Saturday, April 28, 2007
AITVNA Website Closed
The second biggest community's website in Asian Institute of Technology, Vietnam Student Association News Agency, has been closed down on 27 April 2006 without prior announcement. The webmaster, Mr Nguyen Quang Hung had paid an official visit to AIT Helpdesk's director, Dr. Harianto, for this monopolistic decision. Answering after Hung's visit, Dr. Harianto put an official announcement on an email message to webmasters of AITVNA.
From: "Dr. A. Harianto"
Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2007 13:46:08 +0700
Dear Mr. Hung
The President has instructed us to temporarily close the AITVNA web site
during this period where investigation is still going on. Please contact
Head of Student Office (Ms. Ann, Tel. 5072, email: annl@ait.ac.th) for
further clarification
Thank you
Harianto
Additionally to Dr. Harianto's message, Ms Ann Lopez, head of the Student Office, a department which is related to students affairs in AIT, posted a letter to Hung.
head-students@ait.ac.th wrote:
Dear Mr. Nguyen Quang Hung (Moderator),
Please be informed that AIT President has received a formal complaint
regarding the posting of inappropriate messages in the forum of your
website.
Investigations are now on-going. And while investigations are
on-going, the President instructed that your website be temporary
closed until further notice.
This is to prevent further damages to all those involved in the case.
Hoping for your kind understanding.
Sincerely,
Ms. Ann Lopez-Fontanilla
Head, Student Office
Hung's reply to Ms Lopez is as follows:
Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2007 15:07:58 +0700
From: Nguyen Quang Hung
----------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks Ms.Ann Lopez,
Please let me know if you need any thing, I am willing to co-operate and
hoping we can resume the operation of the forum soon.
You can email me or call me at 5572.
Sincerely,
QHung
Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2007 18:41:11 +0700
From: Nguyen Quang Hung
----------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Ms. Ann,
We - all of Vietnamese students are so disappointed when receiving your
closing Vietnamese website’s decision. Actually, we have some
shortcomings in managing our forum, but we are trying our best to
correct it. As you know, forum where Vietnamese students meet, share
information and even share sorrows and joys in our lives when away from
home and relax during such hard time as midterm and/or final exams. For
all Vietnamese students, Vietnam website plays an extremely important
in our mind and it is an essential part in our lives in AIT. As far as
I knew, the investigation may be finished in around 1 month, and if you
close our website in 30 days, what can we do in our free time, in such
hard time as this final exam?
Truly, we are so sad and disappointed when our website is closed
without formal notice, it came only when I asked you directly. This
makes us think we did not get a fair treat and respect. Moreover, this
investigation is still carried out, and you, I and all AIT students may
not know exactly who are responsible for this mistake. We – all
Vietnamese students studying here wonder whether closing our website
before final investigation is fair or not.
Hence, we hope that our website will not be closed for such a long time
– 30 days or more. We try our best to manage our website well when
investigations are carried out. Users on the forum knew already there
is an investigation ongoing, so all the post is now considering
seriously before posting, so could you please think agaian about the
decision of closing our website for too long – 30 days or more. Or
could you please make a meeting with AIT president so that we can
explain and discuss with him about our situation.
Thank you very much for your helping.
We are looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Best regards
On behalf of AITVNA Administrator
QHung
Van, a member of AITVNA had also posted a message to Ms Ann Lopez. In her reason, closing a website without prior announcement was not a right action. She also urged Student Office to have some actions to enable this website in operation again.
Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2007 08:21:16 +0700
From: Hoang Ngoc Tuong Van
Subject: Temporary Closure of AITVNA Website
To: head-students@ait.ac.th
Dear Ms. Ann,
I am a member of Vietnamese website forum, I'm so sad when heard that
our website is closed for so long time - 30 days. Forum is a place where
my friends and I relax and share useful information such as how to
overcome difficult time when studying abroad, how to study well, etc.
Besides, a lot of Vietnamese students in Vietnam often visit and ask
more information about the procedure of applying for studying and even
living here before deciding which countries and which courses are fit
with them when studying abroad. As you know, our forum plays an
important role in Vietnamese people in general and Vietnamese students
in AIT. So could you please consider the decision's closing our website
before final investigation's result? Thank you very much for your attention!
Best regards,
Tuong Van
It is unfair to the Vietnamese Community in AIT as her website has been suspended by AIT Helpdesk. Surprisingly, under a blind decision of AIT president, the HelpDesk, a body in charge of network connection, computer security and IT services, has simply closed down the site without prior announcement to AITVNA's community. The so-called "investigation", said by Helpdesk's director, Dr. Harianto, was announced only when Hung, AITVNA's web administrator visiting his office.
Following the investigation, it was reported that somebody has sent announcement to AIT President, Prof. Said Irandoust, regarding some posts in AITVNA's website which aimed at sensitive issues against AIT Student Union. The website of AITVNA is in Vietnamese language and an unidentified Vietnamese student has been involved to the investigation by supporting the content translation into English.
Vietnamese Student Community in AIT is a large community with more than 200 students and faculty. This community's website has been established in the form of CMS (content management system) since 2003, under the server of AIT. The close-down of this website has raised a big issue on monopolism and top-down management of AIT's authorities.
Official website of AITVNA in AIT:
http://www.aitvna.ait.ac.th
Posted by Mystical Orient
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2 Comments:
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At
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said...
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It's been a month since ITServ closed down AITVNA website. "The closure will be made for a month" said by Dr. Harianto, Head of ITServ. However, it seems there is no movement from ITServ and the case has been ignored.
What's your opinion?
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At
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said...
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It seems that the website will be closed forever. It is one way to help AIT avoiding any trouble regardless of all Vietnamese AITian's feeling.
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The second biggest community's website in Asian Institute of Technology, Vietnam Student Association News Agency, has been closed down on 27 April 2006 without prior announcement. The webmaster, Mr Nguyen Quang Hung had paid an official visit to AIT Helpdesk's director, Dr. Harianto, for this monopolistic decision. Answering after Hung's visit, Dr. Harianto put an official announcement on an email message to webmasters of AITVNA.
said... 