亞洲基金會在新馬的文化冷戰：以友聯出版社和《學生周報》為例

The Cultural Cold War of the Asia Foundation in Singapore and Malaysia: The Case of the Union Press and The Student Weekly

本文從亞洲基金會檔案探討美國中央情報局如何在冷戰時期暗中資助友聯在新馬的文化活動並創辦《學生周報》，解讀雙方協議、信函和報告及周報內容，並跟友聯高層的回憶錄進行比較，從而辨證友聯高層回憶的虛實。本文揭示並糾正友聯高層宣稱友聯是「絕對的獨立自由」和美方從來不干預友聯之說的謬誤。本文分析美方對友聯的資助巨額，以及美方對友聯的監督，並發現友聯高層對友聯的回憶跟當年檔案記載多有出入。從檔案記載看來美方不但多次聘請專家審查友聯賬務、刊物內容和工作效益，而且也派代表明察暗訪友聯各地組織和業務，然後向美國總部報告，匯集各方意見後反映給友聯，並對友聯業務直接進行批評和干預。友聯當年也會向美方報告其主辦的各種活動和刊物內容如何宣傳共產黨是魔鬼，列明哪些刊物內容和活動具備「意識形態的訓練」，並如何藉助文化冷戰對年輕人灌輸有利於自由世界的知識和民主原則。

This article, based on archival materials from the Asia Foundation, examines the Central Intelligence Agency’s secret funding of Union Press (UP) cultural activities and the founding of The Student Weekly in Singapore and Malaysia during the Cold War. It analyzes agreements, correspondence, reports, and contents of The Student Weekly in comparison with UP leaders’ memoirs to assess the veracity of the latter. The claims made by UP leaders that UP was “absolutely independent and free” and that the U.S. never interfered with UP’s operation are debunked. The article describes the huge U.S. funding for UP and the U.S. monitoring of UP, and discovers many discrepancies between the UP leaders’ memoirs and archival records. The U.S. not only hired experts to review UP’s finances, publications, and work performances for multiple times, but also sent representatives to openly and covertly conduct investigations of UP’s organizations and operations, reporting back to the U.S. headquarters. With this intel, the U.S. headquarters then intervened in UP’s operations. Moreover, UP reported to the U.S. about how their activities and publications were deployed for ideological training in propagating the evils of Communism and became part of the cultural Cold War to instill knowledge and democratic principles in youths in the interests of the Free World.