

Nghe An has been well known as the “hot spot” in the country, where a lot of forest areas are devastated every year, and tens of wood smuggling cases are found, where the investigation agency discovered the “cooperation” of the state’s officials.

Forest rangers’ trucks carry smuggled wood

In late 2009, a truck of the Phong Nha National Park was caught red handed as carrying 0.4 cubic meter of ebony, the kind of precious wood listed in the group 1, i.e. the exploitation is prohibited.

The truck driver was Nguyen Anh Tuan, an officer of the Phong Nha forest ranger unit. Meanwhile, the truck once belonged to an international organization which later was handed over to the Phong Nha forest ranger unit.

In 2012, local newspapers reported that 11 people were found as chopping down three sua trees in the Phong Nha national park in Quang Binh province. At the time when the illegal lumberjacks “took actions,” seven forest rangers and one forest ranger unit’s head were not on the duty. The abnormal absence of the forest rangers then created favorable conditions for the lumberjacks to carry the precious wood out of the forest.

Most recently, Nguyen Huu Tri, Deputy Head of the Phong Nha – Ke Bang forest ranger unit, together with his younger brother Nguyen Thanh Tri, deputy head of the forest ranger unit No. 37 appropriated sua wood from illegal lumberjacks when they were inspecting the site.

Bao Han

[jackbl]

Vietnamese citizen to have personal code
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VietNamNet Bridge - The personal code, consisting of 12 digits, will be granted for each citizen since birth and it will not change, according to the Ministry of Justice.

The Ministry of Justice has just completed a draft plan on simplify administrative procedures, citizenship papers and national demographic database at the request of the National Assembly Standing Committee and the Government.

The plan aims to serve the construction of the Law on Civil Status, provide personal code for each citizen, improve the procedures for registration of birth, dead and marriage, and build the national database on civil status.

The plan makers say that to improve the legal basis, the first task that must be done is applying the personal code as the foundation for building personal papers for each citizen.

The personal code will be a 12 digit number, granted to each person since their birth and it will never change and will not be granted to another citizen. The codes will be included in the national demographic database.

The Ministry of Public Security will assist the Government to manage the personal code database.

The code will be given to every citizen when performing birth registration, since the effective date of the Law on Civil Status.

For those who registered birth before that date, the code will be granted when they get new I.D cards or change their permanent residence registration. The personal code will be noted on the ID cards.

The personal code is the original number for tracking about a Vietnamese citizen from the national demographic database to serve management.

The district and provincial-level police agencies are responsible to grant the personal code for citizens whose birth certificate was granted before the effective date of the Law on Civil Status, when they get new or change their I.D cards or permanent residence registration.

The commune-level police agencies are responsible to grant the personal code for new-born citizens when their births are registered since the effective date of the Law on Civil Status.

On average, Vietnamese people may need about 20 personal papers. There are about 70 administrative procedures related to these papers. With the population of 90 million people, the number of administrative transactions between people and the authorities is estimated at 600,000 a day. Most of these procedures are done manually and requires citizens to prove their identities through the presentation or submit a copy or certified copies of personal papers.

According to the Ministry of Justice, the use of the personal code and information technology on administrative procedures will help save a lot of time, which is equivalent to over VND461 billions ($23 million) per year; VND4.78 trillion ($230 million) of expenditure for copying and certifying documents; and VND2.2 trillion ($110 million) for handling administrative formalities at state bodies.

The granting of personal code will be implemented from June 2013 to May 2014, according to the plan.

The building of national demographic database is scheduled for implementation from June to December 2013.

[jackbl]

Miracle drug made of a special lizard?
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VietNamNet Bridge – Than lan trinh nu (Leiolepis ngovantri sp. nov. Grismer & Grismer), a newly discovered reptile species, is believed to be the material to make a miracle drug good to gentlemen.

According to the scientists of the Binh Chau – Phuoc Buu nature reserve in Xuyen Moc of Ba Ria – Vung Tau, the lizards were first discovered at the nature reserve. This is a discovery of Professor Ngo Van Tri, therefore, it has another name – than lan nu sinh Ngo Van Tri. The reptile individuals are smaller than many other species of the same family with the length of 1.5 cm only.

When asked why the newly discovered lizards are called “than lan trinh nu” (maiden lizards), Bui Dinh Son from the Binh Chau – Phuoc Buu sanctuary explained that there is no male individual, and there are only female individuals.

“Since only female individuals exist which still can reproduce, a kind of asexual reproduction, people have given them the name “than lan trinh nu”,” Son said.

The initial studies by the scientists at the sanctuary showed that than lan trinh nu likes living in dry forests, or cajuput forests like the one in the sanctuary and the coastal areas of Binh Thuan province. It is considered an endemic species of Vietnam which has high value. The initial scientific studies have also found out that the lizards have certain nutrition useful to human health.

Local people affirmed that they heard from the previous generations that the meat of lizards is very good to people’s health, which has been used as a miracle drug. For the last many generations, salamanders have been soaked in liquor to create a kind of liquid which is believed to be very good to gentlemen.

While than lan trinh nu is a new discovery to scientists, it has been familiar to local people for a long time, who think that it is just a kind of lizard. However, after scientists talked about the high value of the lizards, they have been rushing to hunt for the reptile individuals.

The meat of than lan trinh nu is described as sweet, delicious and tastes like chicken. Therefore, it has another name “ga dat” which means “the earth fowl” (the fowl that creeps on the face of the earth).

Than lan trinh nu has been attractive not only because they have high nutrition, but also because of their beautiful colors and the mystery about their reproduction.

Son from the sanctuary said that since the lizards do not eat insects, while their main food is tree and herbs, the medicinal properties of the herbs can be found in the lizards’ meat. Therefore, the meat could be seen as a kind of nutritious food which can help improve people’s health.

The information about the precious lizard has prompted people to hunt for them. People go to the forests, to the sanctuaries to look for lizards and sell to restaurants.. A lot of people believe that if the lizards can be soaked in liquor in a right way, this would create a liquid that helps strengthen the virility of men. The local people have also been trying to make different dishes from the lizard meat.

Son said that the lizards are very clean, because they only eat plants and dew. Therefore, people just need to clean lizards without eliminating viscera and then put into bottles with liquor.

Nguoi Dua Tin

[jackbl]

Should “brutal rituals” be abandoned?
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VietNamNet Bridge - Violent images in traditional festivals such as chopping pigs or killing buffalos to sacrifice to gods has created negative views on traditional festivals.


Cruel rituals

The “pig chopping” festival in Nem Thuong village, in Tien Du district, Bac Ninh province is held on the 6th day of the lunar year, with many scary rituals.

Pigs are stretched then chopped into two while blood is everywhere on the yard of the communal house. Thousands of exciting people shout and try their best to dip their banknotes into the pig blood in the belief that it would bring luck in the New Year. This ritual has been complained by many people, especially foreigners, to be so brutal.

There are other festivals in Vietnam that are also criticized for their “brutality,” for example the buffalo stabbing festival in the Central Highlands and the buffalo fighting festivals in Hai Phong and Vinh Phuc, which end up with the bloody death of one of the buffaloes.

These festivals are criticized for their violence and brutality, they are still held in the eagerness of local people, in the name of “traditional festivals.”

Prof. Ngo Duc Thinh, former head of the Institute of Vietnamese Culture Studies, says that these festivals originated from the demand of community. They sacrifice animal to god for fortune and prosperity. In general, the animals are slaughtered before they are offered to the god but in some areas, the animals are killed on the spot. He adds that his foreign friends and foreign visitors do not like these cruel rituals.

Dr. Trinh Hoa Binh, from the Institute of Social Studies, says that the rituals were initially to honor the wild beauty and the strength of human impact on the nature. However, these rituals can have negative influence on young people.

"It is not a coincidence that the measures to implement the death penalty are more civilized. Today, the death penalty is enacted by lethal injection, not a firing or a sword as in the past. Social development must go with violence reduction. The festivals with brutal rituals are not at variance with the rhythm of development," Dr. Binh says.

Binh adds that researchers and the authorities need to consider these brutal rituals carefully, though they are traditional, since they have bad effect on the society.

The rituals shouldn’t be removed?

Prof. Ngo Duc Thinh, former head of the Institute of Vietnamese Culture Studies, quotes the song that is sung in the buffalo slaughtering ritual to defend it.

“Buffalo! We don’t want to kill you.
Please don’t be mad at us.
Just because our village is lacking food.
We must win the god’s support,
So we have to kill you.”

According to Prof. Thinh, this song shows the human spirit before killing a buffalo. That act comes from the need of seeking the god’s support.

He says that the “outsiders” may see the ritual brutal and scary but local people don’t share the same view because they find it as spiritual act. Therefore, it is impossible to ban the ritual.

Meanwhile, many people suggest abandoning brutal rituals in festivals, such as the animal chopping and stabbing rites or at least use fake animals in these rites. Prof. Thinh believes that these suggestions are unfeasible because they will affect the sacredness of custom.

According to this expert, the problem is the view of the “outsiders.” If these rituals are maintained within the local community, they will harm nobody. He suggests turning the pig chopping ritual into an internal event of Nem Thuong village, which only has the attendance of the villagers, and only the adults.

At the fifth session of the 12th National Assembly in June 2009, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Anh Tuan was questioned about the festivals that “encourage violence and cause fear”.

At the session, Deputy Dinh Xuan Thao recommended abandoning the buffalo stabbing festival in the Central Highland and the buffalo head chopping ritual at the buffalo fighting festival in Do Son, Hai Phong.

Minister Hoang Anh Tuan said that the pig slaughtering or buffalo head chopping rituals are no longer appropriate and these rituals should not be maintained. However, the minister was afraid that these violent rituals may be hard to be removed if only administrative measures are taken.

He believed that education and propaganda to change people’s perception so that they understand thoroughly and decide themselves to not perform these inappropriate rituals is the best solution.

P. Linh

[jackbl]

Unbelievable robberies of iPad, iPhone
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VietNamNet Bridge - In a short time, several bold robberies of iPad and iPhone happened in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, making people worried. Some robbers equipped themselves with weapons and committed to kill victims.


Robbery at home

A bold robbery occurred at the home of Mr. Ngo Quang Tuan, 39, in Dinh Ho B, Thanh Luong Ward, Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi on the evening of March 1.

At that moment, Tuan’s son - Ngo Quang Tuan Anh, 10 - was sitting in a chair in the first floor to play computer games on an iPad 2 when a strange young man suddenly opened the door and got into the house.

The man asked what was Tuan Anh playing. He did not wait for the answer and snatched the iPad from the boy’s hands and picked up an iPhone 5 on the table then ran out to a motorcycle waiting outside.

According to Tuan’s wife, before the robber broke into the house, they stood in front of the house for spying. They waited for the right opportunity when she and her husband went on the second floor to rob the iPad and iPhone.


Snatching the iPad 4 in a cafe

The case was filmed by a CCTV in a coffee shop in Ho Chi Minh City at 2 pm on February 26. It happened too fast and reckless that made the victim himself stuned.

The robber pretended as a customer who got into the café to buy water. While waiting, the robber nibbled near the victim. The young man who was sitting to surf net on the iPad reflexively sat up straight and brought his iPad nearer to himself but the robbers rushed to snatch the iPad.

The victim reacted quickly. He held the table to fling at the robber but he missed because the table is heavy.

The robber quickly ran up to a waiting motorcycle and fled.

Breaking into the store to rob iPhone 5 with a knife

The robbery occurred at a clothing shop on Tran Quoc Toan Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi on the evening of January 28.

When Ms. Trang, 24, was alone in the shop, suddenly a young man broke into the store, with a knife in his right hand. He pointed the knife to her face and forced her to kneel.

Due to panic, Trang gave him her iPhone and said: "Keep it!.”

Taking advantage of the robber’s inattention, Trang ran up to the fourth floor and called the landlord for help.

About three minutes later, when people ran down, the robber run away, with Trang’s iPhone and a laptop.


Chopping hand to rob iPhone in Saigon

The victim is Mr. Bui Nhu Dao, 21, from Thanh Hoa province. At about 20h on December 14, 2012, after the dinner, Dao stood in front of the house at No. 813 Ta Quang Buu Street, Ward 5, District 8, Ho Chi Minh City to speak on the phone with his wife.

While talking on the phone, he saw two men walking near. Suddenly, one of the two men took out a scimitar of about 50cm long to slash on his left hand, making the cell phone fall to the ground.

Very quickly, the robber picked up the phone and ran into the street, jumped in a motorcycle and disappeared.

Dao was taken to the HCM City Orthopedic Trauma Hospital in the state of his left arm being chopped of for 60 percent.

After nearly one month of tracking, HCM City police arrested the two robbers: Tran Chinh Dai, 27, from District 10 and Nguyen Huu Long, 16, from Tan Binh District.

The robbers declared that while passing through the victim’s house, they saw Dai was talking on the phone in front of the house. They thought that the phone is a real iPhone so they returned to rob it. But it turned out that it is a fake iPhone, which is priced just tens of US dollars.

D.Tam