An 80 year-old man is fighting corruption and embezzlement “for the sake of the people and my relatives and comrades who have fallen in two wars of independence.” Hoang Manh Tung, a resident of Thao Dien Ward, District 2, Ho Chi Minh City, is determined to rid Vietnam of graft.
Mr. Tung, who has been a Party member for 62 years, said, “District 2 is a newly-urbanized area, which will be transformed into a new commercial and financial district of the city in the near future. That’s why the price of land here, especially in Thao Dien Ward, is very costly.”
“Land crises have resulted in corruption, in which individuals collude with high-ranking state officials to appropriate public land for personal benefit,” he added.
Mr. Tung emphasized that the fight against corruption and embezzlement should be made a priority in the current context of society in general, and Thao Dien Ward in particular, to protect the interest of the public.
As far back as 1999, public outrage in Thao Dien Ward arose around the actions of the secretary of the Block 3 Party Committee, who allowed Le Doan Hung, a local resident, to fill in land and level a 300 meter section of Rach Dua Canal and turn it into a fish farm.
Mr. Tung said, “I made an investigation into the case and denounced the secretary’s violation and abuse of power at the meeting of the Party cell where he is a member. The secretary immediately rejected, denounced and accused me of being a slanderer at the meeting, as I couldn’t produce adequate proof for what I’d said. I was just an inexperienced fighter for the truth at the time, you know.”
Shortly afterward, there were widespread discussions about another case, in which the secretary granted 20.66 square meters of public land within the precinct of the city-hall ground to two neighboring families. One of owners is Hung’s brother-in-law.
Mr. Tung brought the case to an other meeting of the Party cell and again, was rejected by the secretary, as Mr. Tung could not produce sufficient evidence.
In early 2003, Mr. Tung was told that the District 2 People’s Committee was granting a land certificate to Hung’s fish farm. Learning from the failure of the two previous denouncements, Mr. Tung decided not bring the case to the meeting of the Party cell, but to lodge an appeal to the Thao Dien Ward Party Committee instead.
Mr. Tung said, “They did conduct an investigation and after that they concluded that the secretary had done nothing wrong, and I again was accused of being a slanderer.”
With such a conclusion, Mr. Tung would have had to make a self-criticism before the Party cell for scheming to create a wedge between Party members. However, a number of senior members of the cell were on his side.
Mr. Tung said, “I was disappointed and would let things run their course if some of my comrades, who are senior members in the organization, didn’t encourage me to continue the fight. We then lodged another appeal to the City Steering Board for Party Reform and Anti-Corruption, which later sent an inspection team to the fish farm.
“We thought that the fight was over when the inspection team issued a decision to request the local authorities to recover the [fish farm] land and 20.66 square meters of land within the precinct of the Block 3’s meeting-hall, but I was mistaken,” said Mr. Tung.
He explained that Hung had some strangers come and stand in front of his house to heap insults on him. They did not run way until he called the police.
And no one knew why some newspapers in the city began to publish articles raising their voices in defense of Hung’s actions and propose District 2 People’s Committee let him continue to use the fish farm.
Mr. Tung said, “Right after such publications, Hung had land refilled and leveled the fish pond and built a villa in place. The municipal authorities forced him to dismantle the construction work, but Hung deliberately ignored their instructions.”
The dispute continues.
Mr. Tung said, “I together with my comrades will continue the fight until we win victory. With the backing of the people, we know for sure that justice triumphs eventually.”
