Corruption mars Vietnam, challenges expats Two traffic policemen on National Highway 1A in Thong Nhat district, Dong Nai province, violate regulation in working with citizen. They stop a car and check driver's papers and licenses within seconds. Photo: Tuoi Tre A US business person named himself “concerned citizen” with email: vin…@hotmail.com wrote to Tuoitrenews about corruption in Vietnam, admitting that he and other expat businessmen have little they can do to combat it. It’s the fact that Vietnam has struggled to fight it but it has become worse. According to a report released by the global organization leading the fight against corruption, Transparency International (TI), Vietnam ranked 123rd out of 176 countries for corruption in 2012, down 11 levels to last year’s. Following is his excerpt: I am a US expat and have lived in Vietnam for the past decade. During those years I have started several businesses in HCMC, paid a lot in taxes, helped raise a family, contributed to the community, developed programs to protect the environment and became an avid reader of Tuoi Tre News. I've lived in various countries over the years and have learned how to adjust to cultures that are different from my own. This becomes especially important when you're doing business in another country as you are no longer a spectator but are in the game, with skin to lose. As such, doing business in Vietnam has its rewards but many tribulations as well, more so for foreigners I believe, especially when they haven't grasped all the game rules. But that is part of the game. Our company has dealt with a lot of government regulation, red tape, handing out of earlier Tet gifts to move processes along and the joy of leaping through hoops of blatant corruption. Once again, it is a well-known fact, since I've been here, that Vietnam has a high level of corruption, I think your paper recently reported Vietnam this year ranked 123rd out of 176 countries for corruption, down 11 levels to last year’s. So this tragedy is known by most before entering the game, of business. So business people weigh the risk, grit their teeth and proceed knowingly that there will be little they can do to combat it, as far as the judiciary is concerned. But, recently, I have been battling corruption, as I see it, as well as others, on a personal level, which I have not been able to overcome and it has been eating at me. I have tried to write it off as part of the joys one must endure to live in Vietnam. A Vietnam tax, as you will, but I haven't been able to shake it. I do not want to get into the details at this junction but I would like to tell my story, as it may help other expats as well as myself. I realize that institutions have fears and trepidations when talking about, reporting on, corruption but I feel, as being an outsider living on the inside for quite some time, the tools at the disposal of the press can play, should play, mandated to play, a role to marginalize that which plagues the city, the country. TuoitreNews