The destiny of the helicopter made by a Vietnamese farmer

Vietnamese farmer makes armoured vehicle for Cambodia

Farmers take up research work as PhDs focus on business

Tuoi Tre depicts Hai as a highly-skillful farmer who wants to devote his time and talent to his home country, only to find his dream shattered due to what is known as the unsupportive mechanism. He first crafted a so-called helicopter in 2003, manufactured a second one in 2005, but Hai and his associates met with numerous discouraging procedures in testing his machines, says the paper.

But several sci-tech organizations in the world have showed their attention, asking Hai to have his copters showcased at several exhibitions in the U.S., Germany, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Australia, where his skills were highly valued. These two copters have been sold to foreign museums, one in Korea and the other stateside. In Australia, he was even awarded a certificate recognizing him as “both farmer and engineer,” according to Vietnamnet.

During such expos abroad, the farmer was offered conditions to reside there to pursue his dreams, while it is reported that the Cambodian government even offers him all the benefits for an honorary general, including a villa in Phnom Penh. The farmer has refused all, says Tuoi Tre.

All such facts have sent ripples to the ongoing session of the National Assembly (NA) in Hanoi, where several deputies have raised questions about the country’s science and technology policies. Answers from Government officials, instead of soothing the public anger, give way for greater concerns.

In an interview with Thanh Nien on the sidelines of the NA session, Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Quan admits that “our policies in this field are still inadequate.” The Government issued a decree in 2013 governing inventions, but the legal system in general is not supportive of such inventions, says the minister. “To date, there are no legal provisions allowing for direct funding for inventions by the people… (while) the mechanism in Cambodia is very liberal,” he is quoted in Thanh Nien.

In Vietnamnet, the farmer-cum-engineer says that “scientific research is done in a very strange way there (in Cambodia). No credentials, no diplomas, no permits are required. Meanwhile, in our homeland, even before starting such a work, we have faced questions like ‘Do you have formal education in the field?’ Frankly, it is sad to make inventions in Vietnam.”

According to Minister Nguyen Quan, “if the mechanism allows for direct support for the people in their inventions like in Cambodia, it is certain that the people can conduct inventions right on the home soil.”

Nguoi Lao Dong in a commentary says that the ignorance by State agencies towards people’s inventions indicates that the human factor has not been valued. “There is no encouragement, guidance or suggestion to help such people do their work better… Upon any innovations and inventions by the people, the first reactions are bans and hindrances instead of support,” says the paper.

Asked by the paper why inventions by ordinary people are not respected by State agencies, an official at the Ministry of Science-Technology points to the utility of such inventions. “The key is that such inventions must be proved to be useful… It’s very dangerous if the people always think of valueless things that are of no use for life,” says Pham Phi Anh, deputy head of the Intellectual Property Department.

In fact, many people have made profound inventions, most to be ignored by State agencies. Vietnamnet recalls the case of a farmer in Thai Binh Province inventing a portable garbage-to-power machine that was rated by the sci-tech ministry as highly inventive. The ministry suggested Thai Binh Province authorities to support the farmer, but the instruction has fallen to the deaf ear for two years now.

Similarly, a mechanic in Hanoi also turned out a copter, but he was forced to relinquish the plan, while a businessman in Thai Binh who made a mini submarine was forbidden from conducting tests in the provincial waters.

In Nguoi Lao Dong, Dr. To Van Truong calls for a quick change to the attitude towards inventions by people. Citing the great scientist Albert Einstein, who used to say that “imagination is more important than knowledge,” Truong stresses that inventions are the brainchild of imagination, and even the World Intellectual Property Organization cares the least about the credentials of inventors.

Vietnamnet sarcastically remarks that “mankind would have suffered if Edison had been born in Vietnam,” given all the policies and mechanisms that are too prudent, too stringent and too sane.

“Great dreams that have come true were often rated as insane or crazy from the beginning… There must be a new mindset to give birth to a new attitude,” says the online paper.    

SGT/VNN