Popular charity act in Saigon dealt a blow in Hanoi

A gratis iced tea tank put under a tree on the sidewalk of Giai Phong Street in the capital city was seized last week by local authorities, who said it violated “regulations on keeping the sidewalk in order.”

The tank, capable of storing around 20 liters of water, was intended to help passers-by, mostly needy people, slake their thirst amid the scorching heat that enveloped Hanoi in May, according to local residents.

The iced tea tank on Giai Phong Street before it was seized by police on July 27, 2015. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Nearby dwellers used money from their own pocket to buy the tank, a couple of glasses, and tea to serve people free of charge between 8:00 am and 7:00 pm every day before it was taken away by police officers on July 27.

It is not difficult to find such a gratis iced tea water tank or bottle in Ho Chi Minh City, where the Samaritan act is believed to stem.

The free iced tea – along with many free services such as complimentary medicine cabinets for first aid, bike repair for nothing, and meals on the house – is seen as a cultural value typical of the southern city.

A heated debate was thus sparked off when the good deed does not seem to be accepted by officials in Hanoi.

Nguyen Huu Tuong, head of the police bureau of the ward where the iced tea tank was put, said authorities had “repeatedly told locals not to let the tank occupy the sidewalk” before they decided to seize it.

“They just did not follow our order,” he told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Friday last week.

Asked if locals are allowed to place another iced tea tank on the sidewalk, Tuong replied he “has no idea.”

There are many establishments selling iced tea and other beverages along Giai Phong Street, which too occupy the sidewalk for their operations.

Many readers, writing not only from Ho Chi Minh City but also other provinces and cities throughout Vietnam, have told Tuoi Tre that they are upset by the seizure of the water tank in Hanoi.

“The free iced tea tank was meant to help everybody, and it stemmed from kindness,” Huyen Tran, a resident of the southern city of Can Tho, said.

“So when police seized the tank, it was like taking away people’s kindness.”

Tran said it is unreasonable to say the water tank occupied too much space on the sidewalk.

“Good deeds must be encouraged so that they can be multiplied,” she said.

“Otherwise, no one would want to do good things anymore.”

A man refills a free water tank in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Tuoi Tre

The debate was fueled by an op-ed published on the online version of a Ho Chi Minh City-based daily, which supports the seizure of the iced tea tank and suggests those who offer free water on the sidewalk “be strictly penalized.”

The writer, introduced as a Hanoi-based person who works in the media industry, argues that such public iced tea tanks can cause “traffic disorder.”

“What if four or five people park their motorbikes in the street and jostle to drink free water at rush hour?” he writes, adding this will lead to “inevitable heartbreaking traffic accidents.”

The writer also says the free-of-charge iced tea supply is “a potential source of respiratory-related diseases or diarrhea” because “1,000 mouths drink from the same water tank.”

From a legal viewpoint, lawyers Huynh Phuoc Hiep and Bui Quang Nghiem, both from the Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association, said police have the legitimate right to confiscate the tank but they should not have done so, as it did not really occupy the sidewalk.

“Officers should have shown the residents the appropriate place to put the tank,” Hiep said.