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This is the story of two meals and two people named Lam. It started with a joke and ended with a prison sentence.
Two years ago, one of Vietnam’s most powerful officials ate a steak plated in 24-karat gold during a trip to London. It didn’t end well at home – the remaining one-party state, despite free capitalism and rising inequality, is led by the Communist Party and officially called a socialist republic.
The official, General To Lam, who is the powerful Minister of Public Security, faced criticism and ridicule online. A Vietnamese activist who also runs a noodle stand spoofs the golden food by making a video showing him theatrically slicing green onions into a bowl of noodles.
On Thursday, the activist, Bui Tuan Lam, was charged with propaganda against the state and sentenced to more than five years in prison. Authorities in Danang, the central Vietnamese city where he lives, said he was guilty of “creating, storing, distributing or disseminating” anti-state information and material.
Mr Lam has denied the allegations. His wife, Le Thanh Lam, said in an interview on Friday that he was “not right.”
“I don’t see how my husband committed any crime or wrongdoing, or violated anyone’s interests,” he said. “They are only exercising freedom of speech and other rights that are clearly stated in the Constitution and laws of Vietnam.”
Ngo Tuan, one of Mr Lam’s lawyers, said the judge in the case forced him out of the courtroom before he finished defending his client. “It seems that some people think that whatever they do to political prisoners is acceptable,” Mr. Tuan said.
Reached by phone on Friday, the judge in the case, Ngo Ha Nam, declined to comment on the sentence.
General Lam’s gilded steak, and Mr. Lam’s parodies of unusual, unusual food. But the conviction is consistent with the usual approach to stifling dissent in one of the few remaining communist dictatorships in the world: Mr. Lam, 39, was convicted of a catchall offense that ensnared many other Vietnamese activists over the years.
One of them is Pham Doan Trang, a journalist and activist who was sentenced in 2021 to nine years after being indicted on the same charges as Mr Lam.
Mr. Lam’s parody video, which was filmed at a noodle shop he owns in Danang, is not his first foray into activism. Over the years, he has been involved in several protests against the policies of the Vietnamese government and China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea. Mr Lam, who also goes by the name Peter Lam Bui, has also posted videos criticizing Vietnamese officials.
But talking to General Lam is particularly risky.
General Lam certainly didn’t expect footage of his golden steak to spread on social media – especially not when so many Vietnamese are tired of lockdowns and strict rules on masking, quarantine and contact tracing.
Public displays of wealth by Vietnamese officials are also sensitive, in part because the Communist Party’s general secretary, Nguyen Phu Trong, has been waging a years-long anti-corruption crackdown that has ousted some top brass.
A 2021 parody video was previously posted, and later deleted, from the TikTok account of Nusret Gokce, a Turkish restaurateur and social media star who goes by the culinary name Salt Bae.
In a TikTok video, Salt Bae brought two golden tomahawk steaks to General Lam’s table at a London restaurant. Then he fed the Communist official a piece from the tip of the carving knife, getting a thumbs up.
General Lam has traveled to the UK for a global summit on climate change. Apart from a trip to Salt Bae’s restaurant, they also visited the grave of Karl Marx, the 19th century philosopher who fought against the concentration of wealth.
In the parody, activist Mr. Lam is seen imitating Salt Bae’s flamboyant style as he slices meat and drops green onions into a bowl of roti noodles at a stall. He said he made the video just for fun, and to help his business.
Before he was sentenced this week, Mr Lam wrote a poem for his wife and three children which he later posted on social media. In it, he says he’s not afraid of the prospect of a long spell in prison:
Even if I can take responsibility
My spirit remains firm as a mountain
Walk straight on this chosen path
For the sake of Vietnam, I am committed.
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