The Ministry of Education has ordered universities that invited Nguyễn Thành Nam to submit detailed reports, even if the events failed to occur.
The Latest: On June 26, the Ministry of Education and Training ordered universities to submit detailed reports regarding any information related to invitations for Nguyễn Thành Nam.
The Details: Through Official Dispatch No. 3936, signed by Nguyễn Anh Dũng, deputy director of the Department of Higher Education, universities were given just over one day—until June 28—to report on invitations for Nam to “participate in teaching, guest lecturing, thematic reporting, seminars, speeches, or other academic activities, if any.”
- This directive applies to activities that had already taken place as well as those that had not yet been held.
The official dispatch also instructed universities to “review” and “rectify” the process of inviting lecturers, guest speakers, presenters, or any other individuals to ensure such invitations are “consistent with Party regulations, state laws,” and “the educational and training objectives of higher education institutions.”
The dispatch also referred to the recall of Nam’s book Chuyện với Thanh.
Public Response: While only a few state-run newspapers had published articles about the document by 4 p.m. on June 26, images of Official Dispatch No. 3936 circulated widely on Facebook.
Facebook user Phan Trung Can, a leading figure behind the denunciation campaign, posted an image of the document with the caption: “This case is only the beginning — Steering Committee 35 has stepped in.”
- His post received more than 3,300 interactions, with most comments criticizing Nguyễn Thành Nam.
- An account named Mai Anh Lê commented under that post: “So glad. We will continue the fight to protect the country, protect historical truth, and protect peace, stability, and justice,” receiving more than 50 interactions.
Facebook user Đinh Đức Đoàn, who has more than 385,000 followers, posted an image of the document and wrote: “The very fact that the Ministry of Education has had to step in at this level shows that the issue is no longer an ordinary literary debate. It has become an issue directly related to education, ideology, social influence, and the risk of poisoning the awareness of the younger generation.”
Failure to Contact: Since June 23, Luật Khoa has attempted to contact Nguyễn Thành Nam through his VinUni work email address but received an automated response saying that the “address could not be found.”
- His faculty profile on the university’s website has also disappeared and now returns a 404 error.
According to Luật Khoa’s reporting, the most recent event featuring Nam was a seminar titled “Leadership the Uncle Hồ Way – The Courage of Vietnamese Entrepreneurs in the New Era.”
- The event was held on May 16 by the FSB Institute of Management and Technology under FPT University, where Nam is the vice chairman of the board of trustees.
- All posts introducing the event have since been removed from the university’s Facebook page, though Luật Khoa could not verify exactly when they were taken down.
Chuyện với Thanh Controversy: The ministry’s document explicitly referred to the recent recall of Nam’s book, Chuyện với Thanh.
- Published by the Writers’ Association Publishing House earlier this year, the book is structured as a dialogue between Thanh, a Generation Z student indifferent to history, and his teacher, Thành.
- The teacher recounts Hồ Chí Minh’s journey—when he was still known as Nguyễn Tất Thành—during his years abroad.
The book sparked controversy after several veterans accused it of “rewriting history,” “insulting President Hồ Chí Minh,” and “insulting the Vietnamese nation” by presenting a different narrative of Nguyễn Tất Thành.
- This backlash forced the Writers’ Association Publishing House to apologize and recall the book on June 10.
- Five days later, the Publishing Department fined the publisher and suspended its operations for two months.
Thành Phương wrote this article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on June 26, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine has the copyrights to the English translation.
