U[U[U
Last week on September 30,
2002, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom released its
report on the freedom of religions in many countries, which includes the
Communist regime in Vietnam. In its report, the American independent federal
agency recommends that the U.S. administration designate Myanmar, North Korea,
India, Iran, Iraq, Laos, Pakistan, China and Vietnam as "countries of
particular concern" under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.
The
commission would require the U.S. president to act against the violations.
Measures to be taken may be diplomatic pressure or economic sanctions to oppose
violations whether the government itself commits these violations or just
tolerates them. An excerpt about Vietnam in the report reads:
"The
government of Vietnam continues repressive policies toward all religions and
their followers. A Commission delegation that visited Vietnam in March 2002
found that religious dissidents remain
under house arrest or are imprisoned,
including Father Thaddeus Nguyen Van Ly, who was detained
after
submitting testimony to the Commission last year. In addition, government
officials continue to
suppress
organized religious activities and to harass leaders and followers of unregistered
religious organizations, as well as clergy members of officially recognized
religious groups."
|
Hanoi reacted
angrily, denying all USCIRF accusations. In the press release on October 3,
the foreign Ministry spokeswoman said: |
|
"In
Vietnam, freedom of religious belief, and freedom of non-belief, for all
citizens is stipulated in the constitution and observed in practice." This statement has been repeated a thousand
times in Hanoi for the last half century."
She
also warned that the recommendation, if accepted by the U.S. State Department, "would
negatively affect relations between Vietnam and the United States, which have
seen favorable developments."
On Oct 7, 2002, the U.S.
State Department released its 2002 Annual Report on International Religious
Freedom. This official statement of the State Department once again asserts
that the Communist regime in Vietnam has been unrelentingly violating religion
freedom. Please see International Religious Freedom Report Homepage, or http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2002/14158.htm
for details.
The 33-page report covers
many aspects and facts of religious intolerance and goes into details about the
religions in Vietnam. It classifies nearly twenty nations into five categories
where religious freedom is not respected. Vietnam Communist regime is listed in
the first category, along with Burma and China.
Hanoi
as usual, reacted bitterly against the report released by Secretary Colin L.
Powell himself. The Communist government has criticized the US State Department's annual report
on international religious freedom. "The
report contained erroneous remarks about religious freedom in Vietnam. These
remarks were based on biased and untrue information," Hanoi Foreign
Ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh stressed in her press conference on
October 9.
The
Vietnam Communist regime has a long history of religious intolerance. Since Ho
Chi Minh seized power in August 1945, he and his men have adopted an
anti-Catholic policy to deal with the Catholic Church, which was considered
their archenemy along with the nationalist parties.
During
the Resistance War 1946-54, Ho's party still treated the Catholic Church with
rather softer hands, compared to what it did to the nationalist party. After
the country was divided in July 1954 and the Communists took control over North
Vietnam, Ho's regime began imposing a harsh religious policy over all
religions, particularly over the Catholics. The Communist leaders did not worry
about the Buddhists because they were not well organized into hierarchy and an
consolidated, operational church, thus creating no immediate danger to the
Party.
After
April 30, 1975, the arrogant Communists were dealing with religious matters by
exerting a merciless policy. They incarcerated any religious activist they
suspected "dangerous reactionary" or "CIA secret agent." They
confiscated any temple, pagoda or chapel without any official written order.
The
Communist leaders made a serious mistake when they underestimated the power of
the Buddhists in South Vietnam. They had been thinking that the Buddhist Church
could be manipulated without difficulties. They were wrong.
The
pure Buddhist faithful who regularly attend religious services constitute about
40 percent of the population. The remaining 50 percent are called Buddhists,
namely. Or to be more exact, they may be called polytheists whose practices are
based mainly on Buddhism, mixed with teachings from Taoism, Confucianism along
with the tradition of worshipping the ancestors. Their nature is non-violent,
tolerant and moderate. But under extreme repression, Buddhist devoted believers
may become a powerful force.
This
part of the population is not organized into any form of strictly controlled
congregation. They practice their faith at temples or pagodas or at home where
altars of Buddha and altars of the ancestors are built at the most respectable
places.
From
1954 to 1975 in North Vietnam, the Communists set up an effective control
system over the population that included closely watching all forms of
religious activities. Communist Public Security prohibited practices that they
said not necessary to the building of Socialism, especially rigid at
superstitious services.
Since
1978 after the devastating great floods and crop failure, peasants refused
working in agricultural cooperatives, abandoning collective rice fields to
growing weeds. They worked by themselves on any piece of land they found, or
departed for cities to earn their living as beggars. In similar defiant
movement, people boldly reinstalled home altars with recovered or newly made
statues and icons. Superstitious practices reappeared and prospered.
When
"doi moi" (renovation) started in 1986, the Communist leaders had to
accept religious tolerance at some degree. But since the early years of the
1990s, the general policy of religion has been determined.
People
from outside going on trips to Vietnam today are mostly visiting cities, towns
and tourist sites. In urban areas, people are free to pray in pagodas, temples
and churches. The clergy is under control but still enjoy some freedom. More
churches and pagodas and temples are built mostly by money of Vietnamese living
abroad.
Few
of them could visit the countryside villages particularly the remote hamlets
where religious activities are strictly limited. Even some who speak fluent
Vietnamese are spending time and money to stay in a poor hamlet for a few days,
could hardly detect the invisible religious suppressive measures imposed by
unwritten laws and regulations. In Vietnam nowadays, local regulations often
override laws and directives from the central government.
The
Party Central committee's strategy to deal with religious issues can be noticed
easily.
On
the one hand, the Party leaders maintain a rigid stance on religious churches
and activities. Oppressive measures are enforced on the major religions: Buddhist,
Catholic, Protestant, Cao Dai, Hoa Hao, Muslim, and Hindu... They spare no
action to keep these churches under control as much as possible.
On
the other hand, Hanoi leaders tolerate harmless religious and unimportant
divine worships. Local cops are giving a free hand to individual believers and
small-unorganized groups within a village or a hamlet in religious services, including
superstitious practices.
Fortune
telling, spirits invocation séances, exorcism and particularly votive paper
offerings manufacture are not prohibited. A large factory invested by a foreign
business is producing simulated paper household items, cars, motorbikes,
ventilators, cookers, modern appliances, fake US dollars... almost everything as
used by living persons. This business is exporting its production to some Asian
countries. Official statistic from Hanoi admits that in Vietnam, people spent
about VN$ 100 billion (US$ 7 million) annually for the practice whereas a poor
peasant earns no more than one dollar a day.
The
Party leaders have to give up many fundamental Marxist-Leninist teachings,
allowing non-organized believers to worship in order to pacify poor peasants
while conducting heavy-handed policy against the targeted churches. As for stabilizing the Communist Party's
ruling power, the strategy is working rather well with cheating propaganda.
Credulous people may fall for it now. But only for a time.
|
|
|
=======