VIETNAM WAGING WAR ON VICE

Cases Of HIV And AIDS Rising With Trade In Sex And Drugs

HANOI -- It was late on a Thursday night, and the prostitute on the rickety
bicycle was wearing white plastic sandals and green-and-yellow striped
pajamas. She pedaled up to two American men standing outside the old "Hanoi
Hilton" prison, smiled and said, "You want boom-boom?"

The men agreed. They paid the woman $40, which included a bribe for the
night watchman, then ducked into the prison -- which now houses a museum --
to have sex in a room where U.S. pilots were held and tortured during the
Vietnam War.

It has come to this in the ultra-conservative capital of communist Vietnam:
dowdy prostitutes in rayon pajamas, cruising the streets of Hanoi on
bicycles and using a hallowed national monument for their late-night
assignations.

Prostitution has become so blatant and so prevalent in Vietnam --
"alarming" is the word used by the minister of labor -- that the government
is launching a highly publicized crackdown on the twin "social evils" of
prostitution and drug abuse. The sharp increases in prostitution and drug
abuse have caused a corresponding rise in HIV infections and AIDS, health
experts say.

A recently concluded seven-year campaign didn't put much of a dent in the
sex trade in Vietnam, despite the closing of 12,000 establishments and the
arrest of nearly 46,000 pimps, prostitutes and clients.

Sacred sites

The availability of prostitution in an after-hours nightclub would hardly
be unexpected in Vietnam -- or almost any other country. But until now it
would have been unthinkable that it could be occurring in the prison
museum. The site is officially known as Hoa Lo, or Fiery Furnace, although
American POWs nicknamed it the Hanoi Hilton during the 1960s. These days,
as one of Vietnam's most revered national landmarks, it's on a par with the
Smithsonian or the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington.

It's only in recent months that female sex workers have begun to openly and
aggressively solicit business in Hanoi, and many prostitutes are driven
around on motorbikes by their pimps. Male prostitution remains very much
underground in the capital.

Meanwhile, in Ho Chi Minh City, male and female sex workers can still be
found in nearly every park and along every boulevard in District 1, the
main tourist and entertainment area. And in nightclubs it's as easy to
arrange for a prostitute as it is to order a beer. Residents say there's
more prostitution now in the former Saigon than there was during the
Vietnam War.

Although Vietnam is one of the world's poorest nations, government
officials say poverty is not the main reason for the huge boom in the sex
trade. Instead, the "epidemic" is being officially attributed to "laziness,
degraded ethical attitudes and the pursuit of unhealthy lifestyles." They
also say 90 percent of sex workers have entered the trade willingly.

Official clientele

The government's new five-year plan to wipe out prostitution will first
target karaoke bars and massage parlors that are located near schools,
museums, historical sites, and government and Communist Party offices.
Civil servants and party functionaries are widely known to be the best
clients of Hanoi's sex workers.

"If caught as clients, state cadres will receive fines and have their
employers notified of their acts," said Labor Minister Nguyen thi Hang.

The crackdown also will include the closing of thousands of nightclubs,
beer shops, dance halls and pay-by-the-hour hotels and guesthouses. Police
also plan to raid barbershops, many of which act as fronts for brothels.

There hasn't been much sizzle in the campaign yet, just a few billboards
bearing socialist-style slogans such as "Using Prostitutes Is Not Correct."

Drug abuse will be the other major focus of the high-profile campaign. The
rising use of amphetamines, evidence of massive trafficking in heroin and
methamphetamines, and the growing popularity of "ecstasy" among young
Vietnamese have shocked the conservative senior members of the Communist
Party. Stories of ecstasy raves and orgies appear regularly in the official
media now.

The vice crackdown has already led to the temporary closing of some popular
nightclubs in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Municipal officials in Hanoi recently ordered the closing of Apocalypse
Now, Magnetic and the Fashion Cafe, although a manager at Apocalypse said
his bar has never actually closed, nor has he altered his usual 5 a.m.
closing time. Clubs are supposed to close at midnight, the manager said,
but payoffs to the police allow him to stay open longer.

Apocalypse is a few blocks from Hoa Lo, the massive prison built by the
French in 1896. It was originally used to hold -- and torture --
generations of Vietnamese freedom fighters. Many of the country's most
prominent politicians and soldiers served prison terms there.

'Hanoi Hilton'

The prison officially closed five years ago, when 90 percent of the
original compound was bulldozed to make way for a pair of hotel, shopping
and apartment towers. The remaining portion was converted into a museum
that is popular among tourists and locals alike. There is a working French
guillotine in the old execution yard and several cells have been
re-created, complete with leg irons and instruments of torture.

Two rooms have exhibits relating to U.S. prisoners of war. Among the photos
on display are the original POW mug shots of John McCain, the Republican
senator from Arizona, and Pete Peterson, the former U.S. ambassador to
Vietnam. Both men were pilots shot down during the Vietnam War, and they
were imprisoned and tortured in the old prison for about six years each.

Nguyen Van Tu, the museum's acting director, refused to believe that
prostitutes were doing business in the museum at night. Despite a detailed
account offered by a foreign reporter, he denied the possibility of the
tale of the two American men.

"Prostitution can happen in any country, not just Vietnam, but I can assure
you this didn't happen in my museum," said Tu, a sculptor by trade. "This
is a spiritual place as well as a historical site that is important to the
whole country. This could not have happened. We are closed at night. No one
could come in."

But two weeks later, after checking on the incident with his night
watchman, Tu was less categorical in his denials.

"The guard did let a foreign guest and a woman go through very briefly, but
then they went away," he said. "I'd say it's not true that prostitution
took place inside my museum.

"I'd also like to confirm that we will take more action against
prostitution even if it happens outside the museum. We have to keep
fighting against this kind of social evil."