U.S. CONGRESSMAN VISITED RELIGIOUS LEADERS
A delegation of U.S. representatives were on a visiting trip in Vietnam from Jan 13 to Jan 17. Besides meeting with the Communist rulers, the delegation also paid visits to some religious leaders who have been renowned dissidents to the Communist regime.
On January 16, 2000, Representative Edward Royce (R-Calif.) leading an American delegation from the U.S. House of Representatives met with the Ven. Thich Quang Do at Thanh Minh Pagoda, a Buddhist monastery in Saigon where Quang Do was living under close watch of Public Security agents. He had been imprisoned many times, and was released the last time in September 1998 under international pressure imposed on the VCP government for his freedom along with a dozen other political and religious prisoners.
Mr. Royce is the vice chairman of the Asia-Pacific Subcommittee, International Relation Committee, in the House of Representatives. He was meeting with Ven. Quang Do for more than one hour.
During the visit, Ven. Quang Do informed Mr. Royce about the general situation of all religions and specifically of the Buddhists under harsh repression from the Communist regime. Ven. Quang Do expressed his grateful thanks to Mr. Royce for the letter to the Nobel Committee that he signed jointly with other 30 U.S. representatives to nominate Quang Do as a candidate for Nobel Peace Prize.
The Americans in the delegation asked Ven. Quang Do what the United States should do to help his Unified Buddhist Church. He said that it is necessary to apply political, economic and social pressure to build true freedom and democracy in Vietnam.
Previously, on January 15, 2000, in his letter to the top Vietnam Communist Party (VCP) leaders, the Ven. Thich Quang Do as Secretary General of the United Buddhist Church has set forth four demands:
1) Agriculture tax reduction be granted to farmers,
2) To release the Ven. Thich Huyen Quang and other political prisoners,
3) To abolish death penalty,
4) To restore the Unified Buddhist Church's rights of religious practice.
Later in the day at 6 PM, Rep. Edward Royce also met with Mr. Le Quang Liem, one of the most respectable patriarchs of the Hoa Hao Buddhist Church at his residence in Phu Nhuan District, Saigon. The visiting Americans arrived at Mr. Liem's home without notifying him ahead because his telephone line serving fax machine and email access has been disconnected by the Communist authorities for more than a month.
During the meeting that lasted more than one hour, Mr. Liem was explaining to the U.S. representative the long struggle of the Hoa Hao Buddhists to restore Hoa Hao Buddhist Church legal status.
For the last seven years, Mr. Liem and hundreds of the church former managerial executives have sent seven official letters to the Communist government, requesting that the church rights be restored, but there had been no response.
Instead of resolving the problem with the Hoa Hao traditional leaders, the Communist government created a new state-controlled Committee of the Representatives to head the 5 million Hoa Hao believers. The committee has 11 members, all are Communist Party members.
The state-controlled committee announced new regulations for the Hoa Hao Buddhists: dismissing the Hoa Hao Church established since April 1945, banning the Hoa Hao brown flag, expurgating 80 percent the teachings of the Most Venerable Master Huynh Phu So, banning the anniversary of the Most Venerable Master's death by the hands of the Viet Minh (former title of Viet Cong), and other changes in order to undermine the Hoa Hao Church.
Mr. Liem confirmed that there were 43 men and women who vowed to burn themselves to protest the Communist crack-down on Hoa Hao Buddhism. However, Mr. Liem said, "Such sacrifices will be performed as our last resort when all options have failed to succeed.
The fact that Rep. Edward Royce and his delegation were free to meet with the two religious leaders without hindrance proved that international pressure and criticism against the VCP rulers on their religious intolerance have actually budged them towards a lesser oppressive policy on religions. But many Vietnamese still think the VCP authorities action is superficial and may be a mere formality. While Mr. Royce was visiting Mr. Liem, he could see two plain cloth secret police agent overtly surveyed the home from outside.
It's not known whether the Royce delegation has deliberately chosen January 16 to pay visits to the two prominent religious leaders.
The President of the United States proclaimed January 16, 2000, as Religious Freedom Day, "calling upon the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs, and urging all Americans to reaffirm their devotion to the fundamental principles of religious freedom and tolerance," in his proclamation released on January 14, 2000.
According to the proclamation, "on January 16, 1786, the Virginia legislature enacted a law whose impact is still felt around the world today. Authored by Thomas Jefferson and introduced by James Madison, this act affirmed religious freedom as one of the 'natural rights of mankind' and pledged that none would 'suffer on account of his religious opinions or beliefs.' "
If Rep. Royce has intentionally selected the specific date to meet with the two religious leaders, it is a meaningful act rarely done by an American statesman.
As expected, VCP government on Thursday, January 20, criticized the U.S. congressional delegation for deviating from its official program to meet the two top dissidents, calling it "a gesture without goodwill."
"No visit was on the official itinerary agreed to by the two countries. If there really was such a visit, we feel it should not be done by an official visiting delegation,'' Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh was quoted by Vietnam Press, the state-run news agency, as saying in an interview.
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