The Ministry of Public Security (MPS)’s primary mouthpiece has joined the crackdown targeting Dr. Nguyễn Thành Nam’s controversial book
The Latest: On July 2, 2026, the Công an Nhân dân (People’s Public Security) newspaper published an analysis criticizing Dr. Nguyễn Thành Nam over his public statements and the book Chuyện với Thanh (Conversations With Thanh).
- Written by Lt. Col. Lê Thế Cương, deputy head of the Department of Party Building and State Administration at the People’s Public Security Political Academy, the piece accuses Nam of exploiting “enlightenment” and “academic freedom” to distort history, insult leaders, and mislead the public—particularly the youth.
The Details: Featured in the newspaper’s “Countering Peaceful Evolution” section, the publication stated that Nam’s book and videos promote “extremely dangerous historical revisionism,” labeling his actions “unacceptable.”
- To support this argument, the piece cited several examples: the book’s reference to Hồ Chí Minh as “Hồ,” its mockery of the Provisional Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam as “a band of rebels,” and a video in which Nam allegedly used a mocking tone when discussing Hồ Chí Minh’s verse, “In the morning, to the streambank; at night, into the cave.”
According to Lê Thế Cương, while society should encourage multidimensional thinking and scientific criticism, these concepts should not be exploited for arbitrary interpretation or subjective speculation about history, especially regarding the symbol of Hồ Chí Minh.
- “The image of President Hồ Chí Minh and the nation’s history are sacred; they cannot be manipulated under the guise of ‘enlightenment’ through false content, insolent language, and distorted arguments,” Lê Thế Cương wrote.
- He concluded that Nam had exploited “criticism” and “enlightenment” to “distort history in the name of being a teacher.”
Discussing a “teacher’s responsibility,” Lê Thế Cương argued that lecturers—especially those addressing history, ideology, and culture—must possess expertise, pedagogical training, and a “responsibility toward history.”
- He characterized it as “arbitrary” for Nam, who holds a doctorate in mathematics, to teach history.
Furthermore, the article emphasized that education and training are “an environment for transmitting and disseminating the Party’s ideological foundation, socialist ideals, historical and cultural values, and the nation’s fine traditions.”
- If educators “stray” from that goal, the piece warned, the younger generation will become “politically vague, historically ignorant, detached from the nation’s fine cultural and traditional values, deviant in lifestyle and oppositional in ideology, and ready to oppose the revolutionary cause.”
The publication also raised questions about educational and publishing oversight, demanding that higher education institutions strictly “vet and monitor teaching staff,” while publishing processes related to history, culture, and ideology require tighter censorship and review.
Regarding the Newspaper: “Countering Peaceful Evolution” is a prominent section of the People’s Public Security newspaper that regularly serves to criticize and rebut views deemed “distorted,” “hostile,” or harmful to the ideological foundation and policies of the Communist Party of Vietnam.
- It also regularly publishes attacks on prominent democracy activists and dissidents, such as Lê Trung Khoa and Nguyễn Văn Đài.
Attempts to Contact: Since June 23, Luật Khoa has attempted to contact the author, Nguyễn Thành Nam, through his work email at VinUni University but received an automated message stating the “address could not be found.”
- Nam’s faculty profile on the university’s website also no longer exists and currently returns a 404 error.
The Background: In early 2026 the Vietnam Writers’ Association Publishing House released Chuyện với Thanh.
- The book centers on a dialogue between Thanh, a Gen Z student indifferent to history, and a teacher named Thành, which reconstructs the journey of Hồ Chí Minh—then known as Nguyễn Tất Thành—during his years abroad.
- The text drew mixed reactions and was accused by several veterans, including Phan Trung Can and Nguyễn Thanh Tuấn, of “rewriting history,” “insulting President Hồ Chí Minh,” and “insulting the Vietnamese nation” through its alternative narrative approach.
Following the backlash, the Vietnam Writers’ Association Publishing House apologized and recalled the book on June 10.
- Five days later, the Publication Department fined the publisher and suspended its operations for two months.
On June 23, Trần Thành Trọng, a delegate of the Hồ Chí Minh City People’s Council, publicly called for the “criminal prosecution” of Nam.
By June 26, the Ministry of Education and Training ordered all universities that had invited Nam to teach to submit formal reports, even if the classes had not yet taken place.
Why It Matters: This marks the first time the People’s Public Security newspaper—the official mouthpiece of the Ministry of Public Security—has published an opinion piece directly targeting Conversations With Thanh and Nguyễn Thành Nam’s statements.
- Previously, the newspaper had only reported that the Vietnam Writers’ Association Publishing House was suspended for two months.
Lê Sáng wrote this article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on July 3, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine has the copyrights to the English translation.
