Pupil suspended for 'Uncle Ho' spoof
2013-01-08 18:48
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Vietnam
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Hanoi - A Vietnamese teenager has been suspended from
school for a year after posting a parody of a famous speech by independence
hero Ho Chi Minh on her Facebook page, local media said on Tuesday.
The "Declaration of Students of Ly Tu Trong
Secondary School" satirises a famous 1946 speech by then-president Ho
calling for national resistance against French colonialists.
"All students! As we desire peace, we have made
concessions. But the more concessions we make, the more the teachers press on,
for they are bent on failing us once again," said the post, quoted by the
Thanh Nien newspaper.
"All students... have to find ways to get good marks
in the exam... those who have neither health or head [intellect] have to copy
or use cheat sheets."
The local authorities said the 14-year-old's post
distorted history and insulted the school in the central province of Quang Nam.
"Forcing her to stay at home is also a way of
educating her," head teacher Nguyen Tan Si was quoted as saying in local
media.
The suspension prompted a storm of criticism online. A
survey by the VNExpress website showed that around 70% of readers thought the
punishment was too harsh.
Facebook is popular in Vietnam but is sometimes blocked
by the communist authorities, who maintain a cult of personality around Ho.
The father figure led the country to independence from
the French but died in 1969, aged 79, before the country was unified at the end
of the war.
His embalmed body is on display in Hanoi while his image
appears on banknotes and his portrait is hung in classrooms and other public
buildings.
All Vietnamese children are told stories about
"Uncle Ho" from the time they enter nursery school at age three until
they finish university.
- SAPA
