The Hoa Hao Buddhist Church

   

     Destruction of Worship Places

On July 6, 1994, Chairman Ngo Van Minh of Hoa Hao Buddhism of the Four Good Graces sent a letter of protest to the government. The dignitary objected the acts of despotism of the People's Council of Ho Chi Minh City. The authorities of the said organ had committed violations of the constitutional laws of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and executed brutal acts against the Church. The letter specified as proof the ongoing plan to demolish the Church's Institute for the Propagation for Faith at 570/4 Hung Vuong Avenue, Seventh Ward, Sixth Precinct, Saigon. The letter also denounced the breach of law of the city's architect Le Van Nam.

The petition specifically cited Article 70 of the 1992 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam as the sect's legitimate rights to religious freedom. The article stipulates that "All religions are equal before the law, that worship places are protected by the law, and that no one can infringe on the freedom of beliefs." The city administration was in serious violation of the law, having voluntarily committed flagrant infringement on the law of the State. The letter 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 petition came to no answer as a result of the State’s religious policy. For decades after the takeover of South Vietnam, Chairman Ngo Van Minh emphasized, thousands of followers of the Buddhist Church of the Four Good Graces were resigned to practice their faith in silence. Religious services and activities were reported to have  been  conducted in the family to divert the close  watch on them of the local security police 

     The Campaign of Disintegration of Hoa Hao Buddhist Church

   

In January 1995, the Hoa Hao faithful expressed indignation over the Communist administration scheme to denigrate the Church campaign of political propaganda to deride the Church's religious faith and blaspheme His Holiness Huynh Phu So, the Founding Father of Hoa Hao Buddhism. The  scheme is manifest with audacity in the video-film entitled Dong Song Tho Au (The River of Childhood) by Nguyen Quang Sang. The film-script is based on the story novel by the same author.  His Holiness Huynh Phu So is ridiculed and portrayed as “crazy and vile,” and Hoa Hao religious practices are described as some forms of debased superstition. 

  

The film aroused  wrath among Hoa Hao communities. In his appeal to Hoa Hao followers, the venerable Le Quang Liem, a high-ranking dignitary of the Church, called for action.  He urged on the faithful to send petitions to the local People's Councils and local offices of the Fatherland Fron,  expressing support for his protest, denouncing Nguyen Quang Sang’s malicious derision, and demanding the authorities to revoke the permit for publication of the film. The protest nevertheless met with indifference on the part of the authorities. In its official letter (No. 3967/CV, December 27, 1994) to the venerable Le Quang Liem,  Bui Dinh Hac, the general director of the Directorate of Cinematography, Ministry of Culture and Information, ascertained the facts of the story are true and the legality credited to the film is appropriate. The letter also affirmed that video-film “The River of Childhood” scripted by Nguyen Quang Sang, screen played by Le Van Duy, and produced by Bong Sen (Lotus) Films Productions at the Ho Chi Minh Department of Culture and Information was approved with due process for publication and public circulation. According to the director of the department, the film carries good contents and thoughts.

    

Notwithstanding, Hoa Hao adepts continued to protest as the statements in the reply by the authorities were entirely contrary to facts and biased. On November 10, 1994, Tran Anh Sang, a Hoa Hao notable in Saigon, sent a petition to the Minister of Culture and Information, denouncing Nguyen Quang Sang' s intention as an act of vile conduct, maliciously denigrating Hoa Hao Buddhism and defaming His Holiness Huynh Phu So. The petition stressed that “The River of Childhood” by Nguyen Quang Sang is designed to attack the legitimate Hoa Hao and distort the faith’s religious practices. It libels Hoa Hao Buddhism and the Founding Father of the Church. Nguyen Quang Sang's distortions of the facts of  the Church’s religious life  and the religious preaching and services of  founder of the Church constitute thus an act of sabotage undermining the State and the Communist Party's religious policy and the unity of the people. Still, they constitute a violation of religious freedom as stipulated by Article 70 of the 1992 Constitution and blunt blasphemy against all religions, in general, and Hoa Hao Buddhism, in particular. The petition further demanded that the permit for the production of the film “The River of Childhood” be revoked. An impartial investigation into Nguyen' s act of sabotage and subversion must be taken into consideration. These demands were ignored, however.   

     The Repression

Repression by the authorities ensued.  News from Hoa Hao sources inside the country (January 1995) sent to Hong Van Hoanh, a Hoa Hao dignitary in California, U. S .A., reported that the Church's faithful in the Chau Doc and Long Xuyen provinces, about 350 km southwestern of Saigon, were living under strict control by the security police. Any assembly of two or three people was regarded as an illegal activity. Suspected religious or political dissent was subject to interrogation and arrest. The venerable Tran Huu Duyen, a 70 year-old Hoa Hao notable in Long Xuyen, was re-arrested. The religious had been arrested in 1992. He was brought to stand trial and sentenced to 10 years in prison while he was serving 12 years of house surveillance. The dignitary was reportedly to have demanded the authorities to allow pure Hoa Hao followers to practice their faith. Also, hundreds of Hoa Hao followers were either abducted to unknown whereabouts or arrested because of their protest against the State's ill intention to denigrate their religion and blaspheme the Church’s Founding Father.

Under strict control, followers of legitimate Hoa Hao were targeted with harassment and repression. Effort was made to carry the administration’s plan to exterminate the Church’s lines of leadership in Hoa Hao congregations and associations that swore their loyalty to the legitimate Hoa Hao. Local authorities never hesitated to treat them with violence. On the other hand, they revitalized various free-floating Hoa Hao factions join the State-instituted Hoa Hao Buddhism and help boost activities to oppose pure Hoa Hao Buddhists.

On May 26, 1999, the  administration of the province of An Giang approved of and patronized a congress of about 120 delegates from various local congregations. Le Quang Vinh, the chief of the State Bureau of Religious Affairs, chaired the congress, which then elected a 11-member committee of administration for a reformed Church.  Nguyen Van Ton, commonly known as Muoi Ton, a cadre of the local Fatherland Front and member of the People’s Council of Long Xuyen Province, was elected the president of the committee.  Muoi Ton, who had long been re a “rufian” acting in disguise as a Hoa Hao religious, was not a man of prestige. As a result, the action met with silent opposition from the majority of the Hoa Hao faithful led by venerable Le Quang Liem, as they never ceased to boycott against him, and thus showed indignation over such a representation. The congress failed to convince the faithful of the legitimacy of the committee. The appearance of  the organization was nevertheless the first move of the administration towards eradicating the religion’s leadership at the highest echelon and the first step towards establishing a State-run Hoa Hao Buddhist organization. 

Pure Hoa Hao Buddhists appeared to be the thorn in the side of the State.  Preventive measure were taken to deal with all difficulties that might arise. To suppress opposition from the Church, for instance, State cadres of the Fatherland Front resorted to harsh measures. The Hoa Hao faithful resolutely vowed to struggle an unbent resistance to preserve their legitimate religious identity and traditional worship practices. On  the anniversary of the foundation of the faith of  May 18 of the Lunar Year Giap Than (1999), members of the Council of Elders were officially elected. The new council was vested with the responsibilities to restore the legal status of the legitimate Hoa Hao Church, strengthened the propagation of Hoa Hao Buddhist faith, and preserve the Church’s religious practices and activities.

     The Opposition

Two decades after the “liberation” of the South, the legitimate Hoa Hao Buddhist Church was still outlawed, and the Church’s believers ever lived their faith without official religious recognition. On the contrary, the State-created Church was not only recognized and supported by the State but also allowed to promote all religious celebrations and activities at the expense of the legitimate Church. At the end of June 1999, this organization was permitted to celebrate the holy day of commemoration of the foundation of the Church. A huge number of adepts participated in it. Protests against religious discrimination sparked, and the arrests of the leaders of the opposition resumed.

At the trial of September 2000, the People’s Court of the province of An Giang condemned 5  Hoa Hao believers to diverse penalties in prison on charges of "calumny and abuse of democratic liberty."  In the letter to the Bureau of Hoa Hao Buddhism Overseas in Santa Ana, California, U.S.A. , family members of the defendants called out to public opinion for help.  Based on Article 70 of the 1992 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of  Vietnam. They also denounced the Court’s decision as a breach of the  law as their right to defense was denied.  The trial was conducted without due process” “the people's tribunal can make judgment after a public trial during which the right to defense of the accused is assured.” They also specified that the tribunal of higher court of appeal pronounced neither the public nor the families were admitted to attend the trial, and the doors of the building where the trial took place were carefully sealed. No lawyer was present to defend the accused. Worse still, the accused and even the witnesses that participated in the trial were forbidden to express themselves. Many important witnesses were not called before the Court as witnesses. 

Fr. Chan Tin. In his “Declaration for Religious Freedom,” affirmed that he could not remain indifferent in face of the grave threat Hoa Hao adepts and their leader burdened. The venerable Le Quang Liem, the unique and respectable leader of that religion, for instance, risked to fall at any time under the blows of the political regime. The Redemptorist priest appealed to all Vietnamese in the country and overseas to put pressure on the Vietnamese Communist authorities to end their practices of enmity against Hoa Hao Buddhism.

     

      Protests

After a long period of strict control, the civil authorities seemed to ease tension on certain religious activities. Hoa Hao Buddhism was allowed for the first time to organize a Saint Day celebrating the founding day of the Church. Nearly a million of adepts participated in it. It is reported that although the administration seemed to relax its control, it might have tried to limit the  activities of the day in some areas. On July 1, 1999, after 24 years of apparent silence, Hoa Hao Buddhism found a chance to show indignation over State disrespect for their rights to religious worship and reacted with vigor. The popular reaction took place on this sixtieth Saint Day commemorating the foundation of the religion when nearly a million of people coming from all parts of the country gathered in the township of Phu My of the province of An Giang. All through the three days of celebration, from 200 to 300,000 Hoa Hao believers came in flocks to An Hoa Temple.  An atmosphere of antagonism was foreseen. The civil authorities did not allow the legitimate Church’s dignitaries to organize of the ceremony. The believers still gathered at the Holy Site regardless of prohibition. The authorities tried in vain to block the flow of pilgrims from coming in.. People stayed and camped all around the Holy Ground. They ignored the authorities’ order and slept on whatever spot they could find. Not an act of protest happened, but a show of will was apparent.

      Demands

    

Beginning in September 1999,  Hoa Hao believers in various communities began to request for ban on religious restrictions. Their request met with strong pressure to from the police.  On September 9, about 300 Hoa Hao believers among whom were veteran members of councils of administration and personalities gathered in protest at An Hoa Temple across the office of the State-created Hoa Hao Committee of Administration. The protesters brought to the members of the committee a letter with their names signed  with their blood in it requesting the said committee within 45 days to invalidate the legal status of the religion established by the State in May 1999. The letter qualified this document as an act of  humiliation and thus is detrimental to the prestige of the traditional Hoa Hao Buddhist faith. It enumerated six wrong-doings the committee had committed. They had secretly disoriented the direction of legitimate Hoa Hao Buddhism, disowned the religious banner of Hoa Hao, disfigured the symbol of Hoa Hao for which the  Church’ s martyrs have died, suppressed the annual Saint Day of February 25, which is  destined to commemorate the day of sorrows when His Holiness Huynh Phu So died at the hands of the Viet Minh, suppressed 80% of the contents of the prophetic writings by the founder of the faith, and, let fall into the hands of the communists the properties and establishments of the religion.  None of the members of the committee came out to receive the letter. The protest was peaceful and in order. The police with arms was present at the place but did not intervene.