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N
guyen Manh Hung and his
friends at a tennis club in Ha-
noi say they would never have
imagined their usual habit
of drinking wine after a match would
be banned, but that is what is set to
happen if a proposal from Ministry of
Health is approved by the government.
Under the proposal, no shops, bars,
restaurants or eateries will be allowed
to sell alcoholic drinks between 10pm
and 6am the following day. The Min-
istry of Health has said that the draft
law is aimed at preventing the negative
effects of alcohol abuse.
The proposed ban on sales of al-
cohol after just 10pm has met gigan-
tic public opposition. “It is ridiculous.
We are well educated, we know when
we should stop drinking, so we think
that this regulation should not be ap-
proved,” Hung says.
He adds: “Vietnamese people are
familiar with drinking, both when there
is bad or good news. Drinking also usu-
ally leads to a successful contract so it
will be hard to limit it.”
Huge numbers of people have blast-
ed the rules as completely infeasible. The
owner of a restaurant in the backpacker
quarter’s Ta Hien street, who wishes not
to be named, says that the ban will re-
duce her revenue: “It will be very hard for
us, because many foreigners come here
late night, and many don’t even start
drinking until gone 10pm.”
Moreover, the ban will impact al-
cohol producers. In 2013, the sector
contributed around $1 billion to the
government’s budget.
There was no mention of which
body will be in charge of inspection
or fines if there is a violation. The ban
also seems infeasible because in Hanoi
particularly, there are now thousands of
restaurants and bars.
“If we do not think twice, the ban
would be ill-fated, as many other pro-
posals, such as the prohibition of smok-
ing in public spaces or using telephones
in petrol stations,” says Nguyen Van
Hai, a resident in Hanoi.
According to Nguyen Huy Quang,
head of the legislative department un-
der the Ministry of Health, the scheme
is part of wider moves to curb alcohol
and smoking. Alcohol, Quang claims,
causes mental and sexual diseases.
Quang also blames alcohol for domestic
violence and murder.
He adds that in some other coun-
tries such as Lithuania, Turkey and Nor-
way, stricter regulations on the use of
alcohol are already in place. Time limits
for the purchase of alcohol also exist in
Singapore and Thailand.
Nguyen Van Tien, deputy chair-
man of the National Assembly’s Social
Issues Committee, expressed his con-
cern about the feasibility of the ban,
adding that at the moment there were
no guidelines on how to deal with
violations.
Meanwhile Nguyen Van Viet, chair-
man of the Vietnam Beer Alcohol Bever-
timeout
8
SOCIETY
Calling time on drinkers
A new proposal by the
Ministry of Health calls
for a ban on alcohol
sales after 10pm along
with a raft of other re-
strictions. In a country
famed for its high level
of drinking, opposition
to such moves has un-
derstandably proved
widespread. Story by
Bich Ngoc
LIVING