The Struggle for Survival of Hoa Hao Buddhism

 

 

    The Protest in Saigon

 

Hoa Hao Buddhists made a move towards actuating a struggle for religious freedom. Many members of pure Hoa Hao Buddhism, in March 2001, came to Saigon and tried to get contact with  President Bill Clinton, who was on his visit to Vietnam, and alert him on the situation of this Church.  To cope with this political malaise, the municipal authorities sought to abort the contact between the President and the believers of the Church. Hoa Hao demonstrators were immediately repressed. Gatherings of protesters were disbanded at Hoa Hao religious milieus Many adepts of the Church were the target of oppression. The venerable Le Quang Liem, aged 81,  Secretary of Hoa Hoa Buddhist Church, was summoned to the security police headquarters. He was instantly placed under house surveillance for “having provoked social troubles” with an attempt to organize a collective self-immolation by fire of his Church’ s adepts in Saigon. The State ‘s repression pushed the Hoa Hao Buddhists to such an extent that they could no longer hold frustration and anger and pledged to struggle for their religious faith, regardless of a brutal repression they might face in the days to come.

 

     Resistance to Repression

 

The year 2001 saw  the  resilient resistance of the Hoa Hao faithful against State control.  The Overseas Association of Hoa Hao faithful, which has its siege in the United States, on March 17, 2001, informed the public worldwide of a scourge of religious persecution in which Hoa Hao Buddhists suffered.  In Saigon, a great number of Hoa Hao adepts held rally in the city-park Le Van Tam to profess their wail and wrath. Armed with placards and signboards with slogans demanding for religious freedom and cans with gasoline and cotton, they prepared for a collective self-immolation by fire in protest against the political regime’s religious persecution, They protesters ran into collision with the police that instantly executed arrests of prominent leaders of the group, among whom was the venerable Le Quang Liem, the supreme leader and soul of the resistance. The Hoa Hao leader was then held in custody for 30 hours in the premises of the police where he reportedly suffered ill-treatment. He was then escorted back to his residence. He was later subject  to residence surveillance for two years. The spiritual leader of Hoa Hao Buddhism nevertheless refused to sign the police minutes in which he was held responsible for the incident.

 

     Suppression of Prestigious Leaders

 

      Le Quang Lem   

 

The resistance to State repression of Hoa Hao Buddhism  ever persisted, straining the friction between the State and the Church  The official journal Quan Doi Nhan Dan (The People’s Army) attributed to the Hoa Hao’ s activities as crimes of sabotage. The venerable Le Quang Liem was labeled an “evil doer.” He was accused of having abused the religion for propaganda purpose, fomenting  opposition to the State. The venerable Le Quang Liem,  in practice, not only gained confidence from his fellow Hoa Hao Buddhists inside the country and overseas but also received support from friendly religious circles. Regardless of warnings and threats from the authorities, Fr. Chan Tin,  the Redempttorist priest who had signed with the Hoa Hao leader and leaders of other faiths a number of statements on the State’ s breach of religious freedoms, diffused a letter of protest against the unjust  arrest of Le Quang Liem.  He demanded an immediate release of Le Quang Liem  and two other Hoa Hao adepts, the  dissolution of the State-instituted Administrative Committee  led by Muoi Ton,  the cessation of  State control over Hoa Hao Buddhism, and the restitution of the legal status of Hoa Hao Buddhism with Le Quang Liem as the spiritual leader of the legitimate Church.

 

      Nguyen Thi Thu

 

Indignant of the unjust arrest of Le Quang Liem, Nguyen Thi Thu, who was the responsible for the League for Women of Hoa Hao Buddhism, decided to immolate herself by fire as an act of protest against the Communist State. Sources reported that three days after the protest of Hoa Hao Buddhists in Saigon, a self-immolation by fire took place in the village of Tan Hoi, in the province of Dong Thap. The incident coincided with a demonstration organized by Hoa Hao Buddhism to protest against the arrest of their spiritual leaders.  Reports on  the self-immolation by fire of the Church's  female leader Nguyen Thi Thu  created an atmosphere mourning in the Hoa Hao circles in the province of An Giang and elsewhere in the southern provinces. The death of an official of the League of Women was not only an act of protest injustice but also of will and sacrifice for religious cause.

 

 

Reasons for Repression

 

 

The Communist administration ever targeted pure Hoa Hao Buddhism with repression.   Immediately after the Communist takeover of South Vietnam, showed anti-Hoa Hao stance, notably in the months of February and March, the period of the year during which the faithful of Hoa Hao Buddhism prepared for the celebration of  the anniversary of death of the founder of the religion, the Prophet Huynh Phu So, who was assassinated by the Communist Viet Minh in 1947. The great event is marked by effervescence due to religious fervor and reverence towards the Master of the faithful. The civil authorities, on the other side, fearful of popular opposition, usually obstruct the Church’s activities or even interdict all forms of celebration on this occasion.    

 

The announcement of the Hoa Hao Buddhist Association Overseas specified that the official of the League of Women of Hoa Hao Buddhism, Nguyen Thi Thu who sacrificed herself after having showered herself with gasoline. The witnesses to the immolation heard her proclaim her faith according to which she willingly sacrificed herself for religious freedom. The police of the Vinh Long Province, which is adjacent to Dong Thap, affirmed the sacrifice of Nguyen Thi Thu by revealing that the woman was dead from  the fact taking plac ein the village of Tan Hoi. They said, however, that they did not know the reason for her death. Sources from Hoa Hao Buddhism reported that approximately one hundred policemen came to the place, dispersed the gathering with cudgels and brought away the body of the victim, regardless of the protest of Hoa Hao Buddhists who wished to bring it to her family.

 

Sources  stated that incidents of protest developed at the Hoa Hao founder's birth-place in March 2001. the Venerable Le Quang Liem, aged 81, secretary of the Buddhist Church of Hoa Hao had been in various instances summoned for interrogation by public security and placed under residence surveillance for two years on charges of provoking "social troubles" and fomenting an attempt at inciting a collective immolation by fire of Hoa Hao adepts of Saigon. was convoked for “a session of work” at a Saigon police headquarters when Nguyen Thi Thu, aged 75, a dignitary of the League of Women of Hoa Hao Buddhism immolated herself by fire to protest against his detention .

 

    The Trial of Truong Van Duc

 

On May 11, 2001, many adepts of Hoa Hao Buddhism were condemned on crimes of causing public disorder and inciting opposition to the police. The People’s Court of the province of An Giang sentenced 30 Hoa Hao Buddhists to various prison terms. Two Hoa Hao dignitaries were among the convicts  One of them, Truong Van Duc, aged 58, was sentenced to 12 years  in prison, and the other, Ho van Trong, aged 76, faced four years. Both belong to the branch of Hoa Hao sect that refuses to submit themselves to the State-instituted Hoa Hao Buddhist Committee of Administration operating under the patronage of the official Fatherland Front of Vietnam.

    

According to the authorities, the accused might have participated in a demonstration organized by members of  a Hoa Hao group antagonistic to the State-instituted Council of Administration. This group was the organizer  of the  protest  led by Le Quang Liem in the district of Tan Phu on February 20, 2001 . The demonstrators “beat and wound many policemen that come to disperse them.” The accuser specified that while the police was enforcing the law, Truong Van Duc might have incited the troublemakers  to resist and encouraged Ho Van Trong to immolate himself by fire. The latter might have been saved by the public. The authorities did not mention the reason  for the demonstration, however. 

 

    Tran Ngoc Dinh

 

On  May 5, 2002, Tran Ngoc Dinh, a Hoa Hao Buddhist in An Giang, circulated a letter of protest in which he expressed indignation against the Communist authorities’ nomination of candidacy to the National Assembly of Nguyen Tan Dat assigned as a representative of Hoa Hao Buddhism. Tran Ngoc Dinh  attested the fact that Nguyen Tan Dat was the vice-chairman of the State-created Hoa Hao Buddhism Executive Council at An Giang and that he was only an instrument in the hand of the Communist Party of Vietnam. Nguyen Tan Dat was in no capacity whatsoever to represent the Hoa Hao faithful. Indifferent to Tran Ngoc Dinh s protest,  the authorities in An Giang proceeded with their plan. Complaints against abuses of power of he local authorities in matters of religion fell to the deaf ears. 

 

To the distress of pure Hoa Hao Buddhism, Hoa Hao Buddhists who practice the religious commandments legitimately handed down by His Holiness Huynh Phu So are targeted with all forms repression. The chairman of Long Dien Commune, as a case in point, insisted on breaking down the gate at Quang Minh Tu Temple, Long Dien A under the pretext that it had been constructed without authorization. He commanded that within 5 days the gate be destroyed; otherwise, the authorities would have it brought down.  Such an unruly act is regrettably seen elsewhere in the country!

 

On a visit tour to Quang Minh Tu at Long Hoa Hamlet, Long Dien A Commune, Cho Moi District, An Giang Province on June 24, 2002, the official of U.S. consulate in Saigon James Walter was prevented from contacting with  Vo Van Thanh Liem, the guardian at the temple. The religious, who had repeatedly protested against the oppressive measures of the  communal authorities against him.  He had been followed and had many times taken away from home on ungrounded charges. He was then put on constant watch by the security police. He was forbidden to see anyone. Accidentally the American official met with Le Minh Triet,  a Hoa Hao Buddhist religious who had been imprisoned for 8 years and was still placed under house arrest. During conversation, Le Minh Triet exposed the malaise in which the Hoa Hao faithful serves their faith and expressed disbelief in the religious policy of the totalitarian regime. 

 

State repression against pure Hoa Hao Buddhists intensified. The venerable Vo Van Thanh Liem announced he would kill himself if the security police lowered the banner of the religion and  notice boards at the Church’s temple in Cho Moi District. Also, a number of  Hoa Hao adepts pledged to immolate themselves by fire to protest against the authorities’ scheme to repress Hoa Hao Buddhism. During 5-11 November, 2002, on the order the provincial authorities of An Giang, the security police  flocked to Phuoc Long Temple at Phu Ha Hamlet,  Cho Moi District, to intimidate Hoa Hao believers there. They ordered them to destroy the temple and pull down the banner. All religious services and activities were strictly forbidden.