Local residents who love to sing in the south-central Vietnamese province of Phu Yen will be sanctioned if authorities deem the way they belt out songs too noisy.

While the Phu Yen administration admits that singing is a sound form of entertainment for locals, it believes those who will sing loudly day and night are “causing troubles to the society.”

The administration thus released a directive on Monday, requesting local agencies to keep the singing activities among residents in orders, and set punishments for those singing louder than allowed.

“Many people are belting out all day round, or sing banned songs across Phu Yen, so this must be fixed,” Tran Quang Nhat, the province’s deputy chairman, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Friday.

Any singing activities hosted by local residents are now banned from exceeding the country’s standardized noise level and affecting the quietness, health, and working activities of other people, schools, hospitals, and public offices, according to the directive.

People are not allowed to sing in the public between 10:00 pm and 6:00 am the ensuing day, and songs that are not approved by the government should not be sung.

Violators will be fined up to VND300,000 (US$15), and have their names publicized on mass media as part of the punishment, according to the document.

But local singing enthusiasts find it is not easy to follow the rules.

“How could we know if we have exceeded the noise limit?” a local, who prefers to be called N.T.L., told Tuoi Tre.

Any singing activities taking place from 6:00 am to 9:00 pm should not be louder than 70 dBA, according to the province’s request. But it is obvious that the noise level must be measured by specific tools, not the singers’ ears.

“What if we sing moderately but the authorities insist it is too loud?” L. continued questioning.

“And we are unable to know which songs are banned and which are not.”

The woman admitted that she loves singing, and agreed that singing enthusiasts should “respect the sleep of others.”

“Most of us are working all day and will only sing at spare times to relax,” she said.

“Only drunk people will sing loudly day and night.”

Even local regulatory agencies find the directive not really feasible.

Nguyen Trai, chairman of Hoa Thanh Commune, said the regulation paves the way for local authorities to crack down on singing activities that “torture” their neighbors with noise.

“But it will be very difficult to handle the issue,” he admitted.

“People sing because they love it; they are not thieves or criminals to be punished by having their publicized on the media.”

Huynh Ngoc Suong, deputy chairman of Dong Hoa District, said the lack of noise measuring equipment is a big issue.

“And how could we tell locals as to which songs are banned?” he said.

“We will not have enough force and equipment to film the noisy singers as proof to fine them.”

Ho Van Tien, director of the Phu Yen culture department, said it is not easy to catch the noisy singers red-handed.

“They will turn down the volume or stop singing immediately after seeing officials coming,” he said.

“But we will have to try to curb this phenomenon, anyway.”

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