FIFTY YEARS of VIOLATIONS of Human Rights in Communist Vietnam 1945-1995

POLICIES ON RELIGIONS
The Law

After the coup d'etat in 1945, the Indochinese Communist Party sustained both the political pressures by the nationalist parties and the heavy military attack by the French Expeditionary Corps. To save the situation, President Ho Chi Minh sought to woo religious leaders for their support. As Gettleman noted:

On December 24, 1946, he sent a letter with a similar content to the Catholic leaders. In the opening of the letter, he said: "Nearly 2,000 years ago, a saint was born to this world. He consecrated all his life to save and help mankind and sacrificed himself for freedom and equality." He called upon the Vietnamese Catholics to participate in the resistance to protect the country and freedom of religion.

Throughout the years of resistance, the Ho Chi Minh government maintained peaceful relationship with the religions, courting them into its allies. However, in the wake of the takeover of North Vietnam, it applied again all the methods it had learned from other Communist countries, frustrating the effects of religions and negating their role in the people's life.

On July 22, 1954, prior to the withdrawal of the French Expeditionary Corps from North Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh called upon all Vietnamese, regardless of social status, religious belief, political opinion and irrespective of the parties to which they belonged, to cooperate and to work for the Fatherland and struggle for peace, unity, independence, and democracy. In his 1954 Christmas message to his fellow countrymen of the Catholic Church, he promised, in his words, "the Government sincerely respects freedom of religion. As regards deceived Catholics who have gone to the South, the Government has issued instructions to the local administration to take under its custody their rice fields, gardens, and other properties and to restore these to them on their return." However, on June 14, 1955, before the land reform, Ho promulgated a decree on the protection of freedom of conscience and worship.

Article 1 of the decree reads:

Strict measures against traditional beliefs and religion began with the repression against the Catholic Church of Vietnam in the later years of 1940's. From the end of 1946 to the beginning of 1947, the Communists arrested about 5,000 people including lay Catholics in the Phat Diem diocese for "lack of spirit for the Resistance" and for being "reactionary," that is, they were national party members. The lay Catholics arrested were those who still kept French flags and "long tinh" flags (national flags that were officially recognized under the reign of Emperor Bao Dai) in their homes. Other were those who were involved in the national parties' activities. Still, others were those who helped with the Church's religious services such as the head of a congregation, or leaders of Catholic associations (Pham Van Pho, 1994: 14).

During the Resistance War, the Communists followed an allied front line collaborating with the religions and other political parties in the nationalist camp. However, after the withdrawal of the French from the territory north of the 17th parallel, Ho Chi Minh and the Communists made volte face. They carried out the same measures they had learned from the Soviet Union and Communist China to eliminate or neutralize religions. These measures consisted of restraining the formation of priests and monks, denying provisions for novices at monasteries, and preventing the faithful from attending religious celebrations. They initiated "anti-superstition campaigns" to attack religious activities and practices. They fabricated false opposition activities to arrest prominent priests and monks and send them to reeducation camps. They restricted the movement and meeting of clergymen outside the pagoda, cathedral, and other worship facilities. They formed the "United Patriotic Religious Committees" to replace official religious organizations. During the land reform in 1957, they confiscated the Churches' properties. Many Catholic churches and Buddhist Pagodas were converted into meeting halls or granaries.

In effect, the Dang Lao Dong Viet Nam (Vietnamese Workers' Party), within 10 years, had eliminated all Buddhist organizations in North Vietnam and instituted in their place the "Patriotic Buddhists Committees" and subdued them under the control of the Fatherland Front. Besides, they closed down institutes of Buddhist studies. They prohibited young monks to continue their religious practices and religious education in monasteries. The Buddhist faith could only survive in the family.

Concerning the Catholics, unable to eliminate the Church's activities, the Communists diluted them with strict measures to wear out the ranks of religious order and the clergy. They created the "Patriotic Catholics Committees" that functioned alongside the Church. These measures of attrition, within twenty years, had decreased the number of religious Orders and priests to an alarming state. In 1993, the total number of priests throughout the North was about 277, including 30 priests who were ordained "illegally." It was lesser than the number of priests in the Saigon Archdiocese, with 300 priests. In the Hanoi diocese, there were 16 priests, 7 of whom were over 60 years of age, for the 150,000 faithful. In the Bac Ninh diocese, there were 5 priests and 12 nuns for the 100,000 faithful in 46 parishes. In the Phat Diem diocese, there were only 23 priests for the 125,000 faithful. In the Bui Chu diocese, there were 27 priests and 27 "illegally ordained" priests, who were ordained in hiding, for the 300,000 faithful. The Communists expect that, in 15 to 20 years when the older priests will have died, the faithful will become leaderless and the Church will disintegrate by itself. (The Committee for the Struggle for Religious Freedom in Vietnam, 1993: 11-12).

In September 1960, the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam proclaimed its official policy to concretize a resolution passed by the Third Party Congress of the Vietnamese Workers' Party. According to these rulings, Marxism-Leninism should be dominant in the moral life of the country. It is the ideology of all the people. It is the basis on which the people build a new morality.

From 1970 to 1975, the Churches in North Vietnam, especially the Roman Catholic Church, survived the extreme difficulties. During this period, the Armed Forces of the Republic of South Vietnam invaded Kampuchea. Fearful of a similar invasion into North Vietnam, the Hanoi administration executed the policy of strict control in all Catholic parishes. Those followers who were active in the service of the Church were sent to reeducation camps, and a number of them were detained, without trial, until 1985. After 36 years under strict control, the number of Catholic priests in the North deteriorated immeasurably. There were only 7 priests for the faithful of 145,000 in the Haiphong Diocese, 15 priests for the 72,000 faithful in the Bac Ninh Diocese, and 5 priests for the 95,000 faithful in the Phat Diem Diocese.

It is commonplace that, in a society where a single ideology dominates in all sectors of the social life, people always seek to manifest aspirations and beliefs that are generally different from those conceived by that political party. Witnesses who survived periods of hardship and religious repression in North Vietnam (1956-1960) told Vietnam Human Rights Watch representatives that they do not trust the State and the Party. Neither do the absolute majority of the Vietnamese people.

Traditional Beliefs and Religions in North Vietnam

Tran Trung, 68, a native of Ha Son Binh Province, North Vietnam, said that, for many years, the Party has tried to break the family ties, but it has not succeeded. Not every Vietnamese Communist is like Truong Chinh who brought his own father to the People's Court to be insulted. Not every Vietnamese is like Uncle Ho who dared say to our national hero Tran Hung Dao with an equal "I" and called Him with an equal "you" when he visited Kiep Bac Temple. He wonder how Ho would address his father and ancestors when he bowed his head at the altar before his ancestors.

As far as popular beliefs are concerned, Tran said that, in principle, the Party does not formally allow any kind of worship. The worship of ancestors may be regarded as a form of superstition, but it is, what we may say, a traditional belief of our people. The Vietnamese, however poor they are, would still have an incense stick, a bowl of steamed rice, and a boiled egg to commemorate the deceased. In principle, local authorities do not allow assembly of any kind or the celebration at home without prior authorization, especially at times of war. In a village where everyone knows everyone else, laws and regulations often give place to sympathy between and among people of the same village. People are relatives in some way or another. Besides, an anniversary is a good opportunity for all to have a good meal with meat and rice wine. In villages where cadres or party members strictly observe the rules, they are either given bribes or isolated, and the villagers go ahead with their celebration.

Concerning the worship of the Titular Genius at the "Dinh" (Communal House), Tran explained that there is a history about it. Under the French domination, the colonialists, through almost a hundred years, had tried, with every effort to eradicate the traditional village administration, rites, and rituals. However, the Vietnamese practiced the worship of Titular Genii--regional benefactors and national heroes--and observed their own rules. The "Dinh" was still the very political and cultural superstructure of our country. The French established the "Hoi Dong Cai Luong Huong Chinh" (the Council of Reformed Village Administration) in place of the Council of Notables. Under this label, they managed to transform the people's manners and customs and to control the activities of the village. Of most importance, they aimed to uproot the Vietnamese traditional administrative structure. They intended to destroy the very base of democracy the Vietnamese had preserved with sweat and blood in their resistance against despotic imperial courts and foreign aggressors. King Tu Duc (19th century) had his orders specifying respects for the village's rights to vote for its communal representatives and to preserve regional customs. That was why the colonialists failed to achieve their schemes to eradicate the Vietnamese traditional village administrative structure and democracy.

The Communists have tried, in the same manner the colonialists had, to obliterate our traditional way of life, replacing the veneration and worship of national heroes with Communist practices and the worship of Ho, of Marx, of Lenin, of Stalin, and of Mao. At the beginning of the Resistance War (1945-1954), most communal houses within the war zones throughout the country were destroyed because of the Viet Minh's scorched earth tactics. After the war, the worship of Titular Genii at communal houses was undermined by the Party's policy. The worship of the Titular Genius was deemed to be a form of superstition, and rites and rituals for commemorating their merits were condemned to be vestiges of feudalism. In some areas, the worship place, such as the one in Quang Ba, some three kilometers from Hanoi, was destroyed without reasons. In many cases, it was destroyed simply because the village party members and cadres wanted a share of their construction materials for their houses or yards. In other areas, it was transformed into offices for the village People's Councils of Administration, classes, hangars, barns, and even a place for entertainment. Centuries-old communal houses were not maintained and became ruined. In the old days, every village had a communal house. Nowadays, very few communal houses stand. We can walk for kilometers in the Thanh Nghe Tinh Province, Uncle's Ho native province, without seeing one.

Regarding the worship of Buddha, Tran explicated that pagodas suffered the same fate as communal houses. In the old days, when he was young, on the first and fifteenth days of every month of the lunar calendar, men went to the communal house to worship the Titular Genius and women went to pagodas to pay services to Buddha. Such a tradition no longer existed until 1975. Nevertheless, after the liberation of the South, the worship of Buddha or, to term it precisely, the traditional way of spirits worshipping has come back. From 1984, annual pilgrimages to famous historical pagodas, such as Huong Tich Pagoda at Chuong My in the Ha Son Binh Province, have resumed and followed the traditional way. The Outer Pagoda of the Huong Tich is now in ruins, but the Inner Pagoda is still in good shape. Believers from all directions, as far as Ha Bac Province in the high plateau and Ha Nam Ninh Province in the low delta, come there in crowds to pray for wealth and happiness.

Believe it or not, the believers themselves voluntarily organize pilgrimages. They come in groups. They spread news, and others come and join them. Pilgrimages to other famous worship places also attract thousands of visitors. There are monks and guardians. There is a small number of them. They are state-designated. They are like cadres. They perform their services in the daytime or when they are needed and go home at night. They have their own families, wives and children, as do common folks. We can now see them at famous and temples in Hanoi, such as Quan Su Pagoda, Tran Vo Pagoda, Ngoc Son Temple, or Hai Ba Trung (The Two Trung Sisters) Temple. Rarely can visitors see them in the outskirts of the Capital. Many pagodas and temples in these areas were either destroyed or collapsed and became ruined. In many areas where the villagers are rich enough, people begin to build new pagodas and temples, such as the new pagoda at Thanh Oai in the Ha Son Binh Province, or repair the old ones, such as the Boi Pagoda at Quoc Oai in the former Son Tay Province. The annual anniversary of the Founder Monk at Boi Pagoda attracted thousands of believers from all directions. Of course, contributions for reconstruction of pagodas and temples or ceremonies are to be administered through the state lines of authorities.

Being asked if such practices came out as a result of "coi mo" and "doi moi" (openness and renovation), Tran thought that the common folks don't know and don't care what "doi moi" and "coi mo" mean to them. After the liberation of the South, they have close contacts with the people in the South. They have heard and seen so many things contrary to what the Party and State had lied to them about the South, about everything. Now, the people ignore what they say, even their threats. They have overcome fear. They do unauthorized things. The Party and State dare not lay hands on them. Why? The North Vietnamese have sacrificed everything: their properties, labor and sweat, and the lives of their beloved during the Resistance War, on the battlefronts in the South, and in Kampuchea. What do they get in return? Nothing but poverty and misery! The Party and State have to close their eyes on certain things. What they need now is money. At every celebration, there is a so-called "contribution-to-building-socialism" offertory box to collect money. That is really a kind of tax (Quang Nhan, 1992).

Concerning the present religious life and practices, Nguyen Thi Diep, 64, a native of Thuong Tam, Dong Hung District (formerly Thai Ninh Prefecture), Thai Binh Province, North Vietnam, said that, once in a while, the villagers, mostly women, go to pagodas. There are no more monks. There are guardians. Nevertheless, they know nothing about Buddha, Buddhism, and Buddhist rites and rituals. Before 1954, there were two pagodas in the village, one in the center of the village and one outside of it in the open fields. In 1956, the local officials had the one in the center of the village destroyed and built in its place an office for the village People's Council. Now, there remains the one in the open fields. They didn't destroy it because they could have control of access to it and control those who came and left there. They feared that a pagoda could be a good place for the reunion of counterrevolutionary elements.

The communal house is a primary target for elimination. It is, to the Communist authorities, the symbol of feudalism and imperial power that has to be destroyed. However, in some areas, the Communist authorities were not successful. The villagers in Me So Village, Khoai Chau District, Hung Yen Province, for example, have persistently resisted, ever since 1956, the local authorities' order to destroy the village's worship place.

There still remain Catholic cathedrals in the former Thai Ninh Prefecture, but they are all old. Many of them became ruined. The Sa Cat Cathedral in Thai Binh City became abandoned. The Luong Dong Cathedral was deserted. There were no priests, and the followers were like a flock of sheep without a shepherd (Thien Nhan, 7 (March 1993)).

Nguyen Duy Nhat, 48, was educated and grew up under Communist North Vietnam. A Catholic of Bui Chu Diocese, Ha Nam Ninh Province, Nguyen and his family had struggled to survive through hardship and misery. In 1977, Nguyen and his family immigrated to the South. They settled in Cai San, Long Xuyen Province, where they prepared to escape to the land of their dream. The family came to the United States in 1988 and is now living in Phillips Ranch, California.

Recalling the religious life in Bui Chu before 1975, Nguyen related that the spiritual life in the diocese wasn't better. In his childhood, he learned from cadres that Communists and Catholics are incompatible. They're like fire and water; one can't exist in the presence of the other. There's no wonder if we're subject to strict control under communism. Cadres are after us everywhere. Their presence haunts us, even in our dreams. Bui Chu is one of the largest dioceses in North Vietnam. It is also the birthplace of the Vietnamese Catholic Church. The Catholics there are fervent. They serve their faith under the most extreme circumstances. By the time the Democratic Republic Government of Vietnam returned to Hanoi, there were approximately two hundred parishes throughout the diocese. Bishop Tinh was the Master of the Flock. Every follower, of course, venerated and looked up to him as a symbol. His virtues, integrity, and devotion to God were beyond doubt. The Communists knew that they could not, in any way, disunite the congregation under his leadership and disband the Catholic Church in the diocese by denigrating him. The local Communist cadres then staged up campaigns to denounce the "crimes" by and "misdemeanors" of priests in the parishes. They organized a so-called Congress of Catholic Youths at Quan Phuong Village, Hai Hau District, Nam Dinh Province. They selected representatives from the parishes, who, in reality, were cadres disguising themselves as prominent, pious Catholics to participate in it. Their main objective was to disunite the Church. They meant to disable it by asking the Bishop to discharge certain priests.

Perceiving their vile scheme, Bishop Tinh, before the Holy Mass at Bui Chu Cathedral was dismissed, gave warnings that those Catholic youths who would attend the congress would be excommunicated. Many "representatives" were also present at the church. Nevertheless, the believers in their parishes unveiled them very quickly. Whispering to one another, everyone came to recognize these scabby sheep. The atmosphere became tense. Everyone was furious at their vile intentions. Right after the dismissal, the believers, in groups, raked for them and challenged them with hands and feet. Cadres later failed to trace out masterminds since the believers from one parish only chose "representatives" in another parish as "targets" for their furor. The Communists never easily give in, however. They failed to use the masses to create pressure on the Church and to disable and disorganize it this time. Nevertheless, they waited to buy the time and sought other means to avenge it. They introduced step-by-step legal matters, formally applying decisions and regulations on religions such as resolutions, orders, and notices from the central government or from themselves, to obliterate the Church. They closed down the seminary at Ninh Cuong, Hai Hau District, Nam Dinh Province, and all the Orders at Trung Ninh, Luc Thuy,... and confiscated all the properties of the Church except the worship places. Father Luong Huy Han, Director of Ninh Cuong Seminary, resisted the orders, was arrested, imprisoned, tortured, and forced to starve in prison. He set a shining example to all Catholics with his duties as a servant of God serving his faith. Later, only 10 of the 29 seminarists who had been ordained were allowed to continue their priesthood; the rest were stopped short of their studies and were to return home. The seminary ceased to operate, and, as consequence, the formation of priests was put to an end.

The shortage of priests has become increasingly severe ever since. There have been 10 priests replacing the old priests, who died as years went by, to serve the Church throughout the diocese of nearly 200 parishes for nearly 40 years. All of them are now old, but there is still no hope for replacement. By 1955, a priest had to take charge of the religious services at an average of 12 parishes at a time. This difficulty affected religious preaching and services tremendously. Sunday Masses rotated among the local cathedrals. The believers had to walk for miles and miles from very early in the morning to attend the Masses.

The Communists thought that, by creating difficulties to religious preaching and practice, Catholics would eventually renounce their faith. Contrary to their wishes, the more oppression they exerted on the Catholics, the more faithful to God they would become. On the annual celebrations of the Diocese Patronage Saint Day, the Commemoration Day for Martyrs, and the Commemoration Day for Our Immaculate Mother, as many as tens of thousands of the faithful came to the Diocese Main Cathedral to profess their faith!

Nguyen said that we should not underestimate the Communists. They are very cunning in using their artful tactics to destroy their adversaries. They are clever at deceiving to win the final battle. They know how to wait for the right time to execute their schemes. The right time came with the agrarian reforms in 1956. Seizing this opportunity, local cadres immediately carried them out with absolute determination not only to wipe out landlords but also to exterminate those whom they considered to be enemies of the regime. Among these enemies were intellectuals, officials of the old regime, clergies of all religions, and, especially, Catholic priests and followers of virtues and prestige. His father-in-law, Dinh Van Tac, a pious and virtuous Catholic at Quat Lam Parish, was one among them. These "reactionaries" were brought to trials before the People's Court, chaired by the cadres themselves and persecuted by their henchmen. In every parish, there were at least two or more victims sentenced to death and shot on the spot. Father Dinh Quang Hien of Phu Nhai Parish was also brought to trial before the People's court. Unable to accuse him of any crime, the local cadres charged him with evading the law: he had not paid land taxes for many years, dating back to the founding of the parish (200 years)! He was imprisoned for 6 years afterwards. This artful trick was certainly a warning on the part of the local authorities and the first step in executing their tactics to destroy religion and silence any opposition that might occur in the future (Trung Tan, 1994).

The Persecution of Christians in the North in Recent Years

Tribal groups are the special opponents for suspicion of government policies. In Vietnam's remote northwestern provinces of Lai Chau, Ha Tuyen, and Son La, a large number of Hmong tribesmen have reportedly become Christians. This movement began in 1989. Estimates show that Hmong believers now number more than 50,000 in a population of approximately a half million. Many have converted in response to native language gospel programs of the Far East Broadcasting Co., an American-based radio network with offices in Hong Kong. That raised some concern among Vietnamese authorities that was manifested in an article published in the "Nhan Dan" (The People) in April 1991. The Daily described the conversion of increasing numbers of Hmong as a widespread movement causing much damage against the security of the country. The government systematically tried to disbelieve newly converted Hmong believers, emphasizing their low cultural standards. They also accused them of supporting a scheme to overthrow the Communists and seeking to join a religious movement that Hmong followers had initiated in the South.

Hmong Christians suffered beatings, fines, forced labor, interference with farming and harvesting, imprisonment, death threats, forced immigrations, and property confiscations. The abuses, recounted by various sources, seem to have begun in 1991, continued and amplified in 1992, and reached a peak in the summer of 1993.

A December 1993 report documented severe cases of physical abuse against arrested Hmong people. Authorities reportedly "played game with them," forcing them to kneel and worship government officials and their wives. Bibles and radios were regularly confiscated. Hmong women and children have also reportedly been abused. These incidents caused some believers to flee to surrounding jungles to hold Bible studies and prayer meetings without constantly fearing police persecution.

Hmong documents indicate repeated appeals to local and provincial officials. After unsuccessful requests for redress at the local level, in February 1993, a Hmong delegation of eleven men, guided by Vietnamese Christian leaders in Hanoi, went to the Ministry for the Interior to report in detail about beatings, jailing, fines, and other mistreatments they had suffered due to their new religion.

An officer of the Ministry for the Interior acknowledged receipt of their complaints by issuing a record of evidence. Nevertheless, the persecution has not diminished despite numerous attempts that still have been made by the Hmong to clarify their position with the authorities and to deny political aspirations.

On January 10, 1994, the police seized Thao A Tong, an influential Hmong leader in Hong Thu village, while he was preaching. He was charged with "taking advantage of religion to break laws and distract people from the productive work of the country." Arrested with Thao A Tong was layperson Giang A Di. There has been no news of any trial, and Hmong Christians fear that these leaders are joining a growing list of others arrested over the past five years and will be held indefinitely, without trial.

Lai Chau

The People's Court of Lai Chau Province, North Vietnam, sentenced Ho Giong Cua to 18 months in prison on charges of indicting the local authorities of repression of religion. Ho had sent two petitions with his and twenty-four other representatives' signatures from three different villages to both provincial and central authorities citing evidences of constant repression against Christianism.

News of repression of religion in Lai Chau and other regions in North Vietnam have been sent overseas. However, they often fail to reach the mass media. The magazine "Dai Doan Ket" (Great Union) of the Fatherland Front of Vietnam, on April 17, 1992, reported incidents of religious blasphemy in Lai Chau Province which were presented by Deputy Phan Khac Tu at the National Assembly:

Security police agents of the Huoi Chan Village, Community of Ang Tu, District of Tuan Giao, arrested, incarcerated, imposed fines, and beat up a number of persons because they practiced their religion, Christianism.

1. On April 19, 1990, Hou A Tong was arrested and beaten up. He is currently detained at No. 10 penitentiary, Dien Bien District.

2. Hou A Sua had been put in fetters three times, for twenty-four hours each time; three times, he had to pay a fine for amends of 40,000 dong. In addition, he was called four times to the commune and was detained for a period of seven days each time. He was also summoned three times to report to the district authorities of Tuan Giao. Each time, he was imprisoned for one month and imposed a fine for amends of 50,000 dong. Seven others were Ly A Sua, Hou A Lenh, Vang A Gio, Vang A Sinh, Vang A Di, Vang A Khai, and Hou A De. They were imprisoned for 7 days and ordered to pay a fine of 50,000 dong. Barbaric treatment was inflicted on all eight of them. They were ordered to pay in kind. Each of them had to supply the authority with 30 kgs of pork, 50 kgs of rice, and 2kgs of chicken. They were then compelled to remain kneeling on the ground for 60 minutes. The Police raised an imitation altar on which they put the pictures of the Lord, which they had confiscated and forced the followers to prepare a meal. They called that a celebration of crimes of the Lord. After that, they humiliated them by preaching a sermon of renunciation. On the same day, they confiscated two tape recorders of Hou A Tong and a radio belonging to Vang A Di. They threatened the followers saying that if they continued to commit practicing the religion, they would be executed. Lo Van On, assistant to the District Chief of Security Police Bureau, and a number of cadres of this bureau were responsible for all those doings.

Ha Giang

The official daily "Quan Doi Nhan Dan" (The People's Army), in April 1992, announced the arrests of three Catholics of the ethnic minority Hmong. The state news agency broadcast this information in French and called them "preachers." They were likely catechists responsible for the Hmong laity Catholics who, for a long time, had lived their faith without a priest. They were accused of conducting illegal religious propaganda and violating the security of the State. According to the daily, the activities conducted by Hmong Catholics were not "purely religious." The preaching of catechism was of a provocative character and appeared to be efficacious because it attracted the masses and might have incited them not to rely on the Party and State.
 

Political Goals

Upon seizing the power in the South, the Communist administration called for the appropriation of properties of the bourgeoisie, landlords, and religions and, then, transferred their legal ownership to the working class and peasantry. They called this transfer of ownership the "Revolution of the People's Democracy." However, facing the nonviolent but effective resistance by the religions against state control, the State yielded signs of impotence, with the resolute refusal by diverse religious hierarchies. As a matter of principle, they tended to maintain their independence and refuse to comply with certain government directives.

On November 11, 1977, Prime Minister Pham Van Dong signed Resolution 297 regulating religious practices and activities. It particularly prescribed requirements under which religious practices and activities were to be performed. Religious services attended by people coming from other areas, religious classes, summer retreats of the Buddhist Church, councils of the Evangelical Church, and meditation renewals of the Catholic Church were subject to prior authorization. Those who were selected to be trained for the priesthood must have a fervor of patriotism and love for socialism. The clergy had to perform duties toward the State. They had to mobilize followers to perform their citizens' obligations and to carry out the State's policies. Local People's committees were vested with the rights to temporarily use worship places as meeting places and schools.

In the later years of the eighties, because of political pressure from outside, new ideas were adduced in the official viewpoints concerning religion. These ideas were first developed by renowned members of the Party in a number of writings and then published in the press. Observers might recall the presentation on a restrictive religious policy by Tran Bach Dang at the Seventh Congress of the Central Party Committee in March 1990. The political relationship between the State and religions which was adopted on June 27, 1991, was another indication. This relationship was defined and manifested during the Seventh Congress of the Communist Party. The Congress, this time, seemed to confirm a new attitude toward religions and their role in the inner life of public society. Previously, the Congresses never wanted to tackle the religious politics of the Party but generally affirmed the rhetoric "freedom of belief and religion," instead, to incite followers of all faiths to cooperate in the building of the country or to guard against their utilizing religions for reactionary purposes.

After the Seventh Congress, the tone changed. One could explain from it a kind of official recognizance of religious sentiment quasi permanent of the popular psyche: beliefs and religions constitute a great part in the spiritual needs of the people, a necessity that will subsist for a long time. However, the political relationship between the State and the Churches still embraced the inspiration of the old days from which stemmed the passage "prohibition of all activities that cause harm to the freedom of belief or make use of the religion to sabotage national independence, to oppose to socialism, and to prevent the followers from accomplishing their public duties."

The New Decree on Freedom of Religions

On March 21, 1991, the Council of Ministers promulgated the Decree 69/HDBT on religion regulations. The decree consists of three chapters with 25 articles defining religious activities and practices in Vietnam. Under the new regulations, all religions have to observe the laws as vested in the Council of Ministers, and all religious activities and practices apart from official regulations need to be approved by the Council of Ministers and local authorities at all levels. Article 25 of the new decree specifies that foreign aid of purely religious matter can only be obtained with approval from the Council of Ministers. Commenting on this article only, a Catholic bishop in Vietnam said that the Vietnam Communist Party "has discouraged international religious associations and world humanitarian agencies from promoting charitable aid to the poor people of Vietnam."

To negate all possible oppositions from the masses, Chairman of the Vietnam State Council Do Muoi, issued, in November 1991, a decree-law defining State secrets and punishments regarding violations of the law. State secrets were defined as news concerning services, facts, materials, localities, things, words with important content in areas of politics, defense, security, economy, sciences, industry, and others that the State has not made or does not make public and that, if disclosed, will be detrimental to the State. Violations of the State secrets were classified according to three levels of secrecy: absolute secret, covering areas of national defense and strategies, kinds of arms, foreign and international policies; very secret, consisting of contents concerning political negotiations, defense, national security, economy, sciences, and industry; and secret relating to news considered to be detrimental to state security, in general.

The Ho Chi Minh City Committee for Religions, in a communiqué made to the public, brought to the attention of local authorities and Communist party members at district levels a list of guidelines interpreting the new decree. The emphases are focused mainly on the enforcement of the new law. The bases of the policy aim at securing the promotion of respect for freedom, solidarity, and recognition of freedom as one of the rights to freedom and democracy of the people and at preventing the use of religions as destructive means by colonialism and imperialism. The general principles applying to all religions consist of achieving guarantee of freedom of religion, impartiality, equality before the law, observance of legislative and administrative laws and regulations. The administration advocates a policy of religious freedom. It guarantees to promote legitimate and legal religious activities, encouraging activities that benefit national interests and prohibiting superstitions and abuses of religion.

The regulations, in detail, are defined with directives and authorizations. Religious practices at the worship place and at domicile are unrestricted, and the worship place is protected by the State. The printing of bibles and materials of religious matter such as religious education, ordination, appointment, displacement, title conferment of priests, monks, or dignitaries, and the participation in overseas activities are subsequent to authorizations. Foreign aids are to be administered through State agencies.

As the tension between the State and the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam in Hue began to spiral, Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet signed a decree requiring religious establishments to report their activities to the Communist authorities annually. The decree took effect on July 27, 1993. It puts emphasis on the obeisance of the law, as previously inferred in the Resolution 297 on Religions of November 1977 and the Decree 69/HDBT on the regulations regarding religions promulgated on March 21, 1991.

Resolution 297 on Religions of November 1977

On examining the Resolution 297 on Religion of November 1977, Hoang Xuan Hao noted that this resolution begins with a policy on religious freedom. However, the entirety of its contents which follow reveal all the regulations that prohibit, prevent, and restrict religious freedom. It states that anyone who takes advantage of religion to violate the independence of the Fatherland, to counter the socialist system, to decimate the solidarity of the people, to obstruct the religious followers from fulfilling their obligations of citizen, and to resist the policies and the laws of the State will be severely punished by the law. The corollary of this politically tainted regulation is a preparation for other laws, the Criminal Codes of June 27, 1989, for example. Article 81, Section C, of this law stipulates that "the division between those who follow religion and those who do not follow religion and between those who follow religion and the people's administration and social organizations is a serious crime and [those who commit this crime] can be imprisoned from 5 to 15 years, or from 2 to 7 years in situations where the crimes are less serious." The resolution postulates such work as that priests have to mobilize the followers to carry out the State's policies and to obtain authorities' permission before any religious activity. Section 2B of this law authorizes the administrative authorities to appropriate and to administer churches, pagodas, temples, and other religious facilities for the administration's purposes. In principle, this enforcement is only applied to abandoned worship places, the worship places where there are no guardians or resident priests, and the worship places that the followers no longer frequent to pay services. The administrative authorities have full authority as vested by the law to adjust regulations on religious activities and easily enforce the law to close down churches, pagodas, orphanages, schools, and other religious institutions for purposes that the administration wishes to achieve. After April 30, 1975, these regulations are also applied to the religions in South Vietnam. Finally, the resolution prohibits all forms of "superstition" whose contents are not defined. This can be considered as a tactic the administration uses to suppress a number of popular beliefs and traditional worships such as Taoism and Buddhism. Almost all of these prohibitions are reprised in the Decree 69 HDBT of March 21, 1991 (Hoang Xuan Hao, 1993: 21).

The Decree 69 HDBT of March 21, 1991

Overview

The decree also made provisions that the State permits the practice of religion, but followers ought not take advantage of it to oppose and derange the authorities or to destroy national solidarity. Priests and followers of religions will be punished like any other citizens if they violate the law. The relationships between the Churches inside the country and organizations in foreign countries as well as their activities must follow guidelines by the State. Schools run by the religion ought to provide programs for political education. The State permits the printing and import of books for religious teachings, the maintaining of worship places, the formation of priests, the sending of priests to foreign countries, but permission can only be given if the authorities find it pressingly necessary.

The decree was a further step toward escalating the government's control on religions, especially Buddhism. It was also a preventive measure to restrict the Buddhists' activities and subjugate them under the authorities' control. There appeared on the press in Ho Chi Minh City a certain curiosity concerning the issue of religion. The daily "Saigon Giai Phong" (Saigon Liberated), on August 15, 1991, ran an article entitled "Bring into Play befittingly the Ideology and the Politics of the Party Concerning Religions" by Chau Quoc Tuan from the Ho Chi Minh City Bureau of Religious Affairs. The conclusion of the article showed a doubt on the Party's politics concerning religions. Chau alleged that the religions were working against the regime. He urged the Communist Party to heighten vigilance. Necessary steps should be taken to neutralize those activities that use religion as a shield to sabotage national independence, oppose socialism, and impede the followers to accomplish their civic duties. The Party, in his view, guarantees freedom of belief of the people, but it also secures the political stability and the economic development of the country at the same time.

Examination on the 69/HDBT March 21, 1992

Lu Giang contended that, after the disintegration of Communist parties in Eastern Europe, the Communist Party in Vietnam, fearful of similar incidents that might take place in Vietnam, resumed its hostile policy against the religions. The Decree 69-HDBT on March 21, 1991 was a deliberate decision aiming at restricting religious activities and preventing a possible opposition by the religions.

Upon examining the contents of the Decree 69-HDBT, one came to realize that it was an instrument the Vietnamese Communist administration used to nullify the influence of religions in the life of the people. While the State, by Article I of the Decree, guarantees the right to freedom of religion and the right not to follow any religion and prohibits discrimination against religions and beliefs, it deliberately imposes strict measures on the freedom of religion. It regulates religious activities and performances of religious practices, conditioning the faithful's religious services and activities to the State's objectives, policies, and laws and subjecting them under the circumstances where they can hardly fulfill their religious duties. Article 7, for example, stipulates that all religious activities must not intervene in state labor production, political indoctrination, and military obligations. The State, by this article only, has all that it desires to carry out whatever measure deemed necessary to restrict the faithful's religious services and activities. To prevent the faithful from attending Holy Sunday Masses or holiday celebrations, for instance, Communist cadres, empowered by the Decree, can arrange schedules for State labor production and political indoctrination parallel to hours scheduled for religious practices and activities by the Church. On holidays or days of religious celebration, they can organize the so-called days of labor for socialism or full-time sessions for political indoctrination. As a result, the faithful, being worn out after a long day of hard work or tedious indoctrination, would neglect their religious duties.

Decades earlier, the Catholic faithful in the North were forced to work wage-free for the State on Sunday mornings and attend political indoctrination courses on Sunday afternoons. Cadres, in their excuse, would say that they only enforced the law, but, in reality, they intentionally prevented the faithful from attending Sunday Masses.

It is an irony that the official legal document stipulates strict prohibition of discrimination against religions while, in their secret memos, Communist Party authorities specified orders prohibiting admission of Catholic followers to the schools of Medicine, Pharmacy, and Pedagogy and placement of Catholic civil servants in politics, security services, and leadership positions. Strict measures on the Catholics are evident: their religious identity are remarked on in their identification cards so that the police will be able to identify them easily. In any event, a citizen can be discriminated against only on the account of his or her beliefs.

Article 8 of the Decree stipulates that all regular religious activities (praying sessions, Masses, preaching, or religious courses, etc.) at the worship place which are conducted in accordance with local customs and annual programs and registered with local authorities are authorization-exempt, but special religious activities are subject to prior authorization. Since the terminology of the law is not defined, cadres may interpret it in any way they want it to be.

The term "worship place," for instance, is ambiguous. It can be either a pagoda, a temple, or a cathedral; it can also be either a pagoda, a temple, or a cathedral and its dependent worship places. Thus, in some localities, religious practices and activities are to be performed inside the pagoda, temple, or cathedral. Schedules for these religious services are to be registered with local authorities annually. Holy Masses, religious courses, or choir practices for celebration are conducted inside the pagoda, temple, or cathedral. In other localities, they only allowed religious courses and choir practices of songs to be conducted inside dependent houses within the surroundings of pagodas or cathedrals.

Regulations as such also aim at obstructing social and cultural activities. Buddhist or Catholic Boy Scouts Associations, the Legio, the Little Souls, etc., are banned, and their activities are thus prohibited. Many religious followers were arrested due to visiting patients in hospitals or giving aid to the poor in the name of their organization. They are often accused of performing "unlawful religious propagation." Many of these virtuous followers were arrested and banished to long-term "reeducation."

As far as religious propagation is concerned, Article 14 stipulates that the Churches are permitted to print and publish prayer books and books of religious study and to import books on culture and religion and articles to use for religious services. This Article denotes, to the faithful, false words since all the printing and publication, and the import of cultural printed materials are subject to regulations. Moreover, all printing establishments, exportation and importation services and agencies are state-owned. Private enterprises in these areas of business are prohibited. Each year, the Churches have to ask the Communist authorities for permission to print calendars for religious services and books for religious study. The State Department of Mass Communications and Culture permits only a limited number of copies for publication of this kind. In addition, in order to obtain permission, the Churches need to have recommendations from Buddhist monks or Catholic priests in the state-run association concerned.

Being targets for suspicion, the Churches are not allowed to publish journals or bulletins. There are only journals run by state-affiliated religious associations. These journals carry out their objectives propagandizing the Vietnam Communist Party and State's goals and canvassing the religious followers' support to achieve their policies. Religious teachings in these journals are often distorted to the advantage of the Party and State.

Not much less rigorous is the regulation on the practice of humanitarian services by priests and monks. Article 16 of the Decree stipulates that all dignitaries, priests, and religious associations and humanitarian agencies are allowed to operate in areas of activities permitted by the State. But, in 1975, after having seized the political power in South Vietnam, the Communist government proceeded, in a very short time, to confiscate and nationalize all religious social services and establishments. Since then, the Churches have not been permitted to conduct humanitarian activities. The Communists are undeniably afraid that these activities will eventually accredit prestige to certain religious leaders or organizations. Thus, all humanitarian activities must operate under the control of Party- affiliated associations and the Fatherland Front. Nonetheless, after decades in power, the Communist authorities have failed to replace religious and private social associations in their role to promote and operate humanitarian activities in many areas due to the irreparable irresponsibility of their cadres and the corruption that have plagued the high-ranking party members' circles. On the other hand, the population does not support the Party and State in these efforts since humanitarian aid does not always reach the needy.

Many state-operated camps for the blind and lepers, deprived of budget, have sent their patients back to their families, who, in turn, could hardly afford to take care of them and have to send them back to camps. Having found no support whatsoever, these unfortunate patients have no choice but wander around the streets of large cities and survive on the mercy of passers-by. Foreign visitors to Ho Chi Minh city, formerly Saigon, could see groups of lepers trailing behind them on the streets and begging for alms.

To cope with this situation, the State authorities, in the recent years, have invited priests to return to help them in the camps for the blind and lepers, orphanages, hospitals, and nursing homes for elders since cadres are incapable of taking charge of these tasks. State authorities may have come to think that these services would not accredit the religions with a political role. However, other humanitarian activities such as services for or aids to victims of floods or fires are still to be approved and supervised by state-affiliated associations and the Fatherland Front. In Saigon, any activity concerning humanitarian aid by the Catholics will not be permitted unless it is approved by Catholic priest Huynh Cong Minh, a Hanoi protégé and prominent member of the state-affiliated Association of "Patriotic" Catholics.

In 1985, facing the tragic failure in economy and heavy financial cuts in foreign aid by Communist European countries, Hanoi looked to Western democratic countries for economic aid. To woo international religious and political leaders, it loosened its grip on the Churches, allowing a few religious institutes and seminaries to form dignitaries and priests to reopen.

On the other hand, it furtively tightens control on them lest they would ask for more freedom. Exercising its power, Hanoi nominated Buddhist monks and Catholic priests from state-affiliated associations to higher ranks and placed them in key positions in the clerical hierarchy while eliminating from them those priests it thought to be dangerous against its power. To dominate the Saigon Seminary, for instance, it nominated Huynh Cong Minh of the state-affiliated Association for "Patriotic" Catholics as director of the Saigon Seminary and vacated, at the same time, veteran professors at this institution and replaced them with priests from the state-run association. In their scheme, the Communists expected these docile priests to become high dignitaries in the prospective state-affiliated clergy.

Although they dominate the Catholic Church with strict measures as such, the Communists still fear that seminarists, even those trained in the Marxist-Leninist disciplines, may not become Communist adherents since other factors may affect their thinking and ways of life. Religious theories and ideals, even if being distorted in some way or another, is certainly a factor.

To uproot the Churches' influence and deprive them of their authorities over their clergy, the Communists, by Articles 19 and 20 of the Decree, reserve the rights to approvals of ordination, placement, and displacement of monks and priests. Only in this way can they eliminate prominent and prestigious monks or priests from key positions and place docile ones in their place, hence gradually consolidating the state-run clergy contingency.

These vile schemes, in the last analysis, have proven that the Vietnamese Communists intentionally carry out a rigorous policy on religions, not only to restrict religious services and propagation but also to uproot religions from Vietnam soil, artfully scheming to transform them into servile state-affiliated associations while paralyzing religious activities and destroying any would-be opposition from the religions.

The world already knows that, up to the present time, the Communists still have not approved the Vatican's ordination of a cardinal in replacement of the late Cardinal Trinh Van Can, who passed away many years ago. Hanoi further interdicts the official nomination of bishops or archbishops of Vietnam by the Vatican for the dioceses of Hanoi, Thai Binh, Hung Hoa, Thanh Hoa, and Hue. It also has furtively banished priests of prestige to parishes in the suburbs or remote areas in the countryside. In the letter of opinions on April 14, 1991, the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Vietnam had this to say:

The Constitution recognizes the rights to freedom of religion, but the practice of religious freedom encounters many difficulties and complexities. All the resolutions on religion in the past have been excessively strict, and for some, aiming at restricting rather than protecting religious activities. For example, the following seems contradictory: "... is allowed ... but requires permission."

Of all human rights, the rights to religious freedom are among the most important rights. Therefore, it must be respected as a right, not a privilege. The Decree 69-HDBT, March 21, 1991, is only a series of restrictions on religious preaching, services, and activities leading to a gradual disintegration of the Churches in Vietnam. As a consequence, it opens to a futile struggle between the people and the political regime.

As the letter of the Conference of Catholic Bishops suggested:

People in any place and any period of time have sought and continued to seek true democracy, which respects their rights and their opinions. Each person should be allowed to practice his own religion. Each person should be able to express truthfully what he thinks and expects his opinions to be heard, considered, and responded to.

With all things considered, the Vietnamese Communist Party and the Council of Ministers should prove to be flexible, righting wrongs and creating favorable conditions so that every citizen will be able to contribute to the building of the country. Of first and utmost importance, the Vietnam Communist Party and Council of Ministers must respect the rights to freedom of religion of the Vietnamese people. It is now the right time for them to revoke forthwith the unpopular Decree 69-HDBT, March 21, 1991 (Lu Giang, 1992: 7-9).

REPRESSIVE MEASURES AGAINST RELIGIONS IN SOUTH VIETNAM

Tran Van Tri, former Secretary-General of the Vietnam Interfaith Council of Religions, presented from his experiences how the Vietnamese Communist Party has executed its policies of destroying religions.

After the takeover of Saigon, the Communist administration, indeed, executed strict measures to administer the religions in South Vietnam. It organized indoctrination courses for the police and Party cadres. The General Directorate for Religions was in charge of the organization and instruction. All the personnel and services under its supervision, the Saigon directorate, coded A16, and the directorates in the provinces, coded Bureaus B16 or Sections 16, were to attend.

To conclude his presentation on the political parties in the South, the Vice General-Director of A16 issued orders to his subordinates to repress any opposition that might arise. "As regards reactionary political parties," he said, "we [the Vietnamese Communists] eradicated them quickly and cleanly. We punished them mercilessly at their very bases or sent them to reeducation. Their political organizations are virtually disbanded in their entirety. Therefore, our forthcoming crucial task is to concentrate every effort to attack religions. They are the backbones on which reactionary elements (supporters of the old Republic of Vietnam) will lean to activate opposition because they still have popular support, inside the country as well as abroad. The policies of destroying religions have to be persistent and absolute."

The Vietnamese Communist's policies of destroying religions include the following major points:

1. Close all abbeys, seminaries, and institutes for religions;

2. Nationalize all cultural, educational, social establishments, health centers, and, especially, financial agencies belonging to the Churches;

3. Confiscate all printed materials of religious and cultural matters. Prohibit the printing of materials of religious matters and the propagation of religion and dissemination of materials of religious matters;

4. Control, with strict measures, all religious activities of spiritual leaders, officials, and the masses at all levels;

5. Stop all religious activities, dissolve all religious associations and incorporate them with other popular Communist organizations;

6. Punish, without mercy, all reactionary elements who disguised themselves as priests to subvert the Revolution (Vietnamese Communists);

7. Support all organizations operating within the religions whose activities are beneficial to the Revolution; and

8. Develop internal conflicts within the religions and manage them to destroy themselves.

Tran Quyet, General Director of the A16 who later became Vice-Minister of the Ministry for the Interior (1976), explained in explicit terms: "Those are only guidelines for the policies on religions of our Party (Vietnamese Communists). Our comrades must fully understand that religions are like opium that decoy and poison the people. Religions are enemies to the proletariat. We have to eradicate them with persistence by restricting their expansion with the utmost effort, contracting them, and generating them into self-destruction according to the "rule of selection of socialism." The Communist's tactics of eradicating the religions, according to Tran, were the following:

Tactic I

At the time the Communists closed the abbeys, seminaries, and institutes for religions, they anticipated that all members in the leadership of religions would pass away, one after the other, within 30 or 50 years. This situation would lead to the shortage of priests, then to the crisis in leadership, and eventually to the extinction of religions.

Tactic 2

This tactic was executed through the following three measures:

A. All the schools, hospitals, dispensaries, orphanages, printing houses, and business enterprises that would lend support to the operation of the Churches were to be automatically confiscated. The axiom is: Only the State is empowered with the rights to administer education, health, social welfare, and financial establishments. Religions are private institutions and, thus, are not entitled to these rights.

B. The second measure was to create pressure on the Churches. Since the Communists could not enforce the laws to confiscate religious establishments, they exerted pressure on leaders of the Churches to "offer them to the State." The Institute for the Propagation of the Buddhist Faith on Tran Quoc Toan Street in Tenth Precinct, in Saigon; the offices of the Lasalle Taberd Order; the Joseph Seminary; and the White House, which was not a school, were to be offered to the State under pressure.

C. The third measure was to execute "the laws of the jungle."

The Communists implanted firearms in a religious establishment and then charged the religious leader in residence with subversive crimes to confiscate the establishment. The confiscation of the Redemptorists Order's Alfonso Institute was an example. They created a fighting at one religious establishment, stirring disorder and accusing the religious leader in residence of subversive activities to confiscate it. Those religious establishments belonging to the Cao Dai Church in Tay Ninh, the Hoa Hao Buddhist Temple in Chau Doc, and the Christian Church were confiscated by similar vile tricks.

Tactic 3

The Communists closed the Churches' libraries after they had appropriated all the newspapers and magazines, documents, and teaching materials. The small quantities of books, magazines, and documents that religious leaders had secured for personal use were also dispossessed. State-affiliated religious organizations later used them in their own libraries. So, when these organizations wanted to decry a certain religious organization, the latter would no longer have access to necessary documents with which they would reverse their contentions. For instance, the Communists resorted to this trickery to calumniate the Catholic Church of Vietnam, assailing her with misleading arguments to distort the Canonization for Martyrs (1987-88). Much to their surprise, however, the Communists and state-affiliated priests did not know how the Church's priests and faithful could have saved all the necessary materials with which they countered the Communists and their lackeys' deranging activities.

Tactic 4

Everyone knows the Communists' policy of "management of religions." During the 1975-85 decade, in particular, religious leaders were subject to rigorous control. Movement outside their homes was restricted to permission. They were always called to "work with" the police at police headquarters. Catholic dignitaries and priests in the dioceses of Hue, Da Nang, Ban Me Thuot, Vinh Long, Xuan Loc, Phan Thiet, and Kontum were the first targets. Buddhist monks and nuns, Cao Dai and Hoa Hao dignitaries, pastors, and religious leaders of the Bahai were also targets and were placed under "special management." From 1986 on, the Communists have no longer been conspicuous in their management of religions. They have their secret agents follow each religious leader, spying on his religious activities and services.

Tactic 5

Throughout the country, religious organizations are forbidden to operate. In the recent years, in some localities, regional and local authorities have relaxed their control. Many religious organizations have attempted to resume their activities. However, these activities are illegal according to state regulations on religions. The Communists can easily reverse their decisions any time. They may arrest and detain associates with these organizations depending on their whims. Regarding the Catholic Church of Vietnam, the Salvation Army, the Legio, and the Pax Romana are among those associations the Communists have itemized on the black list. They consider them as "armies" that recruit "volunteered soldiers" to counter the Revolution (!). As for Catholic intellectuals, they distrust them as being intelligence agents for foreigners.

Tactic 6

When the Communists want to appropriate a religious establishment or expel a religious leader, they usually charge against him with a "reactionary intention to overthrow the revolution" crime. They then confiscate the establishment and send the religious leader to reeducation. In 1978, being apprehensive that the Catholic Alexandre de Rhodes Center (at 161 Yen Do Street, Saigon) would attract a large number of Catholic youths and organize religious activities, the Communists closed it down. They charged the Catholic priests of the Order of Redemptorists residing at the Center with being accomplices to an anti-revolutionary plot instigated by Nguyen Van Hien and his group. They arrested the priests and confiscated the center, which is now the headquarters of the daily "Tuoi Tre" (Youth).

As regards Buddhism, being hostile to straightforward statements on the Communist despotic regime by Monks Thich Tue Sy (Pham Van Thuong) and Thich Tri Sieu (Le Manh That), the Communists devised the so-called "Gia Lam Plot." They arrested them on April 1, 1984. They harassed the Most Venerable Thich Tri Thu into depression, intermittently convoking him to their headquarters to "work with" cadres and tormenting him into a gradual death.

The Dong Cong (Congtegation of the Mother Coredemptrix) incident during May 19-20, 1986 was instigated by the same trickery. Under the pretext that the Order started anti-revolutionary activities, the Communists confiscated the Order's monastery in Thu Duc District, an establishment they had long craved for but had been denied the rights to possession by the Reverend Tran Dinh Thu. The confiscation of the Christian Church on Tran Cao Van Street in the First Precinct, Saigon, which took place before the Christmas Eve of 1986, was instigated under the same pretext.

Tactic 7

Only state-run organizations such as the Association of Patriotic Buddhists and the Association of Solidarity for Catholics are accorded permission and means for disseminating newspapers and magazines, publishing printing materials, and establishing contacts with foreigners or foreign charitable organizations coming to Vietnam to assess information on religions.

We can enumerate some of these state-sponsored establishments under this category: the monthly magazines "Catholicism and the Nation" and "The People" directed by state-affiliated Catholic priest Phan Khac Tu; the Electric Machine Shop and the Pharmacy, which are stationed at the old headquarters of the Association of Catholic Youths and Students at 490 Le Van Duyet Street, directed by state-affiliated Catholic priest Truong Ba Can, and the weekly magazine "Coming to Reason" and the magazine "The Patriot" run by a group of state-affiliated Buddhists on Phan Dinh Phung Street (near the headquarters of the old Ministry for Information).

Tactic 8

The Communists manipulate the stratagem "to use religion to destroy religion." This is the most wicked scheme the Communists have executed to eradicate religions. It also proves that the Communists undeniably use any possible means to destroy religions. The "Gia Lam" incident showed this vile scheme. In April 1984, when the Communists made arrests of venerable monks residing in "Gia Lam" pagoda, the weekly magazine "Coming to Reason," in an effort to support the Communists' act of repression, carried an article laying charges on the victims. It maintained that those who commit crimes, whoever they are, have to be punished, and they cannot falsely assume themselves to be members of a religion to do silly things.

As far as the Catholic Church is concerned, the Communists commanded the state-affiliated Catholic group led by Phan Khac Tu, Truong Ba Can, Thien Cam, and Vuong Dinh Bich to use the magazine "Catholicism and the Nation" as an instrument to assault the Catholic Church of Vietnam. Their act of aggression arose when the Canonization for Martyrs was prepared in Rome between October 1987 and May 1988.

The Communists manipulated with vile tricks and dupes to sow division between and among religions. After the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang's letter of protest to the Communist authorities had spread in the population, the Communists and their agencies operating abroad sought to manipulate the contradictions between the Buddhists and the Catholics, sowing doubts among them. Fortunately, the Vietnamese overseas had warned themselves against this vile scheme.

After a succession of self-immolation and protests by the Buddhists in Central Vietnam, the Communists arranged strict control on the Unified Buddhist Church pagodas in many cities and provinces. They arrested Monk Thich Tri Tuu, the guardian priest at Linh Mu Pagoda, after the May incident in Hue. At the same time, they tried to please the Catholics by freeing the Most Reverend Tran Dinh Thu of the Congregation of the Mother Coredemptrix from prison and free the Catholic priest Chan Tin and Catholic writer Nguyen Ngoc Lan from house detention. Isn't it true that the Communists have arranged a vile scheme to sow doubts among the Buddhists and the Catholics?

In reality, the Communists will no longer bamboozle anyone into believing them. About the Communists in Vietnam, there are these two sayings: "Things do not appear as they really are," or "Things do not mean as they are meant to be said." Those sayings imply that in whatever the Communists do or say, there are inherent dark intents and vile purposes. They only do or say things that are beneficial to the Communist Party and their administration's interests. The Vietnamese people ought to carry on their struggle for their freedom. The Communists will cling to power. They will never relinquish it to the Vietnamese people. To win back democracy, we have to struggle until we win over our Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Belief (Tran Van Tri, 1993: 40-42).

THE HOA HAO BUDDHIST CHURCH

Hoa Hao Buddhism is an indigenous religion. It was founded by His Holiness Huynh Phu So in 1939. His Holiness Huynh Phu So was also the Supreme spiritual leader of the Movement for Vietnam Independence (1945) and the founder of Dan Xa Dang (the Social Democratic Party, September 1946). The Church's Holy See is located in the Hoa Hao Village, Tan Chau District, Chau Doc Province. Hoa Hao Buddhists numbered approximately 3 million. They mostly live in the southwestern provinces of South Vietnam.

The Persecution

In July 1975, the local Communist authorities, under the pretext that they had found caches of arms and ammunition in a Hoa Hao community in An Giang Province, closed down two of the Church's temples in the area. By Fall 1976, they confiscated all the Church's properties and facilities, annihilated its leadership, and dissolved its religious, social, educational, and cultural organizations. All its forms of worship at the Holy See were restricted, all its sessions of preaching at village preaching halls were forbidden, and all its publications of books of prayers were prohibited from circulating. Ever since, the Communist administration has made every effort to force the Hoa Hao Buddhists to abandon their faith.

According to Hong Van Hoanh, an old-time Hoa Hao Buddhist dignitary and close disciple of His Holiness Huynh Phu So since 1945, Hoa Hao Buddhists have been a target for elimination. To the Communists, they are the most fearful enemies, although they are religious, generous, and lenient, even to the Communists--those who have caused them a sea of excruciating misfortunes and sufferings.

Hong Van Hoanh explained that, under communism, any religion is a target for tight control. As for Hoa Hao Buddhism, there is also a history. It goes back to the years 1944-45 when Hoa Hao Buddhists, as any other Vietnamese patriots, engaged in the struggle against French colonialism and fought for Vietnam's independence.

In October 1944, General McArthur returned to the Philippines Islands. The months following that the Japanese lost almost all battle fronts in Southeast Asia, but they stood firm in Indochina. On March 9, 1945, the Japanese staged a coup d'etat, eliminating French colonialism. The country, however, was in chaos: Pillages and killings occurred every day and everywhere. His Holiness Huynh ordered his close followers to organize the Hoa Hao Buddhist Security Guards to maintain order and protect his Hoa Hao Buddhists and compatriots. A few days later, Emperor Bao Dai formed a new cabinet. From April to August 1945, the royal national administration in the South ran the country without opposition.

On August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima. By mid-August, the Japanese surrendered to the Allies. On September 13, General Gracey, Commander of the British forces in Asia arrived in Saigon to accept the Japanese surrender in Vietnam, south of the 16th parallel.

Upon his arrival, the British commander helped the French to reclaim French power in Vietnam. The French residents in Saigon uprose. They attempted to reestablish French colonialism in Indochina. French Colonel Jean Cedille, with Gracey's aid, launched the takeover of the administration of Saigon. The Movement for Resistance, consisting of all national forces, came into force. They counterattacked the reactionary French colonialists to protect the newly acquired national independence. Armed with whatever they had on hand, they went into war with a powerful enemy, superior to them in arms and warfare tactics, but they stood readily to fight.

In mid-September 1945, the Viet Minh government sent a delegate led by Tran Van Giau to the South to convince leaders of the Movement for Resistance to dissolve its political and military forces and join them in the national resistance. The leaders of the Movement for Resistance agreed to place the national cause above their own and accepted Tran's proposal. They and the Viet Minh delegate had a meeting at the Gia Dinh School of Arts. His Holiness Huynh Phu So was, at that time, the Supreme Advisor to the Committee for National Resistance in the South. He was in the chair, and Hong Van Hoanh, the secretary. Ung Van Khiem (Communist), Nguyen Van Thieu (Communist), Nguyen Dinh Tiep (Communist), Ho Van Nga, and Huynh Thanh Mau--His Holiness Huynh's brother--were also present.

Plans for action against the French residents in Saigon were discussed. Almost everyone at the meeting agreed to gather the French residents in designated areas then divided them into two halves. One half of them would be transported to Can Tho and the other half to Vung Tau. Only in this way could the Resistance control the political situation and maintain order. Ung Van Khiem and Nguyen Van Thieu hesitated, saying that they had to consult with Tran Van Giau, the Viet Minh politics commissioner, and promised to convince the latter of adopting the plan. However, leaders of the Movement knew from intelligence sources that Tran Van Giau had received orders from Thorez, the then French Communist Party Secretary General, not "to touch" French residents. He certainly would have resisted the plan.

Abductions and killings of national leaders followed that. His Holiness Huynh was not an exception. He and other national leaders were abducted to unknown whereabouts. Viet Minh's betrayal took place everywhere. Hoa Hao Buddhists were extremely furious at the Viet Minh's tyrannical misconduct against His Holiness Huynh. Rumors of all kinds circulated from one village to another. Aware of the great influence of His Holiness Huynh and fearful of a popular uprising against them, the Viet Minh staged campaigns of vile propaganda. It ruthlessly stifled public opinion and executed plans of terrorism, pitilessly suppressing all possible adversaries and flattening out all kinds of protest.

Regarding the Hoa Hao Buddhists, they have been victims of hatred, of furtive propaganda, of vile political ambitions, and of totalitarian dictatorship. They profess their faith in goodness. They practice filial piety, benevolence, and charity. They attend to virtues. They follow the Enlightened Way of Buddha. Are they anti-Communist? They have been defenseless under oppression and repression. During the first years of National Resistance, however, tens of thousands of Hoa Hao Buddhists were abducted and killed. Along the boundaries of Phu Thuan and Long Thanh villages, there still lie three collective graveyards of more than 200 Hoa Hao Buddhists. They were stabbed, hand-tied and eye-folded, then dumped into the ditches. Passers-by, two or three days later, still heard the groaning and moaning of the dying: they were only half buried! A temple was raised in memory of the martyrs. After the fall of South Vietnam, the local Communist authorities destroyed it.

Tran Kieu, who was the secretary of General Tran Van Soai and is now living in Germany, still possesses full documents of more than 11,000 martyrs who were killed before and after the "Tay An Co Tu" (Tay An Old Temple) massacre on April 16, 1947.

The Repression

After the fall of South Vietnam, prohibition of religious preaching at Phu An Holy Site and Hoa Hao Buddhist populated villages has become increasingly tight. The police keep strict control on the followers and follow them wherever they go, threaten them for whatever service they may pay to Buddha, and arrest them for any sign of protest. In August 1971, Tran Van Tu, a resident of Can Tho Province who spent ten years in prison for being a Hoa Hao Buddhist dignitary, and a friend, Hong Chen, visited and paid service to Buddha at the Holy Site. On the way home, they were arrested and interrogated at Long Xuyen police headquarters for political activities that they did not know.

Now, anyone who is seen with a "Sam Giang" (Book of Sacred Teachings) written by His Holiness Huynh Phu So is undoubtedly subject to arrest and interrogation. On the annual celebration of May 18, the day His Holiness Huynh professed the Enlightened Way of Hoa Hao Buddhism, the police tighten control. They reinforce guards at bus stations and ferry landings and patrol roads and rivers to the Holy Site. Anyone with a "da" tunic--a type of monk's clothing--or traditional clothes for ceremony is unquestionably arrested and interrogated.

Hoa Hao Buddhism has suffered tragic losses in maintaining its religious services and activities since 1975. The Hanoi administration has imprisoned thousands of its prominent dignitaries and believers. Many were killed in secret. Others died in prison. They were Chairman of the International Federation for Human and Civil Rights, Vietnam Chapter, and secretary-general of the Vietnam Socialist Democratic Party Phan Ba Cam, ex-General Lam Thanh Nguyen known as Ong Hai Ngoan, Trinh Quoc Khanh known as Chin Le, Nguyen Van Lau, Nguyen Van Phung, Nguyen Van De known as Co De, Nguyen Van Quan, Nguyen Van Nuong, Nguyen Van Kiet, and Nguyen van Thum. A large number of Hoa Hao Buddhists have been arrested, but their whereabouts are still unknown (Van Chuong, 2 (October1991)).

Dignitaries of the Administrative Boards of Hoa Hao Buddhist Church in Long Xuyen Province were arrested. They are Nguyen Van Dau, Nguyen Van Hung known as Nhi, Le Van Dung, and Nguyen Van Chen. They have never received trials. No one knows if they are still alive or were secretly executed.

All of the properties of Hoa Hao Buddhism throughout the country, including preaching halls, offices, and cultural and social establishments, were confiscated. According to the Committee for the Struggle for Religious Freedom in Vietnam, immediately after April 30, 1975, the Communist administration carried out a high scale operation aiming to eradicate all the structures and organizations of the Church, from top to bottom. They dissolved the Central Executive Committee, 28 Provincial Executive Committees, 82 District Executive Committees, 476 Village Executive Committees, and 3,100 Hamlet Executive Committees. They confiscated all of the Church's facilities. These facilities included the Central Office at the Holy Site in the Hoa Hao Village (Tan Chau District, Chau Doc Province), the Monastery, the Buddhist Temple, the Center for the Propagation of the Hoa Hao Buddhist Faith, 4,168 lecture halls, 452 religious activities centers, and 2,876 offices. These occupied facilities were turned into government offices. None of them has been returned to the Church. Thirty-six thousand five hundred (36,500) executive members, two thousand seven hundred faith promoters (2,700), and six thousand instructors of religion (6,000) were banned from religious activities and put under administrative surveillance after serving their time in reeducation camps (The Committee for the Struggle for Hunan Rights, 1993: 18).

On October 5, 1991, Vo Quoc Thanh, former chairman of Saigon City Council, in an interview with the newspaper "Thoi Luan" (Vietnam Post), affirmed that the Communist regime has pursued its furtive tactics: to establish state-created religious associations to obliterate popular religions. It has achieved some of its purposes. Most of the religions, especially the Hoa Hao Buddhism, have lost almost all of their religious activities. Their silent religious practices, on the contrary, develop deeply in the faithful's hearts and minds.

The Oppression

Incidents of protest by Hoa Hao Buddhists, however, took place in the form of indignation. France AFP office in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday, February 16, 1992, reported an unusual event. The event occurred in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, and made the city population well agog at it. A male Vietnamese, clad in a brown tunic of Hoa Hao Buddhism, climbed atop an automobile stationing in front of the well-known Saigon floating hotel at Bach Dang Wharf. The man calmly spread a "yellow and three red stripes" flag of the Republic of South Vietnam and waved it in silence. Much surprised at the sight, hundreds of Vietnamese gathered around the car. Meanwhile, foreign reporters and newsmen were already on the floating hotel waiting to report a marathon contest that was about to take place the first time in Saigon. Witnessing such an unprecedented sight, they rushed to the place and filmed the incident. Alarmed, armed city policemen dashed in, confiscated the reporters' film, and disbanded the crowd. The man on the car was pushed into a truck. No one knew what his fate would be.

On March 9, 1993, the People's Council of Cho Moi District, An Giang Province, ordered Hoa Hao Buddhist Le Minh Triet to destroy his house on charges of "having violated the State's residence status and religious activities." The police notified that Le used his house as a pagoda, and, thus, he practiced religion illegally. On March 16, 1993, the district People's Council forced Le Minh Triet to read a confession of his illegal activities, which had been prepared beforehand by the council, before the public. Le then had to escape from his home, leaving behind his old mother and a blind sister. Angered at the local authorities' unjust decision, more than 50 residents of Cho Moi signed a petition to the central government asking them not to remove Le's home. However, the petition was returned to the District People's Council, and the police threatened to arrest those who would not withdraw their names from the petition. On June 16, 1993, a group of approximately 30 armed policemen broke into Le's home and ordered young men in the area to destroy Le's home. Those who resisted the orders had to pay a fine of 60,000 dong and were conducted to the District People's Council headquarters. Le's mother and sister were beaten upon resisting the police's orders. Witnesses said, by forcing the people in the area to destroy Le's home, the police, with all their vile intents and purposes, had evidences to report to the superior authorities. They attributed the crime to the people: It was the people who destroyed the pagoda illegally built by Le Minh Triet. Le Minh Triet is a respectable dignitary of Hoa Hao Buddhism in Cho Moi District, An Giang Province.

In January 1995, the faithful of Hoa Hao Buddhism expressed their indignation over the State's scheme to denigrate the Church. It derided the Church's religious beliefs and blasphemed His Holiness Huynh Phu So. This vile scheme is manifested in the video-film entitled "Dong Song Tho Au" (The River of Childhood) by Nguyen Quang Sang. The film-script was based on the story novel of the same title and by the same author. His Holiness Huynh Phu So was ridiculed as being "crazy" and "vile." Hoa Hao Buddhists' religious practices were described as some forms of debased superstition.

In his appeal to Hoa Hao Buddhists, Le Quang Liem, a high-ranking dignitary of Hoa Hao Buddhism, called for Hoa Hao Buddhists' reaction, asking them for action. He urged the faithful to send petitions to local People's Councils and local offices of the Fatherland Front necessitating their support to revoke the permit for publication of the film. Nevertheless, in its official letter (No. 3967/CV, December 27, 1994) to Le Quang Liem, Bui Dinh Hac, General Director of the Directorate of Cinematography, Ministry of Culture and Information, affirmed the film's legality. The letter said that the video film "the River of Childhood," scripted by Nguyen Quang Sang, screenplayed by Le Van Duy, and produced by Bong Sen (Lotus) Films Productions at the Ho Chi Minh Department of Culture and Information, was approved for publication and circulation. According to the director, the film embodies good contents and thoughts.

On November 10, 1994, Tran Anh Sang, a Hoa Hao notable in Ho Chi Minh City, sent a petition to the Minister of Culture and Information. It denounced Nguyen Quang Sang's vile intentions: He denigrated Hoa Hao Buddhism and His Holiness Huynh Phu So. The petition stressed that the "Dong Song Tho Au" (The River of Childhood) by Nguyen Quang Sang schemes to attack and distorts religious practices. It libels Hoa Hao Buddhism and His Holiness Huynh Phu So . Nguyen Quang Sang's stance is thus an act of sabotage undermining the State and the Communist Party's policies of religions and unity of the people. It is a violation of freedom of religion as stipulated by Article 70 of the 1992 Constitution. It is a blunt blasphemy against religions, in general, and Hoa Hao Buddhism, in particular. The petition further demanded that the permit for the production of the film "Dong Song Tho Au" be revoked. An impartial investigation into Nguyen's acts of sabotage and subversion must be conducted. These demands have been ignored, however.

News from Hoa Hao Buddhists (January 1995) sent to Hong Van Hoanh said that the Church's faithful in the Chau Doc and Long Xuyen provinces, which are about 350 km southwestern of Saigon, are now living under severe control by the security police. Any assembly of two or three people is suspected of illegal activities.

Religious or political dissent is subject to interrogation and may lead to arrest. Tran Huu Duyen, a 70 year-old Hoa Hao Buddhist notable, was rearrested in 1992. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison after 12 years in detention. Tran reportedly demanded the authorities to allow the Hoa Hao Buddhists to resume their religious practices.

Hundreds of Hoa Hao Buddhists were either abducted to unknown places or arrested because of their protests against the State's ill intention to denigrate the religion and blaspheme His Holiness Huynh Phu So.

THE VIETNAM BUDDHIST FAITH OF THE FOUR GOOD GRACES

In a 7-page declaration to international mass media, the Honorable Ngo Van Minh, Chairman of the Executive Board of the Phat Giao Tu An (Vietnam Buddhist Faith of the Four Good Graces), appealed to international public opinion to help relieve the Vietnamese people, in general, and the Vietnam Buddhist Faith of the Four Good Graces, in particular, from rude oppression by the Communist despotic rule. The declaration also appealed to human rights agencies and international mass media to support the struggle for freedom of religion, human rights, and democracy of the Vietnamese people and religious followers in Vietnam. The Church demanded the Vietnamese government and the Communist Party to return to the Church its pagodas, temples, and properties. They are valued at 30 billion dong. It also demanded to free its five believers who were arrested at 24/12 Tay An Hamlet, My Thoi Village, An Giang Province. It specified the facts that, on January 12, 1994, the local authorities of Long Xuyen Township searched for and arrested its five prominent dignitaries and believers: Huynh Van Tung, Nguyen Ngoc Hoai, Nguyen Thi Dieu, Huynh Thi Diem, and Le Van Tung. They were detained in Prison B4 in Long Xuyen Province.

On July 6, 1994, Chairman Ngo Van Minh sent a letter of protest to the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The chairman objected the People's Council of Ho Chi Minh City for committing violations of constitutional laws and brutal acts against the Buddhism of the Four Good Graces. The letter specified as proof the ongoing plan to demolish the Church's Institute for Propagation of the Faith at 570/4 Hung Vuong Avenue, Seventh Ward, Sixth Precinct, Ho Chi Minh City. The city's architect Le Van Nam himself instigated the plan. The letter cited Article 70 of the 1992 Constitution as the Church's legitimate rights to religious freedom. The article stipulates provisions stating that all religions are equal before the law, that the law protect the worship places, and that no one can infringe on the freedom of beliefs. It further demanded the government and Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet to solve the problem, to stop the demolition of the shrine, and to return it to the Church.

THE CAO DAI CHURCH

The Cao Dai Church is an indigenous religion. It was founded in South Vietnam in the early 1920's. The Church's Holy See is in Tay Ninh, a western province in South Vietnam. One of the Church's founders was His Holiness Pham Cong Tac. He was a national leader and fought against the French for Vietnam's independence. The Cao Dai Church has a faithful population of 4.5 million believers. They mostly live in the provinces in South Vietnam.

The Repression

On January 25, 1992, the Reverend Ngoc Sach Thanh, President of the Association for the Propagation of Caodaism Overseas, sent his second letter of protest to Party Secretary-General Nguyen Van Linh. The president asked Nguyen to reconsider a number of issues concerning the deliberate violations of human rights and repression of religions committed by the local authorities. The letter specified the facts that
Although the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam explicitly recognizes the right to freedom of religion, the Decree 297, by contrast, prohibits the propagation of religion. In addition to this, there are rules and regulations by the local authorities at all levels causing extreme difficulties to religions and hampering the right to religious freedom from being realized according to the meaning defined for them. Moreover, the local authorities at the province, district, and village levels, under the Decree 279, appear to be encouraged and supported by the central authorities. They haughtily and ruthlessly repress the Cao Dai Church. They execute arrests, impose fines, and, especially, interfere with the religion's internal affairs to disunite it, to disable it, and to charge its priests and dignitaries with false accusations such as dissidence and crimes for social disorder.

The letter particularly stressed the facts that the local administration has dispossessed
1. The Cao Dai Church's religious establishments within the boundaries of the Holy Inner City of the Cao Dai Holy City in Tay Ninh. It has disfigured the worship places into market places or places for entertainment. It has expulsed priests and dignitaries of the Cao Dai Church from the Holy City since 1975;

2. The Cao Dai Church's social and cultural establishments, the Trung Hung Printing House, the Center for Protection for Cao Dai Youths, and the Association for the Propagation of Caodaism on Thong Nhat Boulevard, Da Nang City, since 1975;

3. The Cao Dai Church's Cultural Quarters and the Ngoc Trac Orphanage on Tran Cao Van Boulevard in Tam Ky City, Quang Nam-Da Nang Province, since 1975;

4. The Cao Dai's Church in Tam Quan, Binh Dinh Province; and

5. The local administration has dispossessed the Cao Dai Church's Cultural Quarters covering 30 hectares, Hung Dao High School, An Ha Elementary School, the Cao Dai Day Child Care Nursery, and the brick-and-tile kiln in Tu Nghia District, Quang Ngai Province, since 1975;

and that

Incidents involving repression, arrest, and false accusation still continue to occur everywhere in the country. An unusual incident occurred in Hanoi: the dispossession of the Cao Dai Temple at 29 Ly Thuong Kiet Street after 1985. Another unusual incident occurred at the time the State was calling for "coi mo" and "doi moi" (openness and renovation).

On August 1, 1990, the authorities in Quang Ngai Province mobilized an armed force of 500 servicemen, consisting of policemen, cadres, and proctor, haughtily and unlawfully using violence to intimidate the believers to dispossess the Cam Thanh Cao Dai Temple on Phan Boi Chau Street, Quang Ngai Province.
There occurred another incident whose developments we cannot help present to you: On November 1, 1990, our Cao Dai believers gathered for a ceremony at Trung Lap Temple in Duc Linh District, Thuan Hai Province. While they were discussing rites and rituals for the ceremony and religious services, the local authorities at Vo Dac Village rushed in to dissolve the meeting and imposed on them a fine of 200,000 dong.

In January 1992, thousands of the Cao Dai Church's believers were reportedly arrested and detained in unknown prisons and camps without judicial procedures, court proceedings, or fair trials.

The Church suffers a long history of oppression and repression. According to unofficial statistics, the Communists have executed approximately 2,000 Caodaists since 1945. Vo Dinh Tan, former Chief of the Administration Office of Quang Ngai Province, recalled as an eyewitness the tragedy the Cao Dai followers had suffered in the months following the August Revolution in 1945. The Vietnamese Communists massacred as many as 4,000 thousand Caodaists in Quang Ngai Province because of their refusal to renounce their faith. Hundreds of them were buried alive in collective graves along the bank of the "Ve" River and at the foot of the "Ve" Bridge in the District of Tu Nghia, Quang Ngai Province. Witnesses reported that a total of about 6,000 Caodaists were murdered in the Cu Chi and Trang Bang areas. Collective graves with thousands of remains were found at the Tra Cao area in the Tay Ninh Province.

Witnesses in Tay Ninh Province related that on the eve of the New Year's Day of Dinh Hoi (1947), the Communist troops burned down all the houses and killed an uncounted number of innocent Caodaists of the 50 hamlets in the Long Thanh area. The incident took place when the Communists were on their way of retreat to San Cu Bau De and Nui Ba Mountains after having failed to attack the Tay Ninh Holy See. A bloody sight that still imprints on the memory of the survivors was the Communists' slaughtering of Caodaists Nguyen Van Dien, Do Hoang Gian and his wife and their two young children, and Thi Van Loc. After they had executed Dien, the murderers searched through his body, found some precious metal, and then threw it in a ditch nearby. Then, they cut off Do and his wife's heads with a machete. Angered by loud cries, they threw the 4- and 2-year old children into the burning flame. Thi Van Loc was found lying disemboweled in a forest nearby several days later (Vo Ha Quyen, 1985: 11-12).

"The love for Life and beliefs in Goodness," the Reverend Le Van Mang (1991) believed, "are manifest in Cao Dai Holy Writ and the Holy Messages from Almighty Cao Dai. Cao Dai followers consider themselves as brothers and sisters and others as members of the same family. We preach peace for everyone, for the Viet Minh. During the French-Vietnamese War, His Holiness Pham Cong Tac and Cao Dai dignitaries throughout the South had saved hundreds of thousands of Communist cadres from persecution by the French. By that time, there were no clear-cut boundaries between goodness and evil. Atheism prevailed, and the devils were victorious. Only Ho Chi Minh himself knew he was a Communist. His ultimate goal was to transform Vietnam into a Communist country. Anyone in Vietnam who disagreed with him was anti-Vietminh and, consequently, a "reactionary". Caodaist was a target for elimination. No one ever knows how many of our brothers and sisters were abducted or killed. In the archives prepared for the canonization of Cao Dai believers who died for their faith during the first years of resistance, we have a list of 1,273 martyrs.

During the French-Vietnamese War, millions of Caodaists lived under constant threats. To protect the lives of Cao Dai followers and our poor countrymen who had only their bare hands to fight against atrocities and oppression, with approval from His Holiness Pham Cong Tac, His Excellency Tran Quang Vinh signed an agreement with the French authorities in the South. This agreement served a twofold purpose. One, it would help the Vietnamese from being arrested without reason during French military operations. Two, it would serve as a means for self-defense in fighting against the Viet Minh aggressors. It was not an easy thing to do, The French authorities had doubts to whether Cao Dai leaders were really loyal to them since they themselves were patriots and revolutionaries. As a result, for twenty militiamen, only one was equipped with one rifle. In Long An Province, several thousand men had only one. However, with determination we stood firm (Van Chuong, 1 (September,1991)).

During the years 1975-76, the Cao Dai Church suffered great losses. All its temples, houses of worship, and religious, social, and cultural establishments were confiscated. The Church’s dignitaries and prominent believers were arrested and executed. The victims numbered about 4,000. Terrorism plagued its parishes paralyzing its religious preaching, services, and activities.

Witnesses reported that before the Communist takeover of the Holy Site, an atmosphere of awe and apprehension pervaded through all the 19 Cao Dai parishes around the Holy See. On April 24, 1975, when fierce fighting still went on everywhere throughout South Vietnam, thousands of Cao Dai followers crowded into the Holy See to take refuge and seek protection. The Holy See was their only asylum and last hope of escape from terror.

On April 30, 1975, Tay Ninh Province was entirely exposed to the Communist troops' attacks. Rockets were fired into the Holy Site, and, at noon, the Communist troops marched into the Holy Site (Vo Ha Quyen, 1985: 5-6).

Terrorism

On May 1, 1975, a band of undesirable youths studying the Cao Dai Faith denied their faith and left the Holy See. Some returned to their homes. Others went over to the Communists and pledged their allegiance. Order was restored, but anxiety and fear reigned in and around the Holy See. Several days after that, Lam Ba Huu alias Hong Nham and a number of agents who had covertly worked for the Communists in the Cao Dai Charity Establishment made their appearance. They began to carry out their obscure vile schemes. Cao Dai dignitaries were arrested and detained, and many among them never returned.

It was then an absolute confusion! In the months that followed April 1975, the Holy Temple was seized by the new regime. His Eminency Conservator Ho Tan Khoa was falsely accused of having connections to Communist China and Japan. He was humiliated and expelled from the Legislative Body of the Cao Dai Church. His Eminency Instructor Nguyen Van Hoi, His Eminency Instructor Nguyen Van Kiet, Bishop Nguyen Thanh Danh, and Priest Le Van Mang were summoned to "reeducation camp" and detained.

Confusion spread everywhere. Terrorism then took place the following years. In the Tay Ninh province, prominent Caodaists Nguyen Van Manh, Nguyen Van Nho, Phan Ba Hung were tried and sentenced to imprisonment for unfounded reasons; others such as Pham Ngoc Trang, Nguyen Thanh Liem, Huynh Thanh Khiet, Ho Huu Hia, Le Tai Thuong were sentenced to death for false charges and persecuted. Elsewhere in the country, Cao Dai believers were arrested, and their whereabouts are still unknown.

Witnessing the tragedy that plagued the Holy Site and other parishes, Archbishop Nguyen Van Hieu and a few other dignitaries were obliged to cooperate with the local Communist authorities. The Cao Dai Church is now administered by a body of dignitaries whose functions are nominal (Van Chuong, 1 (September 1991).

His Excellency Thuong Vinh Thanh Tran Quang Vinh, an 80 year-old dignitary, was arrested on April 30, 1975. He was arrested when he was in his sickbed. He was carried out on bearers and shoved into a truck. No one ever knew where he was after that. According to his son, Tran Quang Canh, His Excellency Tran Quang Vinh was executed somewhere in Central Vietnam. His Excellency Thuong Nha Thanh Nguyen Van Nha was arrested on April 30, 1975. He was tortured and detained for 5 years in reeducation camp. His Excellency Nguyen Tan Manh was arrested on April 30, 1975. He had offered himself for religious services and consecrated himself to humanitarian aid. His Excellency Truong Luong Thien was arrested in 1975. He was tortured to death in Chi Hoa Prison, Saigon.

Twenty-five Cao Dai dignitaries were ordered to report and register with the security police for reeducation. Among them were His Excellency Nguyen Van Hoi, His Excellency Nguyen Van Kiet, His Excellency Thuong Danh Thanh, the Reverend Le Ngoc Khai, the Reverend Thuong Mang Thanh, and the Reverend Ngoc Anh Thanh. To black out the Church's clergy, the Communist authorities expelled all the personalities of the Church hierarchy who were paying services and working at the Holy See. They forced them to resign from their positions and to return home. They confiscated the Church's granary that could feed a thousand people performing their religious services at the Holy See for a year. They burned down the Church's History Department. They destroyed the Church's files and documents. They reviewed then confiscated all the files and documents at the Secular Affairs Department in the "Hiep Thien Dai" (the Heavenly Union Palace). Under continual political pressure and due to old age, the highest leaders in the Church's hierarchy, such as His Eminency Conservator Truong Huu Duc, His Eminency Reformer Pham Tan Dai, His Eminency Cardinal Thuong Sang Thanh, and His Excellency General Inspector Dang Cong Khanh, passed away one by one.

After having eliminated prominent leaders and the religious personnel at the Holy Site, the Communist founded the "Hoi Dong Chuong Quan" (Supreme Council of Administrators) and infiltrated in the Church's other religious institutions and establishments. All of the Church's religious offices, cultural institutions and schools, and social establishments were placed under the management of the local administration. The Church's rites and rituals were either transformed or reformed.

As oppression progressed towards eliminating prominent leaders and uprooting the Church's traditional rites and rituals, popular wrath and anger were increasingly felt among the faithful living around the Holy See. Dissidents were arrested on charges of subversive activities and brought to trials before the People's Court. Among the first Caodaists who were subject to trials were Hien Trung, Nguyen Duy Minh, Nguyen Van Chiem, Trinh Quoc The, Nguyen Ngoc Huong (female), Engineer Hoa, Le Van An, Nguyen Chi Buu, Nguyen Van Hiep, and some other 50 Caodaists.

In November 1976, the Communist authorities in Tay Ninh arrested Pham Ngoc Trang and a number of other prominent Caodaists. The dissidents were brought to trials in a People's Court in Tay Ninh Province during July 21-22, 1978. After 19 months in detention, they were convicted on charges of waging subversive activities against the "Revolution" without having the right to defend. The following list recognizes their verdicts:

1. Pham Ngoc Trang, death sentence; 2. Nguyen Thanh Diem, death sentence; 3. Dang Ngoc Lien, death sentence; 4. Nguyen Minh Quan, life imprisonment sentence; 5. Cao Truong Xuan, life imprisonment sentence; 6. Ly Thanh Trong, life imprisonment sentence; 7. Chau Thi My Kim (female), life imprisonment sentence; 8. Tran Van Bao, 20 years in prison sentence; 9. Le Ngoc Minh, 20 years in prison sentence; 10. Phan Thanh Phuoc alias Rai, 20 years in prison sentence; 11. Nguyen Van Dong, 20 years in prison sentence; 12. Nguyen Van Doi, 18 years in prison sentence; 13. Nguyen Thanh Minh, 15 years in prison sentence; 14. Do Trung Truc, 15 years in prison sentence; 15. Tran Van Phi, 15 years in prison sentence; 16. Nguyen Tan Phung, 12 years in prison sentence; 17. Phuong Van Duoc, 8 years in prison; 18. Ngo Van Trang, 8 years in prison sentence; and 19. Ta Tai Khoan, 7 years in prison sentence.

The trials were presided by Tran Trong Nghia. There were accusations without evidences. There were no lawyers, and neither were there witnesses. The defendants defended themselves. The verdict on Pham Ngoc Trang and the other victims served as the first step toward systematically eradicating the Cao Dai Church and humiliating its hierarchy.

The Communist administration of Tay Ninh Province continued to exterminate potential dissidents among fervent Caodaists. On November 1, 1978, it convoked 31 prominent personalities for reeducation. They were to report to the security police at Hoa Thanh District. Approximately 200 Cao Dai dignitaries and believers were also ordered to report to the local authorities at Ben Keo Temple, Long Yen Hamlet. His Excellency Ngoc Sam Thanh was forced to sign a motion pledging allegiance to the new political regime.

During December 8-9, 1979, the Ho Chi Minh People's Court brought to trials several dozens of prominent Caodaists. The devout believers were charged with crimes of subversive activities and sentenced to death and long-term imprisonment. The following list recognizes their names and sentences:

1. Nguyen Van Manh was sentenced to death on December 8, 1979; 2. Le Van Nho was sentenced to death on December 8, 1979; 3. Pham Ba Hung was sentenced to death on December 8, 1979; 4. Tran Minh Quang was sentenced to life imprisonment on December 8, 1979; 5. Dinh Tien Mau was sentenced to life imprisonment on December 8, 1979; 6. Nguyen Thai Dung was sentenced to life imprisonment on December 8, 1979; 7. Doan Van Bach was sentenced to life imprisonment on December 8, 1979; 8. Nguyen Thanh Liem was sentenced to death on December 11, 1979; 9. Huynh Thanh Khiet was sentenced to death on December, 1979 and executed; 10. Ho Huu Hia was sentenced to death on December 11, 1979; 11. Le Tai Thuong was sentenced to death on December 11, 1979; 12. Nguyen Anh Dung alias Phan Dang Chuc was sentenced to life imprisonment on December 11, 1979; 13. Truong Phuoc Duc was sentenced to life imprisonment on December 11, 1979; 14. Nguyen Ngoc De was sentenced to life imprisonment on December 11, 1979; and 15. Vo Van Thang was sentenced to life imprisonment on December 11, 1979, and died in prison.

In a trial in Da Nang, Central Vietnam, the People's Court sentenced to death two senior members of the Cao Dai Boy Scouts Association, Tran Ngoc Thanh and Nguyen Van Bay, on false grounds of "subversive activities against the Revolution." On August 1, 1985, Ho Thai Bach, the eldest son of His Eminency Ho Tan Khoa, was executed in Ho Chi Minh City on charges of waging a people's war against the Communist regime. Ho Thai Bach was a Cao Dai follower of virtue and prestige. He was the president of the Cao Dai Boy Scouts Association. One thing sure is that his death had links with the local Communist authorities' false accusations against his father (Van Chuong, 1 (September 1991)). In 1988, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court accused, on unfounded charges, Professor Nguyen Manh Bao of "subversive activities intending to overthrow the administration of the Revolution" and gave him the death sentence. The penalty was later commuted to a life imprisonment. He is now reportedly imprisoned at a reeducation camp in Xuan Loc District, Long Khanh Province.

The Verdict on the Cao Dai Church

On September 20, 1978, the Fatherland Front in Tay Ninh issued an indictment accusing the leaders of the Cao Dai Church of such crimes as being henchmen for imperialism and the old political regime. For 50 years, it said, the clique that led the Cao Dai Tay Ninh took advantage of their adherents' blood and properties. They worked as lackeys for the imperialists in exchange for their positions and their own selfish interests. Therefore, they firmly hold on to this religion. They served as intelligence agents for the imperialists--French, Japanese, and particularly American in the later years for the reactionary political parties, and for the intelligence and police of the puppet government. These elements sought to cough up interests and positions to buy and lure the dignitaries, both senior and junior officials of the Church, into working as intelligence agents for them. On the other hand, they infiltrated with their men into the Church, promoting themselves as Cao Dai dignitaries to lead the religion to achieve their schemes.

Commenting on the indictment, the Reverend Le Van Mang said:

It was a blunt slander! I myself personally challenged those false accusations with the members in that committee. The Committee itself meticulously prepared the so-called "Verdict of Cao Dai." . It was then read to several dignitaries and a group of Cao Dai believers in a meeting at Hanh Duong Conference Hall. Their aims were to dishonor our respected and beloved Founding Fathers of Cao Dai, obliterate our religious faith, and seize hold of the Cao Dai Holy Site, the Holy Temple, and all the religion's properties. The French colonialists accused His Holiness Pham Cong Tac, a founder of Cao Dai, of being an anti-French politician using the Cao Dai religion as a shield to usurp the power of French colonialism. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and was exiled to Madagascar. He was no doubt a patriot, but, to Him, preaching the Cao Dai Faith was his sole and ultimate goal.

We should remember that, after the coup d'etat on March 9, 1945, the occupied Japanese authorities in Indochina decided to transfer their political powers to Cao Dai political leaders. Committed to their religious faith, they declined. His Excellency General Tran Quang Vinh was a prominent political and military figure at that time. He once explained in a meeting to a group of Cao Dai youths that their role as patriots had been played, that the political powers should be handed to Emperor Bao Dai, that the Emperor would then choose politicians to govern the country, and that the people of Vietnam should decide what political regime Vietnam would have. Cao Dai believers should perform their duties as citizens and attend to their faith (Van Chuong, 1(September1991)).

Concerning the accusations of Cao Dai dignitaries as being "reactionary," the Reverend Le Van Mang contended that the reasons behind this false accusation were not simple. The Resistance Movement in the South against the French Expeditionary Corps (1945), led by spiritual and patriotic party leaders, had taken place before the National Resistance which was waged by the Viet Minh. The Viet Minh's political and military potentials in the South then were virtually none. The combined political and military forces under the command of religious and patriotic leaders, by contrast, were imminently strong. There were already three divisions of militiamen. Divisions I and II, mostly composed of believers of Hoa Hao Buddhism and Caodaism, were under the joint command of the military leadership of Hoa Hao Buddhism and Caodaism. Division III, consisting of compatriots from all social strata, was under the command of General Nguyen Hoa Hiep, a Vietnam Quoc Dan Dang (Vietnam National Party) leader in the South. Aware of an overwhelming political and military influence that would destroy their schemes to control all political and military forces outside their systems and, if necessary, annihilate them, the Viet Minh government sent Tran Van Giau, a politics commissioner, and Nguyen Binh, a military commissioner, to the South. When they were at the Cao Dai Headquarters of Militiamen, Tran and Nguyen earnestly preached national unity and solidarity. They were successful in convincing the spiritual and national political leaders to dissolve the military forces under their command. Militiamen were to go back to their native provinces and join the resistance forces in the local areas. Only two companies were retained.

General Tran Quang Vinh of Cao Dai resigned. The command of the two military detachments was passed down to His Excellency Nguyen Van Chu. On his way back to the Holy Site, General Tran Quang Vinh was arrested at Cho Dem, Long An Province, by the order of Huynh Van Tien, the then-Director of Police in the South. He was abducted to the Viet Minh Headquarters of Resistance in Dong Thap and then to its headquarters in Ca Mau where he was to be persecuted. By a strange chance, General Tran Quang Vinh was saved there by Nguyen Van No, an old militiaman under his command, who was then a lead-serviceman in the Viet Minh local resistance group.

Other prominent spiritual and patriotic political party leaders, among whom were His Holiness Huynh Phu So, the Founding Father of Hoa Hao Buddhism, and patriotic revolutionary leaders such as Huynh Van Nga and Nguyen Van Sam, were also abducted to unknown whereabouts by Vietminh cadres. Applying the same tricks by the French colonialists, the Communists were the first to lay hands on spiritual and national leaders and to exterminate religions and national patriots (Van Chuong, 1 (September 1991).

The Problems

On December 13, 1978, the People's Council in Tay Ninh issued its decision to dissolve the Cao Dai Church in Tay Ninh. On March 3, 1979, three highest dignitaries of the Church resigned themselves to sign the Ecclesiastic Order 01/HT/DL to dissolve the entirety of the Church's politics organizations at all levels (Ban Tin Dai Dao, 1994: 22).

As far as Caodaism as a religion is concerned, the status for a Council of Supreme Administrators is not prescribed in the Phap Chanh Truyen or the Laws of the Cao Dai Church. It came into being after the issuance of the Ecclesiastic Order 01/HT/DL of March 3, 1979. It is essentially an organization established, recognized, and maneuvered by the People's Council of Tay Ninh Province (Article 2, NQ/124, June 4, 1980). It has never been accepted by the Cao Dai Church' s faithful.

As far as the Ecclesiastic Order 01/DL/HTDL of March, 1979, issued by a small number of dignitaries in previous positions is concerned, it came into being as a reference to and application of the decision by the [Tay Ninh] People's Council to "dissolve the Tay Ninh Cao Dai Holy See from central to local levels." The Order is now out-of-date because the dignitaries who signed it all passed away. The Cao Dai faithful express that the Order 01/DL/HTDl of March 1, 1979 did not essentially reflect the true and traditional faith of Caodaism, the way Cao Dai Almighty teaches His Children to practice as inscribed in the Tan Phap (New Religious Codes), the Tan Luat (New Religious Laws), and the Phap Chanh Truyen (Religious Constitution of Caodaism (Bui Thi Quy, 1994: 25).

In May 1994, a delegate from the Institute for Religious Studies visited the Holy See in Tay Ninh Province, the Cao Dai Temple on Tran Hung Dao Street, other Cao Dai Sects, and the Pho Thong Giao Ly (the Propagation for the Religious Creeds Department) on Cong Quynh Street, Saigon. The visits showed the State's "stick and carrots" approach. In 1993, Party Secretary-General Do Muoi visited the Tay Ninh Holy See. The Communist administration, on the one hand, caressed the religion and promised to promote religious freedom and return to the Church its establishments. On the other hand, it did not dissimulate its threats against the Cao Dai Church. This indication was revealed from the expression of the chief of the delegate, Nguyen Duy Hinh, in his meeting with the Cao Dai dignitaries on May 13, 1994: Those who conspire to use Caodaism to do things that are not Cao Dai's ... Don't ever regret! I will punish those who use religion for illegitimate purposes (Ngo Ngoc Dung, 1994: 29).

The road toward maintaining the orthodox Cao Dai Faith and its legal religious status is without difficulty. Caodaism came into existence in 1925-1926. It has until nowadays 69 years of history. It has undergone hardships throughout many political regimes--French, Japanese, American--and the present socialism. It has resigned to bear them with patience. For example, the French thought that Caodaism was a political organization and arrested His Holiness Pham Cong Tac and high dignitaries and exiled them to foreign countries. Then, the Communist Viet Minh felt that Caodaists were pro-Japanese, pro-French. Caodaists were persecuted. During the American period, they were wrongly accused of being pro-Communist. The Holy See had faced difficulties, and His Holiness Pham Cong Tac had to live in exile in Cambodia. Now, the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam shifts the blame on it as being "a political association in disguise" to practice politics, etc. Eventually, as one has seen, Caodaism is a religion whose sole goal is to profess Cao Dai Jade Emperor's Love and Justice as moral and spiritual standards for its faithful to follow, to believe in benevolence, which are well beyond all worldly political tendencies. We wish to practice religion according to the goals of Caodaism: justice, fraternity, and benevolence. We do not want to become district chiefs, province chiefs (Thuong Thien Thanh, 1994: 19).

These aspirations seemed to be voiced to deaf ears.

THE THEREVADA BUDDHIST CHURCH

The Oppression

The Therevada Buddhist Church was formally founded in 1957. Compared to other Buddhist Churches, it is very much younger. However, it has recognition on the international plane; it is a member of the World Friendship Buddhists. In his interview with Vietnam Human Rights Watch (February 1992), the Most Venerable Thich Thien Dung explicated that the Church's concerns are many, but the main ones include preaching, worship practice, and propagation. All those purposes are nevertheless conditioned by and restricted to state authorization and permission. Like other Buddhist Churches and religions, Vietnam Therevada Buddhism now lives under extreme conditions. One thing that comforts the Church's clergy is that the faithful have increasingly frequented the worship place, and the more oppressive the measures by the State are, the more the faithful will become loyal to their faith.

Legally, there is no longer a Therevada Buddhist Church in Vietnam. The Communist authorities dissolved it in 1975. In 1976, the Most Venerable Thich Thien Dung wrote to Deo Van Can, a faithful in Tung Nghia, Dalat, asking him about the life and religious practice at Phap Quan Pagoda, the main worship place of the Therevada Buddhist Church in Dalat. He was informed later that Deo had been arrested and imprisoned for six months.

In 1982, Buddhist monks and followers in Vietnam reported to the Most Venerable Thich Thien Dung that there was a severe shortage of prayer books, articles in use for the worship, and monks'dresses. At their request, he sent to Ky Vien Tu Pagoda at 630 Phan Dinh Phung Street, Third Precinct, Saigon, a package of monks' monks’ old dresses and several prayer books. The Most Venerable Thich Vien Minh, who was living in residence at the place, was arrested after that. In 1990, he received a letter from Buddhist believers in Dalat saying that the Vietnamese Communist Party had loosened its control on religious practices and allowed them to repair part of Phap Quan Pagoda. The Buddhist believers in Pomona, California, collected US$10,000 in an offertory for the repair. The effort came to no success. The local authorities in Dalat insisted that the money be spent on repairing the once Therevada Phap Quan elementary school. This school was dispossessed by the State in 1975.

The Repression

The Therevada, like any other Buddhist denominations and other religions, has suffered a tragic loss in its religious practices, activities, and preaching. The Most Venerable Thich Thien Dung said that, on the legal plane, the Therevada Buddhist Church is now non-existent. All its cultural and educational establishments throughout the country were confiscated and came under the possession of the State. All of its clergy was disbanded. The Vietnamese Communist Party and government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam have executed the policy of "using Buddhism to obliterate Buddhism." While dissolving the Buddhist Churches of all denominations and Buddhist associations that operated legally before 1975, it established the Buddhist Church of Vietnam. However, local party cadres direct, supervise, and control religious activities and practices at the worship places throughout the country.

The Therevada Buddhist Church has suffered substantial losses to maintain its stand in Vietnam. Before April 1975, there were about 500 bonzes serving the religion. Therevada Buddhist chaplains were summoned to and detained in reeducation camps when the North Vietnamese government took control over South Vietnam. Prominent and virtuous monks died in prisons or reeducation camps. Among them were the Venerable Thich Thien Nhan known as Monk Thanh and the Venerable Thich Nguyet Quang known as Monk Em. The number of Buddhist dignitaries arrested and detained by the Vietnamese Communist administration is still unknown. Buddhist chaplains released from camps are not allowed to continue their priesthood. The shortage of priests is severe. There are now about 150 Therevada Buddhist monks. So, there are pagodas without monks.

Religious worship and practice have become increasingly difficult. In 1975, the Venerable Thich Nhat Thanh, Director of Quach Thi Trang Orphanage, who resisted the State appropriation of the orphanage, was arrested and imprisoned for six months. On November 2, 1976, 12 bonzes, 8 males and 4 females, immolated themselves by fire in Duoc Su Thien Vien Preaching Hall at Rach Goi, Can Tho province, South Vietnam. Their sacrifices were said to protect Buddhism against the State's appropriation of pagodas, cultural, educational, and social establishments of the Buddhist Churches. In 1979, an atmosphere of terrorism plagued throughout the Therevada pagodas in Saigon. Scholar Maha Thong Kham and his wife were beaten to death at their home. The death of His Holiness Buu Chan was a doubtful question. He was reportedly involved in an automobile accident when he was on his way to a pilgrimage in Phnom Penh, Kampuchea. He died when he was brought to a hospital. No one knows what really happened to Him.

The Most Venerable Thich Thien Dung believed that the role of the official Vietnam Buddhist Church is nominal. They only allowed Buddhist religious preaching in Saigon to be performed at Vinh Nghiem Pagoda on Cong Ly Street and Xa Loi Pagoda on Ba Huyen Thanh Quan Street, where the Buddhist Church of Vietnam stations its quarters. Elsewhere in Saigon, the faithful can only come to pagodas, say prayers, and pray. The real authority resides with the State Committee of Religions and its local administrative work teams. Buddhist monks, whether they are Therevada, Mahiyama, or Bhikkhu, are all under the control of the State. From ordination, appointment, displacement to formation of Buddhist monks, everything is subject to the State Committee's authorization. Local administrative authorities give permission as to whether celebrations and religious activities at local pagodas will be performed. The official Buddhist Church of Vietnam has little voice in their decisions.

Responding to His Eminency Thich Don Hau's religious order, the overseas Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam had demanded that the present government reestablish its legal status and restore its personnel body and all its properties. The Most Venerable Thich Thien Dung wonders if the official Vietnam Buddhist Church would have its hands tied if it really intended to interfere with the unjust arrests and detentions of such prominent and virtuous Buddhist dignitaries as the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do, and the Venerable Thich Duc Nhuan (Thien Nhan, 6 (February 1992)).

THE UNIFIED BUDDHIST CHURCH OF VIETNAM DISCRIMINATION AND MEASURES

On June 25, 1992, the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, Charge d'Affairs of the Institute for the Propagation of the Buddhist Faith, sent a letter of claims to the Secretary-General of the Vietnamese Communist Party, state agencies, and party-affiliated organizations. The letter stressed the importance and role of Buddhism in the Vietnamese people's moral and spiritual life. It also denounced the political discrimination and repressive measures by the Communist rule in the past decades. The Most Venerable concluded his letter with a 9-point claim. These claims demanded, among other things, the Hanoi administration to restore the legal status to the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam and to return to it its pagodas, academic, social, cultural, and religious establishments.

The letter recounts the facts that, as a first step, the Communists dissolved the Interzone 5 Patriotic Buddhist Congregation in 1951, during the Resistance against colonial powers. They forced all Buddhist organizations and followers to join the Lien Viet Front, predecessor to the present National Fatherland Front. The Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, who protested against the dissolution, was arbitrarily arrested in 1952 and only released subsequent to the Geneva Agreements.

In 1976, the Hanoi authorities undertook the reunification of the country. The Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam also expressed the wish to unify the masses of Buddhists, those from the North and those from the South, with the aim to revive moral faith and rebuild the country after the terrible devastating war. The Venerable Thich Don Hau was appointed, on behalf of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, to meet with Nguyen Van Hieu, Minister of Culture, to request his authorization for it to organize the reunification of the National Buddhist community. However, the latter categorically refused in the following terms: "The reunification of Buddhists, that's fine, but only for revolutionary Buddhists. It is out of the question to reunify with reactionary Buddhists." By the words reactionary Buddhists, Nguyen Van Hieu meant the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (An Quang Pagoda). Persistent to this conversation, the Government began a series of severe repressive actions, massively arresting monks, nuns, and Buddhist followers, destroying statues of Buddha, occupying pagodas, and confiscating the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam's academic, cultural, social, and charitable centers all over Vietnam.

At the end of 1981, in order to impose its law on our Church, the Government organized a Congress headed exclusively by the Government and not by dignitaries, monks, or their followers according to the Vietnamese Buddhist tradition. That is the reason why "the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam proclaims that this state Church is simply a tool in the hands of the present regime. And, by serving the regime's interest, it no longer has anything to do with the great Buddhist community. A Church such as that is not empowered to take charge of the affairs of the traditional Vietnamese Buddhist Church. It is nothing other than a successor to propaganda agencies such as the so-called 'Liaison Buddhists' and 'Patriotic Buddhists " (The Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, 1992).

The Struggle for Religious Freedom

The struggle of the Unified Church of Vietnam is truly enduring. Ever since the takeover of South Vietnam, the Communist administration has executed strict oppressive and repressive measures against it. In August 1975, it tried to incorporate all Buddhist denominations into a unified organization. It wanted all of them to serve it under the Committee of Liaison of Patriotic Buddhists' direction. However, the initiative was strongly opposed by the leadership of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam. In November 1975, twelve Buddhist dignitaries and believers immolated themselves by fire at Duoc Su Thien Vien (Duoc Su Monastery) in Can Tho Province. The incident was the first protest against religious repression. The local authorities had prohibited the pagoda's superior monk to hoist the flag of Buddhism, to hold sessions of retreat, and to receive the Buddhist faithful in the community.

On the morning of January 22, 1977, 300 Buddhist delegates from everywhere in South Vietnam assembled at An Quang Pagoda in Saigon, regardless of threats and signs of repression from the city authorities.

On March 17, 1977, the Venerable Thich Huyen Quang sent a letter to Prime Minister Pham Van Dong presenting the Communist authorities' repression against religions. It denounced the destruction and confiscation of Buddhist establishments, the disaffection of pagodas and statues, the arrests of priests, the dissolution of regional Buddhist organizations, and the requirements of authorization from the government for all forms of religious activities. On the same day, 3,000 monks and Buddhist believers marched in a demonstration through the streets of Ho Chi Minh City. Security police were ordered to disband the demonstration. At that time, the conflict between Communist China and Communist Vietnam became tense. The regime's propaganda machinery divulged news accusing the demonstrators of cooperating with the U. S. imperialists and the Beijing hegemonists, conspiring to create social disturbances and distort the State's policies. On April 6, 1977, the police blocked the streets surrounding the An Quang Pagoda, broke into it and arrested a number of monks. Among those who were arrested were four high-ranking dignitaries of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam: the Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, the Venerable Thich Thuyen An, the Venerable Thich Quang Do, and the Venerable Thich Thien Minh. On December 8, 1978, because of the pressure from international human rights agencies, imprisoned Buddhist leaders were brought to trials. The Venerable Thich Quang Do was acquitted. The others were sentenced to 2-7 years in prison.

Nearly a year before that, on June 9, 1977, the Venerable Thich Man Giac denounced, in an "Appeal for the Defense of Human Rights," the systematic destruction of the Unified Buddhist Church organizations and its institutions. He accused the Communist administration of its violations of human rights. The Communists confiscated thousands of schools, clinics, orphanages, abd dispensaries. They destroyed statues of Buddha. They executed with strict measures to close Van Hanh University, the School for Social Services, and the Church's publishing house.

To uproot the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, the Vietnamese Communist Party decided to establish the state-sponsored Buddhist Church of Vietnam. On February 12, 1980, Radio Hanoi announced the creation of a committee destined to unify Buddhism. The committee operated under the sponsorship of the State. This committee was later known as the Committee for the Unification of Buddhist Organizations. The Venerable Thich Tri Thu was appointed President of the committee and the Venerable Thich Minh Chau, former Rector of Van Hanh University, Secretary. The vice-presidents of the committee were the Venerable Thich The Long, the Venerable Thich Minh Nguyet, the Venerable Thich Tri Tinh, and the Venerable Thich Mat Hien. The Venerable Thich Don Hau and the Venerable Thich Duc Nhuan (of North Vietnam) were advisors.

The Repression

Repression intensified as the Communist leadership progressed toward establishing the state-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Church. In February 1981, the Paris-based Vietnamese Human Rights League and the Committee for Defense of Political Prisoners in Vietnam provided a list of 77 priests and 36 monks who were imprisoned. In the same month, the Committee for the Union of Buddhist Organizations in Vietnam held its formal session in Hanoi, January 1981. The leaders of the Committee met with Hoang Quoc Viet, President of the Fatherland Front. The Committee met with strong opposition from the leadership of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam. On September 9, 1981, when it held a meeting at An Quang Pagoda in Ho Chi Minh City with an aim to integrate the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam into the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church, the Venerable Thich Quang Do, spokesman of the opposition, categorically rejected the proposal.

On October 11, 1981, the question of integration of the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church was raised again in a meeting at An Quang Pagoda. The Police arrested and detained the Venerable Thich Quang Do and a great number of dignitaries of the Church. Among those arrested were the Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, the Venerable Thich Thong Buu, the Venerable Thich Thuyen An, and the Venerable Thich Thong Hue. This action was to prevent them from participating in the meeting to express their disagreement.

Foundation of the Vietnam Buddhist Church

The Congress for the Unification of the Vietnamese Buddhism took place in Hanoi on November 4, 1981. Hanoi Radio announced that 160 delegates representing 9 Buddhist organizations and denominations took part in it. The Buddhist Church of Vietnam was founded. Its role was defined as "the only Buddhist Church of Vietnam" and "the only Buddhist organization representative of Vietnamese Buddhism in all its relations inside the country or overseas."

On February 25, 1982, the two prominent dignitaries of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, the Venerable Thich Quang Do--the secretary-general, and the Venerable Thich Huyen Quang-- the vice-president, were arrested. The security police broke into their pagodas and confiscated letters, photographs, and typed texts and manuscripts.

On February 28, 1982, thousands of Buddhists assembled at An Quang Pagoda and Thanh Minh Monastery to pray for the safety of the dignitaries. During the following days, representatives of the laity were convoked to the headquarters of the Fatherland Front. They were informed that the Venerable Thich Quang Do and the Venerable Thich Huyen Quang had demanded to go back to their native villages. In the Resolution No 71 QD--UB, the People's Council of Ho Chi Minh City, in contrast, declared that the two priests were "a danger to the order and security in a region of great political, economic, and strategic importance."

The Vietnam Buddhist Church Supplanted and Bereaved the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church

The Vietnam Buddhist Church intensified its influence and control over the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church. It laid siege on the An Quang Pagoda and began its offense on July 7, 1982. A week after the siege had taken place, the Venerable Thich Don Hau, in the name of the Executive Council of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, wrote to the Venerable Thich Tri Thu, Advisor to the Executive Committee of the Vietnam Buddhist Church, expressing his astonishment over the offense. During its second annual congress held in Ho Chi Minh City, January 23-24, 1983, the Vietnam Buddhist Church announced that the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church had already been supplanted in 20 cities and provinces in Vietnam.

Arrests and Trials of Prestigious Monks

On March 22, 1984, the security police burst into Gia Lam Pagoda and Van Hanh University and arrested 12 Buddhists who were intimately affiliated with the Venerable Thich Tri Thu. Among those arrested were the Venerable Thich Tue Sy, a scholar of high reputation and close associate of the Venerable Thich Tri Thu; Nun Thich Nu Tri Hai, a translator of numerous books of philosophy and religion; the Venerable Thich Tri Sieu, former professor at Van Hanh University; and the Venerable Thich Nguyen Giac, professor at the School for Buddhism at Gia Lam Pagoda.

On the same day, the Most Venerable Thich Tri Thu was brought before the police for interrogation. He was forced to sign a confession attesting that he might have covered subversive activities by reactionary Buddhists. Because of his refusal to such a false denunciation, he was brought back to his pagoda and was asked to reconsider. The doors of the pagoda were sealed for 10 days. On April 2, 1984, the police convoked him again to be informed of his decision. At 8:00 p.m. on the same day, the Most Venerable was brought back to his pagoda. He was unable to talk and his skin was pale. At 9:30 p.m., he expired his last breath.

On August 6, 1985, the Venerable Thich Duc Nhuan, Secretary-general of the Executive Board of the Unified Buddhist Church, was arrested in Ho Chi Minh City. The death of the Venerable Thich Tri Thu and the arrest of the Venerable Thich Duc Nhuan played a part in weakening the opposition, eventually creating favorable conditions for the authorities to proceed their plans of exterminating the organization of the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church.

In September 1988, prominent figures of the Unified Buddhist Church were brought to trials in the People's Supreme Court of Ho Chi Minh City. All were formally accused of participation in the subversive resistance against the State. The Venerable Thich Tue Sy, whose secular name is Pham Van Thuong, and the Venerable Thich Tri Sieu, whose secular name is Le Manh That, were given death sentences. The others were sentenced to 4-15 years in prison. The sentences of the two Buddhist intellectuals brought about protests overseas. In November 1988, the Communist government was obliged to pay its attention to public opinion, and the sentences were commuted to 20 years in prison.

In 1986, the Venerable Thich Thong Buu was arrested. He was one of the most famous disciples of the Most Venerable Thich Quang Duc who, in 1963, immolated himself by fire to protest the Ngo Dinh Diem government's repressive measures against Buddhism. The Venerable was exiled to Dong Xuan in the province of Phu Khanh. He was accused of having incited "illegal religious assemblies."

The State Support of the Vietnam Buddhist Church

In a detailed report on the progress accomplished by the Buddhist Church of Vietnam, Tong Ho Cam, a member of the Central Committee of Religious Affairs, pointed out a certain number of changes that had taken place in Ho Chi Minh City. He mentioned, among other things, the establishment of a mausoleum at Quang Huong Gia Lam Pagoda. The mausoleum was dedicated to the Most Venerable Thich Tri Thu. He lauded the pagodas and Buddhist families in the city who "have participated in the mobilization of the young generation to defend the frontiers of the country." As far as the religious matters in the city were concerned, Tong attested that "the offices have been increasingly developed in conformity with the directives of the Charter of the Vietnam Buddhist Church. They have become an integrated part of the organization of the masses owing to the direction enlightened [by the Communist Party] and the determination of the representatives nominated by the Buddhist organizations of the city."

THE SURVIVAL OF THE UNIFIED BUDDHIST CHURCH

The Communists Tighten Control

For the Communist authorities, the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church no longer existed. Nguyen Quoc Pham, a politics instructor of the Vietnamese Communist Party, reported in 1987: "We have reformed and unified Buddhist organizations throughout the whole country. Reactionary organizations such as the An Quang Sect were dissolved. We have integrated Buddhism in the bosom of the nation and have oriented it on the religious road. At the time of the American-installed government, Buddhism was reconditely divided into sects. It disposed of hundreds of establishments for the formation of Buddhist priests, an Institute of Buddhism, and the University of Van Hanh. However, after liberation, the Buddhists of the An Quang Sect projected to create an allied movement with reactionary forces to oppose to the Revolution."

Repression against the Unified Buddhist Church in Central Vietnam

Speaking to an audience of about 200 Vietnamese in a news conference in Westminster California, July 24, 1993, the Venerable Thich Hanh Dao reported that the Vietnamese Communist authorities have increasingly tightened control on the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church. They have consistently harassed prestigious monks by convoking them to "work at" police headquarters. The Most Venerable Thich Long Tri in Hoi An Township, the Venerable Thich Long The in Da Nang Township, and the Venerable Thich Long Tri in Ba Ria Province were among the prime targets. In July 1994, a 15-year-old Buddhist youngster who served as a mail deliverer for the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang was arrested and forced to bear false witness at the police headquarters. The Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang was subject to restriction of movement. The activities at the Institute of Propagation for the Buddhist Faith were entirely paralyzed.

In other provinces, police agents spy on activities at pagodas. Secret agents, disguising themselves as monks, follow the monks' activities at pagodas. There are more police undercovers than monks in pagodas. There is fear of similar upheavals in the former Communist Eastern Europe. The Communists ease their control on the state-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Church in the North and South of Vietnam. In several cities and provinces, they allow institutes for studies of Buddhism to reopen. However, the candidates must have good political backgrounds and acquire political achievements. Student priests are subject to similar conditions. The ditch that separates the state-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Church and the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam is very large.

The Hue Incident

The reform and reunification of Buddhist organizations and the hard measures by the State did not prevent the Unified Buddhist Church from subsisting and reviving. The fire for revival was kindled when His Eminency Thich Don Hau, Acting President of the Unified Buddhist Church, passed away at Linh Mu Pagoda Hue, Central Vietnam, on April 23, 1992. A message from Saigon to a Buddhist monk living in Southern California, April 30, 1992, disclosed that opposition against the Communist authorities was taking shape. His Eminency Thich Don Hau had left his will instructing his family members and disciples to perform his funeral rites in commemorative silence and in absence of condolences and citations. Contradicting his will, the Communist administration, alleging as a pretext that His Eminency Thich Don Hau had been a member of the Communist Fatherland Front, insisted that it be the organizer for the funeral. It thus imposed its decision on family members and disciples of the deceased. Finally, it unilaterally instituted an organizing committee for the funeral with Nguyen Huu Tho, Vice-president of the Vietnam National Assembly, as its head.

Executing the will of his Eminency Thich Don Hau, his family members and disciples refused to participate in the committee. Reacting to its arbitrary decision, four Buddhist monks went on a hunger strike. Buddhist monk Thich Tri Tuu, who was superior monk at Linh Mu Pagoda, said that he would immolate himself to protest the Hanoi administration against its interference in the Unified Buddhist Church's internal affairs.

On October 3, 1991, to protest against the Communist arbitrary imposition on the dissolution of the Unified Buddhist Church, four overseas Buddhist associations demanded in a joint communiqué that the government in Vietnam reestablish the Church's legal status, restore its personnel body, and return to it all its properties. They also pledged to take steps towards consolidation and unity among various overseas associations. They would act in response to His Eminency Thich Don Hau's religious order.

Facing strong opposition from the Church, the Hanoi administration yielded to the Church's demands by withdrawing its decision to organize the funeral ceremony unilaterally for the late Eminency Thich Don Hau. Nguyen Kim Dinh, an official at the Department of Religious Affairs in Thua Thien-Hue Province, strongly affirmed that there was a hunger strike at Linh Mu Pagoda. The funeral procession for the late Eminency Thich Don Hau proceeded as planned and in order and peace. Nguyen Huu Tho, who represented the Communist administration, was allowed to be present at the funeral ceremony for 3 instead of 15 minutes, and he was to read a "commemorative speech" without mentioning the secular titles or offices of the departed instead of a "speech of condolences."

On April 4, 1993, the security police even broke into Linh Mu Pagoda in Hue. Telephone lines in the pagoda were cut off for three days. It squelched a hunger strike at Tu Dam Pagoda. The pagoda was searched thoroughly. Buddhist dignitaries, monks, and 3,000 followers attending the first commemorative anniversary of the Most Venerable Thich Don Hau at Linh Mu Pagoda protested against prohibition of religious practice. A tense fear pervaded among the Buddhist population in the township. Foreign visitors were forbidden to come near pagodas. Three convoys busing Buddhists to Hue were stopped on the Hai Van Pass, several kilometers south of Hue. The Venerable Thich Hai Tang was stopped in Binh Son District. The monk was interrogated, and all his documents were confiscated. He insisted that they be given back; otherwise, he would go on a hunger strike. Buddhist dignitaries also were not allowed to come to Hue to attend the ceremony. The Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang was restricted to house arrest.

On April 12, 1993, the Sangha and Buddhist followers from the provinces were barred from entering Hue to attend the first commemorative anniversary for the Most Venerable Thich Don Hau. The situation in Hue was reportedly edgy. On May 21, 1993, the Communist authorities informed that they had found a burned body in the backyard of Linh Mu Pagoda in Hue. City chief of Hue Le Van Anh said that the authorities would conduct an investigation to probe the secret relating to the death. Sources close to the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, in contrast, said that the body was that of a male Buddhist. The man made himself a torch to protest against the authorities' repressive measures against the Church. He was Nguyen Van Dung, a native of Quang Ngan Village, Quang Dien District, Thua Thien-Hue Province. In a letter to his family before he sacrificed himself for his faith, Nguyen wrote:

I cannot live in peace and suffer in silence and under foreign [Vietnamese Communists] domination as most of our fellow countrymen. The situations in which our venerable masters and the Church have suffered are so miserable, especially since our Most Venerable at Linh Mu passed away. I have to do something to prove that I am not a buffalo or an insect.

The conflict between the Communist rule and Buddhism then became increasingly edgy. On May 24, 1993, the Buddhists in Hue assembled to protest against the local administration after it had arrested Monk Thich Tri Tuu. The administration resolutely negated any possible opposition. It tightened control on Buddhists, restricting access to Linh Mu Pagoda. However, according to sources close to the Unified Bhuddhist Church, 40,000 Buddhists in Hue-Thua Thien and adjacent provinces came to Hue. They outnumbered the security police when it tried to disband 20 Buddhist monks and nuns who were carrying on a hunger strike. The Buddhists then joined their spiritual leaders, staging a sit-in demonstration on Le Loi Street to demand the release of Monk Thich Tri Tuu and respect for religious practice. The demonstration blocked public traffic for three hours. Clashes between the protesters and the police broke out when the latter tried to disband the demonstration. Three policemen were reportedly wounded. Some twenty protesters were beaten up. A number of them were arrested.

The Communist authorities in Hue said that the local police escorted Monk Thich Tri Tuu in a car to return him to Linh Mu Pagoda. However, a number of monks and demonstrators forced the driver and other people in the vehicle to get off, turned it upside down, and set fire on it. Sources close to the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, on the contrary, said that this vile scheme was instigated by the Communist administration. It schemed with cruel intent to put the blame on the monks and Buddhists for social disturbances. The source also said that the Buddhist population in the country became chagrined and angry over the Communist authorities' repression against Buddhism. In their "cascade" operation, they had used the city security police force to overwhelm the Buddhist protesters during the demonstration in Hue in May 1993. The police flatly repressed the demonstrators, killed 14 Buddhists, and arrested hundreds of them.

Do Thuong Ngai, Director of SRVN Bureau for Business Licenses and Taxes, admitted that the local police in Hue shot down 14 people in the Hue incident during his lunch with American businessmen at the Los Angeles Hilton & Towers on September 15, 1993.

By sentencing the four monks with prison terms, the State certainly manifested its indifference against the spirit of independence that has enlivened the hierarchy of the Unified Buddhist Church since the death of the old Patriarch, His Eminency Thich Don Hau, and the advent of the new spiritual leader in exile, the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang. Four days before the trial, on November 11, 1993, a Western diplomat in Hanoi asked the Communist authorities to allow an observer to attend the trial. However, the request was denied. Ton Nu Thi Khuong Ninh of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the trial would be postponed until an unknown date. Vu Khoan, Foreign Ministry Vice-minister, said in a press meeting in Paris, on November 10, 1993, that there was no violation of human rights in Vietnam, and that there was no trial of any monk, and that the Most Venerable Huyen Quang was not under confinement.

Harsh Measures against the Unified Buddhist Church in Hue

In the months that followed the Hue incidents, the administration prepared the search-and-destroy operations against the Unified Buddhist Church. One of its schemes was to lend the state-sponsored monks a helping hand in charging the Unified Buddhist Church organizations with having actions aiming to divide the Buddhist Church. In his circular to the administration and the Communist Party Section of Thua Thien - Hue Province, Monk Thich Thien Hao, President of the state-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Church, requested the Communist administration to execute appropriate measures against "certain Buddhist priests and associations." Monk Thich Thien Hao's request would give a pretext for the administration's security police to flatten out the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church.

To push forward the elimination of the Unified Buddhist Church's influence in the Thua Thien-Hue province, the Communists resorted to administrative measures. By the decision 1180 TB/UBND, Pham Ba Dien, Chairman of the Thua Thien-Hue People's Council, planned to dissolve the Federation of Sangha and Lay Buddhists in Hue. The Venerable Thich Thien Hanh, leader of the organization, was ordered to dissolve the organization and end forthwith its activities. In an announcement to the public, the Venerable Thich Hanh Dao said that "this is a rude action aiming at destroying the activities of the Sangha that have traditionally operated throughout 2537 years. This action proves that the administration has interfered with the internal affairs of the religion and repressed Buddhism."

The announcement also stressed that Pham Ba Dien twisted his words to make charges against the Sangha's activities. When Vietnam was under domination, the colonialist administration promulgated Decree 10 forbidding Buddhism to use the term "Church." Under this law, the Church was only recognized as an association. However, the Sangha was active, and it practiced faith in the Buddhist-millennium traditional ways. The present political regime, on the contrary, said it is an advocate of an administration of the people, but it arbitrarily destroys the Sangha's activities; it destroys the millennium traditional ways of worship of the people that have existed for as long as 20 centuries.

Quang Tri: Imprisonment of the Venerable Thich Hai Tang

On January, 18, 1993, the Venerable Thich Hai Tang residing at Long An Pagoda, Quang Tri province, Central Vietnam, sent a letter to the local authorities. He complained that he had constantly been living in insecurity. He had continually been summoned to "work" with the police. He had been followed day and night, and his pagoda had been under strict control. At one time, his father visited him and spent a night at the pagoda. Nevertheless, he was summoned to the Police department and interrogated. He was blamed for not having reported his father's visit to the police.

On May 20, 1993, he and Monk Thich Giac Ly were arrested in Da Nang when they were about to wire the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang's letter to Australia's Prime Minister Paul Keating and Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet when the latter was on a visit to Australia. Da Nang post officials kept them at the post office by delaying their service and reported the matter to the police. The letters were considered as proofs of antigovernment materials and were confiscated. The monks were then released, but Monk Thich Hai Tang decided to stay. He protested against the police authorities' unlawful confiscation of personal property. He insisted that the letters be given back to him. The Venerable Thich Hai Tang was arrested on June 5, 1993, together with the Venerable Thich Tri Tuu and the Venerable Thich Hai Thinh during the Hue incident. He was tried and sentenced to 4 years in prison. He is now detained in a reeducation camp in Nam Ha Province, North Vietnam.

Hoi An: Protest against Repression

Opposition to the administration spread in other provinces in Central Vietnam. In an effort, the Buddhist laity prepared campaigns of protest and demonstration. On the commemorative ceremony day at Giac Vien Pagoda, Hoi An Township, for Pham Gia Binh who made himself a torch for Buddhism in Connecticut, U.S.A., in June 1993, hundreds of Buddhists resisted two companies of local police that came to the pagoda and quenched the ceremony.

Quang Ngai: Protest against Repression

On April 30, 1993, a Buddhist nun and a male Buddhist follower immolated themselves by fire as protests against the Communist rule's repressive measures. The Buddhist nun, whose name was not disclosed, died at a pagoda near Quang Ngai Township. The lpcal police confiscated the letters left by the deceased, and her body was taken away to an unknown place.

Lam Dong: Arrest of the Venerable Thich Tri Luc

Buddhist Monk Thich Tri Luc, living in residence at Hoa Nghiem Pagoda (Lam Dong Province in the high plateau in Central Vietnam), was arrested for ungrounded reasons while he was riding in a vehicle on Bach Thai Buoi Street, First Precinct, Ho Chi Minh City, on October 2. 1992. Monk Thich Tri Luc is one of the disciples of the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang. He had with him letters of protest against the State. He was put under house arrest in early 1993.

Repression against the Unified Buddhist Church in South Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh City: Arrest of the Venerable Thich Khong Tanh

The Venerable Phan Tan Dat, known as Thich Khong Tanh, is Secretary-General of the Central Finance Committee and representative of the Unified Buddhist Church at Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City. In the past 18 years, he has been struggling for the rights to freedom of religion and civil rights by peaceful means.

On August 20, 1977, he went on a hunger strike at An Quang Pagoda, the headquarters of the Unified Buddhist Church on Su Van Hanh Street, Ho Chi Minh City, to protest against the Communist administration's arrest of the Buddhist clergy.

In October 1977, he was arrested, interrogated, and imprisoned. He had never received a trial. In 1987, he was released from prison. On July 20, 1992, he sent a letter to the Communist administration demanding realization of freedom, democracy, and human rights. He supported the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang's 9-point claim. On October 2, 1992, the Ho Chi Minh security police, again, arrested him on charges of "propagating anti-socialist propaganda and undermining the State's policy of unity." The Venerable was arrested at Lien Tri Pagoda in the district of Thu Duc. He was detained. Again, without a trial for a year and was released in October 1993.

On August 20, 1992, he sent a petition to Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet and the Vietnamese Communist Party leadership, protesting against repressive measures by the local Communist administration. The petition specified cases of oppression such as the summons without reasons of the Venerable himself and other Buddhist priests and followers. Monks Thich Long Tri, Thich Tri Giac, Thich Minh Tam, Thich Quang Hue, Thich Duc Thang, Thich Giac Nguyen, Thich Tri Tuu, Thich Hai Tang, Thich Toan Chau, Thich Tri Tuc, and prominent Buddhists Nhat Thuong and Dong Ngoc were summoned to local security police headquarters for interrogation.

The petition specified that the local police had closed schools and markets on the Buddhist Annual Ceremony Day of July 15 of the Lunar Calendar (August 13, 1992) and that they maneuvered state-affiliated organizations to abort religious ceremonies at pagodas. It cited cases of harassment toward and threats against the Buddhist priests and followers who had attended the funeral of the late Most Venerable Thich Don Hau. It denounced the oppressive policies the Communist administration had executed to annihilate the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam in the last 17 years. The result was that "high dignitaries of the Buddhist clergy have been arrested and imprisoned; some died in dark cells, and others were to join the state-created Vietnam Buddhist Church out of fear; still, others have sought to escape the country and lived in exile." The petition also warned the Communist rule of disastrous consequences that could result from the hostile policy it had exercised against the religion and the class struggle it had incited among Vietnam’s various social strata.

Those political schemes, according to the petition, were only detrimental to the future of the country and entailed ignominy to the people. The petition firmly demanded the Vietnamese Communist rule to end its oppressive and repressive measures against the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, its priests and followers, to release forthwith the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang and the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do, to return to the Church all its cultural institutions and charitable establishments, to respect human rights, and to establish "a religious legal status that is just, humane, free, and truly democratic."

On February 18, 1993, he was rearrested on the ground of "movement outside the pagoda without permission." He was also accused of carrying materials whose contents were "detrimental to the Revolution and the State." The report by the Ho Chi Minh City security police said that they found at Lien Tri Pagoda antigovernment materials that were, in reality, records and letters of internal religious matters.

Protest: Self-Immolation for Faith

On April 30, 1993, a male Buddhist follower immolated himself by fire in Saigon. The man soaked himself with gasoline and made himself a torch in front of the City theater. The police on guard nearby rushed to the place, extinguished the fire, and hastily shoved the body into a pickup truck. The incident took place several days after the first commemorative ceremony honoring the late Most Venerable Thich Don Hau. News from the AFP reported that the male Vietnamese showered himself with gasoline and set fire to himself. The incident took place in front of the Rex Hotel in the center of Saigon. His act was a protest against the Hanoi regime. He died on the way to the hospital. The incident, the sources further noted, reminds the people of Saigon of the street sights when the Buddhists' struggle for their faith reached its climax in 1963: The Most Venerable Thich Quang Duc immolated himself by fire on Le Van Duyet Street, Saigon, in opposition to the Ngo Dinh Diem government's repression against Buddhism. His death eventually led to the overthrow of President Diem on November 11, 1963.

Demonstration: Arrest of Thich Giac Nguyen and Lay Buddhists

On August 15, 1994, approximately 100 Buddhists participated in a three-day sit-in demonstration in front of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council headquarters. The demonstrators protested against the Communist rule and demanded it to return to the masses the rights to religious freedom, religious education, religious activities, and rebuilding of ruined pagodas and abbeys. The protest was initiated by a group of 9 Buddhist monks and 15 followers led by Monk Thich Giac Nguyen. The group traveled from Tra Vinh to Ho Chi Minh City. The demonstrators started their protest on April 1, 1994. They attracted their fellow Buddhists in Ho Chi Minh City to join them in their protest. The security police had to forestall the participation of other Buddhists with threats; otherwise, the number of participants would increase considerably. On the fourth day, August 4, 1994, the security police, with arms, crammed the protesters into trucks and brought them to unknown whereabouts.

Monk Thich Giac Nguyen, 30, is a son of a high-ranking Communist war martyr. He resides at Long An Pagoda, Can Long District, Tra Vinh Province, South Vietnam. He felt indignant at the authorities' repressive measures against Buddhism.The local cadres in Tra Vinh limited his religious practices and propagation of the Buddhist faith. He then reflected the situations to the local administration and the Fatherland Front. Nevertheless, his petition was ignored.

Repression against Buddhist Flood Relief Mission

On October 31, 1994, the Reuters reported that Vietnam denied a report by a Paris group in Paris that a dissident monk had been arrested in Ho Chi Minh City. The Foreign Ministry accused the Paris-based International Buddhist Information Bureau, mouthpiece of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, of spreading an ill-intentioned fabrication. The bureau said, in a statement faxed to news agencies in Hanoi, that the city police arrested Venerable Thich Long Tri, a prominent member of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, as he arrived in Ho Chi Minh City on October 29, 1994 from his base in the central town of Hoi An. He was in Ho Chi Minh City to head a relief mission to flood victims in the Mekong Delta. More than 300 people died in the floods which affected over half a million of people in six provinces of South Vietnam. The Ministry said that Thich Long Tri had not been arrested and was continuing his normal work. After the incident had taken place, the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang and the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do issued separate letters asking for the reason of the arrest and accusing the Vietnamese authorities of interfering with the humanitarian aid mission sponsored by the Unified Buddhist Church. In a challenging move, the Church sent the Venerable Thich Khong Tanh, in replacement of the Venerable Thich Long Tri, to continue the relief mission.

The Commission on Human Rights in Paris said that the security police in Ho Chi Minh City executed arrests against Buddhist monks and followers of the Buddhist Committee of Flood Relief Mission, hampering them from performing their humanitarian aid.

On October 29, 1994, the Venerable Thich Long Tri arrived in Ho Chi Minh City to lead the mission. On November 3, 1994, the members in charge of the mission including Monks Thich Lang Quynh, Thich Nguyen Nhu, Thich Nguyen Ly, Thich Tam Van, Thich Quang Ton, and Thich Nguyen Thinh, were summoned to the police headquarters for interrogation. They were threatened and forbidden to participate in the mission. On November 5, 1994, the police arrested Buddhist Nhat Thuong Pham Van Xua and female Buddhist Dong Ngoc Nguyen Thi Em. On the evening of November 6, 1994, they blocked the streets and searched for the Venerable Thich Khong Tanh and the Venerable Thich Nhat Ban. On November 5, 1994, approximately 60 Buddhist monks, nuns, and followers, in a convoy of 10 trucks carrying medicine and supplies of food, clothing, and aid materials, were stopped and beset on the streets in the Tenth Precinct, Ho Chi Minh City, while they were preparing for their journey. The security police tore off banners of Buddhism and placards, forcibly disbanding the Buddhists. A number of monks, nuns, and followers were arrested. The authorities also took advantage of the situation to arrest influential members of the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church.

Since the funeral of the Most Venerable Thich Don Hau, the monk said, the Communist rule had harassed the Church to the point that it allowed its security police contingents, at all levels, to hold arrests or grant releases of Buddhists monks as they pleased. In a letter to his disciples and relatives, the dignitary said that if such an atrocious "Stalinist policy" against Buddhism and the dignitaries persisted, he would be ready to sacrifice himself for the country and the Buddhist faith.

The Most Venerable Thich Nhat Lien, who resided at Long Tho Pagoda, Dong Nai Province, was summoned to the police headquarters, interrogated for unknown reasons for nine consecutive days, and was detained for three days, from December 9 to 12, 1992.

In his letter to the Sangha and his followers on December 15, 1992, he said that he was terrorized and suffered such a nervous strain that he almost became a man without a soul. What he reported while he was "working" with the police was a fabrication. He did that at the police's request and under pressure. He vowed to immolate himself for the Buddhist faith and the people. The Most Venerable is now placed under house arrest at Long Tho Pagoda, Xuan Loc District, Dong Nai Province.

Vung Tau: Protest against Repression

The opposition to the Communist authorities' oppression and repression against the Unified Church of Vietnam spread to the provinces in the South when troops and the police attacked Buddhist monks and believers at Linh Son Pagoda on July 9, 1993. The authorities in Ba Ria Province reportedly mobilized local troops flanked by tanks and police force to attack Linh Son Pagoda, where approximately 2,000 Buddhist believers formed a line to defend their religious leaders and worship place. Twenty-five monks and about 100 followers were arrested after the incident. The 25 monks arrested were Nguyen Van Cu, Nguyen Viet Ngoc, Nguyen Tuan, Do Ngay, Pham van Du, Tran Thanh Son, Nguyen Van Hoa, Phan Van Thanh, Nguyen Phi Hung, Vo Van Chinh, Phan Van Lai, Nguyen Huu Phuoc, Ngo Van Hua, Tran Dai Minh, Tran Quang Dinh, Nguyen Minh Cuong, Do Huy Cuong, Nguyen Van Thien, Nguyen Ngoc Tan, Nguyen Viet Ai, Phan Van Vinh, Nguyen Quoc, Pham Van Due, Hoang Son, and Nguyen Van Loc.

Arrests of Monks

The conflict between the Communist authorities and the monks at Linh Son Pagoda became increasingly edgy after Monk Thich Hanh Duc, superior monk at Linh Son Pagoda, came back from the funeral ceremony for the Most Venerable Thich Don Hau in Hue, April 1992. The reaction of the Sangha and Buddhist believers in Xuan Son Village subsequent to the Fatherland Front’s and the Ba Ria People Council's decisions to expel Monk Hanh Duc, 33 other Buddhist priests, and student priests from Linh Son Pagoda on the ground that they were not legal residents.

The expulsion of the priests and student priests aroused anger among the Buddhist population in the province since the charge was unfounded. Monk Thich Hanh Duc had been in residence at Linh Son Pagoda for ten years. He and all the other priests belonged to the state-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Church. They were practically legal residents at the pagoda. It was widely believed that the use of repressive measure against them was not essential.

Trial of Thich Hanh Duc

On January 5, 1994, Monk Thich Hanh Duc was brought to trial before the People's Court of the Ba Ria Province. He was accused of "intending to cause public disturbances" and was sentenced to 3 years in prison. Two other monks, Thich Dong Hy and Thich Dong Hai, were placed under administrative detention at Linh Son Pagoda. The trial took place in a military barrack near Ba Ria Township, and relatives of the Venerable were not informed about it.

On July 7, 1994, Monk Thich Hanh Duc began a hunger strike at Phuoc Co prison in the province of Ba Ria - Vung Tau. His act was to protest against the Court's unjust indictment. In his letter sent outside, the monk said that if the authorities did not set him free, he would continue his hunger strike until death.

On August 1, 1994, the People's Court of Vung Tau confirmed, in a retrial, the conviction of Monk Thich Hanh Duc for a three-year imprisonment sentence. The government said that the Vietnam Buddhist Church, founded in 1981, was the only legal authority. Monk Thich Hanh Duc and other Buddhist dissidents supported the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, which used to be the main Buddhist organization in the former Republic of Vietnam, and thus practiced illegal religious activities.

Vinh Long: Self-Immolation for Faith

Monk Thich Hue Thau Le Van Hoan immolated himself by fire on May 25, 1994. He soaked himself with gasoline then made himself a torch in Vinh Long Province. The incident was covered up, but the news reached the International Center of Information, Unified Buddhist Church, when a monk of the Sangha for the Protection of the Faith in Vinh Long escaped from prison and wired the news.

According to the monk, after the celebration of Buddha's Birthday on May 25, 1994, had taken place, Monk Thich Hue Thau, with a banner of Buddhism, led a group of 47 Buddhist monks and believers to demonstrate against the Communist rule at the Vinh Long Province People's Council headquarters. The demonstrators demanded the freedom of belief and freedom of religion. They were namely the rights to repair pagodas and abbeys, to visit pagodas to pay services to Buddha, to study Buddha's teachings without State interference, and to become a Buddhist monk. They also demanded the legal status for the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam Their demands were nevertheless ignored. Monk Thich Hue Thau, whose religious name was Thien Tam, 43, was residing at Ngoc Pha, Tan Binh District, Vinh Long Province.

The Communist administration, on the other hand, denied any report on a self-immolation of any monk by the name Thich Hue Thau. There was only a monk by the name Thich Thien Tam who voluntarily killed himself because of "personal reasons" at a pagoda in Vinh Long province.

The Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang The Nine-Point Claim

On June 25, 1992, the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, who was placed under house arrest at Hoi Nghia Pagoda (Nghia Chanh Village, Quang Ngai Province, Central Vietnam), sent an 8-page letter of protest to the leadership of the Vietnamese Communist Party and government demanding them to realize religious freedom. The letter specified, among other things, the repressive measures the Communist rule has exercised against the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church in the past 41 years. It brought forward, as proofs, the dissolution of the Buddhist Churches for National Salvation in the Interzone V (Binh-Tri-Thien provinces) in 1951, the annexation of Buddhist associations into the Communist Alliance Front, which is now the Fatherland Front, during the War of Resistance (1945-54), the arrest of Buddhist priests in South Vietnam, and the dissolution of the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church.

After the funeral of the Most Venerable Thich Don Hau, Huyen Quang openly used the seal (of the An Quang faction) and self-proclaimed to be the legal representative of the Institute for the Propagation of the Buddhist Faith. He sent letters to honorable attendants at the funeral and petitions to the central party leadership. At the same time, they spread news throughout the country and abroad.

On the mid-autumn ceremony of this year [1992], Huyen Quang sent notices to the Buddhists of the An Quang faction inside and outside the country inciting them to demand for the recognition of the old Buddhist organization that existed before the liberation. They openly recognized the monks in asylum camps and encouraged opposition from exiled monks of the An Quang faction living in the United States.

Last July, Huyen Quang held a meeting at Hoi Nghia Pagoda and traced out plans and schemes to cope with the situations, thus waiting for favorable times to regularize the An Quang Buddhist Church throughout the country. Following up the above-mentioned developments, the authorities of the province of Quang Ngai, under the guidance of the Party leadership, have progressed towards struggling face-to-face against Huyen Quang. On this occasion, a number of localities also fought over the matter to bring out comments and judgments on the errors of Huyen Quang's supporters, who came to Hue to attend the funeral for the Most Venerable Thich Don Hau, and other deranging activities and explained Huyen Quang's illegal activities and his errors at the funeral and in Quang Ngai, and so on.

Of most concern, the memo specified strict measures to impose on the Most Venerable Huyen Quang. He could neither use Hoi Nghia Pagoda as the headquarters of the Institute for the Propagation of the Buddhist Faith nor use the seal of the An Quang Church. He was to give it to the Vietnam Buddhist Church or the Quang Ngai province administration. He was also subject to official permission wherever he may wish to go.

On March 9, 1993, 30 state servicemen broke into Hoi Nghia Pagoda, where the Unified Buddhist Church stationed its Institute for the Propagation of the Buddhist Faith. The Police searched throughout the pagoda for three hours while Buddhist delegates from the provinces of Quang Tri, Thua Thien, Quang Nam, and Da Nang were paying visits at the pagoda and discussing religious services. Buddhist monk Hai Tang was arrested because of his possession of a copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church considered the administrative decision by the Communist authorities as a harsh measure against the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang. His use of the seal of the Institute for the Propagation of the Buddhist Faith could only be served as an excuse. However, it could also be a vile trick aimed at soothing the Buddhist population's anger that has ever increased since the Hue incident in May 1993.

In June 1993, the Office for the Propagation of the Buddhist Faith in Exile issued protests against the Vietnamese Communist administration's artifices intent on debasing the Buddhist Churches. It cited, as proof, the fact that a secretary at the Office of Liaison of the state-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Church was reported to have received from the communist authorities 3,000,000 dong and a monthly allowance of 150,000 dong to initiate and carry out campaigns to distort the Buddhists' cause in the struggle for religious freedom. Hundreds of articles were carried on in newspapers during May and June 1993 to attack and denigrate the Sangha.

The Venerable Thich Nguyen Lac signed a circular denouncing the Communist administration's intention of eradicating the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church. It also reported that the Vietnam Communist Party Politburo decided, in July 1993, to set up a Special Political Office for Internal Affairs. This office was responsible for studying and carrying out plans to battle out the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang's movement for religious freedom. The new organ was headed by Nguyen Dinh Huong. A special detachment of the security police and troops in North Vietnam were sent to the South to reinforce the local authorities to suppress the movement. The situation was described as "serious and dark."

The Vice-Chairman of the People's Council of Quang Ngai Province, Hoang Ngoc Tran, met with the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang at Hoi Nghia Pagoda on August 4, 1993. During the meeting, Hoang gave the Most Venerable the Religions Central Section's administrative decision. The decision itemized, among other things, that the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang's activities were against the law, and he must observe the State's regulations on religion. It commanded the Most Venerable to stop assuming to be Pro-tempore Rector of the Institute for the Propagation of the Buddhist Faith, to stop using the seal of the Institute, to stop using Hoi Nghia Pagoda or any other pagoda in the provinces as headquarters for the Institute, and to stop deranging the state-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Church.

On August 5, 1993, the daily "Nhan Dan" (The People), published in Hanoi, ran a circular by the state-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Church. It condemned the Most Venerable Huyen Quang's activities as "wrong and illegal." The circular also asked the State authorities to stop him from using his false title and position.

In a communiqué to the Sangha and Buddhists on August 6, 1993, the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang explained why he had refused to give the local authorities the Institute's seal. The decisions of the State Section for Religions and the administration of Quang Ngai Province were, to the Unified Buddhist Church, a death certificate. Once the seal is given to the authorities, the Institute's role is annulled, and the Church is killed. The communiqué also affirmed that the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church was instituted by a general congress. It then could also be killed by a general congress. The administration's decisions were unacceptable since they violated human rights and the right to religious freedom. The communiqué also said that the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang anticipated every difficulty facing the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church. Together with the Church around the world, he will accept all consequences to protect the Church. The Overseas Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam in Canada also declared, in a circular on August 10, 1993, that the Communist administration carried out its plans to eradicate the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam and its leader, the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang.

In December 1993, the state-affiliated Buddhist Magazine "Giac Ngo," published in Saigon, in an effort to support the State’s religious politics, circulated articles attacking the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, his associates, and sympathizers in Hue. It charged them with crimes such as violations of the law, destruction of solidarity, and taking advantage of religion for personal interests. In a strong effort, the administration of Quang Ngai continually convoked the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang for interrogation, terrorizing him into silence. In January 1994, a pro-government delegate of Buddhists came to Hoi Nghia Pagoda to question the old monk with an attempt to obstruct his activities and defame his goals for the struggle for religious freedom. The magazine "Giac Ngo," again, charged him with violations of the law, destruction of solidarity, and abuses of religion for personal interests.

In his communiqué to the Sangha and Buddhist believers on Buddha's Birthday in September 1994, the Most Venerable Huyen Quang renewed his concerns over the disastrous consequences the Vietnamese people have suffered. The Vietnamese people, it said, have endured sufferings as a result of poverty, backwardness, social segregation, hatred, moral demotion, cultural degradation, repression, and terrorism. It particularly reminded the Communist leadership of their malicious behavior regarding the severe measures they have executed against Buddhism.It stressed, among other things, that The Vietnamese people are lenient and peace-loving by nature. They are ready to forgive those who show repentance and mend their ways. The present favorable situations give the Communists genuine opportunities to return to the people's traditions and serve the country. Their concrete services consist in respecting human rights, allowing the people to exercise their basic human rights as stipulated in the International Bill of Human Rights.

The letter specified the fact:

Two Buddhist monks and two lay Buddhists, Thich Nguyen Man, Thich Dong Hoa, Ly Nam, and Nguyen Dinh Truc came to inquire about the Most Venerable Huyen Quang's health. They were arrested at the pagoda's gate and subjected to three days of nonstop interrogation. The eecurity police force them to sign a statement declaring that they would have no further contacts with the Most Venerable Huyen Quang.

The Commission of Human Rights declared that the government must bear full responsibility for the Most Venerable's fate if it refuses to let him see a doctor.

The second letter, dated November 15, 1994, was from the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang himself. It was sent to the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do, who was living in Ho Chi Minh City. The letter stated: "For the last two weeks, the security police have kept the Church's office tightly surrounded. All helpers are expelled, including those who are helping out temporarily for 6-7 days. Monks, nuns, and Buddhist followers are forbidden to approach the pagoda. I don't know who to ask for the treatment of my illness."

Evoking the restrictions imposed by permanent police surveillance and his state of health, the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang issued in his letter a "procuration" assigning the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do to the highest position in the leadership of the Church's affairs. He empowered the secretary-general to head "the struggle for religious freedom and human rights to bring this second wave of repression against Buddhism to an end."

The Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang's arrest followed a clamp-down on the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church's operation to collect and secure relief aid to the victims of flooding in the Mekong Delta where 500,000 people became homeless and over 300 people died. The security police arrested all leaders of the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church in Ho Chi Minh City in November 1994. It put the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang under tight security detention in his pagoda.

The Most Venerable Thich Quang Do Facing the Dictatorship

The Most Venerable Thich Quang Do, whose secular name is Dang Phuc Tue, is one of the first Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church leaders to confront the government over the questions of religious persecution and human rights. He was first arrested on April 6, 1977, together with the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang. He was imprisoned, tortured, and detained for 20 months. He was acquitted on December 9, 1978, following an international support campaign during which Irish Nobel prize winners Betty Williams and Mairead Maguire nominated both the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang and him for the Nobel Peace Prize. On March 2, 1982, he was again arrested, this time for protesting against the government's establishment of the Vietnam Buddhist Church.

On March 2, 1982, the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do was banished to Vu Thu Village in Thai Binh Province, North Vietnam, and detained under house arrest without charge. In the same year, the then Interior Minister Mai Chi Tho visited him and offered him a position in the state-sponsored Church's hierarchy at Quan Su Pagoda in Hanoi. He refused the proposal, however. In early March 1992, Hanoi released him from house arrest. He returned to the South and resided at Thanh Minh Monastery at 90 Tran Huy Lieu Street, Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. He resisted the order to expel him from Ho Chi Minh City by Major Le Van Lam, Head of the Administration and Social Order Office at the Ho Chi Minh City Police Department. He sent a letter to the chairman of the People's Council of the 14th Ward, Ho Chi Minh City, informing this local authority that he was in residence at Thanh Minh Monastery, where he had been living before he was arrested (February 25, 1982). In a letter to Major Le Van Lam, the Most Venerable asserted that his home at Thanh Minh Monastery was legal, that he would continue living there, and that he would accept whatever results that might occur to him. As Secretary-General of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, he strongly opposed the intervention of the State in the Church's internal affairs when it unilaterally instituted an organizing committee for the funeral ceremony for the late Eminency Thich Don Hau.

In August 1994, he sent a letter to Secretary-General Do Muoi, along with a 44-page "Analysis of the Errors of the Vietnamese Communist Party toward the Nation and Buddhism in Vietnam." A copy of this document was handed to representatives of the U. N. Action Team on Arbitrary Detention during their visit to Ho Chi Minh City on October 30, 1994. His letter, in part, wrote:

If we believe in the law of natural selection, all that constitute an answer to a natural need survive, and they must be ferreted out even if we have already buried them. On the contrary, all that do not respond to any of the needs of mankind will eventually bring themselves to destruction. After having actually lived in a Communist regime, I could affirm that this regime does not respond to the needs of mankind. Morally, it oppresses and paralyses mankind. Materially, it impoverishes and starves mankind. That situation is so true nowadays. This regime should be forced to learn and accept capitalism, to follow the footsteps of market economy.

Communism now no longer has a context; it is only an empty word. Communism in Eastern Europe and in the old Soviet Union scuttled, simply because it did not respond to any human need. Nothing other than the regime itself made war against it, and, especially, it is certainly not Buddhism, which, on the contrary, is never freed from being exposed to its attack, to its persecution, and to its will to destroy. According to the same law of natural selection, in a certain point of view, Buddhism responds to human needs. That is why it is very difficult to have it disappeared. The proof exists from what had happened to pagodas in North Vietnam. In the old days, the Communists ruthlessly destroyed pagodas and even transformed them into rice fields. However, for those whose foundations still subsist, people build thatch-covered houses on them, and, in well off communities, they even build brick edifices so that they could have a place to worship Buddha. In the old days, only the Communists considered prayers books in Vietnamese as "decadent literature,." and burned them. Nowadays, the faithful in the North go to the South to buy them, copy them by hand, and then transmit them to one another for prayers. That is another proof showing that the population still needs Buddhism. Nevertheless, this is not the case for some other worships: If I remember well, at one time, every family was forced to hang the portraits of grandiose Communist leaders such as Karl Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Malenkov, Mao Tse Tung, Kim Il Sung in their houses. But by the time I was exiled to the North in 1982, I could not find these portraits at anyone's house, even at Party members' domiciles.

The Continual Struggle for Faith

On October 14, 1994, the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do reaffirmed his opposition to state control over religions by issuing directives to the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church dignitaries all over the country to "put back all Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church's signs over all the Church institutions, pagodas, etc. ." He claimed that "anyone who dares tearing them down will be committing a violation of the right to religious freedom, a flagrant violation of domestic laws and internationally recognized legal principles."

On January 4, 1995, the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do was rearrested. The high dignitary was born in North Vietnam on November 27, 1928. He is a well-known writer and scholar and one of the advocates of religious freedom and human rights in Vietnam.

The Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church's Claims

Persistent to its policy, the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has still executed severe repressive persecutions against the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church. None of the nine claims by the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang on June 25, 1992 has been answered. Quite conversely, the government has concentrated every effort to count out the presence of this Church, eliminating its clergy, and exterminating its activities from the spiritual, moral, social, and educational life of the Vietnamese people as the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang proclaimed in his declaration:

After the reunification, the Communist authorities confiscated pagodas, be they small or large, and rice-fields belonging to pagodas, even one-acre fields to grow food for the monks; they forbade the ordination of monks, and closed all religious schools.

Regarding the case of the Venerable Thich Huyen Quang 'the day the Communist came to power in Vietnam was the day he lost his freedom and was sent into exile.

The renovation policy undertaken by Mr. Nguyen Van Linh created a few openings in various sectors of the population. Buddhism, in fact, benefited from this, although things only opened half-way. In his opinion, this opening should not be considered as a gift. The State must imperatively give back what it illegally stole from the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam and is requested to

1. Restore the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam's right to exist and to carry out activities as before 1975.

2. Bear the responsibility of and give an answer for:

a) the death of the Venerable Thich Thien Minh, Vice-President of the Institute for the Propagation of the Buddhist Faith of the Unified Buddhist Church, who was tortured to death at the National Security Police headquarters in Ho Chi Minh Ville in 1978; b) the immolation of 12 bonzes at the Duoc Su Pagoda in Can Tho; and c) the destruction of pagodas and statues of Buddha.

3. Free all Buddhist monks, nuns and followers, writers, journalists, politicians, etc., who are arbitrarily imprisoned without trial or as a result of unfair trials. Respect religious freedom and basic Human rights. Restore freedom to all those whose fundamental rights have been violated, as is my case and the cases of Thich Quang Do, Thich Duc Nhuan, Thich Tue Sy, Thich Tri Sieu (Le Manh That) and of monks from other religions in Vietnam.

4. Restore, both at the national level and the local level to the Unified Church of Vietnam, all its pagodas, all its bodies and administrative quarters, as well as its cultural, social, and charitable centers which have been illegally confiscated over the past 11 years by the Communist authorities. The monasteries in the North, which were confiscated after 1945, must be returned to their rightful owners.

5. Restore the right of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam to maintain relations with its sections abroad, as was the case before 1975.

6. Judge my [Thich Huyen Quang] personal case for the period between 1945 and 1992 in a competent court. I [Thich Huyen Quang] cannot remain a prisoner without a trial.

7. Proclaim the innocence of all Buddhist monks, including myself [Thich Huyen Quang], in response to the 20,000 letters sent, within the past months, to Hanoi from different democratic Human rights organizations in Europe, the United States, Australia, and Asia.

8. The Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam is ready to participate in the country's national reconstruction. But it cannot do this under the authority of a regime to which religion still remains the arch enemy and which incessantly interferes in and strives to control the church's internal affairs.

9. I [Thich Huyen Quang] hereby vow to sacrifice my body to Buddhism and the Nation when this humiliation reaches a point where I can no longer bear.

THE VIETNAM BUDDHIST CHURCH

The State Interference in the Church's Internal Affairs

On January 1, 1993, 56 Buddhist dignitaries and monks of the state-affiliated Vietnam Buddhist Church at 17 pagodas in the Thua Thien-Hue area, Central Vietnam expressed their views against the State's intervention in the Church's internal affairs. To demonstrate their will, the Sangha and laity Buddhists determinedly protested against the Communist administration by preparing to raise antigovernment slogans and go on a hunger strike if their motion would not be considered. The Communist administration had to withdraw its decision afterwards. It also nullified the prohibition against the Sangha and laity Buddhists' prayer meeting on the 15th day of every lunar month at Linh Mu Pagoda.

On January 6, 1993, they sent a letter of protest to the Most Venerable Thich Tri Tinh, President of the state-affiliated Vietnam Buddhist Church, requesting the termination of state interference in the Church's internal affairs. The letter cited incidents of state interference in the Church's internal affairs such as employment of cadres in the conduct of the Church's administration, which has been the cause of troubles and sowed discord among the Sangha and Buddhist laity in Hue. It specifically pointed out that the ordination of the three monks to the rank of high dignitary at the Congress of the state-controlled Vietnam Buddhist Church during November 3-4, 1992 in Hanoi was unbecoming. The state conferment of a priest's rank did not conform to the religious codes of Buddhism as defined in articles 36, 37, and 38 of Chapter 8 of the Vietnam Buddhist Church Constitution. It only served the Vietnamese Communist Party's political scheme.

The letter of protest bore the signatures of the Most Venerable Thich Thien Tri, Hieu Quang Pagoda; the Most Venerable Kha Tanh, Giac Lam Pagoda; the Most Venerable Thich Ho Nhan, Thien Lam Pagoda; the Venerable Dieu Tanh, Quoc Anh Temple; the Venerable Thich Luong Phuong, Phuoc Duyen Pagoda; Monk Thich Tri Mau, Tu Hieu Pagoda; Monk Thich Hue Thong, Tu Van Pagoda; Monk Thich Tri Thang, Phuoc Thanh Pagoda; Monk Thich Chan Phuong, Tho Duc Pagoda; Monk Chon Niem, Thien Hung Temple; Monk Thich Tan Dat, Phat Quang Pagoda; Monk Thich Toan Lac, Kim Quang Pagoda; Monk Thich Luu Thanh, Truc Lam Pagoda; Monk Thich Tan Nghiep, Linh Quang Pagoda; Monk Thich Phap Thong, Huyen Khong Pagoda; the Venerable Thich Thien Hanh; Monk Thich Thai Hoa, Monk Thich Tu Van; Monk Thich The Trang; Monk Thich An Dien; Monk Thich Thien Tan; Monk Thich Truong Minh; Monk Thich Hai Chanh; Monk Thich Hai Binh; Monk Thich Minh Tam; Monk Thich Tam Phu; Monk Thich Minh Y; Monk Thich Tan Tinh; Monk Thich Tam Hue; Monk Thich Thanh Hien; Monk Thich Hanh Duc; Monk Thich Thong Dat; Monk Thich Nhu Chanh; Monk Thich Tri Tuu; Monk Thich Thai Huong; Monk Thich Tue Tam; Monk Thich Gioi Duc; Monk Thich Tam Vien; Monk Thich Tinh Quang; Monk Thich Khe Vien; Monk Thich Tan Nhon; Monk Thich Thanh Dam; Monk Thich Tam Khong; Monk Thich Ho Tinh; Monk Thich Thien Tan; Monk Thich Thien Qua; Monk Thich Bon Tam; Monk Thich Chanh Ke; Monk Thich Quang Tu; Monk Thich Tam Thien; Monk Thich Nguyen Thanh; Monk Thich Chon Y; Monk Thich Phuoc Can; and Monk Thich Phuoc Khai.

THE EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN CHURCH

The Repression

According to Aurora Foundation, in 1975, there were approximately one thousand Christians in Northern Vietnam (versus 10,000 in 1954) and 200,000 in the South. The Protestants in the South are a relatively unified group and affiliated with the Hoi Thanh Tin Lanh Vietnam (The Evangelical Church of Vietnam (ECVN). Due to distinct schisms, the Protestants in the South resisted all efforts by the government to unite all the Protestants under a single organization, partially out of the distrust of Bui Hoanh Thu, a longtime member of the Vietnamese Communist Party. The Hanoi rule increased its pressure on them, linking the reopening of church facilities to reunification, but it failed to reconcile the Northern and Southern Churches. During the years 1975-1980, Hanoi confiscated at least 100 buildings belonging to the Protestant congregations. In Hanoi, according to Suguru, a Japanese pastor, there are about five aged pastors (Aurora Foundation, 1989: 107-108).

The Repression in the High Plateau in South Vietnam

In the high plateau in the South, the repression affected the Christians of the Jorai minority. Two of them, Y De and Y Thang, who had been arrested and maltreated in the past, were rearrested in December 1980 and were put under detention. The Reverend R'mah Boi and two Christians of the Jorai Christendom of Chu Pa were imprisoned in October 1989. The two lay Christians were sentenced to reap an immense rice field for having sheltered a Christian assembly for prayers in their house at the request of the Reverend Boi. The arrest was qualified as an "administrative measure," that is, there would be no trial, which was, in fact, contrary to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam's penal code.

In Kontum, the Reverend Nguyen Chu and his son, Nguyen Hao, who served the Christian faith in the Jeh minority territory, were arrested on the afternoon of the Palm Sunday, 1990. They were accused of supporting the movement of resistance of FULRO (United Front for the Liberation of the Oppressed Races). Before that, the local authorities had arrested a great number of Christians of this ethnic minority. Approximately 24 among them were imprisoned in Dak Lac, the township of Gia Lai-Kontum.

In May 1990, seven catechists from diverse villages were arrested and brought to the village of Dak Sun where they were incarcerated and interrogated. They were tried and sentenced to 2-3 years of imprisonment for "illegal religious propaganda." Condemnations assorted with such motives seemed to surprise the catechists and Christians in the region. One of the catechists became ill in prison and died after his admission to the hospital. His death affected pastors and Christians in the region, who took great care to organize a solemn funeral for the deceased. The Christians also demanded the authorities to release the cimprisoned atechists.

In the province of Dak Lac, south of Kontum, the Reverend Nguyen Ngoc Anh was detained in December 1990. The charges against him were unknown

Andrew Wark, correspondent for News Network International reported on other arrests on May 10, 1994:

Andrew Wark also reported that the arrests occurred after the police, armed with batons, raided a house in the village of Tan Ha. The Christians, all of whom were members of tribal communities, were conducting the Easter Sunday church service at the time of the raid. They were reportedly forced by the police to lie on the ground and remain silent to avoid being beaten.

During an ensuing house search, the police confiscated a small quantity of religious literature as well as five Bibles, two motorcycles, several watches, and a cassette recorder belonging to group members. The police then handcuffed the nine church members and two children (aged 6 and 14) and marched the group nearly two miles (three kms) south to a nearby town. The police confined the Christians in a warehouse for about three hours, after which they were transferred to the Lan Ha district police station. They were then separated and placed in unfit, poorly ventilated prison cells that were reportedly soiled with human excrement. The mother of the two children was unsuccessful in pleading with prison authorities for their release. The officials finally agreed to the request on April 5 (1994) after both children became ill due to the unsanitary prison conditions. Prior to their release, their mother was reportedly forced to sign a document claiming that the police had not imprisoned either of the children during the incident. The remaining church members were incarcerated for another nine days and were fed with only a small bowl of rice daily.

During their detention, the group members were individually interrogated and threatened with further police action if they did not stop conducting "illegal religious activities" and holding "illegal assemblies." One 19-year-old church member was reportedly struck on the side of the head by a police interrogator when he asked what the group had done wrong. During their incarceration, all of the church members developed gastrointestinal problems due to the poor prison conditions. The group was finally released on April 15 (1994) after each member had been forced to sign a confession acknowledging their involvement in an "illegal religious assembly."

Relations between Vietnamese officials and tribal minority groups in the highland areas have long been tense. The authorities habitually target Christian members of tribal groups to police harassment. Despite the persecution, Christian leaders from many highland areas say that tribal churches are growing at a faster rate than those in the lowland areas of Vietnam.

The Repression in Central Vietnam

On November 20, 1994, the authorities at Ba To, Quang Ngai Province arrested the Reverend Nguyen Duc Loi and the Reverend Nguyen Van Vui, leaders of the House Church movement. They were accused of pursuing political schemes under the pretext of religious activities and detained for seven months. Again, in March 1995, two militant Christians of the same church organization were reportedly arrested in the district of Son Ha in the northern part of the same province. However, they were released after several weeks of detention.

These arrests might have been due to the rapid expansion of christianism among the ethic minority Hre. The Reverend Loi who speaks proficiently the Hre language has played a preponderant role in the evangelization in the area. After his arrest, the House Church of the Hre was summoned to cease all its religious activities. However, the Christians did not follow the authorities' directives and continued to participate in religious celebrations at private houses, as prescribed by Article 7 of the Decree 69/HDBT of March 21, 1991, according to which "the faithful have the right to practice the rites of offering and the right to recite prayers in the interior of the family." They will participate "in religious activities which are performed in the interior of worship places."

In February 1994, the security forces in the city of Da Nang, Central Vietnam, broke up an unregistered church meeting, arresting all 30 church members. Following the raid, at least five of the group's leaders were detained in a police lockup for four days and fined $25 each before released.

The Repression and Persecution in South Vietnam

In the South, in the Vietnamese Christian communities in the provinces of Thuan Hai and Song Be, a number of arrests also took place, usually after assembly celebrations at domicile. The two Christian leaders, Son and Minh, of the Christendom of Thanh My, which is near Phan Rang Province, were arrested in April 1990 for having organized an assembly of the same nature.

During December, 1990, three pastors were arrested for the same reason: the Reverend Vo Xuan in the region of Binh Thuy where three temples were temporarily closed, the Reverend Tran The Thien Phuoc of the province of Song Be, and the Reverend Nguyen Ngoc Anh.

In Ho Chi Minh City, the Reverend Nguyen Huu Cuong and the Reverend Le Thien Dong were arrested on charges of "subversive activities" in 1983. The authorities confiscated the Reverend Nguyen Huu Cuong's chapel in An Dong. In December of the same year, they arrested the Reverend Ho Hieu Ha and his assistant, Nguyen Van Tuoi, on charges of "preaching against the Revolution" and confiscated their chapel on Tran Cao Van Street (Aurora Foundation, 1989: 109).

Amnesty International (1989) reported that the Reverend Ho Hieu Ha and the two pastors lost their appeals against prison sentences that had been imposed by the People's Court in 1987. They were to be held at Chi Hoa prison in Ho Chi Minh City.

According to house churches sources, tensions between the police and unregistered Christian groups in southern Vietnam have continued ever since security forces began carrying out raids on house churches in Ho Chi Minh City, beginning in February 1994.

In early April 1994, the Ho Chi Minh City police in Binh Thanh District launched a raid on an unregistered church associated with Pastor Tran Dinh Ai's House Church movement. While there were no reports of arrests during the raid, security officials reportedly threatened church members with further police action if they continue using the premises for "illegal assemblies." The church group was fined 400,000 dong (US$ 38), and authorities have reportedly placed the church premises under police surveillance.

The security force, in early April 1994, also raided a Ho Chi Minh printing house that was being used to clandestinely print religious literature for distribution among house churches. It is still not known if there were any arrests made in connection with that raid. The leader of a large House Church movement said that the police had detained eleven of the group's members throughout southern Vietnam during the Easter weekend and launched ten raids against the movement's meeting places. There are no further details available regarding these arrests and raids. While Hanoi has given indications over the past year that it has been loosening its rigid grip on religion, House Church leaders in Ho Chi Minh City say that the religious atmosphere throughout southern and central Vietnam still fluctuates between periods of police harassment and seasons of relative religious freedom. The Christian communities in the city resist unifying the Vietnamese Christians under the care of the Fatherland Front. The difficulties facing them are the formation of pastors, the slow development of the religion, the closing of Christian worship places, and the arrest of pastors.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

According to Mgsr. Nguyen Duc Tien, Orange County Director of the Center for Catholics, Vietnam now has 7 million Catholics (out of the 72 million population), 95% of whom are devout. It should be recalled that in 1954, about 800,000 Catholics fled to South Vietnam and an estimated 500,000 remained in the North.

The Dispossession of the Church's Properties

After the takeover of South Vietnam, the Communist rule kept an even more severe measure on the Catholic Church. The police department of Ho Chi Minh City, for instance, selected the Thu Duc District as a pilot community to administer testing measures and monitoring possible reactions to the new regime's religious policy from the Catholic population. The district harbored a large number of Catholic parishes whose believers were refugees from the North since 1954. In the years that followed 1975, it confiscated all financial and economic establishments and cultural, educational, and social institutions belonging to the Church.

The Attempt to Uproot the Church's Organizational Structure

The Vietnamese Communist Party went so far in its attempt to uproot the Catholic Church from Vietnam soil. It ordered the Party Central Committee for Religions and Committees of "Patriotic" Catholics to organize campaigns for a self-directed Vietnamese Catholic Church. In 1979, representatives from the parishes and Orders throughout the South were summoned to a two-day conference in Ho Chi Minh City to vote on the issue. Nevertheless, this scheme proved to be a failure. The representatives at the conference unanimously declared that they had no authority on this issue.

Having failed its attempt to destroy the Church's structure, the Communist rule turned to strike hard at the Church's hierarchy. It made more arrests, placed prestigious Catholics under house arrest, and charged prestigious Orders, prominent priests, and believers, on false grounds, with political subversion. They used the Union of Patriotic Catholics as a shield to achieve their political purposes.

According to Pham Hai, a devout Catolic of Vuon Soai Parish, the Central Party Committee for Religions makes decisions and controls over the Catholic Church at all levels observe the State's law and regulations. It has representative committees in the cities and provinces and 'work teams' at the local parishes. The Communist-sponsored Union for Catholics also plays a role. This organization was the successor to the Committee for Solidarity of Patriotic Catholics. Since the term 'Patriotic' sounded 'too Communist,' it was stripped off. The representatives of this organization consist of a number of priests such as Vo Thanh Trinh, Vuong Dinh Bich, Phan Khac Tu, and Truong Ba Can. We certainly do not know how close they are to the State and the 'work teams' at the parishes. Oftentimes, several of them tend to exert their influence on local priests, but their pressure fluctuates with various circumstances. For instance, during the years of 1985-1986, the local authorities constantly harassed Archbishop Nguyen Kim Dien of Hue, Central Vietnam. He was finally arrested, interrogated, and detained for 120 days at the Binh Tri Thien Police Headquarters. Upon being released, he was immediately placed under house arrest. Father Tran Van Quy, also of the Hue diocese, was also arrested and interrogated about the bishop's activities from 1980 to 1986. A delegate from the Committee for Union of Catholics came to Hue with the vile intent to complicate the matter, but the Most Reverend Nguyen Kim Dien categorically ruled out every artful argument of that delegate in the interests of the Catholic Church of Vietnam.

The Persecution

For decades, the Catholic Church of Vietnam has suffered severe persecutions for the services for the profession of its faith and the services to the faithful. The following list recognizes Catholic dignitaries, priests, and believers who are have been persecuted by the Communist rule since its takeover of South Vietnam.

The Most Reverend Nguyen Kim Dien

Throughout the first few years that followed the Communist takeover of South Vietnam, Archbishop Nguyen Kim Dien of the Hue Arcgdiocese sought to maintain good relations with the new regime. However, he became the local government's target of enmity because of his criticism on the State's religious persecution against Buddhism. During the years 1985-86, the local authorities constantly harassed him. He was finally arrested, interrogated, and detained for 120 days at the Binh Tri Thien Police Headquarters. When released, he was immediately placed under house arrest, and his religious activities were strictly severed.

The archbishop of Hue reportedly died after an unspecified illness.

The Right Reverend Nguyen Van Thuan

Vice-Archbishop of Saigon Archdiocese Nguyen Van Thuan was transported to Nha Trang and placed under house arrest in 1975. In 1984, he was taken into custody for opposing the Committee of Union for Patriotic Catholics. He was released from prison in late 1987 and apparently placed under house arrest. His name has been removed from the list of bishops who was maintained by the state-sponsored Committee of Union for Patriotic Catholics, and he was "no longer" authorized to conduct religious services but was able to officiate in private (Asia Focus, 1987).

In the magazine "Thirty Days," published in Rome, January 1992, Gianni Valette reported in his interview with Bishop Nguyen Van Thuan, Vice-Archbishop of Saigon Archdiocese, that the bishop is now living in exile in Rome. He disclosed that he had been imprisoned in Hanoi from February 1976 to May 1978. Even though imprisoned, he had been successful in performing the Masses in secret. When asked for his opinion about the role of the Committee of Union for Patriotic Catholics, the bishop said: "In Vietnam, there will never be a 'patriotic' Church like the one in China (which renounced loyalty to the Vatican)." When asked why "perestroika" has not reached Vietnam, he said: "Freedom, when it comes back, is a Great Favor."

Bishop Nguyen Van Thuan was expelled from Vietnam after having been detained in prison and placed under house arrest for 13 years. He had not been allowed to leave Hanoi until 1990. He was authorized to leave Vietnam in August 1991 to visit his parents who reside in Australia but was not allowed to return to Vietnam. His staying abroad could be more extensive than expected.

The Reverend Hoang Quynh

Father Hoang Quynh Was arrested right after the takeover of Saigon. Little is known about his fate except that he died in Chi Hoa Prison, possibly in 1976.

Nguyen Khac Chinh

On February 13, 1976, Communist security forces laid siege to Vincent Cathedral in the 10th Precinct, Saigon. After the many-hour siege, the security forces arrested the Reverend Nguyen Quang Minh, a former chaplain of the rank lieutenant colonel of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Vietnam Nguyen Ngoc Thiet, and lawyer Nguyen Khac Chinh. The Communist authorities said that they uncovered a cache of arms and ammunitions and evidences of a conspiracy to overthrow the new regime that involved the aid of the American CIA. The lawyer was charged with masterminding an attempt to overthrow the new government. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Hanoi released Catholic lawyer Nguyen Khac Chinh in early March 1992. He was released after 17 years of detention.

The Reverend Tran Huu Thanh

The Reverend Tran Huu Thanh was arrested on the evening of February 15, 1976 after his visit to a friend. He was taken to the police headquarters where he was cooped up in a dark, small cell. He was reportedly detained in such condition for two months and later transferred to Chi Hoa prison where he was detained for a year. It is believed that he is placed under house arrest somewhere in Hai Duong Province, North Vietnam.

The Reverend Nguyen Van Ly

The Reverend Nguyen Van Ly of the Hue archdiocese was condemned to 10 years in prison in 1983. He was released on July 31, 1992, one year before the end of the sentence. The priest was then placed under the "watchfulness" of a pastor of the diocese. He was living in a penthouse of a small cathedral in the region.

The Reverend Nguyen Van Ly was the secretary of Mgsr. Nguyen Kim Dien, Bishop of Hue Archdiocese in 1977, at the time the latter publicly protested against the violations of the right to religious freedom. The priest was arrested and imprisoned for the first time, from June to December of 1977, for having diffused the declarations of the archbishop. In 1982, he was rearrested when he was the pastor of a small parish church at Doc So. The priest was reported to have challenged the Communist authorities when he decided to lead a pilgrimage to the "Our Lady of La Vang" in Quang Tri Province.

The Reverend Le Thanh Que

On November 20, 1992, PEN International said that it received a wire from the office of the Chairman of the Vietnam Council of Ministers confirming that the Hanoi administration had freed Catholic priest Le Thanh Que. The priest was one among the nine Jesuit priests who were arrested during late 1980 and early 1981 at the time the Ho Chi Minh City authorities closed down the Dac Lo (Alexandre de Rhodes) Catholic Center on Yen Do Street, Ho Chi Minh City. He and the other priests were charged with disseminating counterrevolutionary propaganda and scheming the overthrow of the Communist government. The arrests were supposedly due to their publication of the journal "Dao Nhap The" (Religion Incarnated) and due to the Ho Chi Minh City Youth's admiration for the Jesuit priests and their frequent visits at Dac Lo Catholic Center. The Reverend was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was the principal prisoner of a group of 13 persons at bar, Jesuits and lay Vietnamese Catholics. He and the other accused were tried by the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City on June 30, 1983. They were all accused of "having attempted an overthrow of the legitimate power and conducted a counterrevolutionary propaganda." None of the facts ascribed to the case could produce the least proof to the accusation.

The Reverend Tran Dinh Thu

The Reverend Tran Dinh Thu, an 83-year-old priest, was arrested in 1987. He was the founder and Director General of the Vietnam Dong Cong Monastery (Congregation of the Mother Coredemptrix). After the fall of the Republic of South Vietnam, all the properties of this monastic Order in the provinces throughout South Vietnam--Binh Dinh, Da Lat, Di Linh, Lam Dong, Phuoc Long, etc.,--were one by one confiscated and came under the possession of the State. Fifteen priests of the Order were abducted to unknown whereabouts while a number of others were arrested among whom was the seminarist Dinh Khiem Ton who was later tortured to death. The only property left to the Order was the Dong Cong Monastery in Thu Duc, Gia Dinh province.

On May 15, 1987, the police and local authorities at Thu Duc, with about 40 armed servicemen, blockaded all entrances to the monastery, closed in, and burst into the monastery while a religious course for newly converted Catholics was in session. The Reverend Tran Dinh Thu was arrested and imprisoned on grounds of carrying out counter revolutionary activities.

On the morning of May 17, 1987, devout Catholics in the area and from other parishes came in flocks to the monastery to see what was happening. Witnessing the severe damage done to the monastery, the Catholics gathered in crowds protesting the rude intrusion into the worship place and resisting the police force, which retreated a moment later. Nevertheless, on the morning of May 20, 1987, the police, with reinforcements from the troops, came in from all directions searching vehicles which were passing by, patrolling crossroads, and invading the monastery.

The intruding forces arrested 40 priests and searched for those who they thought were masterminds. Campaigns of propaganda on the part of the Communist administration were organized to accuse the priests at Dong Cong Monastery of carrying out counterrevolutionary activities. In March 1992, the Reverend Tran Dinh Thu turned down Hanoi's offer of his release. He said he would only accept it if Hanoi agreed to release the other 22 priests and the seminarist Phan Chau Dat from prison. On May 18, 1993, the 89-year old priest was released from Camp K5, Long Khanh Province. He was detained for six years. The old priest never received a trial.

Doan Thanh Liem

Doan Thanh Liem was arrested without charges in 1990. Doan signed a letter of protest to Catholic Archbishop Nguyen Van Binh denouncing beguilement of the party-sponsored Committee for Union of Religions, accusing the Vietnamese Communist authorities in Hue of violation of freedom of religion for their detention of Catholic Bishop Nguyen Van Thuan. On May 14, 1992, the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City imposed a 12-year imprisonment on Doan Thanh Liem.

According to the state-affiliated "Saigon Giai Phong" (Saigon Liberated), numerous accusations had been maintained against him: relations with U.S. high ranking officials as well as old officials of the Republic of Vietnam, printing and diffusing anti-socialist documents claiming the suppression of the monopoly of power of the Party, dissolution of the National Assembly, and promotion of multipartism. Before the trial, he was blamed for drafting a project for a constitution for Vietnam. Doan Thanh Liem served as a legal counselor for Michael David Morrow at the time he was arrested. He was a graduate from Georgetown University in Washington D.C..

On May 14, 1992, the Ho Chi Minh City Court sentenced Doan Thanh Liem to 12 years in prison. The trial of Lawyer Doan Thanh Liem aroused deep concerns among celebrities and political circles in the United States. A group of 125 politicians and celebrities signed a letter of protest to Party Secretary-General Do Muoi requesting him to release the lawyer forthwith and unconditionally. Recognized among those who signed the letter were Senator Jesse Helms, Jane Fonda, David Dellinger, David Berrigan, and Tom Hayden. Nevertheless, the protest came to no result.

The Reverend Chan Tin and Journalist Nguyen Ngoc Lan

On May 12, 1993, the Ho Chi Minh City police released Catholic priest Chan Tin and the journalist Nguyen Ngoc Lan. The Reverend Chan Tin, a Redemptorist, and Nguyen Ngoc Lan, a Catholic intellectual, were always guarded under the surveillance of the police. They were the principal inspiring authors of the open letter of August 15, 1989 which demanded the Vietnamese episcopacy to manifest more independence vis-a-vis the State and to clear the role of the Committee of Union of Patriotic Catholics. The same issues, together with severe criticisms on the State, were repeated in a series of preaching by the Reverend Chan Tin during the Lenten sermons in 1990.

The priest and Nguyen Ngoc Lan were both placed under administrative detention. The Reverend was charged on the ground that he had disseminated letters whose contents were detrimental to the regime. He was arrested while residing at the Redemptorists' Church on Ky Dong Street, Saigon. The Reverend Chan Tin was designated a new residence at a small church in the district of Duyen Hai, 70 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh City. Five days later, he was prohibited from celebrating Masses and preaching. On June 22, 1989, after an interrogation by the police, he was put under house arrest for three days. The priest's movement was limited to only within the village of Can Thanh. He was prohibited from exercising his priesthood. His citizenship was withdrawn, and he had to report himself to the police every fifteen days. The authorities also reinforced isolation on other priests. His friends at the Redemptorists Order on Ky Dong Street were restricted to limited activities. The police showed a vigilant zeal in the search for and confiscation of the records of his preaching. One priest of a diocese in the highlands borrowed and obtained one of these records was sentenced to three years under administrative detention. In addition, international organizations, such as the "CIDSE" and "Interaid", which solicited to lay a hydraulic system at Can Thanh was not allowed to go to the place.

Nguyen Ngoc Lan was charged with secretly sending abroad a diary whose contents, according to the Communist rule, denigrated the political regime. On May 16, 1990, the police broke into his home in Tan Phuoc but found no evidence to prove him guilty. He was placed under constant administrative detention at his home and prohibited to leave the quarters. He had to report himself to the police headquarters every week. At every interrogation, during the time he was under administrative detention, he decided not to answer any questions and maintained his position.

Ngo Van An and Ho Cong Hung

A signatory of the open letter of August 15, 1989, Ngo Van An, demanded the Vietnamese episcopacy to manifest more independence vis-a-vis the State to clear the role of the Committee of Union of Patriotic Catholics. Ngo Van An was subject to interrogations in December 1990 and was arrested on February 25, 1991. He was sentenced to three years of reeducation. Another signatory, Ho Cong Hung, was repeatedly interrogated by the police. Ho was then "temporarily freed" and "will be called any time the police needs him."

The Unsolved Problems

On April 4, 1990, the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Vietnam, held in Hanoi, sent a letter of recommendations requesting the Communist rule to create favorable conditions for religious activities, to respect the rights to religious worship, to reopen seminaries, and to attend to the service of the poor. The requests came to no response.

During October 12-19, 1992, twenty-six bishops representing twenty-one dioceses attended the Fifth Congress of Catholic Bishops, held in Hanoi, issued a letter of opinions requesting the Vietnamese Communist administration to lift restrictions on religious activities, to terminate prohibition against Catholic converts to serve their faith, to restore the rights of priests to serve their priesthood and the rights to religious propagation, and to return to the Church the rights to ownership.

In late March 1993, Chairman of the State Committee for Religions Vu Quang informed the Catholic Bishops in Saigon that the government would carry out a new policy concerning religious practices. Vu said:

There will be solutions to current religious issues. The government will be ready to allow a number of Catholic priests to go and study religious subjects overseas. Those priests who returned from education will be allowed to resume priesthood if their conduct proves to be appropriate. Seminaries that are legally accredited by the government will be allowed to function whether they are in the South or in the North.
However, numerous conditions remained unsolved, thus, reducing such encouragement. Catholic priests are not allowed to study abroad. Priests returning from reeducation are not permitted to perform their services as pastors. The number of student priests is limited. Only ten students in each diocese will be admitted to a seminary every two years. These conditions and others will eventually hinder religious education and services. In addition, the government still holds the decision to appoint Bishop Huynh Van Nghi to the Saigon prelacy to replace Archbishop Nguyen Van Binh.

Demands for Religious Freedom

On September 8, 1991, Mgsr. Nguyen Duc Tien said at a conference on religious freedom in Santa Ana, California, that the Vietnamese Communist Party makes at least three basic mistakes in its policy. It confuses patriotism with love for socialism; it restricts freedom of religion, and its cadres do not understand the noble goals of religion and the psychology of religious people. He advocated that freedom of religion is a basic human right, not a privilege.

Pham Hai, recounted that religious practices in the Saigon diocese are now free to some extent. Religious practices and activities are allowed but restricted to the worship place. These are mainly Holy Masses. The civil authorities only permit eligious courses for the youth, teenagers, children, or converts. to be conducted within the church boundaries. The All Saints' Day, Christmas Eve, or receptions of Church delegates are all under the writ of authorization. The Legio, the Catholic Youth, and the Sacred Heart of the Holy Mother are strictly prohibited to operate. Religious activities outside the worship place are restricted. Even the practice of charity is forbidden.

While the constitution recognizes the right to freedom of religion, the State discourages its practice with all kinds of regulations, restrictions, and authorizations. Pious Catholics are publicly derided. Bishop Nguyen Van Sang of Thai Binh Diocese (North Vietnam) reported at the International Caritas Conference in Rome, May 29, 1991, that "anyone who practices charity and performs good deeds is criticized as being backward and benighted."

Violations of religious freedom are evident. The Council of Ministers, at the national level, and local administrative authorities and party members, at lower levels, are empowered with the authorization to guide and direct the Catholic Church of Vietnam.

The most serious problem facing the Church is the shortage of priests, which poses the most difficult question to the Catholic Church of Vietnam. In the North, religious education was banned before the Vietnam war (1955-1975). In the South, after April 30, 1975, the State closed the interdiocesan seminaries in Saigon and Vinh Long. The seminarists were to return to local dioceses. In 1980, six seminaries were permitted to reopen but were subject to rigorous conditions. For example, a new education term could only begin in every six years, and only fifty seminarists were admitted to each new term. But, the laws and regulations in this country are uncertain. No sooner had a policy been put into effect, than another one.nullified it.

From 1986 to 1988, six seminaries in Dalat, Phan Thiet, Xuan Loc, Ho Chi Minh City, My Tho, and Can Tho were authorized to reopen, but the conditions were still rigorous. They were to meet such requirements as: 1) A new scholastic term will begin in every other three years; 2) The requirements of seminary professors must be approved by the State. There are to be six professors at most, and one of them must be state-designated; 3) Applicants to the seminary are required to have good social and political backgrounds and must be recommended by local authorities; and 4) Programs of education must be submitted to and approved by the State.

Given 50 applicants admitted every other three years for a six-year scholastic term, only 10 out of the 50 seminarists are expected to become priests each term. This remark is based on the fact that the majority of young seminarists generally will not be able to overcome trials of an ascetic life of the priesthood. Besides, the number of old and retired priests increases every year, and priests who returned from education camps are excluded from the priesthood and forced to return to their families. Thus, this decreases incontestably the number of priests needed and exerts added weight on the extreme shortage of priests throughout the country.

In Catholic parishes in Saigon, where international organizations and agencies have their ears to the ground, the ratio of priests to the faithful is exceptionally low, with only one or two priests for an average of 7,000 Catholics. In the North, the shortage of priests has become increasingly critical. In many parishes, there are no priests at all. In the Bac Ninh diocese, for example, there are only two bishops and one priest for 120,000 Catholics. The decree 69/HDBT that came into effect on March 21, 1991 further subdues the religions into observing the laws and regulations under such extreme circumstances that the religions could neither promote the preaching of their faiths nor practice religious services and activities. It is truly an insurmountable impediment to religious preaching and religious practices, from education to ordination, appointment, displacement, and title conferment of priests (Trung Tan, 3 (October 1991)).

The control of the State over the Church has created tense indignation among the faithful in many dioceses. Leaflets demanding religious freedoms by the Catholic Movement for Religious Freedom were found at La Vang Cathedral in Quang Tri Province, Central Vietnam (August 18, 1993) and in Long Thanh and Ho Nai parishes in Dong Nai Province, South Vietnam (September 5, 1993).

The Catholic laity, the leaflet said, supported the Catholic Bishops' petition to the government. They demand the State to realize religious freedoms by developing the five immediate needs of the Catholic Church of Vietnam. The Government is required to recognize the Sarcedotal Order by the Vatican to nominate Bishop P.X. Nguyen Van Thuan to be the Vice-Archbishop at the Saigon prelacy and the successor to Archbishop Nguyen Van Binh. It must not interfere in the internal affairs of the Church such as the selection and education of seminarists and the ordination of priests and bishops. It must respect, protect, and create favorable conditions for the Catholic Laity to participate in the study and instruction of catechism, to form Catholic congregations and associations, and to perform humanitarian and educational services. It has to unconditionally return to the Church all the properties it has appropriated or borrowed for temporary use. It has to compensate as amends for any property that is lost or damaged. It has to respect, protect, and create favorable conditions for the Catholic Church of Vietnam to carry out the policy of National Solidarity and develop international relations with other communities and Churches in other countries. It has to respect international treaties by which it pledged to abide.

The Difficulties

On April 15, 1977, the Most Reverend Nguyen Kim Dien, Archbishop of the Hue archdiocese, spoke at a meeting of the Fatherland Front of Binh Tri Thien Province. He made the following remarks on the freedom of religion and equality of civil rights in Vietnam:

1. On Religious Freedom: After the day of Liberation, when I heard the government proclaimed the policy of religious freedom, I was very happy and encouraged. This was reflected in my remarks made at that time. But two years have elapsed since, and I no longer feel happy, because freedom of religion has not really existed.

Worship services have been restricted and Catholic priests prevented from circulating to serve the Catholic population, for example, in the New Economic Zones. There are Churches that have been seized and others prevented from holding worship services. I appreciated the wisdom of the government when it proclaimed the policy of freedom of worship; this was stated clearly in the five decrees and communiqués on religion. But these are only the written proclamations. As far as oral orders are concerned, they often contradict the spirit of the published proclamations. May I ask the government: Should I obey the text or should I obey the oral orders? I want to believe that the texts correctly reflect the government's policy, but the oral orders are given by government agents. Perhaps, I should not identify the government with government agents who wrongly practice the policy of the government.

2) Equality in Civil Rights: During the last two years, let me be honest, Catholic citizens have not felt all right. Wherever they go or whatever they do, they always felt suspected and oppressed.

At school, students have to listen to anti-Catholic teachings from teachers who try tried to smear Catholicism. Of course, there were shortcomings during the history of Christianity, but, compared to the many good things that have been done by Christianity during the past 2,000 years, which are not mentioned, these shortcomings are only a small part. Furthermore, each period has its own principles, and criticizing former times by using the criteria of our times is not a scientific way.

Concerning Catholic workers, employees, teachers, and social workers, even if they are recognized as good workers, they can not continue their jobs, just because they are Catholic. If you are a Catholic, being refused of a job, or having difficulties in continuing your job and want to know the reason, you will be told privately that if you abandon Catholicism or quit going to church, things will go better for you.

During the Assembly of the Fatherland Front of Vietnam, recently held in Ho Chi Minh City, a member of the Central Committee of the Fatherland Front made remarks which suggested that Catholics are regarded only as second-class citizens.

The government contends that everybody is equal, that every ethnic group is equal. We are a people of fifty million. There are forty-five million Kinh people [ethnic Vietnamese] and five to six million people of about 60 ethnic groups. There are at least three million Catholics, yet in practice they do not have the right to equality in civil rights (Quoted from Nguyen Van Canh, 1982: 175).

The religious life in Vietnam is suffering restrictions. This gives rise to many problems because of the State monopoly in all sectors of life. In an interview with the Vietnamese newspaper "Ngay Nay" (Today), published in Houston, Texas, during his accompaniment with Pope John Paul II at the Eighth Conference of the World Catholic Youth in Denver, Colorado, August 11-15, 1993, Cardinal Angelo Sodano said that the Vietnamese government needed to carry out the basic rights to freedom:
To speak of the rights to freedom in Vietnam is to speak of the basic human rights. The Government of Vietnam signed to abide by international clauses on human rights, and it needs to carry them out. When the Holy Father calls for the rights to freedom, he calls for freedom for every human person, not only for the Catholics. Let's hope and pray for Vietnam.

Being asked what the Vatican would do to help the Catholic Church of Vietnam to claim back its establishments, cathedrals, schools, etc., which are now under the possession of the Communist administration, the Cardinal said that the Vietnamese government already gave signs of greater understanding of the freedom of the Church. However, he said that "we only demand for freedom of religion. We do not demand these rights for the Catholics but for all religions, for all people in Vietnam. He believed that "every community has the rights to religious freedom and religious practice. In the same way, the Catholic Church of Vietnam needs to have freedom in organizing seminaries, receiving and forming priests according to its standards. Sooner or later these rights should be recognized by the Vietnamese government."

A Thorny Problem

The state-affiliated daily "Saigon Giai Phong" (Saigon Liberated), on August 17, 1975, reported that, on August 15, 1975, at a meeting of the Catholic clergy in Saigon, Mai Chi Tho, the then Vice-Chairman of Saigon Military Management Committee, affirmed that to place a bishop is not a matter related only to religion. Catholicism cannot be separated from the Nation. Therefore, the appointment of a person to head a diocese must be approved by the revolutionary administration. Following this line of politics, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council announced, in October 1993, its protest against the Vatican's appointment of Bishop Huynh Van Nghi of Phan Thiet diocese to be the Coadjutor Administrator of Saigon Archdiocese. The Council also announced that it will never bear to see Bishop Nguyen Van Thuan to become Archbishop of the Saigon prelacy on the grounds that the Bishop had sowed discord among religions and committed "blood debt" to the people. The protest is believed to be a preexisting decision. The Communist administration wanted to retain Archbishop Nguyen Van Binh in this position. Its hostile attitude toward Bishop Nguyen Van Thuan may result from the fact that the bishop is a nephew of the late President of the Republic of Vietnam, an old political adversary of the Communist regime.

On November 11, 1993, state Catholic priest Huynh Cong Minh, the representative of the Saigon prelacy, informed the First Congress of the Ho Chi Minh City Committee for Union of Catholics that Archbishop Nguyen Van Binh had asked Catholic priests to withdraw from the organization. Huynh said that the participation of Catholic priests in the Committee as well as in other political and social organizations are the responsibilities of the laity, not of the clergy. Political realities in the past dared not allow the laity assume this task. Therefore, the archbishop gave a number of priests permission to temporarily take charge of it. Now, the situation has changed. The country is in the process of renovation, and the economic, social, and political activities have taken on normalcy. The archbishop wanted all activities of the laity to be normalized, and, thus, the priests will be able to assume the task that the laity cannot. That task is to perform religious duties, an area where the personnel are in want. Huynh's assertion was, to observers, a tactic in "moving a step backward in order to move two steps forward."

In a two-column article in the magazine "Thirty Days," published in Rome, in January 1992, Gianni Valette reported news on a visit of a Vatican delegate to Vietnam, consisting of Mgr. Claudio Celli and Mgr. Nguyen Van Phuong. The two Vatican officials met with Vietnamese high-ranking officials. The meetings were described as "intimate and friendly." However, the Vietnamese Catholic circle was doubtful of such a "smile policy" by the State. They were afraid that it was only a tactic in its strategy to "make peace" with the Vatican while seeking opportunities to ingeniously place docile Catholic priests in important positions in the Vietnam Catholic clerical hierarchy. Pursuing this purpose, the State nominated Huynh Cong Minh, the pastor of the Saigon Main Cathedral and Hanoi's protégé and former leader of the Union of "Patriotic" Catholics, representative of the Saigon prelacy. Apparently, he is now no longer a member of the Executive Board of the party-installed Committee for Solidarity of Catholics whose task is to help the Party and State canvass support from the Catholics to carry out the Party's policy. Huynh Cong Minh, in reality, is thought to be a key decision maker representing the Party within the Church's clerical hierarchy. Huynh's statements at the Congress are deemed to be a covert intrigue inciting reaction from the Vatican since, in 1992, Cardinal Sodano, Minister Plenipotentiary of the Vatican, sent a letter to the bishops of Vietnam reminding them of a religious law that prohibits Catholic priests to participate in political organizations and requesting them to find ways to withdraw from the state-installed Committee for Solidarity of Catholics.

In Hanoi, according to the "Eglises d'Asie," in its issue of publication on October 1, 1994, since the nomination of Mgsr. Pham Dinh Tung to be the head of the Hanoi prelacy, the relations between the administration authorities and the ecclesiastic members in the archdiocese have become much less uneasy than that in the archdiocese of Saigon. The nomination of Mgsr. Huynh Van Nghi to be the apostolic administrator of the Saigon prelacy presents a typically thorny problem damaging the relations between the State and the Catholic Church of Vietnam .In September 1993, the Vietnamese State announced a public opposition against the Vatican's nomination of an apostolic administrator for the Saigon prelacy. For many observers, it could not, in reality, impose its decision either on the clergy of Saigon that unanimously supported the Vatican's nomination or on the bishop concerned, Mgsr. Huynh Van Nghi, who, in discretion, has continued to perform his functions of Coadjutor Administrator instituted by the Vatican. On the other hand, at every national conference, by the intermediary of a petition to the prime minister, the bishops always remind the government of the freedoms which the Church deserves and which are ignored by the government.

For several times, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council has manifested its opposition to the proposal by the Vatican. The negotiations between the city authorities and the prelacy at the Saigon archdiocese have become increasingly entangled. The apostolic administrator is obstructed from performing his functions. The authorities at the Vatican might have plighted to restore Mgsr. Nguyen Van Binh, whose health has been ameliorated, to his old position. A proposal announced in April 1994 presaged the change of title for Mgsr. Huynh Van Nghi to be Bishop Coadjutor from Apostolic Administrator. The former nomination, which took place on August 11, 1993, seemed to have caused anger among the authorities of the city. The fact was revealed in the sonorous communiqué of September 15, 1993, in which the People's Council of Ho Chi Minh City categorically disproved the nomination by the Vatican.

According to some observers, the nomination by the Vatican is not the sole object of disapproval. The authorities have already put the blame on the conduct of affairs of Mgsr. Huynh Van Nghi, who, in their eyes, no longer met the requirements as bishop of the Saigon archdiocese as determined by the government. Those also were the requirements Premier Vo Van Kiet had stated in an interview with the monthly magazine "Cong Giao va Dan Toc" (Catholicism and the Nation) on February 27, 1994. Quite obviously, the authorities of the city did not approve of Mgsr. Huynh Van Nghi's conduct of affairs at the archdiocese.

Mgsr. Huynh Van Nghi, in an interview with a correspondent of the journal "La Croix en Asie et du Sud Est," explained the conflict between him and the authorities. Having retraced the difficulties in his dealings with the authorities of the city of Saigon, the prelate particularly insisted on the blame put on him for trying to exclude "the antenna of the Committee for Union of Catholics." According to him, the accusation is unfounded since he committed himself in writing to maintain this committee. However, he was prohibited from administering the diocese of which he had been in charge and where he had appeared publicly. His duty is to obey once he is nominated to the position.

That is also an issue touched by Vu Quang, Director of the Bureau of Religious Affairs, on the first day of the meeting of the Conference of Catholic Bishops during September 5-12, 1994, after the Standing Committee had presented its programs of activities. The presentation was part of the proposal which the bishops addressed to the Vietnamese government in 1993. It was a three-point proposal, confirming the nomination of Mgsr. Nguyen Van Thuan, who was in Rome, restoring the position of Mgsr. Nguyen Van Binh to his functions as Principal Archishop of the Saigon archdiocese, and nominating the Bishop of Phan Thiet as Bishop Coadjutor at the Saigon prelacy. An agreement seemed to be far from being reached. However, the two parties agreed to arrive at a decision in the several months to come.

Difficulties Still Lie Ahead

In his meeting with Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet, Mgsr. Nguyen Minh Nhat, President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Vietnam, expressed his "satisfaction to see the doors more largely opened" with regard to "unity and promotion of democracy." In his meeting with Party Secretary-General Do Muoi, Mgsr. Nguyen Minh Nhat reminded him of his speech at the Congress of the Fatherland Front whereby "it is necessary not to intervene in the internal affairs of religions."

The "Eglises d'Asie," in its issue of publication on November 1, 1994, said that tension marked the preparations for the visit to Vietnam by Mgsr. Alberto Ablondi during August 11-17, 1994. The prelate is Bishop of Livourne, Italy, and President of the Catholic Biblical Federation. It is with these two titles that enabled the bishop to make the visit. The biblical association of which he is the president had financially participated in the publication of the most recent Vietnamese translation of the New Testament. He had been invited to the reception organized for public presentation of the biblical work in Ho Chi Minh City. Besides, he wished to personally meet seminarists from North Vietnam who have had a bearing on the seminarists of the diocese of which he is the bishop, particularly the two recipients of the scholarships accorded by the faithful of Livourne.

At first, the Embassy of Vietnam in Italy refused to give him an entry visa into Vietnam under the pretext that "even before his arrival in Vietnam, he had already devoted himself to religious propaganda." However, after many negotiations, he was accorded authorization to enter Vietnam, but no one was permitted to accompany him.

In an interview with the Vatican Radio on his return from Vietnam, the prelate gave his impressions on his visit when replying to a question on the religious situation in Vietnam that followed:

The religious situation in Vietnam may well be summarized in terms of the celebration in which we participated--a great ceremony that had been organized by the archdiocese at the house of the archbishop, in the ceremonial room, with the participation of many personalities, common people, and, especially, Bible specialists and people who were interested in the Bible. This ceremony of the presentation of the new biblical translation had minutes of difficulties: two people could not obtain authorization for participation from the police because they came from abroad. However, a joyous ambiance prevailed creating an event that manifested the life of a church which is capable of expressing the Words of God in a modern language...

The monthly magazine "Muc Vu" (Ministry), citing from Vietnamese sources, revealed, however, that Mgsr. Nguyen Van Binh had to give words of guarantee about the Bishop's of Livourne visit so that the prelate could obtain permission from the authorities to participate in the meeting. The personalities "coming from abroad" who could not participate in the ceremony were, in fact, two pastors of the Evangelical Christian Church. It is also learned that Mgr. Ablondi was not able to visit the seminarians as he had projected.

The magazine "Muc Vu" (Ministry), in its issue of publication in October 1994, also said that the government authorities would not grant authorization to three Vietnamese bishops to attend the conference organized by the Alliane of Conferences of Bishops of Asia scheduled to be held in Manila, January 1995. They said that they would not allow the bishops to attend the event because the Conference of Bishops of Vietnam Reunified is not yet a member of the Alliance.

Vu Quang, Director of the Bureau of Religious Affairs, might have explained to the bishops that it was the old Conference of Bishops of South Vietnam that was a member of the organization. The new Conference of Bishops Reunified is not yet a member of the federation. The source disclosed that 12 Vietnamese bishops have requested the Communist authorities for permission to come to Manila to participate in the event.

Archbishop Etienne Nguyen Nhu The, Titular Archbishop of Tipasa in Maretania and Apostolic Administrator of Hue, reported to the World Bishops Conference at the Vatican on October 7, 1994 that the religious life in Vietnam is suffering restrictions. This gives rise to many problems, particularly those concerning the formation of priests, the lack of means, premises, and personnel. Congregations that are devoted to education and charitable activities cannot pursue their missions in accordance with their own charism because of the State monopoly in many areas of charitable activities. Thus, despite some relaxation in the past, as from 1986, the Catholic Church of Vietnam is still far from having full freedom of action. In particular, the household registration system restricts freedom of movement and residence. This creates difficulties for the organization of religious communities. In principle, religious institutes are authorized to receive those communities undergoing formation, but, in practice, authorization from the authorities is still required in order to hold meetings. Another difficulty: openness to foreigners is not always positive; if we are not careful, we risk, in the long run, destroying the country's traditional values and, at the same time, putting consecrated life at a disadvantage. In other words, the difficulties the Catholic Church of Vietnam has faced remain the same as reflected in the motion of the Vietnamese Conference of Catholic Bishops to SRVN Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet on October 26, 1992, which requested the rights to religious worship and reads, in part, as follows:

We are glad and hopeful in the presence of the renovations of the country, among which are those in the domain of religion. However, being the people who are responsible for the building of happiness and morals of our Catholic compatriots who live within the people's communities, we cannot help from thinking and being anxious about the remaining difficulties that are facing the Vietnamese Roman Catholic Church. We sincerely convey them to you and the government:

1. Activities of the Vietnamese Conference of Catholic Bishops

Being the superior organ that is responsible for the Catholic community inside the country, the Vietnamese Conference of Catholic Bishops needs to have proper conditions and adequate means for its activities and to be in conformity with their role as representatives of the Vietnamese Roman Catholic Church. We, therefore, respectfully request

-- to be allowed accessibility to free assembly whenever it is necessary and wherever it is convenient,

-- the accessibility of Catholic Bishops to free movement to perform their duties in their dioceses because, in a number of dioceses, the bishops are now subject to permission and report before they go and perform their duties within their dioceses,

-- to be allowed to communicate and share responsibilities with the Holy See and the Roman Catholic Churches in other countries, such as to participate in religious activities organized by the central ministries at the Holy See when asked and to have relationships with other Conferences of Catholic Bishops and to attend congresses, especially those organized by the Alliance of Asian Conference of Catholic Bishops,

-- to be allowed to publish a monthly magazine to inform about activities of the Catholic community and to disseminate beliefs through Bible studies and catechism with facility and, at the same time to be allowed to print and publish with facility books relating to religion.

2. Staff Formation and Administration

Like any other social organization in the country and the world, staff formation and administration within the Vietnamese Catholic Church are a must. The Roman Catholic Church of Vietnam requires a sufficient staff to meet the needs for the service of the followers. Nevertheless, until now, there are only three seminaries with a limited number of seminarists throughout the country. Therefore, we ask the government

-- to allow to open more seminaries,

-- to allow to receive a number of seminarists as are required by needs in each diocese (the existing number of seminarists is very small as compared with the number of seminarists required by actual needs),

-- to allow to establish preparatory schools for prospective seminarists,

-- to allow to ordain, in accordance with the stipulations defined by the Church, priests whom the Bishop considers as meritorious,

-- to allow to transfer, with facility, priests from one region to another as required by the needs of religious services and deemed to be necessary for the service of the followers by the Bishop,

-- to restore the functions of those priests who return from reeducation and allow them to perform religious services,

-- to allow members of the Church to study and receive in-service training overseas when these opportunities are offered or as required by needs and to participate in conferences abroad so that they will be able to serve better when they come back home,

-- to allow monasteries and nunneries to receive, form, and transfer their members so that these people will be better performing their duties, suitable to their specialization,

-- to cease preventing voluntary Catholic converts from serving their faith and causing difficulties to them.

3. Properties of the Church

Nowadays, the Church is in need of worship places and places for activities. We, therefore, ask the government

-- to return to the Church its cathedrals, monasteries, seminaries, abbeys, and real estate properties that are governed and occupied by the State or that are being used unsuitably,

-- to allow, with facility, the Church to repair, rebuild, and build worship places and places for activities to meet religious needs.

The above mentioned proposals are only common propositions by any organization that is officially recognized by the government. They are also the aspirations of the Vietnamese Catholic Clergy and Laity. If they are realized, they will help create a new spirit and motive force for the building and protection of the country.

The Traditional Religious Devotion of the Vietnamese People

As the White Paper on the Violations of Religious Freedom pointed out, the religious repression goes against the traditional religious devotion of the Vietnamese people. The history of Vietnam, indeed, shows that before the advent of communism, which was introduced into Vietnam early in this century, a strong religious sentiment and devotion had taken deep roots in every Vietnamese, every village, and every hamlet. Although the Communists pursue a most ingenious and brutal policy to eliminate religion in Vietnam, the realities show that they have failed. Religion, in general, and the religious devotion of the Vietnamese people, in particular, is not destroyed, but, instead, is thriving, not in forms, both in substance and in depth. This paradox can only be explained by the religious tradition and the concept of religious freedom implanted in the tradition and the life of the people. That noble tradition has been in existence for 2,000 years and manifested itself in the spirit of religious tolerance and the independence of Religion as an institution from the State.

As revealed by the history of Vietnam, since the second century A.D., the Vietnamese people have readily welcomed and tolerated all kinds of foreign religions. The Vietnamese soul is a rich synthesis of popular beliefs, including Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. Centuries ago, the Vietnamese welcomed a number of other religions such as Christianity and Islam. In modern times, two indigenous religions came into existence: Caodaism and Hoa Hao Buddhism. It is in this spirit of tolerance among the religions and their faithful that the Vietnamese people have genuinely transfused the quintessence of each religion and made use of them in their daily life as norms and models for virtues and social interaction (The Committee for the Struggle for Religious Freedom, 1993: 34).

Religious Aspirations

Hue Tam Ho Tai wrote:

Religion affects the lives of ordinary men and women on many different levels. It provides them with moral guidelines; it gives meaning to their existence and to the world they inhabit. It gives them solace and hope for the future. As in nineteenth-century Vietnam, religion can inspire them to build new communities that embody their vision of the perfect world in the most desolate places. The claims of religion need not be in conflict with the claims of the State. Throughout history, religion has served both to integrate the Vietnamese people into a cohesive society and to reinforce the presence, if not the power, of the emperor while softening his rule. But it also has served as a refuge for those who wanted to escape this rule and as a vehicle of dissent for those who respected the all-compassing claims of the State. In their turn, dissenters could, on behalf of their religious beliefs and of politics, be intransigent with those who disagreed with them.

The Communist State is, in many ways, heir to the Confucian state. This is evident in the social origins of much of its leadership. Like its Confucian predecessors, the new leadership has made rigorous attempts to control the religious life of its population, only with the aid of a new State orthodoxy, Marxism-Leninism. The leadership insists that the Vietnamese Catholic Church be a national church. It has ordered the confiscation of properties belonging to the Buddhist Church, including schools and orphanages, on the grounds that the State alone should run such institutions. It refuses to allow draft-aged males into the ranks of the Catholic and Buddhist clergies. Not surprisingly, these attempts at state control have provoked reactions. Although the Communist Party is securely at the helm, its leaders are taking no chances. Periodic appeals for vigilance against enemies of the State continue to be issued. Chiefs among these suspected enemies are members of the Cao Dai and Hoa Hao sects, as well as the Catholics and Buddhists. The modern State has greater powers and much more effective means of control than the traditional State ever possessed. It is conceivable that the Communist State will succeed where the Confucian State did not. But religious aspirations are too strong to be easily uprooted. The outcome of the centuries-old tension between state and religion is very much in the laps of the Gods (Hue Tam Ho Tai, 1987: 144-145).