Two Vietnamese karaoke singers trying to stop themselves from dancing
In a move that has a lot of citizens of Vietnam scratching their heads, the government is proposing to ban dancing in karaoke clubs. Karaoke is enormously popular in Vietnam, but so are prostitution and drug use. By stopping the dancing, the government hopes to - yup, you guessed it - cut down on prostitution and drug use.
The governmental thinking seems to go something like this: people who take the designer drug ‘ecstasy’ like to dance and hang out with prostitutes so by banning dancing the problem should be solved.
“Karaoke parlors are for singing, not for dancing,” the newspaper Thanh Nien (Young People) quoted Le Anh Tuyen, a ministry official, as saying.
This has led some skeptical observers to wonder exactly what would constitute dancing, and who would monitor it. Can you imagine singing karaoke standing ramrod straight without moving around a bit? Violators would be fined, although the amount is not yet specified.
The proposed regulations would also extend the hours of karaoke parlors and dance clubs from midnight until 2 a.m. - but only those located in luxury hotels. That provision appears to be intended to attract more foreign tourists in the face of the global economic downturn. Maybe they’re hoping to encourage foreign tourists to support the local economy by spending money on drugs and prostitutes.
