(Central News Agency reporter Zeng Tingxuan, special report from Hanoi on the 22nd) A former Vietnamese member of parliament killed a flower girl with his car a year ago. Recently, official media confirmed that he was exempted from criminal responsibility, igniting the anger of Generation Z. A large number of netizens spoke out through social platforms, triggering discussions in Vietnamese society about judicial justice and the privileged class. International media also paid attention to the report; the government warned those who were interested in inciting the incident.
A car accident more than a year ago has recently caused an uproar in public opinion in Vietnam. Generation Z netizens have mobilized in large numbers to express their dissatisfaction and call for justice. This has aroused heated discussions. International media such as the BBC, AFP, Reuters, and the South China Morning Post have also paid attention to the reports.
On May 30 last year, an 18-year-old Vietnamese girl Thùy who had just completed the college entrance examination was killed in a car accident. The driver of the accident was Nguyễn Sỹ Cương, a former member of the Vietnamese Congress and former vice chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and his wife was the former Minister of Culture.
Vietnam National Television (VTV) reported the accident in its flagship news program on the 17th, but no one expected that the report would trigger such a large chain reaction.
In the report, the TV station quoted police and prosecutor sources as saying that because Ruan Shiqiang "sincerely confessed his guilt, actively and thoroughly made up for the consequences of his actions" and did not drive drunk, the victim's family decided not to file a lawsuit, and the perpetrator was therefore exempt from criminal responsibility.
Do Viet Hung, the father of the victim who was also injured in the car accident, thanked netizens for their concern during a faceless interview. He said that his family was satisfied with the investigation results and asked everyone to allow them to mourn quietly and rebuild their lives.
The incident took place at No. 55 Nguyen Huy Sau Street in Hanoi. The big tree the car hit has now become a symbol of youth mobilization in Vietnam. Netizens called it the "Tree of Justice" or "Tree No. 55" and set up a location for it on Google Map. After the report, the crowd collectively placed flowers under the tree to commemorate the deceased, or made an appointment to have flowers delivered to the scene.
Tran Dai Lam, a lawyer at a Hanoi law firm, told The Straits Times that the VTV report will help resolve netizens' legal questions, "but I doubt it can completely eliminate the doubts of Generation Z. The problem lies not only in the conclusion itself, but also in the information vacuum of more than a year in between."
The New York Times wrote an article on the 19th: "Public anger stems not only from the accident itself, but also reflects people's general disappointment with corruption, privileges, and security mechanisms that favor the elite. This is especially true in a rapidly changing society that is increasingly polarized by wealth and political relations."
The New York Times Facebook page shared the link to the report on the 20th. In less than a day, it had nearly 30,000 likes and more than 2,000 comments. BBC Vietnam’s report on the same day also received tens of thousands of likes and nearly 900 comments. Vietnamese netizens thanked international media for their coverage.
Many netizens also said bitterly, "We have gained global recognition and have friends from five continents", "Thanks to VTV, the whole world now knows that the congressman who killed the teenager escaped punishment" and so on.
Most netizens expressed their desire for justice to be done. They wrote: "Everyone hopes for peace in the country, social democracy, and justice." "No one distorts the facts, and no one destroys the facts. It is just that the facts must be stated as facts and respected."
Some netizens expressed their dissatisfaction with the "elites within the system", such as "some people are more equal than others"; others mentioned the power of Generation Z, saying "Generation Z got a response right away." However, some netizens believe that there is nothing to be happy about because their country has been slandered.
Before being interviewed by the Central News Agency, Hung, a Vietnamese man in his 30s who works in the banking industry, showed reporters a video of Vietnamese netizens translating relevant reports from Taiwan TV into Vietnamese, and it was widely forwarded on social platforms.
He pointed out: "The emotions aroused by this incident are unprecedented, and netizens have spoken out over and over again on the Internet. All we want is judicial justice, and the perpetrators should receive the punishment they deserve; death in a car accident should be a public prosecution crime, not a prosecution."
Ah Xiong said that in the past, young people in Vietnam were often considered not to care about politics and society, "but this incident seems to have changed Vietnam's Generation Z, who began to empathize with what others have endured. Social media such as Threads are discussing this incident."
In response to the outcry on the Internet, the Vietnamese government responded, "The incident has been investigated and handled by relevant departments in accordance with the law. However, some people used this incident to incite riots and create panic on social media."
The Ministry of Public Security also warned the public, stating that "it has discovered extremely dangerous plots and intentions of hostile forces, reactionaries and lawless elements trying to use the accident a year ago as an excuse to incite unrest and create chaos."
