Vietnam nouveau riche zooms into view
HO CHI MINH CITY - Wealthy young rebels without a
cause, they ran wild in the streets, racing $50,000 luxury cars
down the boulevards of old Saigon. And then they got nabbed -- in
Vietnam's first drag-racing bust.
Seven joy riders, all in their teens and 20s, had roared through
the hot tropical night in a Camry, a Lexus, a Mercedes and three
BMWs. Soon they would appear on national television wearing
pinstriped jailhouse jumpsuits, and their recklessness would
unleash resentment across the country, where the average
annual income is $420.
The sensational case offered a vivid glimpse into the lives of
Vietnam's nouveau riche, whose sometimes decadent habits are
as unfamiliar to ordinary Vietnamese as the leather upholstery of
the bright yellow Mercedes one of the young men was driving.
He is known as Do La -- Vietnamese for dollar -- because he is
reputed to pay for everything with U.S. currency.
And when he and his friends were pulled over for drag racing,
21-year-old Nguyen Quoc Cuong proved true to his nickname. He
pulled a $10,000 wad from his pocket, police say, and offered four
$100 bills to the cops, hoping the cash would wash his problems
away.
It didn't.
Convicted, sentenced
Cuong and his pals were convicted of disturbing the public order
Sept. 8, four months after their midnight thrill ride. He received a
3-year suspended sentence, and five other young men received
18-month suspended sentences. The seventh -- a high school
student accused of organizing the race -- was sent to jail for three
years. The Mercedes and BMWs, which belonged to the boys'
dismayed parents, were confiscated. The Camry and the Lexus,
which two of the boys ``borrowed'' from their parents' car repair
shops, were returned to their owners.
Rich kids in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City -- still widely known by its
old name of Saigon -- had been arrested for terrorizing the public
on fancy motorbikes many times before. But this was the first time
the police had broken up a car race.
Cars make up just 6 percent of the vehicles on Vietnam's roads,
which teem with motorbikes. But as the nation's economy has
boomed in recent years, the number of automobiles has been
growing quickly. And among the affluent, a Mercedes or a BMW
has become de rigueur.
The hot-rodding episode underlined how out of sync Vietnam's
crusty communist image has become with the freewheeling frontier
capitalism that is taking root here. The seven boys are the children
of successful private entrepreneurs, including a Central Highlands
lumber tycoon and a Saigon textile magnate.
``A $50,000 car is nothing for this family,'' said Truong Thi Cao
Cac, 38, who lives next door to Mai Dang Khoa, a 25-year-old racer
who worked in his parents' textile business.
Cac watched Khoa's family transform their small household sewing
operation into Thuan Phuong Co., one of the biggest garment
companies in Saigon.
Ordinary Vietnamese such as Le Binh Thuan were awed by
newspaper accounts of the racers' wealth.
``They spend as much as they want on whatever they want,''
said Thuan, who juggles several part-time jobs, takes home about
$65 a month and gets around the city on a bicycle.
According to Vietnamese press accounts, Cuong earned his
nickname when he was just 11 years old by paying exclusively
with U.S. dollars, which are circulated widely in Vietnam.
Cuong's mother, Nguyen Thi Nhu Loan, owns the Cuoc Cuong
timber company, which is based in the Central Highlands. She
recently bought Cuong a home in Saigon worth about $350,000,
according to a story on VN Express, a Vietnamese Web
newspaper.
A few doors down is the furniture business Cuong's mother helped
him set up. Stocked with puffy sofas and easy chairs, it is a couch
potato's paradise.
Media accounts portrayed two of the young men as loafers who
spent their time spending their parents' money. The youngest, 18
years old, is still in high school.
Cuong, his friends and their parents declined several requests by
the Mercury News for interviews.
`Unfair,' mom says
The mother of Trinh Sam Mau, the alleged race organizer, called
her son's sentence ``completely unfair.''
``He received three years in prison. Why did the other kids only
get suspended sentences?'' said Ha Ngoc, saying she was too sad
to discuss the case in detail.
Lt. Col. Truong Van Thuyet led the 16 officers who chased down
the young men in front of a large crowd that had gathered to
watch the race along Dien Bien Phu street, an eight-lane divided
boulevard. Two cars eluded officers; four others were nabbed.
``It was Cuong who tried to give us $400,'' said Thuyet, whose
$140 monthly salary is the highest in his department. ``He had
about $10,000 in cash in his pocket.''
Most of it was in $100 bills, and Cuong suggested the officers use
the $400 to buy themselves some coffee, Thuyet said.
``Tram, tram, tram, tram!'' Thuyet said, repeating the Vietnamese
word for 100 with a look of disbelief on his face.
The young men raced along a one-mile straightaway at speeds of
up to 70 mph, whipped around a traffic circle and then headed
back toward downtown. They were caught just as they crossed a
bridge over the Saigon River.
The roar of engines and blaring stereos awoke Nguyen Van
Quang, who sleeps inside the tiny bar where he works.
``Everybody around here is very angry about the racing,'' Quang
said.
Earlier this year, he said, rich kids would show up every weekend
to race their high-priced motorbikes along the same road. Young
men did the driving, he said, and sometimes their elegant
girlfriends would sit on the back, hugging them tightly as they tore
up the road.
Earlier this month, three youths died and two were badly injured
racing their motorbikes in another part of the city.
Capitalist role models
Not so long ago, extravagant displays of wealth were frowned
upon in Vietnam, where the Communist government used to
demonize businessmen as exploiters of the working class.
But in recent years, as it has opened up the economy, the
government has been portraying capitalism as a force for social
improvement -- a way of generating jobs and income in a
developing country yearning to raise its standard of living. The
government holds up successful entrepreneurs as role models and
honors them with Gold Star awards.
At the same time, the rich have become less shy about displaying
their money. It is perfectly common for the well-off to drop $500
during an evening of fun.
Though Do La and his friends are refusing to discuss their lavish
lifestyle or anything else about their case, their recklessness has
enraged many of their less affluent fellow citizens, who seem
embarrassed that such a thing could happen in Vietnam.
Lai Hai Nhu, a 21-year-old university student, said the young men
seemed to have squandered the opportunities their wealth had
given them. One of the racers had lived her dream, going abroad
to study for several months.
``Most of the young people in Vietnam are not like this,'' Nhu said.
``Other students go study abroad, and then they come back and
use their knowledge to help the country.''
By Ben Stocking - The Mercury news - September 29, 2003.
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