Instances
of Repression
Due to international
pressure following the collapse of the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Union in
the later years of the 1990”s, the Communist regime loosened its grip on
religions. A number of pastors and ministers who had been arrested and sent to
the reeducation camps or detained in the prisons were released. On the one
hand, Hanoi sought to woo Western democracies, allowing church leaders to make
contacts with international private agencies to get humanitarian aids. On the
other hand, it maintained tight control on the Churches. A large number of
pastors and ministers in the Central Highland remained imprisoned or placed
under administrative detention. A series of new laws were promulgated
restricting religious services and practices, and thus disallowing those pastors and ministers released from
reeducation or imprisonment to perform
religious duties.
Twenty-five years (1999)
after the reunification of the country, the Christians in Vietnam still
remained a marginal minority. They had
been stripped off the rights to
religious freedom as prescribed in the Constitution of Vietnam. Ever since
1975, no organization of the Evangelical
Churches had obtained legal status while conversions to the faith grew
at a remarkable rate. In the Central Highlands, the Christians of ethnic
minorities represented three-fourths of some 800,000 Christians of Vietnam.
Nonetheless, these innocent believers were severely persecuted due to religious
practices. They were targeted with threats, jeers, beatings, and fines. They
were even dispossessed of their properties and forced to do hard work, or
imprisoned for having refused to renounce their faith.
The ill-treatment inflicted
on the Christians in the bosom of the ethnic minorities spread so widely and
systematically that it is impossible to believe in the excuses given by the
government according to which it would only a matter of isolated cases
attributed to some civil servants without conscience (Commission of Religious
Freedom of the World Evangelical Union in Singapore, Feb. 2000 (EDA, May 2000).
Trials and Arrests
Persecution against the clergy and laity continued to take place throughout the South. The
persecution of tribal members of Evangelical Christianity deepened in the first
years of “Renovation” as the house church movement was growing at a steady
rate. Pastors formed by American missionaries throughout the Vietnam War particularly suffered from
harsh repression.
Recognized among the
Evangelicals persecuted were members of the Jeh, Jerai, Koho. and other tribes:
1. Pastor Ka Philip,
house-church leader, arrested in 1990 and released on July 2, 1993;
2. The Reverend Nguyen Chu,
Evangelical pastor serving faith in the Jeh community of Gia Lai - Kontum
Province, arrested on May 13, 1990, while preaching in Kontum township on
charge of “committing crimes against collective security;”
3. Pastor A Out, member of
the Jerai tribe, arrested in June 1990, sentenced to three years in
prison, on charge of” pursuing religious
practice without permission,” and detained at Camp T5, Pleibomg, Gia Lai-
Kontum Province;
4. Pastor Tran Dinh Ai,
house-church movement leader, was arrested on February 25, 1991 on charges of
“having connections with foreign religious groups, organizing illegal assembly,
and preaching without permission,” and sentenced to three years in prison. He
was detained in Chi Hoa Prison, Saigon, and, later moved to Camp Tong Le Chan,
Binh Long District, Song Be Province;
5. Pastor Dinh Thien Tu,
house-church movement leader, arrested on February 22, 1991, on charges of “having connections with foreign religious
groups and abusing religion under the guise of social work,” sentenced to three
years of hard labor, and detained at
Phan Dang Luu, Saigon, and, later moved
to Camp Tong Le Chan, Binh Long District, Song Be Province;
6. Hoang Van Phung,
house-church leader serving faith in the southern rural area, arrested in 1991
on charges of “practicing illegal preaching and pursuing religious practices
without permission, and opposition to the State policy,” detained without
trial, and released in April 1991;
7. Vu Minh Xuan, arrested in
1991, on charges of “practicing illegally preaching pursuing religious practice
without permission, and opposition to the State police,” detained without
trial, and released in December 1993;
8. Pastor Vo Xuan,
house-church leader, arrested and released in 1991; 10. Le Quang Trung,
house-church leader in the southern rural area, arrested on charges of
“practicing illegal preaching,
pursuing religious practices without permission, and opposing to the State
policy,” detained without trial, and released in the same year;
9. The Reverend Phan Quang
Thieu, house-church leader, arrested on
charges of “practicing illegal preaching, pursuing religious practice without
permission, and opposing to the State policy,” and detained without trial;
10. Pastor R’mah Loan,
pastor with the H’mong tribe, arrested in June 1991, for unknown reasons and
was placed under house arrest without trial;
11. Pastor Vo Van Lac, taken
into custody in June 1991 for “having relationship with foreign church
organizations” and released in the same month;
12. Pastor Lhu Anh,
house-church pastor, arrested in August 1991, and released on November 20,
1991; 14. Pastor Phu Anh, house-church pastor, arrested in August 1991 and
released in November in 1991;
13. Pastor Tran Mai,
house-church leader, arrested in Saigon on October 31, 1991, on charges of
“having connections with foreign religious groups, pursuing illegal
religious activities, and opposing to
the State policy,” detained at Phan Dang Luu Prison, moved to Chi Hoa Prison, then moved to Camp
Tong Le Chan, Song Be Province; and
14. Nguyen Bai Tai,
house-church leader, arrested on April 26, 1992, on charge of “holding religious assembly
without permission,” detained at Thu Duc, and released in December 1993.
The report by the Special
Rapporteur of the United Nations on religious tolerance during his visit in Vietnam shed light on the
contradictions in the laws and law practices of the Government of Vietnam in
matter of religion. None of the recommendations of this report has been
realized by Vietnam. For a long time, the Evangelical Churches of Vietnam and their brothers and friends in
the world are aware of the two distinct religious policies: the official policy
and the “internal” policy. The official policy embodies the laws and
interpretations of the laws by various government agencies. The “internal”
policy is largely instituted by measures and methods dealt with the religions
according to situations and circumstances. The Commissions for Religious
Liberty of the World Evangelical Alliance and Evangelical Alliance of Canada
noted the brutal manifestations of the "internal treatment policy."
This treatment is manifest in any objective report on violations religious of
religious freedom in modern Vietnam. Members of the Jeh and Jerai, as a case in
evidence, were the most miserable victims of “internal policy” during the first
years of the 1990’s. Recognized among them were:
1.Y Thang, member of the
Jerai tribe, arrested and detained for religious reasons;
2. Y De, member of the Jerai
tribe, arrested in 1990 for religious reasons; 3. B. Yui, member of the Jerai
tribe, arrested in August 1990, on charge of having contacts with “illegal”
religious groups, sentenced to three years of hard labor, and detained at Camp
T20, Pleiku, Gia Lai - Kontum Province;
3. Ama Phuc, member of the
Jerai tribe, arrested in August 1990, for having contacts with “illegal”
religious groups, sentenced to three years of hard labor, detained at Camp T20,
Pleiku, Gia Lai-Kontum Province;
4. Ro Cam Sieng’ member of
the Jerai tribe. arrested in August 1990, for having contacts with “illegal” religious
groups, sentenced to three years of hard labor, and detained at Camp T20,
Pleiku, Gia Lai-Kontum Province;
5. A. Dia, member of the Jeh
tribe, arrested in Summer 1990 for having contacts with “illegal” religious
groups, sentenced to three years in prison, detained at Camp T5, Pleibong, Gia
Lai-Kontum Province;
6. A. Tho, member of the Jei
tribe arrester in Summer 1990, for having contacts with “illegal” religious
groups , sentenced to three years in prison, detained at Camp T5, Pleibong, Gia
Lai-Pleiku Province;
7. A. Blan, member of the
Jeh tribe, arrested in Summer 1990, for having contacts with illegal religious
groups, sentenced to three years in prison, detained at Camp T5, Pleibong, Gia
Lai-Pleiku Province;
8. Siu Trung, arrested in
Summer 1990, for having contacts with “illegal” religious groups, sentenced to
three years in prison, detained at Camp T5, Pleibong, Gia Lai-Kontum Province;
9. Siu Phan, member of the
Jeh tribe, arrested in Summer 1990, for having contacts with “illegal” religious groups, sentenced to three years in
prison, and detained at Camp T5, Pleibong, Gia-Lai-Kontum Province;
10. A. Phiel, member of the
Jeh tribe, arrested in Summer 1990, for having contacts with illegal religious groups, sentenced to three years in
prison, and detained at Camp T5, Pleibong, Gia Lai-Kontum Province;
11. A. Neo, member of the
Jeh tribe, for having contacts with “illegal”
religious groups, sentenced to three years in prison, and detained at
Camp T5, Pleibong, Gia Lai-Pleiku Province;
12. A. Chuoc, member of the
Jeh tribe, arrested in Summer 1990, for having contacts with “illegal” religious groups, sentenced to three years in
prison, and detained at Camp T5, Pleibong, Gia Lai- Kontum Province;
13. A Trip, member of the
Jeh tribe, arrested in Summer 1990, for having contacts with “illegal”
religious groups, sentenced to three years in prison, and detained at Camp T5,
Pleibong, Gia Lai-Pleiku Province;
14. A. Yel, member of the
Jeh tribe, arrested in Summer 1990, for having contacts with “illegal”
religious groups, sentenced to three years in prison, and detained at Camp T5,
Pleibong, Gia Lai - Kontum Province;
15. Pastor Nguyen Ai has
reportedly also been arrested for preaching without a permit and is said to
have been sentenced to nine years of imprisonment in a labor camp. Mr. Minh and
Mr. Son, Christian elders held meetings for the members of the closed Thanh My
church. According to the information
received, they were arrested in April 1990 at Don Duong, near Dalat;
16 Y De and Mr. Y Thang,
have been detained since 1989, reportedly for their religious activities.
Twenty-four Christians from the Jeh tribe have reportedly been imprisoned since
the beginning of 1990 in Dak Lak, Gia Lai Province;
17. Pastor R' Mah Boi, a
young Christian leader in the highland district of Chu Pa, Gia Lai and Kontum,
belongs to the Jerai minority. He was arrested in August 1989 reportedly for
organizing a working party of about 200 tribesmen of Christian faith to help 2
tribal elders who had been ordered by officials to harvest a large rice-field
when they were caught holding church meetings. Pastor Boi is said to have been
detained and imprisoned on the basis of Administration Law No. 135. He has
reportedly not been formally tried or convicted and is believed to be in
arbitrary detention at prison camp A-20 in Dong Xuan, Phu Yen Province;
18. Pastor Vu Minh Hung, a
minister from Pleiku, is said to have been arrested for the third time in
December 1989 during a church meeting in his home. He was reportedly detained
for the first time for 1 week and the second time for three months (first 7
days for interrogation and reeducation). Pastor Hung, who has not been formally
tried or convicted, is believed to be held in administrative detention at the
reeducation labor camp A-20 in Dong Xuan, in Phu Yen Province;
19. Pastor Nguyen Chu and
Pastor A Uot were reportedly arrested between 1989 and 1990 and are reportedly
detained without trial. The Reverend Vo Xuan, a Protestant church leader in
southern Vietnam, was allegedly taken into custody on December 1989 for meeting
with other Christians and was charged with "disturbing the peace."
Shortly before his detention, he reportedly baptized several persons; and
20. In Kontum, the Reverend
Nguyen Chu and his son, Nguyen Hao, who serve 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 the 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 Lak, the city of Gia Lai-Kontum
Situation of the H’mong
Refugees
All through the 1990’s, the
H'mong Christians in the North suffered from severe persecution. More than 8,000 among
them had to leave their ancestral homes in Ha Giang and Lao Kay and took refuge
in Dak Lak. a thousand of kilometers away.
Yet, they were not free from repression in the new land. The local
authorities regarded them as the reactionary elements that opposed the States.
Many H’nong refugees were chased out of
the piece of land they had just broken for farming. Others were ordered to
leave the poor shelter they had scarcely raised. Still others were even forced
return to their province of origin, empty-handed, unless they pledged
that they would not receive any aid from the government and renounce
their Christian faith.
Petitions to the central
authorities to complain about the abuses of the local authorities came to the
deaf ears. The thirty-page petition dated 1999 presented various instances of
oppression. The local authorities had
used armed policemen or military units to intimidate the H'mong. and forced
them to sign prepared documents in which the signatory pledges to renounce
their Christian faith, promises, to abandon Christian religious practices, and
to report to the authorities about the Church’s or Church members’ activities.
Christians who refused to
comply with the orders were beaten .and fined
with big sums of money, up to a million “dong.” Without money, they had
to pay in kind, to reimburse debts in food
of primary necessity or animals for pulling, or days of work. In January
2000, the H'mong Christians on the frontier provinces of China lived under threat, The frontier police frequently
visited their houses and forced them to renounce the faith and reestablish the
alters for spirits In some regions, the
local authorities forced the Christians to prove their return to the animist
cults by drinking blood of sacrificed animals.
By the middle of the 1990's, the Vietnamese
Communist Party put into practice a new tactic to put an end to the growth of
Christianity in the H'mong tribe. The traditional animist religion, until then
considered as primary superstition, was exalted as good and sane. A campaign of
propaganda was initiated to motivate the H'mong Christians to return to their
ancient beliefs. Along with it, meetings were organized during which the H'mong
were constrained to sign the documents of abjuration and to drink a liquor
composed of animal fresh blood with rice wine according to traditional beliefs. Several years later, the methods
were also applied to the Montagnards of the
Central Highlands.
This coming back to secular
ethnic customs was accompanied with a campaign of denigration of Christianity.
Based on the false interpretation of the term that means “God.” The
anti-religious propaganda of the government blamed the Christianity for
pursuing a political objective, creating
a H'mong kingdom. Under this pretext the authorities would easily erase
the new faith.
From 1997 to 2000, some
15,000 H'mong Christians of the provinces of the North who were chased from
their ancestral houses and communes still suffered much more hardship and
discrimination in the new land. Being the refugees against their will, they
underwent miserable trials. As a consequence of these physical and spiritual
damages caused indifference and religious intolerance caused by the State
unavoidable social uprisings happened the following years. As they did not know
where to go, to go, the H'mong were forced to clear secondary forests and to
clear waste land for farming for survival. Repression nevertheless persisted.
Hundreds of Christian chiefs languished for years as a result of unspecified
arrests and atrocious imprisonment. There were, at least, a dozen of them were
the victims. Some died of malnutrition or lack of medical care. In August 2002, a H'mong by the name Bua Senh
suffered unjust death following the coups inflicted on him by the civil
servants simply because he refused to abjure his faith.
According to the logic of
the regime, all these interdictions have nothing to do with religious freedom:
These activities are illegal. As such, they deserved to be administered by
"internal treatment," the measures with which
the Party and State will not have to rely on the “laws.” In an answer to a petition of the H'mong, the
local public officials simply stated that “ ... freedom of religion is not made
for the H'mong.” In other words, the
"official policy" was not made for them.
At the beginning of 2002, a group of 120
immigrant families of H’mong built shelters, cleared forest land, and to
planted crops in the south of Dak Lak Province. The Vietnamese troops arrested
and chased them from their settlements right at the beginning of their first
harvest. They were moved toward a distant zone under the control of military
units stationed in the west of the province. They were forced to do the clearance of forest and
never received salaries; they were only given enough food to survive. When the
work was done, they were abandoned to themselves. Being the newcomers in the
distant highland region, H'mong Christians were exposed to the ravages of malaria
without medical assistance. This “internal
treatment” measure had chased them from their homeland in the Noith, then made
them the illegal refugees and vulnerable immigrants with all risks of abuses.
The government still had the pretext under which to accuse them of promoting
the “illegal internal immigration,” and creating social disorder and sabotage to national unity.
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