NGUYỄN QUANG A KHÔNG XỨNG ĐÁNG VỚI GIẢI THƯỞNG NHÂN QUYỀN

Ông Nguyễn Quang A không xứng đáng với giải thưởng nhân quyền

Võ Khánh Linh

Đây là bài viết tiếng Anh, blog Võ Khánh Linh nhận được từ một bạn đọc ẩn danh, nhờ Võ Khánh Linh đăng tải. Nhận thấy nội dung hoàn toàn phù hợp với những dữ liệu về bản thân ông Nguyễn Quang A nên Võ Khánh Linh xin đăng tải và nhờ bạn đọc chuyển tải đến Chính phủ Hà Lan và phương Tây, phản đối họ xét trao giải thưởng này cho ông A

Hiện vòng bỏ phiếu chọn 3 trong số 10 ứng viên đã xong. Nhờ "sức mạnh dân chủ mạng" mà ông Nguyễn Quang A đã giành số phiếu áp đảo, trong khi hầu hết các ứng viên khác thơ ơ, không quan tâm, vận động giành giải thưởng này. Tuy nhiên, nếu ông A giành giải hẳn "sẽ là nguồn cổ vũ" to lớn cho đám đấu tranh dân chủ vì tiền ở trong nước bởi gần như chắc chắn ông ta sẽ "đầu tư" số tiền đo cho các hội nhóm, cá nhân chuyên "yêu nước bằng biểu tinh và cầu viện ngoại bang" như No-U chẳng hạn.

Tiếp theo , Bộ trưởng Bộ Bộ Ngoại giao Hà Lan sẽ chọn 1 trong 3 ứng viên cao phiếu nhất để trao giải. Bởi vậy, tôi thấy đã đến lúc người dân và Chính phủ Việt Nam cần phải nói chuyện, bày tỏ quan điểm về ứng viên Nguyễn Quang A này.

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Mr Nguyen Quang A doesn’t deserve the Human Rights Tulip Award

To: The jury of Human Rights Tulip 2016 and The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs

email: tulip@justiceandpeace.nl

This is the letter that represents the voice of thousands of Vietnamese people and I would like to have the jury of Human Rights Tulip 2016’s and The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ attention so that the jury can make a better informed and more just decision.

I have been informed on your website that Mr Nguyen Quang A has been selected to be one of the 10 finalists of the Human Right Tulip Award 2016. From the link (http://www.humanrightstulip.nl/candidates-and-voting/nguyen-quang-a), in which you have shared some information and reasons why you have Mr Quang A selected, we strongly disagree and protest his selection. The reasons will be presented to you hereafter.

First, his attention of action is not for promoting human rights but for his own economic gain. He was once funded by the Vietnamese government to study overseas and while all his counterparts had to go to war to protect the motherland from American invasion, he had the opportunity to study in Hungary in order to serve his homeland better when he finished the study. When he came back to Vietnam, he was given a good position at the Technical Academy of Army. However, showing his incapability as a scientist at the Academy, he left the job to pursue his business as computer seller. Even though he was not a capable scientist, he proved to be a “smart” businessman by faking the company’s net investment – from $4000 USD to $500.000 USD to be able to partner with a French company. He successfully tricked the French company to invest in his business but the company continued to fail. After that, he founded another company to sell computers, which was named 3C. And he continued to commit tax fraud which brought the end to 3C. Despite his successive failure, he still managed to accumulate a great fortune of millions of dollars. To many people, this is quite difficult to know where all that money comes from. Mr Quang A is surely not a person of transparency. Ending his business career as a businessman with too many faults, he decided to move on to another kind of business: establishing a think-tank called IDS. With the support from many key members in the government, IDS quickly gained international attention and started to receive fund as well as cooperation from Harvard University. Again, tax fraud and not enough transparency of operation, IDS was closed after about two years of functioning. After IDS, Mr Quang A and other IDS’s former members became actively criticizing the Vietnamese government to gain popular attention. Right here, many people have no choice but to question the motives of Mr Quang A. Whether he became an activist because he wanted to change Vietnam for the better, or it’s just another economic venture. It seems that this venture hasn’t brought him much profit as he has to fund demonstrations, prizes, reporters, journalists, bloggers. And now, his political investment might have a first ever official foreign aid if he wins the Human Rights Tulip 2016.

Second, his SOS book translation was a disaster in terms of articulation and fluency. I am sure if the authors whose books have been translated by Mr Quang A such as: Larry Diamond, Lisa Anderson, Paul J. Carnegie…could read Vietnamese, they would be startled by the quality of his translation. No wonder why after 15 years of translating books, he still hasn’t dared to define himself as a book translator. And his books haven’t get enough attention for the same reasons. How can young Vietnamese who are beginners and starting to pick up some political terms understand what those leading experts in politics and democracy write by reading the translation of Mr Quang A? Moreover, the way he randomly chooses books to translate also reveals that he does not have a strong political background. He does not select books to help readers have an overview of different political idealism. He was fond of the idea of democracy and so he focuses only on translating democratic transition in the world. For what purpose? Is democracy the only option for Vietnam? Are human rights all about democracy? Human rights are about how to live better in terms of health care, environment, and intellectual curiosity. Criticizing the government or demonstration on the streets doesn’t always help. In fact, the oppression machine of the Vietnamese government is getting stronger and more daring. If Mr Quang A chooses to be a messenger of knowledge and wisdom, he has to train himself to translate, to write, to speak and to spread good ideas better. He cannot continue being an amateur translator forever.

Third, the Civil Society Forum, which he starts, hasn’t done anything besides signing appeals or calls for action since its establishment in 2013. The Forum consists of many Vietnamese intellectuals but they haven’t contributed anything significant to the Vietnamese intellectual environment. They gather under them many unemployed people who just want to go on the streets to scream and then drink alcohol. The impression of a Vietnamese human right activist is very often similar to a lazy chronic drinker. A bunch of drinkers and a handful of incapable intellectuals are leading the democratic transition in Vietnam. Not difficult at all for us to foresee the future of human rights in Vietnam. 

Human Rights Tulip Award is a distinguished and honorable prize and therefore it must find the true and well-deserved winner. Mr Nguyen Quang A is not that person. I urge the jury and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs to consider his selection as well as to examine and evaluate his contribution to the human rights movement.

I thank you for accepting and taking our words into consideration.

I look forwards to see your wise decision and great contribution to the human rights movement worldwide.

Sincerely,