HANOI: Vietnam has imposed strict limits on the number of wreaths that can be laid at officials’ funerals and banned civil servants from burning ‘ghost money’ in a bid to assuage public anger over government waste.
Ghost money — fake banknotes or papier mache replicas of highly-prized consumer goods such as iPads and sports cars — are burnt during funerals and to venerate ancestors during public holidays or on special occasions.
The amount burnt often reflects a person’s wealth or status, while senior officials are routinely honoured at their funerals with huge piles of ornate, expensive wreaths.
“Funerals must be solemn, civilised (and) thrifty, to match the country’s socio-economic situation,” stated a decree, signed on Monday by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung but made public on Thursday.
“We must limit and eventually eliminate customs that are backward and extravagant,” the decree added.
Vietnam’s authoritarian government, which has launched an anti-corruption campaign in recent months, is struggling to contain growing public discontent over a weak economy and a string of scandals linking high-level officials to graft and wasteful spending.
The ban applies to civil servants, politicians, party officials, state-owned enterprise employees and anyone else paid by the state.
AFP
