Abuse of Authority

Merciless repression practices are applied even for teen novices who are educated to practice a religious life. The Hoa Hao religious Nguyen The Truyen grieved over the situation and demanded the administration to carry out religious regulations as inscribed in the Constitution properly. The authorities disregarded the law, infringing on the rights to religious worship deliberately. Local security police came at will and inspected the Center for Religious Education at My Hoa Ward, Long Xuyen City, complicating the situation. They expelled the two female religious Nguyen Thi Thu Hang and Tran Thi Dan Trang, who were in charge of care for and education of teen novices. Consequently, the center operated under threat, for fear of being dissolved any time. Other instances of oppression happened. Preaching halls throughout the western provinces of the South, such as the one at Phuoc Hung Commune, An Phu District, An Giang Province, operated by the venerable Bui Van Trung, facd the same difficulty. The security police in association with elements of the underworld targeted the believers who frequented Bui Van Trung’s preaching hall with threats and violence. About 20 of them had been ferociously beaten; some with internal injuries, others with serious wounds.

Repression against members of pure Hoa Hao Buddhism has become a common practice. The religious Vo Van Thanh Liem, the former guardian at Quang Minh Tu, suffered isolation from relatives and fellow Hoa Hao believers,. The religious had served an enduring 7-year prison term on false charge. Still, security police agents disguised as hooligans blocked visitors to his home. They even beat and injured them. In another instance, Nguyen Thanh Phong and his wife Nguyen Ngoc Ha, also former prisoners of conscience, were the victims of brazen oppression. On February 5, 2012, a large group of security police of My Hoa Commune, Cho Moi District, An Giang Province, found fault with the couple. They shouted filth at them and brutally assaulted them in the open market place. They only stopped when a crowd of bystanders gathered and intervened.  

     

The Hoa Hao religious Hue Tho in charge at the Preaching Hall Minh Thien Hue Tho, O Mon District, Can Tho Province, deplored and condemned “acts of atrocity the administration has committed against the Church. Ever since after 1975, the so-called liberators have treated Hoa Hao Buddhism with bitter rancor. Cadres openly declare that if they fail to eliminate pure Hoa Hao Buddhists, they will resign from service. They have ruthlessly repressed even those who duly observe the code of virtues of Hoa Hao Buddhism such as to wear long hair and Hoa Hao tunic and chant sutras. Why on earth, have they had the heart to destroy houses of worship and rituals of cult of Hoa Hao Buddhism?”

   

In an instance of brutal oppression, police pressure drives a pure Hoa Hao Buddhist to decide to commit self-immolation by fire. On February 21, 2012, the patrol police of Chau Doc Township in cooperation with the security police of Vinh Chau Commune used electric rods to disperse a group 13 Hoa Hao Buddhist religious and believers when they on their way home. The group  had just visited the Buddhist preaching hall in the residence of the religious Nguyen Van Teo in Bay Phu Hamlet, Vinh Chau Commune. Without a reason, the srcurityforces assaulted the believers who could only resisted in submission. Being so utterly oppressed, Pham Huu Tam instantly soaked himself with gasoline, attempting to immolate himself by fire in  protest against the brutal act of  of oppression. The police gave in and let the group go by. The venerable Nguyen Van Teo and believers vowed to sacrifice themselves for their faith, regardless of merciless repression.    

Dim Perspectives

Escalating repression, the authorities sought to materialize harsher repression on all pure Hoa Hao Buddhists, definitely negating their religious services and activities. One of their means to an end is using the “Black Society” --thugs of the underworld-- as an instrument, eliminating the leadership of the Church and paralyzing religious services. This operation of vile scheme has become a common practice, especially in localities where the leadership and laity resiliently keep their faith, preaching the principles of the national cause and moral tenets of Buu Son Ky Huong Buddhism and the  the Holy Master’s teachings.     

On the commemoration day of March 17, 2012, when the Church proceeded the ceremony to honor the  Holy Master Huynh, who fell to the fatal trap of the Communist Viet Minh at Doc Vang Ha, Dong Thap Province, in 1946, hundreds of local security policemen including elements of the “Black Society” laid siege on Quang Minh Tu Temple at Cho Moi District, An Giang Province. They intimidated the religious and laity with threats and beatings to prevent pilgrims from coming to the Holy Site to attend the ceremony. A  group  of about 100 bad elements including women, war invalids, hooligans and  security policemen of Cho Moi District, An Giang Province armed with electric rods encircled the temple and blocked the entrance to temple. The believer made every effort in vain to get into the site of ceremony. Thereligious was hand up. The religious Vo Van Thanh Liem had foreseen the situation. The Church would inevitably face harsh difficulties. As long as this regime exists, misfortunes will ever surface, even more.

     

On April 12, a group of about 100 security policemen encircled the preaching hall of the religious Bui Van Trung in Phuoc Hung Commune, An Phu District, and Am Giang Province. They blockaded the entrance to it as the religious prepared for the anniversary of death of his mother. Along the road to the hall, 4 checkpoints were posited, and sentries were stationed around his residence. Fire-trucks stood nearby, and firemen were ready to act in case a self-immolation by fire happened. Visitors were strictly prohibited to enter the place. In face of such a tension, Bui Van Trung gave in, and the ceremony was involuntarily canceled, lest misfortunes would happen to his fellow believers. Misfortune never comes singly. At midnight, electricity in the residence was cut. Rocks and filth were thrown over and into the preaching hall while water was pumped into it, creating a big mess inside the worship place and injuring two teen-agers who were in attendance in the hall. At daybreak, a hundred of security policemen broke into the residence, Chaos was everywhere in the residence. Officials of the enforcement of the law insulted and seriously injured two visitors to the worship place.

Incidents of repression happened again and again. During the two consecutive days of July 5-6, 2012, the annual anniversary of death of the founder of Hoa Hao Buddhism was held at various worship places. As always, pure Hoa Hao Buddhism was targeted with police raid, harassment, threat, and assault. On July 5, visitors and pilgrims were barred from coming to pay respects to the Holy Master.at Quang Minh Temple, where the religious Vo Van Thanh Liem practices worship services. Police armed with electric rods barred visitors from entering the temple. The following day, July 6, they assaulted away a group of 30 Hoa Hao believers, who attempted to come to the temple. Vo Van Thanh Liem, who had suffered 5 years in prison for ungrounded charges, pleaded justice and called for international intervention. He believed that only with this intervention could he and fellow Hoa Hao believers continue to serve their faith.

   

On July 18, a security police lieutenant-colonel in the western province declared that the “Vietnamese have all rights to religious freedom and are protected by the law. No one can infringe on these rights.”  However, the religious Bui Van Trung, a Hoa Hao religious serving faith at the Hoa Hao Center for Religious Preaching in Phuoc Hung Commune, An Giang Province, maintained that “the religious and believers of pure Hoa Hao Buddhism are frequently harassed by plainclothes police agents. They are the victims of hatred. He himself was arrested without ground while he was having meal at his daughter’s home. A few days later, news aired on the radio with an inventing story, accusing him of opposing the law enforcers. and, he was placed under strict isolation after that.”

Other Hoa Hao religious were targeted with constant repression. During October 2012, the security police frequented their houses for inspection, oftentimes night; The religious Nguyen The Troyon’s preaching hall at My Hoa Ward, Long Xuyen Province, was subject to control. Volunteers for humanitarian service such as the female religious Nguyen Thi Thu Hang and Tran Thi Dan Trang were frequently interrogated for ungrounded reasons. The religious reported that police raids with a large group  happened every time he and his fellow Hoa Hao believers celebrated an anniversary. The last time, thugs were hired to intimidate Hoa Hao attendants at the anniversary ceremony.  

Hoa Hao Buddhists in the western provinces deplore that they continually face difficulties. While they only apply themselves to religious services and cultivate moral and religious virtues, the administration seeks to repress them, alleging that believers of pure Hoa Hao Buddhism tend to cause social disorder. This accusation is totally contrary to fact. Hoa Hao believers are mostly bovine cultivators of the land. They only practice religious services at home. The religious Tran Van Kiem in Dong Thap Province deplored that “anyone who goes in the direction set by the State could be free, if not; he is given a dressing-down or jailed, again and again.” Fhe case is self-evident. In January 2003, commitment to Hoa Hao Buddhist cause made him an opponent to the regime, and thus was targeted with harassment., violence, or imprisonment’

Bui Van Tham of Phuoc Hung Commune, An Giang Province was another victim of false accusation. He was charged with violation of the law without any proof or evidence. He was sentenced to two years and a half in prison.  His father, the venerable Bui Van Trung, also a victim of false accusation, was sentenced to two years in prison on the same charge. The charges on Bui Van Trung and his son were  baseless, They were invited to pay respects to the ancestors at the anniversary celebration in a relative’s residence. The authorities surrounded, stormed the place, and disbanded the assembly. Bui Van Tham and Bui Van Trung were arrested on their way home.

On June 25, 2013, Vo Van Thanh Liem, the preacher at Quang Minh Tu Temple in Cho Noi Destrict, An Giang Province, out of indignation, slid his stomach as an act of protest against the police attack on his fellow Hoa Hao Buddhists. The reason was the police posited checkpoints along the road to Quang Minh Tu. More than a hundred agents assaulted and threw sprayed filth water on the followers while they were gathering to celebrate the anniversary of the Church’s Foundation Day. They only left at the sight of the self-inflicted protest. Vo Van Thanh Liem and those worshipers who were injured in the attack were carried to his mother’s home for treatment. The police insisted that they had told the worshippers to go to a pagoda belonging to the State-affiliated Hoa Hao branch, but the group refused comply with the order. Sources said authorities in the western provinces of An Giang, Dong Thap, Vinh Long, and Can Tho have routinely targeted believers of pure Hoa Hao Buddhism with violence. They prohibit the preaching of the faith and discourage the followers from visiting pagodas or attending celebrations organized by leaders of the independent Hoa Hao Buddhist Church. Beiwers of independent Hoa Hao branches have faced harassment, violence, and imprisonment due to their religious faith. Authorities in An Giang and Dong Thap provinces regularly targeted followers of this legitimate Hoa Hao Buddhism with harsh control, prohibiting them from attending public preaching and reading of the Church Founder Huynh’s  oracles. Due to devotion to faith, Vo Van Thanh Lien, as a case in evidence, had been in jail 34 times.