Teed off Vietnam minister bans golf for staff

Vietnam's Transport Minister, Dinh La Thang (AFP, Hoang Dinh Nam)

Oct 20, 2011
AFP

HANOI — Vietnam's transport minister has ordered his senior staff off the golf course, complaining that their focus on the game is hurting their work.

High-ranking officials were instructed not to play golf or organise golf tournaments but instead concentrate on their jobs, according to the transport ministry website.

The ban even includes golfing outside of office hours.

"As the country and businesses are in economic difficulties, we would do better to focus our intellect and time on our work," Transport minister Dinh La Thang was quoted in Tuoi Tre newspaper on Thursday.

Golf was once seen as a bourgeois activity in the communist country, but it has become increasingly popular among officials in recent years.

Thang, an outspoken rising star whose department faces a raft of challenges in the traffic-clogged nation, has already caused a stir with the statement, which was circulated to staff on Monday and appeared online the following day.

The ban, a rare move in a country where state officials face accusations of corruption and lack of accountability, has garnered support from the public, with a 60 percent approval rating in a survey on the VNExpress news website.

"Once a person becomes a government official, they should accept the fact that he or she may receive less benefits than an ordinary person," reader Tran Manh Ha wrote on the VNExpress forum.

But the move has also ruffled feathers, with concerns that completely prohibiting staff from playing golf amounts to an intrusion into their personal lives.

"He should stick to encouraging them not to play golf because it is a waste of time and money issuing a ban on the game during work hours," said a commentary in the Tien Phong, or Pioneer, daily newspaper.