THE PERSECUTION

　

The Cao Dai Church

Dispossession of Properties

On August 1, 1990, the authorities in Quang Ngai Province mobilized an armed force of 500 servicemen and a proctor to enforce the law, dispossessing Cam Thanh Temple of the Cao Dai Church on Phan Boi Chau Street. On November 1, 1990, when Cao Dai believers gathered for prayers at Trung Lap Temple, Duc Linh District, Thuan Hai Province, the local authorities rushed in to dissolve the ceremony and imposed a fine of $VN dong 200,000. During January 1992, thousands of the Church's believers were reportedly arrested and detained in unknown prisons and camps without judicial procedures, court proceedings, or trials.

On January 25, 1992, the Reverend Ngoc Sach Thanh, President of the Association for the Propagation of Caodaism Overseas, sent a second letter of protest to Party Secretary-general Nguyen Van Linh. The president asked Nguyen to reconsider a number of issues concerning the deliberate violations of human rights and the repression against the Cao Dai Church committed by the local authorities. The letter specified the facts that "Although the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam explicitly recognizes the right to freedom of religion, the Decree 297, by contrast, prohibits the propagation of religion. In addition to this, there are rules and regulations created by the local authorities, causing extreme difficulties to the religions and hampering the practice of the rights to religious freedom. The decree is truly in violation of the provisions defined for religious freedom and is instrumental in the hands of the local authorities at the province, district, and village levels who haughtily and ruthlessly repress the Cao Dai Church. They execute arrests, impose fines, and, especially, interfere in the Church's internal affairs, to disunite it, to disable it, and to charge its priests and dignitaries with false accusations such as dissidence and crimes of causing social disorder."

The letter stressed the absurdity of the law and the abuses of power of the authorities in the dispossession of the Cao Dai Church’s properties.

"The Communist administration arbitrarily dispossessed:

1. The Cao Dai Church's religious establishments inside the boundaries of the Holy Inner City of the Cao Dai Holy City in Tay Ninh. The local authorities have disfigured the worship places, transforming them into market places or places for entertainment. They still have expelled from the Holy City the priests and dignitaries of the Cao Dai Church;

2. The local authorities have dispossessed the Cao Dai Church's social and cultural establishments, the Trung Hung Printing House, the Center for the Protection for Cao Dai Youths, and the Association for the Propagation of Caodaism on Thong Nhat Boulevard, Da Nang City;

3. The local authorities have dispossessed the Cao Dai Church's Cultural Headquarters and the Ngoc Trac Orphanage on Tran Cao Van Boulevard in Tam Ky City, Quang Nam-Da Nang Province,

4. The local authorities have dispossessed the Cao Dai' Temple in Tam Quan, Binh Dinh Province; and

5. The local authorities have dispossessed the Cao Dai Church's Cultural Headquarters, Hung Dao High School, An Ha Elementary School, the Cao Dai Day Child Care Nursery, and the brick-and-tile kiln in Tu Nghia District, Quang Ngai Province.

Incidents of repression, arrest, and false accusation still continue to occur everywhere in the country. An unusual incident occurred in Hanoi: the dispossession of the Cao Dai Temple at 29 Ly Thuong Kiet Street after 1985. Another unusual incident occurred at the time the State was calling for "coi mo" and "doi moi" (openness and renovation)."

Eradication of the Legitimate Cao Dai Church

　

In 1993, Party Secretary-general Do Muoi visited the Holy See in Tay Ninh. He ascertained that the Party and State would promote religious freedom and return to the Cao Dai Church all its establishments. In May 1994, a delegation from the State Institute for Religious Studies visited the Cao Dai Holy See, the Cao Dai Temple on Tran Hung Dao Street, other offices of diverse Cao Dai Sects, and the Trung Tam Pho Thong Giao Ly (Center for the Propagation of Religious Creeds) on Cong Quynh Street, Saigon. The delegation showed a negative attitude --a signal for a change of position. None of the secretary-general promises was mentioned. A "stick and carrots" approach in mind was supposedly to be executed, instead. While caressing the Church’s leaders with praise, the delegation did not dissimulate their warnings and threats. With a commanding tone, the chief of the delegation, Nguyen Duy Hinh said to the Cao Dai dignitaries in the meeting on May 13, 1994: "Those who conspire to use Caodaism to do things that are not Cao Dai's ... Don't ever regret! I will punish those who use religion for illegitimate purposes." (Ngo Ngoc Dung, 1994: 29).

Still, the State’s revision on the legitimacy of the Church posed a serious problem. The Reverend Thuong Thien Thanh expressed deep concern about how the true followers of Cao Dai could remain preserve the orthodox laws of the Church. They could in no way serve their faith with the abrogation of all legitimate institutions. The creation of a new body of administration in replacement of all this is truly a calamity:

"Caodaism came into existence in 1925-1926. The Church has undergone hardships under the rule of foreigners --the French, the Japanese, the Americans-- and, nowadays, socialism. It has resigned itself to submission to foreign rule for survival. The Church leadership, notably, endured excruciating suffering under the French. Caodaism was regarded a political organization. His Holiness Pham Cong Tac and other high dignitaries were arrested and exiled to foreign lands. Under the Viet Minh rule, they were branded as the pro-Japanese, then the pro-French elements. Cao Dai followers became the victims of political persecution. Under the American backed-up regime, many among them were accused of political indifference. The Holy See faced difficulties, and His Holiness Pham Cong Tac had to evade the country and live in exile in Cambodia. Nowadays, the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam shifts offense on the Church. It is attributed to as a political association that disguises itself as a religion to practice politics, and so on. I truth, as one has seen, Caodaism is a religion whose unique goal is to profess Cao Dai Jade Emperor's Love and Justice and promote moral virtues and spiritual standards of faith for its faithful to follow, to believe in benevolence, which are well beyond all worldly political practices. We wish to practice faith according to the religious principles of Caodaism: justice, fraternity, and benevolence. We do not want to become district chiefs, province chiefs..." These aspirations seemed to be voiced to deaf ears. (Thuong Thien Thanh. Ban Tin Dai Dao. 1994: 19)

The Supreme Council of Administration

The Religious Constitution of Caodaism recognizes the power of the Church as vested in the Pope and the dignitaries of the faith founded the beliefs that " ... Since miracles of religion possesses divine regulations just as society has laws to control undue ambitions which exist everywhere and at all times and which would destroy even the beautiful harmony of nature, when founding Dai Dao Tam Ky Pho Do, God established a religious constitution and the new code, in order to maintain truth and justice in the religion (Thien Dao). In addition to the new laws, there were divine messages and religious teachings. ... By establishing the legislation for the religion God establishes the autonomy for the religion. He who is willing to build up the religion naturally honors this autonomy. This autonomy gives the Sacerdotal Council, which is the image of God on earth, the necessary power to function on behalf of God. However, power in religion does differ from secular power because it relies on love, not on force." (Dai Dao Tam Ky Pho Do. The Religious Constitution of Caodaism. Translation by Bui Dac Hum. Toa Thanh Tay Ninh. 1992: 9).

The constitution of the Church clearly stated the nature, role, and function of Church and State. Nevertheless, the Church faced constant persecution for survival and finally suffered dissolution. In 1979, a 12-member Supreme Administrative Council was created subsequent to a decision of the provincial authority of Tay Ninh. It was then disapprovingly filled up with a membership of 35 seats. Right at the outset, most adepts of the Church refuted with discontent the civil authority’s flagrant infringement on the Church’s religious tenets basic to it. The Church has its own constitution, and there is no stipulation whatsoever prescribed in it for such a "supreme administrative council."

To the vast majority of the Church’s faithful, this council was created out of a chaotic circumstance under which the Church’ s very existence was at risk. The Communist administration carried out the order cited by itself to arbitrarily dissolve the legitimate religious institutions of the Cao Dai Church and subsequently dissolved the Church’s legitimate supreme religious body of administration as prescribed in Phap Chanh Truyen, the Constitution of the Church. Notwithstanding, a number of the Church’s institutions were dissolved. The creation of a Supreme Administrative Council was unconstitutional and unlawful. It was in violation of the religious law of the Church. Neither did it carry mandate from the Church’s faithful to take charge of the Church’s religious administration, services and activities.

The legitimacy of the Supreme Administrative Council has ever been brought into question. Those Cao Dai followers who are interested in the Church’s legitimacy and religious constitutional status still contest the legitimacy of the State-created Cao Dai Supreme Administrative Council. In matters of principle, the creation of this organ is founded at least on two false premises; it is in the first place unconstitutional according to the constitution of the Cao Dai Church and, and it is a breach of law relative to the laws of Vietnam at the time. As a result of the violation of the constitution of the Church and the breach of the current law, this local authorities’ action proved to be illegally coercive and legally inappropriate.

By dint of fairness, equality, and justice, the "Verdict on Caodaism" by the Fatherland Front of the province of Tay Ninh (1979) must be equally reexamined. According to Article 97 of the 1959 Constitution promulgated by the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, which is effective until 1980, only "the Supreme People’s Court of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the local People’s courts, and the military courts are the courts of justice of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. In special cases, the National Assembly could establish special courts of justice." The Father Front of Tay Ninh Province, which is an orbit organization of the Communist Party of Vietnam, has no jurisdiction whatsoever to issue a verdict on the Cao Dai Church.

Under no circumstance could the Fatherland be entitled to the judiciary authority to exercise this jurisdiction. It therefore unlawfully pronounced a verdict on the Cao Dai Church. Second, also according to Article 87 of the said Constitution, "the administrative councils at all levels are the State executive organs in the local areas." Similarly, the People’s Council of Tay Ninh is not a judiciary body, and thus has no legal authority whatsoever to give a judgment on this matter. Article 89 of the 1959 Constitution also stipulates that "the administrative councils at all levels administer the public services of the local areas, execute the decisions of the council of the local area and the resolutions and orders of the State administrative organs at the upper levels." Referring to the preceding articles only, the People’s Council of Tay Ninh Province is not entitled to any legal authority to exercise jurisprudence to issue decision on religious matters as was the case of the Cao Dai Church, a religious faith with a faithful living beyond the Tay Ninh Province boundaries. The execution of such a decision is blatantly a breach of national law.

Furthermore, viewed in the light of Phap Chanh Truyen, the procedures of the creation of the Supreme Administrative Council as proceeded are illegitimate in two aspects. It disregards the laws and rules of the Church’s constitution and the respect for the observance of the faith as required by the by-laws of the Cao Dai Church. Any legitimate act should be performed in conformity with these requirements: The Communist administration commits many grave errors. In the first lace, the Church belongs to the faithful, in the second, the Church’s authority resides with the leadership of the Church and the consensus among the highest dignitaries of the Church, and, in the third, the consent of the whole body of dignitaries from the rank of "giao huu" up to "chanh phoi su." Every decision is executed within the power of the Sacerdotal Council and made effective by the Ho Phap (Pope). None of these prescriptions is observed.

The breach of the laws of the Church is also analyzed in one of the remarks by a Church’s dignitary, Sy Tai Huynh Van Phan. The religious justified on the basis of the Church’s religious characteristics of the laws prescribed in the Constitution of the Church, a body of laws comprising 12 chapters with 27 articles established by the Church and founded on the Tan Luat, the New Laws, and the Church’s religious orders. This constitution bears no political nuances. It is purely religious and is complacent. It is salubrious to the constitution of any country and commits no violation of the laws of any political regime. Article 25 of this constitution, in particular, stipulates that, the New Laws and Phap Chanh Truyen, the Church’s religious laws and orders are the prescriptions of internal rules and regulations and the by-laws Cao Dai followers practice within the Church’s religious established order. To follow the path of Caodaism is to observe the laws and rules prescribed in the Tan Luat and Phap Chanh Truyen.

Caodaism in essence symbolizes the ideals of democracy, thus seeking to prevent the monopoly of powers. The division of powers is incorporated in the bicameral organization of the Church, the Hiep Thien Dai and the Cuu Trung Dai. The two systems coexist, each with its particular functions of its own and operate in conformity with the stipulations prescribed in the Phap Chanh Truyen. The Hiep Thien Dai (The Heavenly Union Palace) is headed by the Chief of the Palace, who is vested with the responsibilities to enlighten the faithful’ s minds in their service of religious faith and direct religious services. The Cuu Trung Dai (The Nine Sphere Palace), which is headed by the Pope, on the other hand, takes charge of the administration of the Church.

The Holy See was in complete disorder with the creation of the Supreme Administrative Council. The power of the Supreme Administrative Council is in the hands of one person, who is entrusted to take charge of the Church’s religious politics and exercise the laws of the Church. This contention of the civili authorities is arbitrary and thus is in flagrant violation against the inscriptions in the Phap Chanh Truyen, which fundamentally refute any form of coercion and monopoly of power. In addition, the stipulation regarding the power of the Pope mentions none of such thing as seizure or exercise of power. The Supreme Administrative Council, by contrast, holds the reins on the services and activities in all areas, thus contradicting the Church’s religious laws and rules and radically upsetting the faithful’ s hearts and minds.

There dispute over the creation of the Supreme Administrative Council between the adepts loyal to the legitimate Cao Dai Church, on the one side, and the groups that support the Supreme Administrative Council on the other is noticeable. It is not a conflict; but it is a fight between opposing factions of adepts of the same faith, the contenders who seek to preserve the legitimacy of their Church and those who take side with the political regime. This internal division dragged both sides of to an endless fight." (Thien Chuong. On the Legitimacy of the Cao Dai Churvh. A Report. October 1992).

　

The Reform

In April 1997, a assembly of 800 delegates of the Cao Dai Church in Tay Ninh met an official congress at the Holy See. This congress adopted a charter for a new association. and voted on a collective board of the Supreme Administrative Council of Caodaism. The association gained State recognition immediately. In September of the same year, the Cao Dai branch in Ben Tre. which calls itself Caodaism Reformed and has its siege in Ben Tre, a province 80 kilometers south of Saigon, was placed under the supervision of the State. Two hundred twenty-nine delegates convened and elected a central administrative board in the presence of the representatives of the cadres of the local Fatherland Front and civil authorities. The sect had distanced itself from the Cao Dai Church in Tay Ninh for 28 years.

Until the last decade of the twentieth century, there were separate Cao Dai sects operating throughout the South. Besides the Cao Dai Reformed (Chinh Dao), four other branches of Caodaism were recognized by the State. They were Caodaism in Tay Ninh, Cao Dai Minh Chon Dao, Cao Dai Chieu Minh Long Chau, and Cao Dai Missionaries. Still, there were other branches of the faith that professed themselves the members of the legitimate Cao Dai Church, honoring Cao Dai’ s religious tenets as prescribed in the Tan Luat (New Codes) and the Phap Chanh Truyen (Religious Constitution of Caodaism).

RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION UNDER RENOVATION

　

　

Overview

The Almanac of the Christian World, the 1993-1994 edition, noted that the number of followers of religions in Vietnam was as follows: not to follow any religion or atheistic: 22,5%; Buddhists: 54%; Caodaism and Hoa Hao Buddhism: 11% -- Hoa Hao Buddhists: 1,800,00 and Caodaists: 3,600,000; and Catholics: 11%). The theistic population evidently exceeds the atheist faction. Religious beliefs and the believers are nevertheless treated with inequality, disrespect, and violence. The laws in replacement of audacious abductions, killings, and executions of the old days are used to control the religious life. Religions and the believers of all faiths, therefore, suffer all consequences of a religious policy of a totalitarian regime that always declares that the rights to religious freedom are respected under its rule.

The Laws

In 1990, having completed with success the dispossession of physical properties of all Churches, the Communist administration proceeded with plans to transform or outlaw the Churches it considered the vestiges of feudalism and imperialism. To begin with, it promulgated a series of decrees, circulars, and resolutions with all strict regulations to bring all religious faiths under State control. Tran Bach Dang, a long-standing Communist agent in the South during the Vietnam War, in his report at the Seventh Congress of the Central Party Committee in March 1990, emphasized the complicated relations between the State and the religions of the time and came up with general guidelines for a new religious policy. The initiatives were officially adopted by the said Congress on June 27, 1990. This Congress also confirmed its new attitude toward the religions and defined the task of religions in the life of society. That was the first time, the Party showed particular sensitivity to the political aspect of the issue.

In the previous Congresses, it had never approached a religious policy but parroted the rhetoric "freedom of belief and religion’ instead. The aim was to appeal to the believers of all faiths to serve the Party --to guard against the use of religion of bad elements for reactionary schemes. A change in attitude and a tone of reconciliation were apparent: "Beliefs and religions truly constitute a great part in the spiritual need of the people, a need that would subsist for a long time. Any act that causes harm to the freedom of belief or any act that makes use of religion to sabotage national independence, to oppose socialism, and to prevent the followers from accomplishing their public duties is definitely prohibited."

After the collapse of the Communist regime in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, Hanoi pressingly looked for a solution, secure trade relations with Western democracies, and promote diplomatic normalization with the United States. Following the model of economic development of Communist China, it developed the so-called "market economy in the direction of socialism," abandoning the socialist subsidy system and opening way to State joint-venture and private businesses. While widening certain areas of the economy, it tightened control over all areas of politics and all domains of activities of the civil life. It particularly persevered with a closer watch on the religions which it considered the most serious threat to the existence of its regime. They were therefore placed under stricter control for fear that they would play a role in a possible popular uprising. The overthrow of the Ngo Dinh Diem government in the South in 1963 led by the Buddhist Church had certainly preyed on the mind of the Communist leadership. Precautions were taken against opposition and revolt.

　

The Decree 69/HDBT

of March 21, 1991

On March 21, 1991, the Council of Ministers promulgated the Decree 69/HDBT defining the rules and regulations on beliefs and religions. The legislation consists of three chapters with 25 articles regulating the religious practices and activities. Under the new law, all religions have to abide by the new law and performed religious services and activities in accordance with the provisions of the law. Apart from fulfilling the civic and clerical duties, the clergy need to attend to such regulatory services as to register all religious events and activities and seek grants prior to approval by the Council of Ministers and the local authorities. The law also provides the lines of religious conduct, namely, the guarantee of the rights to religious freedom, the concepts of impartiality and equality before the law, and the observance of the law. The Council of Ministers declared that it " advocates a policy of religious freedom. It promotes the guarantee of legitimate and legal religious activities, encourages the activities that benefit national interests and prohibits all forms of superstitions and abuses of religion."

Public opinion showed nevertheless a negative attitude towards the new law. "The religions are now under total control of the State. They have to observe the laws and regulations under such extreme circumstances that they could only survive under the patronage of the State. In reality, they are stripped off the rights to religious freedom. They could neither promote the preaching of their faiths nor practice religious services and perform activities suitably and properly. Any religious act of the priest and any performance of religious activity of the believer is equally subject to State rules and regulations. The law constitutes an impediment to the religious life. Furthermore, it creates serious problems from religious education to ordination of priests and a meddling obstruction to the practices of religious faith of the believer.

The law is, in truth, riddled with restrictions and ambiguities. The provisions for the rules and regulations of the law are prescribed primarily each with directives and authorizations. For instance, the worship place is "protected" by the State; religious practices at the worship place and at a private domicile are to be registered with the authorities; and annual religious events are to be reported with the local authorities. As regards religious propagation, the printing of Bibles and materials of religious matter and religious education is subject to authorization. The education, ordination, appointment, displacement, and title conferment of priests, monks, or dignitaries are regulated by State approval. Permission for participation in religious events overseas are only granted subsequent to authorization. Foreign aids are to be administered through State agencies. Article 25 of the new decree, in particular, specifies that foreign aids of purely religious matter can be obtained only with the approval from the Council of Ministers. (Trung Tan, Interview with Pham Hai, VHRW 3 (October 1001).

Commenting on Article 25 only, a Catholic bishop of Vietnam said that the Vietnamese Communist Party "has discouraged international religious associations and world humanitarian organizations from promoting charitable aids to the poor people of Vietnam." To a lesser degree of resentment, the State-affiliated Committee of Union of Catholics expressed reluctance. For a long time, it waited in expectation of a legislative code on religions. One of its members, the deputy priest Phan Khac Tu repeatedly filed his project to the office of the National Assembly but received no answer. His expectations fell into oblivion. At the conference of the Fatherland Front on May 25, 1991, the deputy-priest expressed regret that the Decree 89/HDBT did not reflect the Church’s appreciation expressed at the Seventh Congress. He vowed to continue to work for a new legislative code for religions, integrating in it a number of amendments to the Constitution. He also hoped that he could promote implementation on the current regulations on religions.

The Catholic clergy in Saigon expressed a mixture of feelings with discontent. The Reverend Nguyen Huy Lich, a member of the Committee said that he was only half-joyful. "Religious congregations are officially recognized by the new decree, but the rules and regulation are even stricter. Modifications for some regulations in the texts of several articles such as the list of requirements for being a priest, namely, the level of education, the residence status, the conditions for retirement, and so on, are necessary."

The Decree ^9/HDBT was, in reality, a further step toward leveling the government's control on the religions, especially Buddhism. It was also a preventive measure, creating pressure on the Buddhists and placing the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam under State control. The press had a role to play in this effort. The official journal Saigon Giai Phong, August 15, 1991, ran an article entitled "Bring into Play Befittingly the Ideology and the Politics of the Party Concerning the Religions" by Chau Quoc Tuan of the Bureau of Religious Affairs of Ho Chi Minh City. In his conclusion, the official showed anxiety about the Unified Buddhist Church’s negative attitude towards the Party's politics. He gave the impression that the leadership of this Church was fomenting opposition to the regime. He urged on the State to act with caution. The Party should heighten vigilance against such a hostile behavior. Necessary steps must be taken to neutralize ill-intentioned actions to use religion as a shield to sabotage national independence, oppose socialism, and prevent the believers from attending to civic duties. The Party, in his views, genuinely guarantees the freedom of belief of the people but, it has at the same time to secure, first and foremost, the political stability and the economic development of the country.

The Decree-law of November 1991

The new State Council led by Chairman Do Muoi, who succeeded to power after three years on the path of "renovation" of Party Secretary-general Nguyen Van Linh, demonstrated even harsher anti-religion stance. To subvert opposition coming from the believers, particularly from the Buddhists, the Chairman Do Muoi, at the time the movement of opposition of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam was at its climax in November 1991, promulgated a decree-law to implement the orders and laws on religions that had previously been in effect. The politically-motivated law, in fact, aimed to deal with the current situation --to suppress the "counterrevolutionary elements" and tighten control on the Churches. The law foresees crimes of and punishments on offense against national security consisting of such crimes as unlawful possession of or leaking out State secrets. It further specifies the three major categories of State secrets. They are defined by the law in general terms all news and information about the services, facts, materials, localities, things, and words with important contents in the areas of politics, defense, security, economy, sciences, industry, and other matters that the State has not made public or does not make public and that, if disclosed, will be detrimental to the State. Violations of State secrets are classified according to three levels of secrecy: the absolute secret consisting of all secrets in the areas of national defense and military strategy, kinds of arms, anything that is related to foreign and international policies; the top secret, consisting of the contents of all materials relating to national foreign policy, defense and security, economy, industry and the sciences; and the secret, all that is related to news and information considered to be detrimental to state security, in general.

In chiming with the Party leadership and State authorities, the Ho Chi Minh City Committee for Religious Affairs, in its press release to the public, brought to the attention of the local authorities and Communist party members at the district level a list of guidelines interpreting the provisions of the new decree. The emphases focused on the enforcement of the new law. On the one hand, it stressed the State policy, which aims to secure national solidarity and religious freedom, which is one of the rights to democracy of the people. It stressed the necessity of obedience of the people to the rules and regulations and of observance of religions practices and activities. Still, it highlighted several provisions, focusing on the prevention of all forms of exploitation of religion and the use of it as an illicit means for self-interest as previously practiced by the colonialists and imperialists.

"The Vietnamese Permanent Mission to the United Nations (1992) cited Article 70 of the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, which, it said, expressly recognizes the right of the citizen to practice or not to practice a religion. However, it forgot to cite a more important clause of the same article according to which "no one is allowed to violate freedom of belief, religion, or take advantage of belief, religion to violate the law and the policy of the State." This additional clause is the very double-edged sword that is used to suppress the rights to freedom of religion. Rather, it denotes a preventive measure, and not a provision of a piece of legislative law; it needs to be revised.

Flaws of the same nature are also found in the compilation of executive laws. Regulatory laws --resolutions, decrees, or circulars-- are the instrument that the Party or government creates to serve political purposes. They are directives and orders. They are not the derived from the legislative laws, and thus they are unconstitutional. Furthermore, the provisions in these decrees or resolutions institute postulations, prohibitions, and restrictions in all areas of religious practices and activities. The Conference of Catholic Bishops of Vietnam, for instance, pointed out the bias of one of the provisions in its letter of opinions addressed to the Government of Socialist Republic of Vietnam on April 14, 1991: ‘... is allowed but requires permission.’ Paradox is unveiled. While the citizen must observe the law, the State must not. Obviously, the provisions of these decrees and resolutions vest the authorities at every level of the administration, with the interpretation and application of the law on their own whims and wishes." (Thien Chuong. Interview with Tran Hau. October 3, 1992)

The Decree of July 27, 1993

As the conflict between the State and the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam in Hue began to spiral, Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet enacted a law requiring all religious organizations to report their activities to the Communist authorities annually. The decree, which took effect on July 27, 1993. particularly stresses the observance the provisions prescribed in the Resolution 297 of November 1977 and the Decree 69/HDBT of March 21, 1991. However, to implement the previous laws, the new decree made additional provisions according to which the State permits the practices of religion, but the believers ought not take advantage of this privilege to oppose the authorities or jeopardize national solidarity. Any religious or believer will be punished like any other citizen if he or she infringes on the rules and regulations. Similarly, the relations between the religion inside the country and the religious organizations in the foreign countries as well as their activities must follow the rules and regulations as provided by the law. Religious activities must be conducted in conformity with the guidelines of the State. The school run by the religion ought to provide the students with programs of studies of Marxism - Leninism. The printing and the import of books of religious teachings, and the maintenance of the worship place, the formation of priests including the overseas on-service training of priests are all allowed, but the permission can be given only if the authorities find it pressingly necessary.

Remarks on the Laws and Practices

In 1982, Vietnam acceded to the International Covenent on Civil and Political Rights whose Article 18 guarantees the rights to religious freedom. It nevertheless continued to oppress dignitaries and followers of all faiths "Perestroika" followed by the collapse of the Communist Bloc of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union in 1991. To avoid a similar situation, fhe administration decided to execute harsh measures to mete out opposition from all Churches, especially the outlawed the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam. On the legal plane, to tighten control on all Churches’ religious services and activities, the government promulgated successive decrees to implement its religious policy. Of most importance, the Decree of 69/ HDBT of March 21, 1991 provided strict regulations such as, each year, the responsible for a religion has to report all projected religious events and activities to the cicivil authorities concerned for approval. Emphases on observance of rules and regulation in religious services and activities were also repeated. As far as charitable work is concerned, the State recognizes the need of charity in such a poor country as is Vietnam. Nevertheless, activities in this area should be regulated in conformity with the law and in agreement with the State religious policy.

Statements by the authorities were nevertheless unconvincing. Complaints about restrictions on religious services and activities were self-evident. Misuse and dispossession of international aid by the State are heard among religious circles. Distrust of civil authorities is common. A medical doctor , who was on mission to in a UN health team to Vietnam, related in a conference that international aid has not come to poor people. No sooner had the team left than the police came to confiscate the donation. Furthermore, religious organizations are not entitled by the law to perform charity. and priests and monks are hampered with all kinds of problems caused by the local civil authorities. The Vietnamese Communist Party and the State monopolize even charitable work. Five Buddhist monks and followers of the Buddhist Committee of Food Relief Mission were summoned to the Saigon police headquarters for interrogation on charges that the took part in the program without State permission. They were warned with threat and forbidden to go on with their program. In January 1995, the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do, as a case in point, was arrested and detained for condemning the arrest of these kindhearted people.

Remarks on the Policy

Professor Carl Theyer of the Royal University of Australia said that the main difference between the member countries of the ASEAN and Vietnam is that, in the latter country, the government lacks popular mandate. In Vietnam, members of the administration are not elected by the people though democratic processes. The Vietnamese Communist Party reserves the right to the leadership of the people, regardless of the people’s mandate. The problem lies with the authorities in that they cannot differentiate the humanitarian activities from those activities carried out for political purposes. Consequently, the authorities have become discredited, and the Vietnamese Communist Party’s control over the population has drained away .

The Repression

The Vincent Cathedral Incident

Having failed to subdue the priest in residence at the Vincent Cathedral located on Tran Quoc Toan Street, Tenth Precinct, Saigon, under control, the local military authorities had its agents planted "counter-evolutionary" documents and arms and ammunitions in the facilities inside the cathedral, using this scheme as a pretext to arrest the pastor, intimidate the parishioners, and confiscate the cathedral, its dependent premises, and facilities. On February 13, 1976, the security police laid siege on the cathedral. After the many-hour siege, they arrested the Chaplain Nguyen Quang Minh of the old Armed Forces of the Republic of Vietnam Nguyen Ngoc Thiet, and the lawyer Nguyen Khac Chinh. The official press reported that the local authorities had unearthed a cache of arms and ammunitions and the evidences of a conspiracy to overthrow the new regime. That conspiracy was intimately linked to an operation of the American CIA. The authorities never produced any evidences or proofs whatsoever. The chaplain and the other two laymen were charged with masterminding a scheme to overthrow the newly-established government. Nguyen Huu Thiet was shot dead. The chaplain was given the death sentence without a trial. He later died out of maltreatment in the prison. Nguyen Khac Chinh was sentenced to 25 years in prison. The lawyer was released in early March 1992. after 17 years in prison.

The Dac Lo Incident

The Reverend Le Thanh Que was among the nine Jesuit priests who were arrested in late 1980 and early 1981 when the authorities of Ho Chi Minh City executed the order of the closure of the Catholic Dac Lo Center on Yen Do Street. He and the other priests were charged with the crimes of carrying out subversive activities, disseminating counterrevolutionary propaganda materials with a scheme to overthrow the regime. The arrests of the Jesuit priests were supposedly linked to the publication of the journal "Dao Nhap The" (The Religion Incarnated) and, of most importance, because of the admiration the Catholic Youths had for the priests and their frequent assemblies at the canter. The Reverend Le Thanh Que, and a group of 13 Jesuit priests and young laymen were brought to stand trial at bar .on June 30, 1983. They were all accused of "having conducted counterrevolutionary propaganda and attempted to overthrow the legitimate administration," although the Court could not produce any evidence. The Reverend Le Thanh Que was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The Jesuit priest Nguyen Cong Doan was arrested in December 1980 with nine other Jesuit priests when the authorities closed the Dac Lo (Alexandre de Rhodes) Center on Hien Vuong Street, Saigon. He was charged with "plotting conspiracy to overthrow the government and carrying out counterrevolutionary propaganda" as expressed in his viewpoints on religious faith in the review "Dao Nhap The" (The Religion Reincarnated). He was brought to stand trial on June 29, 1983, after two and a half years under administrative detention. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He was detained at Camp Z30A, Xuan Loc, Dong Nai Province. Also arrested was the Reverend Dominique Ngo Quang Tuyen. The priest was arrested in October 1982, but it was until June 1986 that he was brought to stand trial in court. He was convicted of "having organized illegal evasions to foreign countries" and of " having incited corruption among the party cadres." He was sentenced to 25 years in prison but the sentence was later commuted to 18 years. He was detained at Camp Z30, Xuan Loc, Dong Nai Province.

Trials and Imprisonment

The following is an excerpt from the official narrative about the Dac Lo (Alexandre de Rhodes) Center case from the semiofficial magazine Cong Giao va Dan Toc (Catholicism and the Nation):

"During June 29-30, the People’s Court of Justice in Ho Chi Minh City tried in a court of first instance Nguyen Van Hien and a certain number of people belonging to the Center of Dac Lo who had relationship with him. They were accused of having conducted counterrevolutionary activities with an attempt to overthrow the administration.

The Court consists of the president of the People’s Court of the city Huynh Vinh Thanh and his assistant jurors, Nguyen Van Tung, Party vice-secretary of the Union of Construction, and Huynh Thi Hien, Party secretary at the Metal Chemical Industry. The prosecutor is Tran Luan, Vice-president of the Office of the Prosecutors of Ho Chi Minh City. The defense lawyers for the accused were Tran Thoi Vuong and Phan Thanh. The clerk is Tran Thi Phung.

In the morning of June 29, after having examined the curriculum vitae of each of the accused, the Court had the secretary read the indictment.

According to the indictment, Nguyen Van Hien, 61, a native of Dong Hoi in the province of Binh Tri, has served as a spy for the American CIA from 1954. The said agent has involved in a number of counterrevolutionary incidents after the revolution. Le Thanh Que, 45, a native of Hai Hau in the province of Ha Nam Ninh, and a Jesuit priest, like Nguyen Van Hien, is accused of having conducted counterrevolutionary activities with an attempt to overthrow the administration.

Apart from being accused of having connections with counterrevolutionary elements in the country and abroad, Le Thanh Que is also accused of having published fraudulently a journal entitled the "Vietnamese Catholicism Reformed" which is then re-entitled "The Religion Reincarnated." This journal serves as a means of propaganda propagating counterrevolutionary intoxication, distortion, and calumny.

"The Religion Reincarnated" is the means of propaganda for the Companionship of Jesus, which is under the sponsorship and direction of the members of this organization such as Fr. Do Quang Chinh, Khuat Duy Linh, and specifically, Fr. Nguyen Cong Doan. The latter priest had received orders from Rome to come to Saigon several months before the liberation to become the provincial director to direct the companionship and to reform the Dac Lo Center. He nevertheless regrouped and organized counterrevolutionary elements to carry out propaganda. Apart from this, Fr. Le Thanh Que took charge of the editorship and managed the journal "The Religion Reincarnated.’ There were also conferences and sessions of exchanges of ideas. These activities were conducted under the direction of Brother Pham Huu Lai. In these conferences and meetings, the participants utsed reactionary and decadent books written by lackey writers before the liberation that are currently forbidden to circulate such as "Cong Truong Voi Tim (The School Gate with Violet Walls) by Nha Ca and "Dung Bo Em Mot Minh" (Don’t Leave Me Alone) by Nhat Giang. Moreover, to raise fund, which activity would allow them to actuate their activities, the accused salvaged money and gold from people who left the country to live overseas. They borrowed them money and gold and reimbursed them in the foreign currency through the intermediary of the Companionship of Jesus overseas.

Another group of people that had connection to the illegal activities at the Dac Lo Center were also brought to stand trial before the Court. They were Hoang Kim Khanh, Truong Van Tuyen, Mai Kim Loan, Vu Duc Ha, and Fr. Nguyen Van Hoa. The Court’s deliberation lasted all day on 29 June. In the morning of June 30, the Court listened to the pleading of the defense lawyers and the representative of the Office of Prosecutors.

At 2:00 p.m. on June 30, 1983, after the analysis of the crimes of each of the accused, the Court passed the following sentences:

1. Bguyen Van Hien, life imprisonment; Le Thanh Que, 15 years in prison; 2. Nguyen Cong Doan ,12 years in prison; 3. Do Quang Chinh, 5 years in prison; 4. Hoang Kim Khanh, 4 years in prison; 5. Pham Huu Lai, 4 years in prison; 6. Khuat Duy Linh, 4 years in prison and 3 years on probation; 7 Truong Van Tuyen, 3 years in prison; 8. Hoang Sy Quy, 2 years in prison and 4 years on probation; 9. Nguyen Van Hoa, Mai Kim Loan, Dinh Van Trung, and 10. Vu Duc Ha received warnings (Cong Giao va Dan Toc, 1983: 1-2)

The indictment on the accused of the Court was, however, was contrary to facts. The Dac Lo Center was founded in Saigon before the Communist takeover of South Vietnam. It had a Student Union Club for Catholic Youths and Students, most of whom were the students at the Saigon universities. There were at the center a theater and a television studio. There were also classrooms for foreign languages --English, French, and so on. The Jesuit priests in residence and concerned intellectuals regularly organized conferences or conducted of sessions of Bible studies.

After April 1975, at the suggestion of the Archbishop of Saigon Nguyen Van Binh, the Jesuit priests engaged themselves in series of orientation sessions to accommodate the Church’s activities to the new situation. The Reverend Nguyen Cong Doan was nominated the counselor beside the prelate. The Roman Catholic Church nevertheless met, at that time, with ever-growing difficulties. The Church’s responsible at the Dac Lo Center were forced by the authorities to voluntarily offer the totality of this religious establishment to the State, including the chapel where holy masses were celebrated everyday. Sessions of Bible studies used to be conducted and choral hymns periodically practiced in the chapel. All these activities attracted large groups of Catholic youths. Therefore, the responsible at the center refused to comply with the authority’s decision. The center caused a thorny problem to the authorities.

On December 2, 1980, the security police broke into the center and arrested the Reverend Le Thanh Que, who, at that moment, was talking to a person named Nguyen Van Hien, the principal accused on the trial. On the same day, they arrested the Reverend Hoang Sy Quy, the Reverend Dinh Van Trung, and Brother Pham Huu Lai. All these priests were brought to the police headquarters. The Reverend Khuat Duy Linh, the guardian of the chapel, was placed under house arrest. The center was officially dispossessed.

On January 6, 1981, the Reverend Nguyen Cong Doan was arrested. He was brought to the security police headquarters where his colleague priests had been detained. He and the other priests were then put under imprisonment in separate cells. They were detained in this condition for a year. In the meantime, the reverend Khuat Duy Linh and the Reverend Do Quang Chinh, who had been placed under house arrest since January 1981, were arrested. In June 1981, the Dominican priest Nguyen Van Hoa was also arrested. Until then, there was no mention of any reason or justification for the arrests of the priests and their associates on the part of the authorities.

In February 1982, Mai Chi Tho, Chairman of the People’s Council of Ho Chi Minh City, gave decision on the day of trial of the Jesuit priests. Two months later, the official daily Quan Doi Nhan Dan ran an article entitled "The Impostors" and foretold the contents of the verdict. The Jesuit priests were portrayed as the "reactionaries in disguise as priests."

As in many other trials taking place during and before the promulgation of the Penal Code (1985), there was always in a trial a mysterious personage among the accused --an officer of the old regime who masterminds the plotting. Only one of the seven Jesuit priests and four lay Catholics of the Dac Lo Center, according to the Court’s indictment, had met this mysterious person twice and within a few minutes each time, and that was fair enough for all of them to be accused of having attempted to overthrow the regime (Jran Mais, EDA. 1986: 17-18)

The Dong Cong Incident

The incident of the Order Dong Cong (Congregation of Mother Coredemptrix) marked the most serious friction between the administration and the Roman Catholic Church of Vietnam during the period after the Communist takeover South Vietnam. All properties of this monastic Order in the provinces throughout South Vietnam --Binh Dinh, Da Lat, Di Linh, Lam Dong, Phuoc Long, and so on --had been one by one confiscated and came under the possession of the State. Fifteen priests of the Order were abducted to unknown whereabouts while a number of others were arrested. Among them was the seminarian Dinh Khiem Ton who was later tortured to death.

The only property left to the Order was the Dong Cong Monastery in Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City. On May 15, 1987, the security police, the local authorities, and about 40 armed servicemen blockaded all entrances to the monastery, closed in, and burst into it while a religious course for new converts was in session. The Reverend Tran Dinh Thu, the Superior Priest of the Order, was arrested on grounds of carrying out counterrevolutionary activities. The local authorities put into effect the decision to seize the Order’s monastery. A number of priests in residence were also arrested. The authorities’ action met with strong opposition from the local Catholic communities. Protests and demonstrations ensued. The situation was aggravated by the descent of large security police reinforcements at the monastery. The demonstrators were disbanded after fierce clashes with the police. The security police penetrated the monastery and seized hold of the properties of the Order, particularly a reserve of 20 tons of rice.

The Confrontation

At the news of the intrusion of the security police into the monastery Catholic parishioners in the areas nearby ran up to protect the Church’ s property and defend the priests. They challenged the police with all arms of fortune. Three policemen were seriously wounded during the confrontation that lasted many days. Many parishioners who participated in the defense of the monastery were arrested along with the priests. On the morning of May 17, 1987, Catholics in the area and from other parishes came in flock to the monastery to see what was happening. Witnessing the severe damage the authorities had done to the monastery, they gathered in a crowd protesting the rude intrusion into a worship place and resisting the police with force. The police retreated a moment. On the morning of May 20, 1987, the security e police, with reinforcements from the military, came in from all directions searching through vehicles that were passing by, positing checkpoints at crossroads, and invading the monastery. The police forces arrested 40 priests and searched for those who they thought were the masterminds.

The arrest of the Reverend Tran Dinh Thu, an 83-year-old priest and the founder and Director General of the Congregation of Mother Coredemptrix aroused deep wrath among the population, Catholics and non-Catholics as well. Like any other religious institutions, after the fall of the Republic of Vietnam, the Order faced with serious difficulties, and the calamity that fell on it at Thu Duc Monastery truly ended its existence on the Vietnam soil. In October 1987, fifteen priests and eight parishioners were brought to stand trial before the People’s Court. The trial was coupled with campaigns of propaganda denigrating the congregation. Repression expanded to the neighboring parishes. Parishioners along the Dong Nai plains were in revolt. Groups of the "National Restoration Movement" retreated to the Ong Trinh Mountain near Vung Tau to join the Resistance under the command of Captain Giang Van Be.

The Reverend Tran Dinh Thu was condemned without a trial to life imprisonment. The sentence was later commuted to twenty years in prison due to the pressure of international opinion. The other defendants were condemned to diverse sentences none of which was less than four years in prison. Until September 1996, seven priests of the congregation were still in prison. Campaigns of anti-Catholic propaganda were organized to denigrate the priests at Dong Cong Monastery and Catholicism. They were accused with false charges of carrying out counterrevolutionary activities.

In March 1992, the Reverend Tran Dinh Thu turned down Hanoi's offer to release him from prison. The priest would only accept it if Hanoi agreed to release the other 22 priests and the seminarian Phan Chau Dat from prison. On May 18, 1993, the 89-year old priest was released from Camp K5, Long Khanh Province. He had been detained for six years.

Almost all priests of the Order of Mother Coredemptrix at Thu Duc were the victims of the persecution of the State. Among them were:

1. Brother Nguyen Thien Quoc, arrested on May 15, 1987, tried on October 30, 1987, sentenced to 6 years in prison on counterrevolutionary charges, and detained at Camp Long Khanh, Dong Nai Province; 2. Brother John E. Mai Huu Nghi, arrested on May 15, 1987, tried on October 30, 1987, sentenced to 18 years in prison on counterrevolutionary charges, and detained at Camp Tuy Hoa, Nha Trang City; 3. The Reverend Dinh Tri Thuc, arrested on May 15, 1987, tried on October 30, 1987, sentenced 14 years in prison on counterrevolutionary charges, and detained at Camp Tuy Hoa, Nha Trang City; 4. Btother Michael Nguyen Minh Quan, arrested on May 15, 1987, tried on October 30, 1987, sentenced to 16 years in prison on counterrevolutionary charges, and detained at Camp Long Khanh, Dong Nai Province; 5. The Reverend Hilary Do Tri Tam, arrested on May 15, 1987, tried on October 30, 1987, sentenced to 15 years of prison on counterrevolutionary charges, and detained at Camp Long Khanh, Dong Nai Province; 6. Brother Mark Tran Khac Kinh, arrested on May 15, 1987, tried on October 30, 1987, and detained at Camp Long Khanh, Dong Nai Province; 7. Luke Vu Son Ha, arrested on May 15, 1987, tried on October 30, 1987. and detained at Camp Long Khanh, Dong Nai Province; 8. The Reverend John Doan Phu Xuan, arrested on May 15. 1987, and detained at Camp Long Khanh, Dong Nai Province; 9. Brother Nguyen Thien Phung (Huan) arrested on May 15, 1987, tried on October 30, 1987, sentenced to 20 years in prison on counterrevolutionary charges, and detained at Camp Z30A, Xuan Loc, Dong Nai Province; 10. Brother Pius Vu Thanh Dat (Hai), arrested on May 15, 1987, tried on counterrevolutionary charges on October 30, 1987, sentenced to 10 years in prison, and detained at CamP Long Khanh, Dong Nai Province; 11. Brother Mai Duc Chuong (Nghi), arrested on May 15, 1987 for "propagating against the socialist regime and breaking up unification unity," sentenced to 20 years in prison followed by 5 years of administrative surveillance, and detained at Camp Tuy Hoa; 12. Brother Paul Nguyen Chau Dat, arrested on May 15, 1987 for "propagating against the socialist regime and breaking up unification policy," sentenced to 20 years in prison followed by 5 years of administrative surveillance, and detained at Camp Tuy Hoa; 13. Brother Nguyen Van Thin (Quan), arrested on May 15, 1987, for "propagating against the socialist regime and breaking up unification policy," sentenced to 16 years in prison and followed by 5 years of administrative surveillance, and detained at Camp Ham Tan; 17. The Reverend John B. Pham Ngoc Lien (Tri), arrested on May 15, 1987 on counterrevolutionary charges, sentenced to 20 years in prison followed by 5 years of administrative surveillance, and detained at Camp Tuy Hoa; and 18. The Reverend Dinh Viet Hieu (Thuc), arrested on June 20, 1987 for "propagating against the socialist regime and breaking up unification policy," sentenced to 14 years in prison followed by 4 years of administrative surveillance, and detained at Camp Tuy Hoa.

Reports by International Humanitarian Organizations

The Puebla Institute in 1991 compiled a list of persecuted Catholics comprising Sister Tran Thi Nhi, arrested with two Catholic priests in October 1987; Father Nguyen Van De, arrested at My Tho in October 1987; Sister Nguyen Thi Ni, arrested with Father Nguyen Van De (above) in October 1987; Rev. Dinh Viet Hieu (Thuc) Member of the Congregation of the Mother Coredemptrix, arrested on June 20, 1987; Rev. John B. Pham Ngoc Lien (Tri), Member of the Congregation of Mother Coredemptrix, arrested on May 21, 1987; Brother Nguyen Van Thin (Quan), arrested on May 21, 1987; Brother Paul Nguyen Chau Dat, Member of the Congregation of Mother Coredemptrix, arrested on May 20, 1987; Brother Mai Dac Chuong, Member of the Congregation of Mother Coredemptrix, arrested on May 20, 1987; Brother Pius Vu Thanh Dat (Hai), Member of the Congregation of the Maria Co-Redemptrix, arrested with Father Tran Dinh Thu on May 15, 1987; Brother Bernard Nguyen Thien Phung (Huan), Member of the Congregation of the Maria Co-Redemptrix, arrested on May 15, 1987; Father Dominic Ngo Quang Tuyen, arrested in October 1982; Father Joseph Nguyen Cong Doan, arrested in December 1980; and Father Tran Huu Thanh, arrested on February 15, 1976;

The report submitted by Mr. Abdelfattah, Special Rapporteur, in accordance with the Commission on Human Rights Resolution 1993/25, noted other cases of arrests and detention involving the Catholic clergy and believers during that time as follows:

"Tran Ba Loc has been detained in reeducation at Nhu Xuan, Thanh Hoa since 1975, reportedly without having been formally tried or convicted. It is believed that he has served as a military chaplain in the South Vietnamese army. Nguyen Khac Nghieu was arrested in 1975 and is reportedly detained at the 80A, TD63/TP reeducation camp at Nhu Xuan, Thanh Hoa Province. He is believed not to have been formally tried or convicted. (Thadeus) Nguyen Van Ly, aged 45, is the former priest of the Doc So parish, near Hue. He is said to have been arrested in 1983 and tried at the Hue People's Court, on charges of "opposing the Revolution and attempting to destroy the people's unity." He was reportedly sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment and currently detained at the Three Stars prison in Ha Nam Ninh Province. Nguyen Khac Chinh, a 69-year-old lawyer, belonged to a group of Catholic intellectuals in South Vietnam. He was reportedly arrested on December 27, 1975 and has remained imprisoned in Trai Cai Tao Xuan Phuoc, Khu E, Doi 17, in Phu Khanh Province. He is believed to have never been formally tried or convicted. Brother Nguyen Cong Doan, a Jesuit, arrested in December 1980 with nine other Jesuit priests, when the authorities closed down the Dac Lo Jesuit centre. He was sentenced on June 29-30, 1983 to 12 years' imprisonment and was reportedly held in camp Z30A, at Xuan Loc, Dong Nai Province, before probably being released in January 1990. He is allegedly not permitted to celebrate mass. Brother Dominique Ngo Quang Tuyen, arrested in October 1982 and sentenced in June 1986 to two sentences of a combined total of 25 years, later commuted to 18 years. He is reportedly held in Xuan Loc, Dong Nai Province. Sister Tran Thi Tri, arrested with two Catholic priests (date unknown) and sentenced in 1987 to five years' imprisonment.

The following Roman Catholic priests and followers reportedly to have been imprisoned: Pham Ngoc Chi (Hiep), Paul Phan Chau Dat, Luke Vo Son Ha, Boniface Hong Thien Gian (Thinh), Mark Tran Khac Kinh, John B Pham Ngoc Lien (Tri), John E Mai Huu Nghi, Bernard Nguyen Thien Phung, Michael Nguyen Minh Quan, Quoc (Ban), Hilary Do Tri Tam (Thuyen), Thadeus Dinh Tri Thuc (Hieu), Stephen Chan Tin, Dominic Tran Dinh Thu, John Doan Phu Xuan, Pius Vu Thanh Hai (Dat), Nguyen Ngoc Lan (former priest). Brother Nguyen Van De and Sister Nguyen Thi Nhi were reportedly arrested in October 1987 at My Tho, Tien Giang Province, and tried in August 1990 together with nine other Catholic leaders and charged with spreading propaganda aimed at falsely portraying Vietnam's religious policy. They were reportedly sentenced to between 2 and 10 years in prison. Brother Tran Van Hien, a member of the Congregation of Mother Coredemptrix, arrested in October 1992 in Bien Hoa and held there since then without having been charged. Ngo Van An , a signatory of the open letter of August 15, 1989, Ngo Van An demanded the Episcopal Conference of Vietnam to manifest more independence vis-a-vis the State to clarify the role of the Committee of Union of Patriotic Catholics. Ngo Van An was subject to interrogation by the police in December 1990. He was arrested on February 25, 1991. He was sentenced without trial to three years of in a hard labor and reeducation camp, and detained at Phan Dang Luu Prison, Saigon."

The Roman Catholic Church

 

Immediately after the Geneva Agreement (July 20, 1954), ten of twelve Vietnamese bishops, seven hundred priests, and more than six hundred thousand Catholic followers including many of those parishioners who were discouraged by the Viet Minh’ s land reform programs left their home villages to go South. Large congregations of refugees settled in the surrounding areas around Saigon and in various western provinces These new settlers later appeared to be one of the most fervent anti-Communist factions in the South. The Communist takeover of South Vietnam in April 1975 and the "socialist transformation" that followed after that put the Roman Catholic Church in the South, and notably the Catholics refugees from the North, at risk. Religious activities were restricted, seminaries were closed, convents were occupied, and Catholic congregations were subject control. Many priests were imprisoned or sent to t reeducation.

To reconcile, the prelacy of Saigon Archdiocese reached an accommodation with the Communist regime by which it gave the State the veto power over its activities and assignments. The Archbishop of Saigon Nguyen Van Binh, a bovine and diplomatic figure, strove to avoid conflict with the new regime, made concessions, and modified the former Catholic prelacy hierarchy. The muffled religious activities of the Roman Catholics were quickly stabilized, and major religious services were held at the cathedrals. Religious persecution directed at the activities of "reactionary elements" continued, nevertheless. The authorities acted with merciless violence to isolate and neutralize opposition and, at the same time, to persuade the free-floating elements to join them in a party-controlled reconciliation movement.

The Measures

A Pilot Area

To promote "pacification," the new regime began with a new approach, to "kill the tiger right in its cave." The Catholic population in the years following the Vietnam War was estimated at 7 million (out of the 72 million population), 95% of whom were devout. The growth was remarkable. In 1954, there were only some 2 million indigenous Catholics and 800,000 Catholics refugees from North Vietnam. Catholic parishes founded by the refugees from the North thrived, mostly in the areas adjacent to Saigon. After the takeover of South Vietnam in April 1975, the Communist rule, fearful of an anti-Communist uprising by such large hostile Catholic settlers in the surrounding areas of Saigon, resorted to cautious measures of security. The police department of Ho Chi Minh City, for instance, selected Thu Duc District as the pilot community to administer testing measures and monitor from the local Catholic communities there possible reactions to establish a religious policy to deal with the believers of all faiths, especially the Catholics. The district is an ideal testing area. It is noted with a large number of Catholic parishes where most parishioners were the refugees from the North in 1954 and were thus "a problem" to the regime. Therefore, the regime, for all intents and purposes, had to feel out and deter in time the germ for a possible popular uprising or opposition to the Communist State.

Confiscation of Properties

After the fall of Saigon, having put under control almost all Catholic dioceses in the South, the Communist administration began the process of appropriation of private properties, dispossessing the Church’s cultural, religious, humanitarian, and educational institutions, establishments, and facilities throughout the country and thus depriving of it all physical resources. Among the most productive cultural and educational institutions were the Graduate School of Political Sciences and Minh Duc Faculty of Medicine in Saigon, Da Lat University, the Holy See Grand Seminary, Da Lat Redemptorists Monastery, Nha Trang Redemptorist Monastery, all child day care centers, hospitals, orphanages, humanitarian establishments and facilities, and thousands of schools of the secondary, primary, and elementary levels. Worse still, for political purpose, the Communists called up the animosity that existed between the Catholics and non-Catholics, especially the Buddhists. By a similar approach they had applied in the old days after the August Uprisings in 1945, the Communists promoted furtive anti-Catholic campaigns. Along with other tricks, it published and circulated such works as "Tay Duong Bi Luc" (Secret Annals of Western Christianity), denigrating the Roman Catholic Church of Vietnam and distorting historical truths with an aim to defame the Vatican and the Roman Catholic Church, thus sowing division between Catholics and non-Catholics.

The State Strategy to De-structure the Church's Clerical Hierarchy

Immediately after the fall of Saigon, the Communist military administration sought to shake off the leadership of the Church from religious and spiritual authority, putting into effect restrict measures and execute malicious tricks to isolate the Roman Catholic Church from the free world and separate its leadership from the laity. To eliminate the Church’s supreme leadership in Saigon, they used the tactic "to boomerang a dose of your own medicine" to count it out The newly-created Committee of Patriotic Catholics led by the State-affiliated Catholic priest Huynh Cong Minh, who freshly returned to the country from France, staged a demonstration demanding the expulsion from Vietnam the Vatican Apostolic Delegate and his secretary, Msgr. Tran Ngoc Thu. The pressure created with great effect favorable conditions for the Communist administration to put the prelacy of the Saigon archdiocese under the control of the State. The name of the archdiocese itself had to be changed into a new one: the Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh City. The new administration even negated the Vatican’s ecclesiastic authority by disaffirming the title of Vice-archbishop of Msgr. Nguyen Van Thuan and disapproving of his functions as the second highest prelate in the Saigon archdiocese, which decision the Holy See had officially confirmed.

The Communists went so far in their efforts to uproot the Roman Catholic Church from the Vietnam soil. The Party Central Committee for Religions had its Committees of Patriotic Catholics devised a scheme to eradicate the Roman Catholic Church of Vietnam by creating a self-directed Vietnamese Catholic Church, which in the long run would gradually distance itself from the Vatican as was the case of the independent Roman Catholic Church in Communist China. In 1979, the representatives chosen from the parishes and the ecclesiastic Orders in various cities and provinces throughout the South were summoned to attend a two-day conference in Saigon to vote on the creation of a novel Church. The scheme nevertheless failed to take shape. The representatives in the said conference unanimously declared that they had no authority whatsoever to vote on the issue.

Having failed to actuate the scheme to de-structure the Church's hierarchical supra-structure, the Communist rule turned to other tactics to dismantle the Church: to strike it at the head. It isolated the prelacy from the faithful. It placed under house arrest the Archbishop of Hue, the Vice-archbishop of Saigon, and the Bishop of Da Nang. Prominent priests and laymen were targeted with harassment. Many were charged with ungrounded political subversion activities and arrested. Exerting undue pressure on them, the Communist Party used the Union of Catholics as a shield to suppress the Church’s activities politically. In this way, the Central Party Committee for Religions was particularly vested with full authority to make decisions on assemblies for religious activities and exercise control over the Catholic parishes personnel as well.

Almost all clergy and the laity in the parishes throughout the country remained loyal to the Church’s, regardless State oppression. Many openly opposed to the Communist authorities’ abuse of power. In 1980, to remedy the situation, the Communist rule had Unified Conference of Bishops of Vietnam established with the aid of the "patriotic" bishops to persuade "recalcitrant" elements of the Catholic community to cooperate with the regime. Three years later, in November 1983, the State-affiliated Committee for Solidarity of Patriotic Catholics was created "to unite all Catholics and channel their energy into the building of socialism." This committee, the successor to the Liaison Committee of Patriotic and Peace-Loving Catholics, was formed in the hope that it would moderate the Church’s activities and deter the faithful from actuating opposition to the State. In March 1985, the Religious Affairs Committee was created to coordinate and supervise religious organizations. The regime’s increasing involvement in Church’s internal affairs produced new strains in its relations with the Vatican (Cima, 1989: 125-126)."

The Persecution

The Communist regime, in fact, had a negative attitude towards the Roman Catholic Church of Vietnam whose prestige makes it an outstanding social institution to the service of humanity, and thus a viable competitor to the Communist authorities. Right after the takeover of South Vietnam in April 1975, Hanoi showed its style of authority to inconvenience the Church. It challenged the Vatican mandate, disallowing the Holy See the ecclesiastical authority to appoint the Vietnamese Catholic Church’s new dignitaries in replacement of those who had passed away. It vacated the Vatican’s nomination of a new dignitary to the vacant apostolic position at the Hanoi Archdiocese assumed by the late Cardinal Trinh Van Can. It discharged Vice-archbishop Nguyen Van Thuan from the prelacy of Saigon Archdiocese, disallowing him to perform his religious functions. Novices and candidates to the priesthood were subject to investigation on unfounded charges. Only those who had no relations with the officials and officers of the old Republic of Vietnam and members of political parties in the South before 1975 could be accepted as the candidates.

Hanoi continued to tighten control on the Church’s clergy at all levels, placing them under State direction. The Committee of Union of Catholics, a satellite organ of the Fatherland Front, was vested with the veto authority, issued recommendations on all religious matters. It played a role in making decisions on the appointment and transfer of priests, publication of religious literature, construction and reconstruction of important religious facilities. Under a series of new laws, rules, and regulations, this Committee instituted religious committees working beside the people’s councils in the cities and provinces and "work teams" operating beside the clergy at the local parishes. This organ also played a role in regulating the Catholic faithful’ s religious life. The successor to the Committee for Union of Patriotic Catholics (since the term "patriotic" sounds too Communist, it is stripped off), this organ served as an executive agency to help the Fatherland Front to carry out the Party’s religious policy. The responsible in this organ, commonly known as the "Gang of Four," consisting of the State-affiliated priests (Huynh Cong) Minh, (Truong Ba) Can, (Phan Khac) Tu, and (Vuong Dinh) Bich. The faithful certainly do not know how close to the State they were and how intimate with the local authorities the "work teams" at the parishes were. Oftentimes, members of this union tended to apply pressure on the local priests, but their intentions fluctuated with various circumstances. noticeably during the years of 1985-1986 when failures in the economy were about to happen and popular opposition to the State began to take shape.

Detention and Arrests

Parallel to the anti-Catholic campaigns of animosity, the Communist administration launched successive propaganda operations to dismantle all organizations of what they called the "remnants of capitalism and imperialism." Local cadres executed plans of arrests of high dignitaries and prominent priests and church leaders and laymen. The Church prelacy was equally targeted with strict control and repression.

The Most Reverend Nguyen Van Thuan

The Vice-archbishop of Saigon prelacy Nguyen Van Thuan was brought to Nha Trang and placed under house arrest for unspecified reason. In 1984, he was taken into custody on charge of opposing the Committee of Patriotic Catholics. The reason is simple. This State-affiliated organ showed all its audacity over the prelate while, in reality, it was only a political instrument in the hands of the new regime. As such, it hardly challenged the Church to a game of legitimacy. The dignitary believed that, in Vietnam "there will never be a "patriotic" Church similar to the one in China, which renounces loyalty to the Vatican." Nevertheless, he was only released from the reeducation camp in late 1987 and was apparently placed under house arrest thereafter. His name was at last removed from the list of bishops whose titles were apparently defined as "officially recognized" by the State-created Committee of Patriotic Catholics. He was "no longer authorized to conduct religious services, but was able to officiate in private." (Asia Focus, 1987)

The Vice-archbishop Nguyen Van Thuan, who later lived in exile in Rome, disclosed that he had been imprisoned by Hanoi. Even though imprisoned, he had been successful in performing Masses in secret. The vice-archbishop was expelled from Vietnam after having been detained in the prison and reeducation camp and placed under house arrest for 13 years. He had not been allowed to leave Hanoi until 1990. He was authorized to leave Vietnam in August 1991 to visit his parents who then resided in Australia, but was not allowed to return. "Perestroika" had not reached Vietnam. He ascertained that "when Freedom comes back; it is always from Great Favor (Gianni Valette, Thirty Days, Rome, January 1992).

The Most Reverend Nguyen Kim Dien

To deter the Catholic faithful from engaging in direct opposition to the State, the Communist administration laid heavy hands on the Church’s leadership, striking it at the head. Subsequent to the elimination of the Vice-archbishop Nguyen Van Thuan from the Saigon prelacy, the local authorities placed under custody without a charge the Archbishop Nguyen Kim Dien of Hue Archdiocese. In Da Nang, Bishop Pham Ngoc Chi was isolated from the laity. The local administration kept up tight control on the prelacy in all dioceses all through South Vietnam. The Archbishop Nguyen Kim Dien tried in vain to maintain agreeable relationship with the new regime. He was targeted with enmity because of his frank remarks on the State's religious persecution, especially against Buddhism.

On April 15, 1977, the prelate of Hue Diocese gave voice to the religious situation in the country at a meeting of the Fatherland Front of Binh Tri Thien Province. He particularly stressed the importance of the rights to freedom of religion and equality of civil rights in Vietnam:

"1. On Religious Freedom: After the day of Liberation, when I heard the government proclaim the policy of religious freedom, I was very happy and encouraged. This was reflected in my remarks made at that time. But two years have elapsed since then I no longer feel happy, because freedom of religion has not really existed. Worship services are restricted and Catholic priests are prevented from movement to serve the Catholic population, such as the situation in the New Economic Zones, for example. Many cathedrals are seized. Others are prevented from holding worship services. I appreciate the wisdom of the government when it proclaims the policy of freedom of worship; this is stated clearly in the five decrees and communiqués on religion. But these are only the written proclamations. As far as the verbal orders are concerned, they often contradict the spirit of the published proclamations. May I ask the government: Should I obey the text or should I obey the verbal orders? I want to believe that the texts correctly reflect the government's policy, and not the verbal orders. Perhaps, I should not identify the government as the government agents who make mistakes while carrying out the policy of the government.

2) Equality in Civil Rights: Let me be honest. For the last two years, Catholic citizens have not felt all right. Wherever they go or whatever they do, they always have the feeling that they are suspected and oppressed. At school, the students have to listen to anti-Catholic teachings from teachers who try to smear Catholicism. Of course, there were errors at certain times in the history of Christianity, However Christianity has done so many good things for the past 2,000 years; nevertheless; they are not spoken of In comparison, the errors are only a few. Furthermore, each period has its own principles, and revise the standards of the olden times by using the criteria of our times is not a scientific approach.

As regards the Catholic workers, employees, teachers, and social workers, even if they are proven to be good workers, they cannot continue to work for their living safely, just because they are Catholic. If you are a Catholic, and you are afraid of being refused to a work, having difficulty while you work for your living and you want to know the reason, you will be told privately that if you abandon your faith or quit going to church, things will ease off for you.

During the Assembly of the Fatherland Front of Vietnam, recently held in Ho Chi Minh City, a member of the Central Committee of the Fatherland Front made remarks that Catholics are regarded only as second-class citizens.

The government contends that everybody is equal, that every ethnic group is equal. We are a people of fifty million. There are forty-five million Kinh [ethnic Vietnamese] and five to six million people of about 60 ethnic groups. There are at least three million Catholics, yet, in practice, they do not have the right to equality in civil rights (Quoted from Nguyen Van Canh, 1982: 175).

The prelate later faced constant harassment following "the Truong Thi Ly Incident." Mother Superior Truong Thi Ly of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Cross at Hue was arrested July 1985. She was charged with engaging in espionage. She had been found in possession of a letter of the Archbishop of Hue to the prelacy in Saigon. The archbishop of Hue was immediately placed under house surveillance. He was then arrested, interrogated, and detained for 120 days at the Binh Tri Thien Police Headquarters. Released, he was, again, placed under house arrest. Father Tran Van Quy, of the Hue Archdiocese, was also arrested and interrogated about the bishop's activities from 1980 to 1986. As soon as the Archbishop was released, he was placed under house arrest, and his religious services were strictly severed. A delegation of the Committee for Union of Catholics came to Hue to complicate the situation. The prelate categorically ruled out every argument of that delegation in the interests of the Roman Catholic Church of Vietnam. The archbishop of Hue reportedly died after an unspecified illness. He died a doubtful death while on his sickbed at the Binh Dan Hospital, Saigon, on June 8, 1988.

Mass Arrests

Mass arrests of the Catholic clergy in the South continued subsequent to the detention of the Vice-archbishop of Saigon Nguyen Van Thuan. Among the arrested were the Catholic priests of high prestige such as the Reverend Hoang Quynfh of Binh An Parish, Saigon, and the Reverend Tran Huu Thanh of the Redemptorists Order on Ky Dong Street, Saigon. The Reverend Hoang Quynh was arrested right after the takeover of Saigon. Little is known about his fate except the fact that he reportedly died in Chi Hoa Prison, possibly in 1976. The Reverend Tran Huu Thanh was arrested on the evening of February 15, 1976 after his visit to a friend. He was taken to the police headquarters where he was cooped up in a dark, small cell. He was detained in such condition for two months. He was later moved to Chi Hoa prison in Saigon where he was detained for a year. He was later placed under house arrest somewhere in Hai Duong Province, North Vietnam thereafter.

Waves of arrests ensued. About 200 Catholic priests among whom were the military chaplains of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Vietnam. They were detained and subject to reeducation at various prisons and camps throughout the country.

Evangelical Christianity

Evangelical Christianity in the North

After 1954, when Vietnam was partitioned, the Northern Evangelical Church of Vietnam was separated from its sister Southern Church. Until the 1980’s, the former Church was the only body with official legal standing. The latter Church, which had taken their roots in the Christian Evangelical Church and Missionary Alliance in the North before the Indochina War, was regarded by the regime the close allies with the American missionaries. Except for the Hanoi-based and State-sanctioned Evangelical Church, other Evangelical denominations in the North suffered as much intolerance as their fellow believers in the South before and after the communist takeover of South Vietnam in April 1975.

In the 1980’s, conversions to Evangelical Christianity in the Northwestern provinces surfaced and rapidly developed into a movement. Sources said that such unprecedented events spread in a quasi spontaneous manner in the ethnic minority communes Owing to radio emissions diffused in various local languages in Southeast Asia in the Philippines, conversions to Christianity as well as Catholicism grew remarkably. The H'mong and other ethnic minorities of the mountainous regions of Lai Chau, Lao Kay, and Dien Bien were among the first converts. Since then, mass conversions to Christianity has never ceased to grow. A report on the situation of Christianity in Vietnam that consecrates several pages to the H'mong Christians of Evangelical conversions estimates the Christian population in this mountainous region at 250,000. It even adds that, since the birth of the movement, the new converts have never ceased to face with tragic repression acted on them by the Vietnamese authorities in their attempts to stop, break, and muzzle entirely the development.

From the outset, H’mong Christians have ever suffered violent persecution. Hundreds of Christian chiefs were imprisoned without a cause. Towards the mid-1990, the Vietnamese Communist Party executed the policy of enmity against the H'mong Christians. These new converts were forced to renounce Christianity and ordered to go back with the practices of their traditional worship of "ma" --ghosts worship, which is practically superstitious. On the other hand, non-Christian H'mong were encouraged to engage in the fight for defense of traditional beliefs, deterring the development of Christianity. This religious "internal treatment" operated on a great scale along with systematic campaigns of propaganda against the H'mong Christians, particularly in the provinces of Lai Chau, Lao Kay and Dien Bien. The purpose was to stop if not reverse the growth of the Christian movement. Meetings and ceremonies during which the participants were forced to sign the document of abjuration. They drank a mixture of animal blood and rice wine in the gatherings organized for a whole region. Brochures and other materials for propaganda were prepared under the supervision of the cadres in charge. and were distributed to the public.

The emissions from a Christian radio in the H'mong language also had reports about a movement of conversion to Evangelical Christianity in the 1980's. According to the source, at least 150,000 H'mong professed themselves to be Christians. Certain H'mong believed that the figure must be, at least, the double. The government showed particular concerns over regards this religious evolution. Conversion to Evangelical Christianity in the not created social, economic, and political problem with it. Measure were first taken to prevent claims for religious freedom and independence from this strong ethnic minority. Persecution against protesters was later carried on without respite. Beginning in 1977. this action pushed some 15,000 H'mong to leave their ancestral homes and lands to seek refuge in the Central Highlands. A great number of these H'mong attested they had truly suffered the deceitful threat of violence and had abandoned their homeland to travel as far as Dak Lak in the South, more than 1,200 kilometers away. Some could only sell at a loss some possessions for their long journey. They were exploited on the route as well as at their arrival.

Evangelical Christianity in the South

After the partition of the country in 1954, the Evangelical Church of Vietnam in the North was the only official Church operating under the direction of the Father Front. The Evangelical Church of the South, which had legal recognition before 1975, was outlawed soon after the Communist takeover of Saigon. The dissolution of the Church presented problems and difficulties in the religious normalization to both the administration and the Church as well. The Church’ s population was estimated at a little more than 170,000 whereas the Evangelical Church‘s faithful in the North became increasingly obsolete, with the total of some 10,000 followers and five aged pastors serving their faith in Hanoi (1975-76).

In the South, the Christian Evangelical Church operated independently as a religion from the state authorities. Religious institutions operated under the aegis of the tenets of the religion and in accordance with the constitution of the Church. There was separation of powers between the religion and the state. Religious congregations were independent from state authority. In 1975, before the fall of Saigon, there were 500 Evangelical congregations to which was added a hundred of smaller others. All these congregations belonged to the Churches created by various missionary organizations that arrived after 1960. In all, the Christian community in 1975 was estimateded at a little more than 150,000 followers .

Confiscation of Properties

As a result of the southern pastors’ refusal to come to terms with the new regime, not only churches were closed down and religious services prohibited but religious establishments and facilities were confiscated. Sev. Almost all religious institutions and social and educational establishments of the Church in Saigon were dispossessed. In the smaller cities, townships, and provinces, the administration closed down houses for prayers and transformed them into storage houses, offices, or the headquarters for the Communist Youth groups.

In Saigon, the Military Administration Council confiscated the properties belonging to an American Church. It dispossessed the Office Building of the French "Reformists" administered by the Reverend Motu at 2 Bis Thong Nhat Boulevad and the Church’s Building at 7 Tran Cao Van administered by the Reverend Ho Hieu, and the social facilities of the American Assembly of God at 3 Nguyen Van Thoai Street. In Gia Dinh Province, the local authorities dispossessed the Church’s buildings at the cemetery in Cau Hang, Go Vap District. Later, to carry out the Communist Party’s "lines of revolution," the authorities of Saigon stepped up campaigns of "uprooting anti-revolutionary elements." Chapels and houses of worships in the local precincts and districts were closed down. In 1983, they confiscated the Church’s chapel in An Dong where the Reverend Nguyen Huu Cuong was in charge of the Church’s religious services. In December of the same year, they arrested the Reverend Ho Hieu Ha and his assistant, Nguyen Van Tuoi, on charges of "preaching against the Revolution" and confiscated their chapel on Tran Cao Van Street.

Chapels and worship places in the provinces were either dispossessed or closed down. Local authorities confiscated the Institute for Theology in Nha Trang. The cathedral at Thanh My in Lam Dong Province was erased by bulldozer in December 1977. In all, during the period of 1975-1989, the Communist administration confiscated at least 100 buildings belonging to the Christian congregations. To this day, many of these properties are still held by the regime. Churches, chapels, and worship places face tight control with limitations to or restrictions on their use, repair, or extension.

 
Arrests and Imprisonment

After the takeover of Saigon, Christian chaplains, pastors, ministers, and prestigious members of the Church became the target for repression. They were arrested and sent to the reeducation camps. The new administration executed harsh measures against the clergy. Many pastors and ministers were arrested and imprisoned without a charge. Terrorism intensified. It harbored prejudices against the Christians whom they condemned as the American henchmen. The faith itself was projected as the American religion, and, thus the Evangelical Christians were liable to "do something for the CIA."

Persecution against the Churches of Evangelical Christianity persisted in the South after the failures of the first five-year economic development plan. The local authorities executed harsh measures to put various Evangelical denominations under the control of the State. Pastors especially those who were trained by American missionaries were targeted with distrust. Evangelicals were identified with "the American imperialists." During the first years after the fall of the Republic of Vietnam, Church leaders in the provinces of Thuan Hai, Phan Rang, Song Be, and Saigon were subject to strict control and arrest. They were commonly labeled as the "lackeys of imperialism" on unfounded charges of "illegal religions or subversive activities." The Reverend Dang Van Sung, who served as a missionary with the Stieng tribal minority, has reportedly been detained since 1975 in the Phuoc Long District. No news of him has been received since that time. The Reverend Vo Xuan, the Reverend Nguyen Ngoc Anh, the Reverend Nguyen Huu Cuong, the Reverend Le Thuong Dong, the Reverend Ho Hieu Ha, the Reverend Tran The Thien Phuoc, and Nguyen Van Tuoi were arrested on unfounded charges. The Reverend Nguyen Ngoc Anh., the Reverend Nguyen Huu Cuong and the Reverend Le Thien Dong were arrested on charges of "subversive activities."

The House Church Movement

Regardless of harsh repression, groups of Christians assembled for prayers in private residences. House Church assembly operated in hiding and grew fast. To stop its growth, the security police launched raids to repress assemblies and rallies for prayers. In the mid- and late eighties of the twentieth century, the house church movement gained momentum in the plains of the South. It spread so rapidly that it constituted a serious threat to the Communist regime. To hold it down, the regime sought to oust the founders of the movement from the State-affiliated Evangelical Church. Arrests and proceedings for detention of the leaders of the movement began to take place.

In the Central Highlands. re-known personalities were arrested and imprisoned. The pastors Tran Xuan Tu, Nguyen Chu, Vo Minh Hong, Tran The Thien Phuoc, Ya Tiem, Ha Wan, Ha Hak, R’Man Boi, and Vo Xuan were arrested on charges of "illegal" preaching, conducting "illegal" religious activities, or using religion as a cover to oppose the government’s religious policy. House church movement leaders in the various areas in the provinces and Saigon were also arrested. Among them were the pastors Tran Mai, Dinh Thien Tu, Tran Dinh Ai, R’Ma Luan, Phan Quang Thieu, Le Quang Trung, Vu Minh Xuan, Hong Van Phung, Bui Tuan Se, Vo Van Lac, and Phan Vu Anh.

Discontent was felt in all congregations. To prevent popular opposition after and appease dissent of members of all faiths as a consequence of the economic failures of the second five-year economic development plan, Hanoi promised that it would gradually carry out a new religions policy. No sooner had the promise been pronounced than it was broken. Hanoi stepped up harsh measures to stop the house church movement. House church leaders, on the other side of the fence, did not anticipate this a good omen. Rather, it would be a problem. A suffocating atmosphere fanned throughout the South and Central Vietnam. The authorities’ decisions still fluctuated between periods of police harassment and raids here and there. Gatherings and assemblies for Bible readings and assemblies and rallies for prayers were plagued with instances of terror and repression. In Saigon, the Reverend Nguyen Huu Cuong and the Reverend the Le Thien Dong were arrested on charges of "subversive activities" in 1983. The authorities confiscated the Church’s chapel in An Dong where the Reverend Nguyen Huu Cuong performed religious services. In December of the same year, they arrested Reverend Ho Hieu Ha and his assistant, Nguyen Van Tuoi, on charges of "preaching against the Revolution" and confiscated their chapel on Tran Cao Van Street.

Popular dissidence was on the rise as a consequence of the failures of the second five-year economic development plan. The Communist administration, again, sought to impose stricter control on all religions. The Evangelicals were of a primary target as conversions to Christianity grew steadily at a remarkably speed. It carried out, this time, the political strategy of "divide to govern," granting legal recognition to some Evangelical Churches while dissolving those Churches that would not submit themselves to the arbitrary supervision of atheism. The. latter congregations, which had long operated on their original Constitution, resiliently preserved their legitimacy and resisted union with in the Northern Evangelical Church. The non-cooperation of these independent Churches presented a potential threat to the regime. In addition, the house church movement spread rapidly in various regions in the South.

Unable to disband the various Evangelical denominations in the South, the new regime sought to integrate them into one organization under the leadership of the Communist Party. Due to distinct schisms, the Christians in the South resisted State repression and united all Christians under a single organization, partly. Taking advantage of the services of Bui Hoanh Thu, a longtime "protege" the Vietnamese Communist Party, the Hanoi rule eased pressure on independent denominations, nominating docile leaders to an executive board, facilitating access to some church facilities for religious services, and wooing them into working in union with the State-sanctioned Evangelical Church. Hanoi nevertheless failed to reconcile the Northern and Southern Churches. Most denominations remained loyal to their religious principles and operated independently regardless of oppression and repression.

The Christian clergy and laity became the target of successive instances of suppression. Recognized among the victims persecuted for their faith during this period were:

1. The Reverend Ho Hieu Ha and the two pastors lost their appeals against prison sentences that had been imposed by the People's Court in 1987. They were held at Chi Hoa prison, Ho Chi Minh City; 2. The Reverend Ho Hieu Ha and the two pastors lost their appeals against prison sentences that had been imposed by the People's Court in 1987. They were to be held at Chi Hoa prison in Ho Chi Minh City; 3. Pastor Phan Tu of Binh Tuy was arrested in January 1987, for allegedly holding assembly in his home, and detained in Binh Tuy; 4. Pastor R’mah Boi, house church leader, accused of serving his faith with the Jerai tribe, in the districts of Chu Pa, Gia Lai, and Kontum, Central Highlands. Arrested in August 1989, for allegedly holding an assembly of 200 tribesmen, detained without trial at Camp A20, Dong Xuan, Phu Yen Province, and released on December 8, 1992; 5. Pastor Tran The Thien Phuoc, house church leader in Saigon, arrested in December 1989 on his way to an assembly, detained without trial at Tong Le Chan Camp, Song Be Province, and released on December 1,1991; 6. Nguyen Van Tuoi, arrested in 1983 on charge of propaganda against the "Revolution," sentenced to four years in prison, and released in April 1990; 7. Le Thien Dung, arrested in 1983, brought to stand trial on August 27, 1987 on charge of propagandizing against the "Revolution," sentenced to four years in prison, and released in April 1990; .8. H’ Lap, member of the Koho tribe, arrested in December 1989, on charge of propagandizing against the "Revolution," sentenced to five years in prison, and detained at Camp A20, Xuan Phuoc, Phu Khanh Province; 9. Em, member of the Koho tribe, arrested in December 1989, on charge of having contacts with "illegal" religious groups, sentenced to three years in prison, and detained at Camp A20, Xuan Phuoc, Phu Khanh Province; 10. Nguye Ngoc Anh, a resident in Dak Lak, Quang Duc Province, arrested in December 1989 and released in 1990. 11. The Reverend Vo Minh Hung is a minister from Pleiku. He had been arrested for the third time in December 1989 during a church assembly in his home. He had never been tried. He was detained in Camp A20, Dong Xuan, Phu Yen Province. He was released on January 16, 1993, 12. Pastor Ha Wan, a house church pastor, Koho tribe. was arrested some time during 1989-1990. He was possibly tried along with Pastors Ya Tiem and Ha Hak. He was sentenced to three years in prison on charge of illegal preaching and pursuing religious practices without permission, and detained in Da Kat, Lam Dong Province. He was released on July 2, 1993, upon completion of his sentence; 13. Two members of the Jorai tribe, Y De and Y Thang, who had been arrested and maltreated, were re-arrested in December 1980, was put under detention; 14. The Reverend R'mah Boi and two Christians of the Jorai Christendom of Chu Pa were imprisoned in October 1989. Two lay Christians were sentenced without a trial to forced labor --to reap an immense rice-field-- for having sheltered the Christians for prayers in their homes at the suggestion of the Reverend Boi. The arrest was termed as an "administrative measure," which is, in fact, an unlawful sentence and is apparently contrary to the Penal Code of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.