W.Minh Tuan
When I was in Vietnam, I had a close friend since high school, then when we went to university, we went our separate ways, I graduated from university, then became a journalist, while my friend could not go to university, because he was a bad student, so he became a traffic police officer, because his uncle was a police officer, so he asked for him to study at a police college in the traffic police career.
When we were close friends in high school, he was a good friend, gentle, smiled shyly, spoke softly, and was often teased by us, but he only smiled gently, never got angry with anyone. Our whole high school class loved him.
Then when we went our separate ways, I became a journalist, he became a traffic police officer, he began to change, for the worse.
Every year we meet a few times during Tet, or when visiting old teachers, or sometimes meeting for work, we see that he has changed a lot, his voice is slow, powerful, he wears a big gold ring on his finger, he wears an expensive gold watch on his wrist, his gait seems to be more arrogant, his house seems more spacious.
We joke, “Are you doing the gold and silver business or something that you wear so much gold and silver on your body?”.
He just smiles, doesn’t say anything, just uses his finger to rotate the big gold ring on his finger.
Friends sometimes get fined by traffic police somewhere for some trivial offense, like driving without lights, losing taillights, losing horn, running a red light, forgetting a driver’s license, not having car insurance, driving on a prohibited road – suddenly there is a prohibition sign somewhere that people don’t know about – then call him and it’s done right away.
Then I moved to Japan to settle down, became a Japanese citizen, and only returned to Vietnam once every few years to visit my family, relatives, and friends. I met him again and saw that he was getting rich much faster than before, at the same or faster than the country’s development speed. He boasted that he had built a house worth more than a billion VN dong, had given up his motorbike, bought a car, and sent his children to study abroad – in Japan.
Then a few years later, I returned to Vietnam and saw that he had changed jobs and worked as a security guard for a bank. I heard from other friends that he was disciplined and kicked out of the traffic police, so he had to change jobs.
I met him and didn’t say anything about why he changed jobs. We just met to drink beer and chat.
Since he left the traffic police force, I see that he seems to have returned to the good person he was before, like when he was in high school, returning to his shy, gentle self, no longer arrogant and authoritative like before.
That is why, Confucius in China more than 2500 years ago, said “Human nature is inherently good when are born” – when people are born, they are inherently good and kind. But gradually, the family environment, school, society, and work gradually change human nature.
I keep imagining that if I did not become a journalist, but I also became a traffic police officer like him, then perhaps I would have changed like him, maybe even worse more than him.
Therefore, in China, there is a story from the time of Confucius more than 2500 years ago, that the Prime Minister of Qi named An Anh went to Chu as an envoy. The Prime Minister of Chu wanted to ridicule Qi, so he arrested a person from Qi who went to Chu to steal, to tell An Anh that his Qi was really bad.
An Anh laughed loudly and said:
-That thief, when he was in my Qi country, he never stole, but when he went to your Chu country, he started stealing. Then it is because your Chu is bad, not because our Qi guy is bad.
It is so true in the case of my traffic police friend, it is not that he is a bad person, but the working in the environment of the Vietnamese traffic police is bad, so almost everyone who becomes a traffic police becomes a bad person, is hated, cursed, ridiculed by the Vietnamese people, posted on YouTube, Tiktok to ridicule, criticize, curse, insult, I really don’t know what words to use to describe.
I have lived in Japan for nearly 30 years, I also know a few Japanese policemen, asked them if they have ever made money from the Japanese people, they all said never, even the word “making money” never appeared in their minds.
So why is the working environment of the Vietnamese traffic police so bad? How can it turn good people into bad people like my friend mentioned above?
And now, in early 2025, the newly appointed Minister of Public Security, Luong Tam Quang, has issued a wrong decree, traffic violation penalty number 168 or something, increasing the penalty level, creating more conditions for the Vietnamese traffic police to extort money from the Vietnamese people more and more, making the suffering of the poor Vietnamese people even more miserable.
The most important traffic safety is that drivers do not cause accidents, do not hit people and run away. Other minor violations such as forgetting a driver’s license, exceeding the speed limit, running red lights, not wearing a helmet, etc. are just minor violations, should only be reminded, not fined, not creating a suffocating social atmosphere, “Harsh laws are more terrifying than fierce tigers“.
In the past, Confucius also taught the above saying: “Harsh laws are more terrifying than fierce tigers”. ”-The story goes like this:
One day, Confucius and his students went to a densely forested mountainside and saw an old woman crying at the edge of the forest. Confucius asked:
-Why are you crying?
-Yes, because my son was just mauled and eaten by a tiger.
-Where is your husband?
-Yes, my husband was also mauled and eaten by a tiger.
-Why don’t you go down to the foot of the mountain where there are villages to live more safely?
-No, the laws down there are very harsh, everything is punished, I’d rather live here.
Confucius heard this and turned to his students:
-There, you see, harsh laws are more terrifying than fierce tigers.
That story has been passed down orally for over 2000 years, but many ignorant mandarins like Minister of Public Security Luong Tam Quang do not understand the law, do not understand the people’s hearts, only know how to impose heavy punishments to show off their power, which only makes society more rebellious, one day, the peasant revolution breaks out, then
“When the people are angry,
The King’s son loses power, he comes to sweep the temple” only.
I would like to ask General Secretary To Lam to replace Minister of Public Security Luong Tam Quang – born in 1965, to eliminate compatriotism in the leadership of the Party and the State, Vietnam is from Ca Mau cape to Mong Cai border, Quang Ninh province, not just within Hung Yen province.
Please to appoint Major General Dinh Van Noi – born in 1976, Director of the Internal Political Security Department – to replace Luong Tam Quang, as Minister of Public Security, then the Vietnamese people’s hearts will be at peace.
Otherwise, we do not know how the upcoming Vietnamese peasant revolution will break out at any time, with a level of fierceness greater than any previous revolution.
We know that only the barefoot, wide-eyed peasants who have nothing to lose will make a revolution, while the intellectuals and the rich people in the city are only worried about losing their property, so they will never dare to make a revolution.//////