The fatal car crash that spurred Vietnamese Gen Z protests

{"text":[[{"start":6.44,"text":"Vietnam is struggling to quell a wave of online dissent as anger mounts over the involvement of a former senior official in a deadly car crash that killed an 18-year-old girl."}],[{"start":18.369,"text":"Authorities revealed in August that a former Communist Party lawmaker, the husband of culture minister Lam Thi Phuong Thanh, was behind the wheel of the car involved in the fatal accident in Hanoi last year."}],[{"start":31.189,"text":"The Communist Party’s extraordinary admission followed weeks of online speculation, with multiple posts criticising the minister’s husband published daily. The online furore has continued since the admission. In Hanoi, young people have placed flowers at a tree where the crash took place. Authorities have responded by clearing the tributes."}],[{"start":52.077,"text":"The online dissent calling for accountability and justice has become a test for To Lam, Vietnam’s most powerful leader in decades."}],[{"start":61.32,"text":"“Gen Z has reacted to the case as they consider it an injustice,” said Nguyen Khac Giang, a visiting fellow at Singapore’s Iseas-Yusof Ishak Institute. “They are not calling for democracy or having more freedoms. It’s very issue-specific. So it’s easier to galvanise public awareness.”"}],[{"start":79.04,"text":"Protests are rare in Vietnam, in the streets or online. Critical views are quickly stamped out and dissenters are often jailed, with groups calling for political reform branded “terrorist groups”."}],[{"start":90.172,"text":"Tech companies including Meta, Google and ByteDance also regularly comply with government requests to remove critical content in order to maintain access to the market of more than 100mn people."}],[{"start":102.126,"text":"“In a country where civic space is closed and dozens of activists, journalists and critics have been jailed for their activism or for speaking up, Vietnamese youth have increasingly been more vocal on issues affecting them, particularly online,” said Josef Benedict, Asia researcher at Civicus, a global alliance of civil society groups."}],[{"start":121.272,"text":"Adding to the youth anger — and the immediate trigger for the outburst of online speculation targeting the culture minister’s husband — was the culture ministry’s censorship of popular rapper MCK’s latest album."}],[{"start":135.02,"text":"In the wake of pressure on the rapper over vulgar lyrics on his album, a video of the May 2025 car accident began circulating on social media. It showed a BMW swerving into the wrong lane and hitting a motorcycle carrying a father and his daughter. The collision severed Do Ngoc Phuong Thuy’s right leg. She later died in hospital. Her father survived the accident."}],[{"start":156.28,"text":"On August 17, in the face of mounting pressure, state media published an interview with a senior police official who identified the driver of the BMW as Nguyen Sy Cuong — the first official acknowledgment of his involvement."}],[{"start":169.14,"text":"The official said Cuong had been spared from criminal prosecution because he had compensated the victim’s family and relatives had decided not to press charges. The culture minister has not made a comment. Nor has her husband."}],[{"start":182.84,"text":"Vietnamese law grants exemption from criminal liability under certain circumstances, but the disclosure has only fuelled further outrage."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":190.18,"text":"“What the public is more concerned about is how the case was handled, the legal basis for the procedural decisions, and why an exemption from criminal liability was ultimately granted,” said lawyer Tran Dai Lam."}],[{"start":203.72,"text":"“Restricting discussion without also providing sufficient information can sometimes have the opposite effect, particularly among younger people who receive much of their information through social media.”"}],[{"start":214.08,"text":"Analysts said Vietnam was unlikely to see a major political shake-up such as those in Nepal and Bangladesh, where Gen Z-led protests have toppled governments, or in India, where youth protests this year triggered the resignation of the education minister in a humiliating climbdown for Prime Minister Narendra Modi."}],[{"start":231.539,"text":"“The state still has a strong grip over society and especially over this young generation,” said Giang of the Iseas-Yusof Ishak Institute. “At least in the short- and medium-term, things won’t go as far as what we have seen in other Gen Z protests across the region.”"}],[{"start":244.84,"text":"While the Communist Party has made concessions since the online dissent began, it has also stepped up efforts to contain them."}],[{"start":255.68,"text":"The public security ministry said that it had “uncovered highly dangerous plots and intentions by hostile forces, reactionaries and bad actors to incite unrest and cause disorder”."}],[{"start":264.899,"text":"It advised “the public, especially young people, to remain fully alert and highly vigilant”. Users of Meta’s social media platform Threads have posted notifications showing their posts had been blocked at the request of the culture or public security ministries. Meta did not respond to a request for comment."}],[{"start":285,"text":"Still, there are other sources of frustration for Vietnam’s Gen Z."}],[{"start":291.24,"text":"For months, Vietnamese youth have expressed discontent online about issues including a major urban development project by conglomerate Vingroup that allegedly caused environmental damage and a cheating scandal in a high-school graduation exam. In recent days, opposition has centred on a government proposal to abolish an investigative agency and transfer those powers to the police and military."}],[{"start":313.401,"text":"Gen Z should prioritise speaking up against the abolition of the agency, appealed one Threads user in a recent post. “I need people to speak up. For a place to appeal for justice when facing injustice. For a Vietnam with a separation of powers and fairness.”"}],[{"start":335,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1788419745_5337.mp3"}