In many ways I appreciated this even though I didn't really know what was going on. When I asked my Vietnamese friends whey would tell me the Prime Minister died or something along those lines, but I don't think that is exactly what happened.
I also don't think this was meant to be directed towards foreigners either because any place that I went to that tourists or foreign locals regularly attend, it seemed to be business as usual. When I was in a shopping mall for some reason though there were giant signs at the front in English, Mandarin, and of course Vietnamese that were asking people to be quiet out of respect for the loss of their leader.
src
Outside of how immigration laws are evolving / changing, I don't concern myself with Vietnam's politics because it doesn't affect my life and I obviously am not allowed to vote. Therefore I didn't even know who this guy was but apparently Nguyen Phu Trong has been a prominent member and leader of the overall government since 2011. He was General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, whatever that means. I mean no disrespect by talking like this, I simply didn't know who the guy way. It's not like his picture is all over the place.
His passing on is a very big deal in Vietnamese politics, and lately I have read that there is now a "power vacuum" and many different political sides (all of which are communist) are vying for a position to take his place. He was 80 years old when he died and had been dealing with serious illness for quite some time.
I read into the guy a bit and it sounds like he might have been a person for the people. There isn't much controversy around him and he spearheaded an anti-corruption campaign that became known as the "Burning Furnace." His task force spared no business nor individual, and he couldn't be bought although I am sure they tried. He was at the forefront of prosecuting many very powerful people including 2 former Presidents and the former head of Parliament.
This might not seem like a huge deal but if you read a bit more you find out that there were ZERO politicians so much as charged with corruption for the 20 years preceding him starting this initiative. Is there still corruption in this country? I would say that this is just a given, but at least the man tried to do something to at least make the corruptors afraid.
So I guess there is some really good reason for the entire country to be in a time of mourning now and a massive state funeral was held for him
src
Politics isn't something that most people speak about publicly, and the Vietnamese people I know are clearly made uncomfortably when asked about it so I just leave it alone. I presume he was a good guy to be so highly revered and to stay in office for so long. I just hope they can find a suitable replacement because corruption is a terrible thing that ruins life for almost all people.
In the meantime it was kind of nice to have people be a bit quieter than they normally would be, even if it was just for a few days.