HANOI: In a rare move, state broadcaster Vietnam Television (VTV), in its flagship current affairs programme on Monday (Aug 17), devoted a full six-minute report to a fatal traffic accident that took place in Hanoi more than a year ago.
In a country where more than 10,000 people are killed in traffic accidents each year, such events would hardly be expected to attract much attention. Yet this incident, involving a former senior politician, has caused a storm in the run-up to Vietnam’s National Day on Sept 2, prompting the authorities to issue an official statement on what happened.
On May 30, 2025, former Vietnamese National Assembly deputy Nguyen Sy Cuong, 64, was driving his luxury car when it suddenly veered into the opposite lane at high speed and collided head-on with an oncoming motorbike carrying a father and his 18-year-old daughter.
The collision severed the teen’s right leg, leaving her in extreme pain and causing heavy blood loss. The teen, Do Ngoc Phuong Thuy, was taken to hospital but died 10 days later, just days before her high school graduation examination.
The case was transferred to Hanoi Police for investigation, but no further information has been made public since then. The last time it was mentioned in the domestic media was on May 31, one day after the accident.
After that, there was only radio silence.
But things changed more than a week ago, when millions of posts began spreading across Vietnamese social media, notably Threads, using hashtags such as #NguyenSyCuong, named after the former politician, and #BMW, referring to the brand of luxury car he was driving.
The anonymous users, who identified themselves as Gen Z or people in their late teens and twenties, called for a public investigation into the accident and for the person responsible to be held accountable.
Internet users alleged that the authorities had tried to prevent netizens from accessing such content online. But tech-savvy internet users found ways to disseminate the messages across different platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and X.
Then young people, often wearing masks, were seen laying flowers at tree number 55, where the accident took place, as a sign of condolence and a call for justice.
The tree had gained its coordinates on Google Maps and even a name - the Justice Tree. Cleaners were sent to swiftly remove the flowers, only to find that a virtual tree had been erected online, with hundreds of thousands of people paying their tributes.
Nobody knows what triggered the campaign.
“The victim was an 18-year-old girl, a peer to many of the young people speaking out. This naturally fosters deep empathy, as they can easily put themselves in her shoes,” explained Nguyen Hoang Vi, a social activist who blogs about social issues like education and is herself a mother of Gen Z children.
“Perhaps that year-long silence became the breaking point for their patience. Young people no longer want to simply hear adults say, ‘Trust in justice’, they want to see justice actually served.”
Tran Dai Lam, a lawyer from the ANVI law firm in Hanoi, said: “An incident would not simply disappear just because it has dropped out of mainstream media while questions remain about it.”
“The story can resurface very quickly at the slightest new detail or mention,” he added.
In the VTV programme, the state broadcaster cited police and prosecution sources who said that, because Nguyen Sy Cuong “sincerely confessed and actively and fully remedied the consequences of his actions”, the victim’s family decided not to press charges, and Cuong was exempted from criminal liability.
Do Ngoc Phuong Thuy’s father Do Viet Hung also appeared in the report. He thanked internet users for their sympathy but said that the family was satisfied with the investigation’s findings and urged people to leave them alone to grieve and rebuild their lives in peace.
“VTV’s report today will undoubtedly help resolve some legal questions raised by social media users,” said lawyer Tran Dai Lam.
“But I doubt this will fully put Gen Z at ease,” Lam told ST. “The issue lies not only in the conclusion itself but also in the information vacuum that persisted for over a year.”
“Gen Z is not easily satisfied with answers stating simply that authorities acted ‘in accordance with the law’, they want to know which laws, what specific decisions were made, and why those decisions were reached,” the lawyer added.
After the VTV report, flowers are still being placed at the virtual tree, though not as many as before. Many netizens have also left comments online, with some dissatisfied with the official explanation in the report.
Public protests are rare in Vietnam and the authorities often blame “terrorist and subversive organisations” for having exploited such incidents to incite unrest.
The report on VTV quoted a senior police official as saying that the Ministry of Public Security “has uncovered highly dangerous plots and intentions by hostile forces, reactionaries and bad actors to incite unrest and cause disorder”, using the year-old accident as a pretext.
“The Ministry advises the public, especially young people, to remain fully alert and highly vigilant,” the official said.
Pro-government influencers have also taken to online forums to warn of the “dangers of colour revolutions and unrest that have led to anarchy and destruction, as seen in Bangladesh”. Colour revolutions generally refer to protests that aim to overthrow governments, which adopt a specific colour or symbol.
While many questions remain unanswered, this is the first time a social media campaign rallied by Gen Z has brought issues close to their hearts to public attention and prompted a government response.
For activist Nguyen Hoang Vi, recent events have significantly changed her perspective.
“I used to hold a rather unkind stereotype of Gen Z, viewing them as a generation inclined towards self-indulgence and lacking in patience, diligence or effort, often appearing indifferent to the world around them.”
“But now, I have come to realise that Gen Z is not truly indifferent to society. Rather, they engage with issues in a way that differs vastly from my own generation,” she added. - The Straits Times/ANN
