In October
2011, the responsible of legitimate Hoa Hao Buddhism in the country alerted to
the world the misery Hoa Hao believers currently suffered in various prisons.
The female prisoner Mai Thi Dung, who was detained at Xuan Loc, was seriously
ill, and her life would be in danger if not treated with medical care in time.
She was arrested on August 5,
2005 at Lap Vo, Long Xuyen and ferociously beaten when a collective
self-immolation by fire was scheduled to take place. The female fervent Buddhist
was sentenced by the People’s court to 11 years in prison for participating in
and campaigning for religious freedom. Her husband, who also had served five years
in prison for the same cause, was under surveillance. Their two children were
dependent on their father. The family lived under misery, thus failing to visit
and attend to her.
State repression ever increased. Followers of
legitimate Hoa Hao Buddhism were still targeted with assault and battery. The
security police of Cho Moi, District, and An Giang Province kept a severe watch
on them. They even disguised themselves as hooligans to forbid with threats those
Hoa Hao followers who sought to visit the religious Vo Van Thanh Liem after his
release from prison. They became victims of violence, being brutally assaulted
simply because of their sympathy to the religious. Many were strangled, hit all
over the face, or knocked down to the ground.
In an
instance of oppression, some 50 security policemen of My An Commune stormed
Nguyen Thanh Phong’s house.in broad daylight. They furiously beat Nguyen and
his wife in the sight of bystanders. They only stopped and left when the masses
intervened. They had been victims of violence after their release from prison.
In 2005, Nguyen Thanh Phong and his` wife were sentenced to 6 and 4 years in
prison, respectively, for illegally practicing Hoa Hao Buddhist Faith. There is
belief among members of the independent Hoa Hao Church that it is only with resilience in
face of oppression could the faithful successfully preserve legitimacy for the
Church: “Rather die with honor than being subjected to Slavery.” They were thus targeted with so much hatred and
violence.
The authorities of the province of An Giang
applied strict control on pure Hoa Hao Buddhist Buddhism. On the anniversary of
death of the founder of the Church on March 29, 2011, they kept strict control on the believers.
Prior to the day of ceremony, security police carried out a thorough
house-search operation in Cho Moi District. All entrances to the residence of
Chairman Tran Nguyen Huon, where the believers prepared for the ceremony, were
blocked with police checkpoints. To secure tight control, the authorities
deployed a force of a thousand policemen flanked by a battalion of armed
vehicles patrolling at river-wharves, over waterways, and along crossroads in search for the pilgrims.
Delegates and believers from distant provinces were
followed by policemen. They were blocked from going to the Holy Site to attend
the ceremony. Ha Van Di Ho, the leader
of Hoa Hao Buddhist Youths in An Giang, was barred by hundreds of security
policemen who intimidated him. He was shouted filth and brutally beaten. They
seized his camera as his wife tried to use it to take pictures of the scene.
The Chairperson Ngoc Lan of the Administrative Board of the Hoa Hao Buddhism in
Can Tho Province was closely followed by as many as 50 agents. She tried in
vain to travel to An Giang. She was arrested at the bus station by the police
who drew minutes and detained her. The chairperson resisted. They bent her arm
which was disjointed when released.
A female Hoa Hao Buddhist from Vinh Long Province tried without success to travel
to An Giang. She had to stop halfway and organize a ceremony at the residence
of Bui Van Luoc, a Hoa Hao religious in Vinh Long Province. She was thereafter trailed
by the police wherever she went. Nguyen
Ngoc Tan, another leader of Hoa Hao Buddhist Youths was seriously injured by
the police and could not move about. The venerable Le Quang Liem was restricted
to residence surveillance in Saigon and was in
way to travel to An Giang to attend the grand ceremony.
