越南富布賴特大學美方任命引發爭議

The launch of a US-backed university during President Barack Obama’s visit to Vietnam last week was meant to symbolise reconciliation and the potential for the two nations to deepen their relationship.

巴拉克•奧巴馬(Barack Obama)總統上週訪問越南期間揭牌成立的一所美國支持的大學，本意是爲了象徵和解以及兩國間深化關係的潛力。

But there has been a backlash against the decision to hand the chairmanship of Fulbright University Vietnam to a former US senator accused of involvement in a Vietnam war massacre.

但是，對於越南富布賴特大學(Fulbright University Vietnam)的信託委員會主席一職被授予一名曾被指在越戰期間參與殺戮平民的美國前參議員，一些人表示了反對。

Bob Kerrey, a former DeMocratic senator and governor of Nebraska, has expressed remorse about the 1969 raid on a Communist-controlled village in which his elite Navy Seal platoon killed at least 13 unarmed women and children. The attack was made public in 2001 following an investigation by CBS News and the New York Times.

前民主黨參議員、前內布拉斯加州州長鮑勃•克里(Bob Kerrey)已對1969年突襲一個共產黨控制村莊的軍事行動表示反悔。在那次行動中，他所在的精銳的海豹部隊的一個排殺死了至少13名沒有武裝的婦女和兒童。這件事2001年在哥倫比亞廣播公司(CBS)和《紐約時報》(New York Times)進行調查後被公諸於衆。

However, his selection as chairman of the trustees of FUV, Vietnam’s first private not-for-profit university, has stirred up painful feelings about a war in which more than 1m Vietnamese died.

然而，選擇由他擔任越南第一所民營非營利大學——越南富布賴特大學的信託委員會主席，激起了人們對越南戰爭的痛苦回憶，那場戰爭導致100多萬越南人死亡。

“I know that Mr Kerrey wants to heal the pains of the war, both his and the Vietnamese people’s,” said Thai Bao Anh, a Vietnamese lawyer. “However, I wonder if he has ever asked himself [whether] his appointment, in fact, is opening an old wound in Vietnamese people’s minds.”

“我知道克里先生希望撫平戰爭的痛苦，包括他本人的痛苦和越南人民的痛苦，”越南律師Thai Bao Anh表示。“不過，我不知道他有沒有這樣問過自己，他的任命是不是實際上在越南人民的腦海中揭開了一箇舊傷疤？”

Mr Thai, who won a prestigious Fulbright scholarship to the US in 2003, said he could not forgive Mr Kerrey.

曾在2003年贏得著名的富布賴特獎學金到美國留學的Thai表示，他不能原諒克里。

Most of Vietnam’s state-controlled media painted the university as a symbol of deepening US-Vietnam co-operation but Zing, a popular online news outlet, prompted a more critical reaction after it published a story looking into the massacre. It said on its Facebook page that the choice of Mr Kerrey to head the FUV was “difficult to understand”.

越南官方控制的媒體大多把這所大學描繪成深化美越合作的象徵，但人氣頗高的在線新聞網站Zing發表了一篇回憶上述殺戮事件的報道，從而引發更具批評色彩的反應。Zing在其Facebook頁面上表示，挑選克里執掌越南富布賴特大學的決定“令人難以理解”。

In comments posted below the article, Vietnamese were divided. Lieu Ngo argued that the “generation who faced Bob Kerrey on the battlefield” did not want to live with hatred: “Let’s support Bob Kerrey to help his Fulbright university project in Vietnam succeed.”

越南讀者在上述報道底下的留言中意見分歧。Lieu Ngo認爲，“當年在戰場上面對鮑勃•克里的那一代人”並不希望一直帶着仇恨生活下去，“讓我們支持鮑勃•克里幫助他的越南富布賴特大學項目獲得成功”。

Mr Kerrey told the Financial Times he understood the criticism and would “gladly step down” if his participation put the success of FUV at risk. “I have faced my past squarely and honestly,” said Mr Kerrey, who lost part of his right leg during the war. “I did something terrible and will live with it all my life. But I do not live in the past. I live in the present and am trying to do what I can to help Vietnam build a better future.”

克里對英國《金融時報》表示，他理解人們對他的批評，如果他的參與危及越南富布賴特大學的成功，他將“樂意卸任”。“我已經誠實地面對我的過去，不躲不閃，”在戰爭中失去一部分右腿的克里表示。“我做了一些可怕的事情，將爲此抱憾終生。但我不活在過去。我活在當下，我正在試圖盡我所能，幫助越南打造一個更美好的未來。”