Article by Mr. Dinh Hong Ky, published in the PERSPECTIVE section – vnexpress.net electronic newspaper on September 8, 2017. In 1999, on the occasion of the 990th anniversary of the Thang Long-Hanoi Festival, my company participated in the bidding to supply paving bricks around Hoan Kiem Lake.
With nearly 30 signatures from departments, branches, sectors, associations… we finally decided to choose our product. However, when meeting the construction representative of the Department of Transport and Public Works, they asked how many years the bricks would last? I answered 20-30 years. The officer immediately said: “If they last that long, will we starve?”.
It seems that every time there is a bidding to replace bricks, they have a chance to… relieve their hunger.
They want the design to remain the same, the quality to decrease, the price to decrease, and the business and all parties to benefit. But as a Hanoian, I want to be able to tell my children that the bricks my father made were paved in Hoan Kiem Lake. If I accept to lower the cost, make poorer bricks, and add the cost of buying some connections, the project will be much more favorable. Otherwise, the opportunity to participate in the project will be reduced to very little, and what I have left is only pride.
Trinh Xuan Thanh and I are friends of the same age, born in Hanoi. Just two or three years ago, people still mentioned him as a famous “hero” with successes in business and politics. Now, Thanh is even more “famous” not only in Vietnam but also internationally.
After many years of following Thanh’s career path, my friends and I have to admit that Thanh’s career has taken off like a “kite in the wind”. Thanh’s success in business, in our eyes, is not only due to his family background, but also due to his talent for relationships and his tactfulness with superiors.
Now it seems that he has been entangled in the very relationships that once took him to the clouds.
Businessmen often say to each other that in business, relationships come first, capital comes second, relationships come first, money comes second. Relationships here are understood to be political relationships, not purely commercial relationships.
However, do “relationships” always bring lucrative benefits to businesses and businessmen? In fact, many recent incidents have shown that “relationships” can lead to unpredictable consequences that businesses and businessmen sometimes do not think of.
For many years in business, I have seen businessmen often boast about being this uncle’s junior, that brother’s junior as a way to show off their power. Many business trips of leaders are escorted by a large team of businessmen. A significant number of them go with the purpose of building relationships with officials, rather than establishing business relationships with local partners.
Many businessmen neglect their legitimate activities to spend more time on golf courses, banquets, back doors… to “buy” relationships to win lucrative contracts or illegal protection or unfair competition with rivals.
And conversely, there have been some officials who have linked up with businesses to create “backyards” to turn power advantages into profits.
The trial of the OceanBank case in recent days also revolved around the keyword “relationship” with billions of dollars being transferred to serve this purpose.
There are actually quite a few businesses whose business is only secondary to relationships, lobbying, running projects… That causes many consequences: The business environment is turbid, honest and upright business people are disadvantaged and oppressed; Corruption is becoming more sophisticated and serious, and trust between people in business is also more fragile…
The story of linking politicians and crony capitalists is not only happening in Vietnam but everywhere in the world. That is the lesson of South Korean President Park Geun Hye’s illegal association with the Samsung Group, which led to her being impeached and facing legal consequences. And the boss of the Samsung Group, Jay Y. Lee, is certainly facing a long prison sentence.
For Vietnam, what needs to be done to build an honest government is to have effective tools to limit (but I dare not say completely end) this problem. There are many legal tools, amending laws, amending documents, issuing directives, and detailed regulations on the ethics of politicians. Transparency to the point of detailing the relationships of each position in public agencies and permitted or unauthorized behaviors.
Only when the Government names and details those behaviors can we protect the civil servants first, and then protect the integrity of businessmen.
For businessmen, the downside of the habit of doing business through relationships is that risks will come suddenly depending on the Time and Situation. To avoid that downside, you actually just need to focus on building your business with your own internal strength.
Dinh Hong Ky
