The local authorities of My Dong Ward in cooperation
with the security on July 19, 2012 , proceeded with its land eviction at the Cao Dai Temple area in the township of Phan Rang , Ninh Thuan Province . They brought down the
temple without a notice to members of the Church there. The temple had been
under construction since 1951. In 1987, while it was still being constructed,
the security police arrested the
representatives responsible for the
construction of the local Church and
ordered them to hand it over to the State. The church officials nevertheless refused to comply with
the order. The authorities of My Hai Commune drew up minutes, accusing one of them of behaving like a thug. Incidents of oppression
as such happened again and again in My Dong. Members of the Church made multiple claims beside competent
authorities; no solution came to avail, however. The State-affiliated Cao Dai Church at Tay Ninh suggested that
there must be a proper solution. A piece of fertile land should be exchanged for
compensation. However, an area of hollow
land was given in exchange without any other compensation for the premises
taken down by the authorities, instead. Without proper compensation, the
members of the Church at My Dong could in no way construct a new one.
Complaints were, again, made to high competent authorities.
Nguyen Dinh Lien, Vice-director of the Department of
Religious Affairs of Ninh Thuan Province, evaded the question over the problem in
question and kept silence. The authorities of My Dong Commune maintained that
there had already been conspiracy of silence on the part of the Cao Dai Church at Tay Ninh and the authorities. On March 5,
2013 ,
the local authorities of Long Binh District, Tien Giang Province in the Mekong Delta broke
into the temple of a branch of legitimate Cao Dai Church . The police got in, assaulted an assembly of 60 members who were attending ceremony at the
temple. Police disbanded the assembly and told the leader to hand over the
control and ordered the attendants to go to and practice faith at a
State-affiliated temple. The worshippers resisted. Some were beaten; others
were handcuffed, and six of them among
whom was Le Ngoc Diep, the temple guardian,
were arrested and detained. Temple members claimed that “they
only serve faith. They need to keep this temple so that can follow the
traditions as they have in the past. They don’t need legal status” The group had refused earlier the
authorities’ order to surrender the facility to the State-affiliate Church at Tay Ninh.
Sources said that on June
11, 2014, local authorities and officials of the State-affiliated Church at My
Dong had thugs thrown excrement and filth
on the worshippers while they were performing religious services at a
place of cult. These bad elements were also given order to chain the wheels of
the vehicles of the worshippers who attended the services. These are punishing
measures common used by the authorities to place under control Dissident Cao
Dai who refuse to affiliate with the State-sanctioned Cao Dai Administrative
Council at Tay Ninh.
THE HOA HAO BUDDHIST CHURCH
The State
Elimination of Legitimate Hoa Hao Buddhism
The struggle for religious faith of legitimate Hoa
Hao Buddhism was enduring and challenging. Not only do Hoa Hao faithful face
constant State repression but also have to take risk to preserve faith and fight
for survival. To pacify members of the Church, the authorities sought to
reconcile with church leaders, wooing them to join the Party affiliates in a
State-instituted directory “to normalize” the Church’s affairs. On May 20, 1999 , under the patronage of the State, a congress of
Hoa Hao Buddhism voted on the nomination of 11 selected members of the Council
of Administration. Nguyen Van Ton alias Muoi Ton, a protégé of the
administration, was nominated the chairman. This was an effort on the part of
the authorities to replace the leaders of the legitimate Church with the State
affiliates. This new organ would officially represent the entire laity of Hoa
Hao Buddhism and operate under the supervision of the State through the
intermediary coordination of the Fatherland Front. This process of “normalization”
of the Church, according to the administration, should follow methods of
application established for non-authorized factions of any other religions.
The new council nevertheless met with resistance
from the majority of various Hoa Hao congregations. The veteran leaders,
particularly the venerable Le Quang Liem, firmly professed to revere the
religious principles as inscribed in the Sacred Books of Teachings by the
Master of the Church, legitimate lines of organization of the Church, and traditional practices of the Church. To
preserve legitimacy, the Church began to function with the aegis of Hoa Hao
Thuan Tuy (Pure Hoa Hao Buddhism). The
Church then has unavoidably faced with constant persecution ever since.
To cope with increasing persecution, a Council of
Elders for the Protection of Hoa Hao Buddhism comprising long-standing members
of the rational Hoa Hao Buddhism was formed. The new leadership practiced new lines
of direction, observing Hoa Hao faith in silence acceding to the laws of change
but resiliently meting out oppression following the law of struggle "where
there is oppression, there is resistance." The reality shows that, following the
takeover of South Vietnam in April 1975, the Communist administration has
brutally forbidden the masses of Hoa Hao
Buddhist to serve their faith. Hoa Hao worshippers have stood firm to preserve
their faith although with sacrifices and sufferings. The new leadership called
for support from Vietnamese leaders inside and oversees and world personalities
and organizations and vowed to persistently struggle for religious faith and national
urbanity.
Following the foundation of the Council of Elders, independent
factions of pure Hoax Halo Buddhism hold firm resistance and received warm
spiritual support from friendly religious circles in the country. The Reverend
Chan Tin, a Catholic priest, a prominent advocate for democracy and freedom,
nationwide, associated himself with members of legitimate Hoax Halo Buddhism. He publicly protested against the State’s
repressive measures the Church. The priest circulated his appeal for support
for the venerable Le Quant Lime and Hoax
Halo adepts. In the text, dated December 1, 1999 , the priest denounced brutal acts of violence that the authorities had inflicted on the
people of the province of An Giang most of whom were Hoa Hao
believers. These practices of terror, immersed in fear the entire population in
the province. Involved in the action were the authorities of the province,
among whom were the secretary of the
section of the Communist Party of the province, the chairman of the
People’s Council of the province, and the chairman of the Fatherland Front of the
province. The priest affirmed that “they were the haughtiest state officials
notorious for extortion and flaunted themselves above “everyone else in all
over the Mekong Delta.” They were those State cadres who rolled in money and
possessed luxurious residences that were worth of billions of “dong,” which barefaced act even the central administration was at a loss to
disaffirm.
The priest equally specified that the local
administration had executed malicious practices
against Hoa Hao Buddhism with the publication of articles denigrating
the religion and ridiculing its founder of the Church in the official review An
Ninh The Gioi (The Police World Security). The appeal called for the respect
for human rights and the abrogation of Article 4 of the 1992 Constitution
which, in his view, immerses the country
under the thumb of the Communist Party of Vietnam. He demanded an immediate dissolution of the
servile Hoa Hao Committee of Representatives that solely consisted of the
henchmen of the regime.
Suppression followed suit. On December 26, 1999 , the security forces arrested Hoa Hao adepts when
they went to To Dinh (Ancestral Temple ) to prepare for the
Church’s anniversary celebration. This commemoration of the death of the
Founder of Hoa Hao Buddhism is to the Communist a reminder an act of bad faith
and betrayal to the Communist Viet Minh. Hoa Hao believers, on the contrary,
ever consider this a vile fabrication. The
founder of the Church was practically assassinated by the Viet Minh, and his
death is commemorated by the Hoa Hao faithful on February 25 every year). This
yearly commemoration ceremony is forbidden by the actual political regime. Police
raids, attempts of intimidation, and arrests on unfounded charges ate the
common practices. They were part of
a of repression programs destined to
prevent the Hoa Hao faithful to organize, attend, and celebrate Holy Days.
To the authorities, celebrations of this kind not only creates a “show of
force” but also a manifestation of resistance against the regime of the pure
Hoa Hao, which act of defiance the
authorities cannot look the other way.
On this day of celebration, the To Dinah, the
birthplace of the Founder of Hoa Hao, was surrounded by a chain of police
checkpoints aimed to block all entrances to the site. Reports from
the Hoa Hao community in the United States said that telephone
communication was cut off. A little less
than ten thousand Hoa Hao adepts were waiting for this even to take place.
Repression was on the way. the resistance persisted, and the event rolled on in
chaos. Police detained the worshipers without a charge. Under detention, the adepts suffered
ill-treatment. They were released only after the intervention of U.S. Congress
and, particularly, the expression of deep
concern about religious freedom in Vietnam of the Honorable Christ Smith
whom the Hoes Halo adepts had met several days before that. Sources said that right
after their liberation when dispossession of the Church's properties was in
full swing , they repeatedly sent letters
of protest to Vietnam Prime Minister and the Supreme People’s Court to present
their case, but no answer came to avail (Truing Tan. Report on Religious
Persecution. February 2000)
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