The Disbursement Disaster

Not spending the money you have

Good afternoon, and welcome to the latest subscriber-only edition of the Vietnam Weekly. I recently read that writers should re-introduce themselves and their newsletter at the start of every post, and I’ve also heard from a couple of readers that it’s not clear what the distinction is between the free and paid versions. So here’s a quick reset.

I’m Mike Tatarski, a long-time Ho Chi Minh City resident and freelance journalist. This is the Vietnam Weekly, where I cover a wide range of issues in the country. The free version is published every Friday morning and briefly covers three or four of the week’s most significant topics.

The paid (or subscriber-only) edition costs US$5/month or US$50/year and is published two or three times a month. These are longer articles focused on one topic, for example, the latest arrests in the anti-corruption campaign. Paying subscribers can also access the Vietnam Weekly archive dating back to mid-2020, as articles go behind the paywall a month after publication.

Readers of the free version will receive a preview of each subscriber-only feature, such as this one.

If you’re seeing this for the first time, you can choose your subscription below.

I love hearing from readers as well, so simply reply to this email if you have any tips, comments, or questions.

On to the news.

---

Where’s the money?

I’ve written before, both here and for publications such as Asia Society Magazine, about how the anti-graft campaign has accidentally hobbled public spending by sending so many officials to jail and scaring the rest into almost complete inaction.

This has been an issue for months now, and it only seems to be getting worse. Let’s start with some data points that paint a frankly shocking image, especially in and around Ho Chi Minh City.