Tuesday, January 18, 2005
VIETNAM: A REPORT ON THE RELIGIOUS LIBERTY REALITY
By Elizabeth Kendal
World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (WEA RLC)
Special to ASSIST News Service
AUSTRALIA (ANS) -- The
following deeply disturbing report on Vietnam was written by an
internationally respected Vietnam observer. The observer reports that
there are many hundreds of unregistered Christian meeting places and
gatherings in Vietnam where believers meet at great personal risk to
their liberty and life, despite the Vietnamese government's boastings
of freedom of religion.
The observer also reports that nearly 300 Christian leaders have been
incarcerated since the April 2004 Easter demonstrations, and that at
least 60 Protestant leaders languish in the infamous Ba Sao Prison in
Nam Ha Province on long prison sentences.
Reliable, trusted sources told the observer that the Vietnamese
government is recruiting and training special units from amongst the
Hmong and Montagnards to combat the spread of Christianity (described
as an internal enemy) in their ethnic communities.
This report also examines the appalling and violent mistreatment meted
out to the Mennonite prisoners, and the distressing state of the one
female Mennonite prisoner arrested in June 2004, Le Thi Hong Lien (21),
who has become deranged with trauma. Amnesty International has issued
an Urgent Action Appeal on her behalf: UA 01/05 Viet Nam http://www.amnesty.ca/urgentaction/.
Totalitarian states require friendly international relations in order
to pursue coveted economic development. However, the more the
totalitarian governments open up economically and diplomatically, the
more they need to repress their suffering masses, restricting their
access to information and cracking down on all dissent and perceived
threats in order to hold on to power. They also need to ensure that
their propaganda speaks louder and is more convincing (or appealing)
than the truth. It becomes a perpetual game of testing the waters (how
much can we get away with?) and should be matched by a testing of the
"bones" (not accepting everything at face value) as the confronting
report below suggests.
The question then becomes: How much duplicity will the Vietnamese
government be permitted? Those who knowingly accept and wink at the
government of Vietnam's duplicity are complicit in the government of
Vietnam's morally reprehensible human rights abuses.
Elizabeth Kendal (WEA RLC)
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A BOX OF MIXED BONES
- Religious human rights in Vietnam
by a Vietnam observer,
15 January 2005.
In early December 2004, North Korea infuriated Japan by trying to pass
off "a box of mixed human bones" as the remains of a woman it had
kidnapped from Japan when she was 13. After DNA testing, a Japanese
cabinet secretary announced on December 8 that, "The bones belong to a
number of other people. It would be difficult under the present
circumstances to provide further assistance to North Korea." The
announcement caused shock waves in Japan, a nation that venerates its
dead. (Herald Tribune, December 13, 2004, page 1)
This is an apt metaphor for what Vietnam is trying to do with its human
rights – religious freedom policies. It is giving the world "a box of
mixed bones". But unlike Japan's incensed people, many in the world
seem to be accepting them as the genuine article. The guile of trying
to pass off the counterfeit is surpassed only by the naivete of
accepting it as real.
Concerned about its reputation in the region and the world, with WTO
prospects, and stung by continued revelations of religious human rights
abuses, Vietnam is in the midst of an unprecedented propaganda campaign
to show the world all is well.
Here, however, are some examples of Vietnam's ongoing restrictive and
abusive practices.
THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS AND THE NORTHWEST PROVINCES
An area of continued great concern to which Vietnamese authorities deny
free access is the Central Highlands. A propaganda piece sent on 4
November 2004 by ambassador Phan Thuy Thanh from the Vietnamese Embassy
in Brussels, to inquirers in Holland, is full of disingenuous
"information". It entirely denies that land and religion have anything
to do with the unrest. It says:
"Vietnam's law ensures the right to freedom of religion
and belief and non-religion or belief to all citizens, which is clearly
inscribed in the constitution and respected in reality. There is
absolutely no question of the so-called 'repression of Protestants'. On
the contrary, Protestants in the Central Highlands enjoy favourable
conditions for religious practices. There are about 25 grass root
Protestant groups in the Central Highland."
Here is the "reality". There are in the five Highland provinces with
minorities - Dak Nong, Lam Dong, Dak Lak, Gai Lai and part of Binh
Phuoc - at least 1,700 Protestant "meeting places" where Christians
gather to worship. The government recognizes about 25, but cannot even
bring itself to call them churches, because it has not allowed them to
build church buildings!
Beginning in September 2002 a massive government campaign forcibly
disbanded many hundreds of local churches and other campaigns sought to
force Christians to renounce their faith. Nearly 300 Christians leaders
are known to have been arrested and are incarcerated, some still
without trial since the April 2004 Easter demonstrations. At least 60
Protestant leaders, including eight regular pastors of local churches,
languish in the infamous Ba Sao Prison in Nam Ha Province, all with
long prison sentences. After the demonstrations last Easter,
authorities promised only a handful of "ringleaders" would be tried and
sentenced. Another promise broken.
In Dak Lak, a province that remains virtually locked down to regular
travel for residents and visitors alike, the state recognizes only two
ethnic Vietnamese and two Ede minority churches that meet in the homes
of the pastors. Christian leaders report there are 439 meeting places
in the province. Four out of 439 is less than one per cent! The pastors
of the four groups, supposedly recognized by the state, are not even
free to visit their own parishioners without getting complicated
permissions. Christian leaders in the province say the vast majority of
the approximately 150,000 Protestant Christians must now practice their
faith underground – and so worship, teaching, baptisms and the
observance of holy communion must be done out of sight of the
authorities. Protestant leaders say the government plan to "eradicate"
Christianity, frequently enunciated by hardline local officials,
continues gradually but steadily. All villages and hamlets have
constant military and/or police presence.
Similar stories are told about the other provinces. In Gia Lai province
where strong church leaders do daily battle with the authorities, some
16 church groups have now been recognized. But there are 400 meeting
places! One prominent church leader of the Jerai minority who was
described in a "complimentary manner" in a communist journal has
accused authorities of fabricating much of the story and has demanded a
public retraction. Compliments by the Party or State for a religious
leader are a curse to be overcome because they cause his followers to
suspect his integrity.
ETHNIC SPECIAL UNITS TO COMBAT THE INTERNAL ENEMY
In a very troubling development not yet reported elsewhere, it has been
learned from independent sources which have proved reliable in the
past, that the Vietnamese government is in the process of recruiting
and training both Hmong in the Northwest Provinces and Montagnards in
the Central Highlands for special units to oppose the spread and
development of Christianity.
The purpose of the unit according to the Hmong sources is to "oppose an
enemy, not external, but internal". That is Christianity. Men are being
recruited on a basis of loyalty to the repressive system and the
absence of sympathies for Christian believers. They are being given
training after which they will return to their home areas to suppress
Christianity. Some of those being recruited are former military people.
(At least a dozen Hmong Christian leaders remain in prison in the
Northwest provinces.)
And similarly, a knowledgeable Dak Lak Montagnard source has reported
that authorities are recruiting training a special unit of 2,500
Montagnards for similar purposes.
Such an approach is intended to give the government plausible
deniability as they will make it look as if there is spontaneous
indigenous ethnic resistance to a "foreign religion". This action
underlines that religious freedom for minorities is NOT in the
government's plan – all protestations to the contrary. It takes
delusional mental gymnastics to see "progress" in freedom for minority
Christians in this picture.
DEVELOPMENTS CONCERNING THE NEW ORDINANCE ON RELIGION
Announced to become effective on 15 November 2004, the new ordinance
has not provided signs of hope to religious people. Authorities, who
believed they were making concessions in the new religion ordinance
were surprised by the depth of opposition which included complaints
from some religious groups they believed were safely "patriotic".
It has been learned that before being fully implemented, the new
Ordinance is to be further spelled out by a new decree, implementation
bulletins, and forms for the many permissions required. Authorities are
currently stuck at the decree level. Draft three of the decree is
circulating among religious groups but authorities are said to be on
draft five.
The new ordinance and draft decree still provide no legal space for
house churches, nor for the majority of Protestant Evangelical
Christians in Vietnam who are ethnic minorities in the Central
Highlands and the Northwest Provinces. Therefore some 75 percent of
Protestants in Vietnam continue to be excluded from legality in spite
of Vietnam's pronouncements about liberalization in the emerging legal
framework. In anticipation of the ordinance coming into effect, some
house churches, fearing the worst, have already divided into smaller,
less visible groups.
The 1999 Government Decree on Religion No. 26 continues to be used a
legal tool to suppress religious activity. On 11 November 2004, the
People's Committee of Dong Xuan District in Phu Yen Province responded
in a letter to a request from a small Protestant congregation to
register its activities. The congregation of Da Du Hamlet, Xuan Lanh
Commune, had functioned there for some years with the knowledge of the
authorities and with few difficulties. So it accepted in good faith the
government's well-advertised new liberalization in religious affairs
and tried to register its activities.
The result was entirely disheartening. The congregation ended up in a
much worse situation than when it operated informally earlier. The Dong
Xuan District People's Committee flatly denied the congregation
permission to meet and practice their faith on the basis of Decree 26.
The directive to the congregation concluded ominously:
"The People's Committee of Dong Xuan District orders the
People's Committee of Xuan Lanh Commune to coordinate with the
Fatherland Front and other government organs in the commune to
mobilize, educate and abruptly halt and take legal measures against all
meetings, religious activities and propagation activities of a number
of people in Da Du Hamlet of Xuan Lanh Commune."
Such is the reward of a small Protestant congregation that dares test
the government's announced intention to liberalize restrictions on
religion. It is difficult to see any progress in the area of creating
new laws, and implementing current ones.
PERSECUTION OF THE VIETNAMESE MENNONITE CHURCH
The well-publicized conviction and sentencing of six Vietnamese
Mennonites on 12 November 2004, on a "criminal charge" seems to be
considered by some as difficult to oppose because it involved a
"criminal charge". Strangely, some diplomats and even some Mennonite
groups seem to accept and be immobilized by the government's consistent
claim that "it has nothing to do with religion".
That this view is simply wrong is shown by the fact that from 10
November to 3 December 2004 the home/church of the Rev. Nguyen Hong
Quang, cared for by his 30-year-old wife Le Thi Phu Dung, was invaded
five times by gangs of uniformed and plain-clothes police, up to 40 at
a time and sometime at midnight. This round of persecution began with a
cultural revolution-style public accusation/humiliation session against
Mrs. Quang. A recording of this session makes clear it is against the
"illegal Christian religion". Authorities require Mrs. Quang to cease
all religious gatherings, activities and ceremonies in the Quang
house/church, and to take down the church sign. Videos of some of the
police raids have also made their way to the West.
With the release of two of the six prisoners in early December, written
testimonies of their unbelievable mistreatment while in custody became
available. These reports in translation are available. Readers will
agree that the treatment of the two brothers, Nhan and Nghia, is worthy
of the Soviet Gulags. A 5 January 2005 press release of the Mennonite
World Conference details some of the awful abuse. (Link 1)
Even more horrible is the complete crushing of the body, mind and
spirit of the lone woman among the six prisoners, 21-year-old Le Thi
Hong Lien. Physical and mental abuse by officials has caused Ms Lien to
lose her mind and control over bodily functions. The poignant report
and reflections of her poor, day-labourer father, written after his
visit with her on 14 December, with additional information gleaned from
previous prison visits, is also available. Her father has been denied
any access to her since. On 7 January 2005, Amnesty International
issued an urgent appeal on her behalf. (Link 2)
Government policy makers, business people and aid organizations wishing
to do business with and help the people of Vietnam need to keep these
realities firmly in mind when dealing with the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam. They should test a few bones. Without clear international
consequences for its gross misbehaviour toward is own peaceful
citizens, Vietnam will have no incentive to change.
Vietnam Observer
15 January 2004
Phnom Penh
Links
1) Mennonite World Conference,
PRESS RELEASE 5 January 2005
Released Church Leaders Speak Out on Prison Abuse
http://www.mwc-cmm.org/News/MWC/050105rls1.html
2)Amnesty International
UA 01/05 Viet Nam
http://www.amnesty.ca/urgentaction/
SEE ALSO
Woman hospitalized following trial, nine-day hunger strike.
By Mennonite Weekly Review staff, 19 Nov 2004
http://www.menoweekly.org/NOVEMBER/11-22-04/LIEN11-22.html
Elizabeth Kendal is the Principal
Researcher and Writer for the World Evangelical Alliance Religious
Liberty Commission (WEA RLC) www.worldevangelical.org/rlc.html.
This article was initially written for the World Evangelical Alliance
Religious Liberty News & Analysis mailing list.
Elizabeth can be contacted by e-mail at rl-research@crossnet.org.au.
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