The power of connections in Vietnam

Whether you're a luckless street kid, an ambitious Communist party apparatchik or an upstanding foreign investor, there are few greater truisms in Vietnam than "it's not what you know but who you know."

I observed a classic example this week while on a trip to the paddy fields of greater Hanoi.

Approaching a traffic police roadblock, the car I was in was flagged down by an officious senior cop. He beckoned the driver out of the vehicle and accused him of violating traffic regulations (yes, they do exist here) by overtaking on the other side of the road.

No matter that there was no oncoming traffic, the dividing line down the centre of the road was dotted rather than continuous (indicating overtaking was allowed) and that this driver was perhaps the most cautious I've ever had the pleasure to travel with in Vietnam.

The cop was either having a bad day standing around in the clammy Hanoi cold or needed some extra cash ahead of Tet, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year.

The driver was taken aside and given the usual dressing down that precedes negotiations over the extent of any fine (around 500,000 Vietnam dong or $25 for this type of offence, so I'm told).

Rightly or wrongly, it is unusual for traffic police to stop cars containing foreigners as they don't want to create extra work for themselves or risk annoying some important diplomat, investor or other VIP.

So I stepped out of the car, naively intent on explaining my status as a foreign journalist and asking politely if we could be allowed to resume our journey.

No sooner had I walked up to the senior policeman, head bowed out of respect, than the driver had called up a relative who worked for the traffic police and passed the phone to the other cop who swiftly waved us on our way.

Quote of the week

Welcome to a new regular Friday feature, designed to showcase some of Asia's more pithy, controversial or just downright bizarre orators (from politicians to hawkers)...while also giving me the time to do some proper work before the weekend.

"All things being equal we have always put the PAP wards first."

Mah Bow Tan, Singapore's minister of national development, restating the ruling People's Action Party's long-held policy of bypassing opposition-run constituencies when it comes to much-needed lift upgrading programmes on the city-state's older housing estates.

This week, the PAP finally announced that the government would release the funds to upgrade lifts in Hougang and Potong Pasir, the only constituencies in Singapore that returned opposition MPs in the last election.

For a view on the problems with this policy, see this piece by charity worker Ravi Philemon at The Online Citizen.

Rise of loan sharks sparks wave of violent crime in Singapore

The Daily Telegraph - By Ben Bland in Singapore

Singapore is facing a rare violent crime wave driven by a surge in harassment by loan sharks since the global financial crisis hit the strictly-governed city-state last year.

The number of people arrested for loan shark activities and harassment doubled to more than 417 in the first half of 2009, with more than 9,000 reported cases of loan shark lending or intimidation reported to the Singapore Police Force.

Contraband smuggling has also hit a six-year high, with an 80 per cent increase in the number of weapons brought into Singapore illegally, including the knuckle-dusters, replica guns and knives that are often carried by loan shark gangs.

The heightened level of violence is a major concern for the government, particularly because of the growing involvement of teenagers in loan shark gangs. One in five of those arrested for loanshark offences between January and June were under 19.

The police have pledged to clamp down hard on the gangs, who often end up targeting the wrong people.

"We would like to emphasise that the penalties for loan sharking and loan shark-related offences are heavy," said Ng Boon Gay, director of Singapore Police Force's criminal investigation department. "Loan sharks who direct harassment or harassers who carry out acts resulting in damage to property or hurt to persons will also be caned."

The government is also considering making it a criminal offence to borrow from loan sharks but social workers say it would be unfair to penalise hard-up Singaporeans in these tough economic times, as many have no other alternative sources of unsecured credit.

Loan sharks – or Ah Longs as they are known locally - are a firm fixture on Singapore's sprawling public housing estates, where more than 80 per cent of the population live.

The loan sharks usually lend small amounts of money – often the equivalent of just a few hundred pounds – but charge extremely high interest rates and are quick to resort to intimidation and violence if their customers do not pay up.

They typically splash red paint near the home of defaulting borrowers as an initial warning before moving on to more serious acts of vandalism, violence and theft. Younger defaulters are often coerced into joining the gangs themselves as runners.

Making a tit of yourself can be expensive in Singapore

A housewife has been fined S$1,000 for baring her breasts at a karaoke lounge in Singapore.

According to the Straits Times, 26-year-old Nguyen Manh Khuong was caught by police with her breasts "fully exposed" at the Hollywood Nite Club on Eu Tong Sen street in the heart of Singapore's Chinatown.

A S$1,000 fine might seem harsh but she could have been jailed for three months.

Coming after the infamous Holland Village streaking incident, when two students were fined S$2,000 each for stripping off and walking through the expat nightspot naked, it goes to show that however hot it gets here, it's best not to take off all your clothes.

Unless, that is, you want to feel the long arm of the law grabbing your naked flesh.