VIETNAM, NEWS ANALYSIS, SEPTEMBER 2, 2000.

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The September 2nd Anniversary commemorating the establishment of the Vietnam Communist regime under Ho Chi Minh in `1945, has been held every year since. This year, however, the Sept. 2 celebrations were prepared at a rather large scale. There are military review and parade with the participation of many state-controlled associations, party external organizations, groups of faithful Communist veterans and colorful floats.

That day fifty-five years ago, Ho Chi Minh declared the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the so-called Declaration of Independence, and introduced his Cabinet.

Two weeks before, on August 18, a spontaneous meeting and demonstration was held by the Association of Public Servants to support independence and democracy for Vietnam. A group of two dozen of Communist cadres took advantage of the occasion, seizing the microphone and the central stage, waving the yellow-star-on-red banner, leading the crowd of many thousand people to occupy key government offices.

The establishment of Ho Chi Minh government was immediately opposed by most of non-Communist revolutionary parties because Ho and his men broke the promise to act in concordance with the resolution made previously at an important meeting in China of the Viet Nam Cach Menh Dong Minh Hoi (VNCMDMH, or Vietnam Revolutionary League). The VNCMDMH consisted of all major anti-colonialism revolutionary parties including Ho's Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi (Viet Minh, or Vietnam Independence League).

According to the Resolution, all member associations would cooperate with each other and would follow the decision for a general uprising to be taken by the VNCMDMH standing committee. Ho was sent back to Vietnam as the league's envoy to observe the situation in the country and report his evaluation to the league headquarters in China for the decision.

The act of betrayal by Ho infuriated the nationalists, under whose pressure Ho had to form a coalition government in 1946. In Summer 1946, the Communists launched a brutal terrorist campaign to eliminate the opposition, killing thousands of nationalist activists along with skillful and forceful slanderous propaganda campaign against them. The victims included nearly half of the representatives of the Parliament in the non-communist bloc, and most of nationalist patriots and prospective non-communist leaders who had both virtue and talents.

The campaign lasted for years, successfully getting rid of key opponents. It led to the birth of the anti-Communist front of non-communist patriots who escaped the Viet Minh control to take shelter in the French occupied areas. It is believed that if Ho had sincerely cooperated with the nationalist side as his appeal for greater solidarity in Spring 1946, the war against French colonialism would have ended much earlier and Vietnam would not have suffered the bloody 1960-75 nationalism-communism war between the Soviet-China-backed North Vietnam and the American-backed South Vietnam.

The Sept. 2 celebration this year is one of the series of unusually pompous festivals, celebrations and conferences. They are scheduled with noticeable intentions to buoy up the spirit of the people and party members, who have long been downhearted because of Communist realities. A huge part of the national budget is spent for the events while millions of people are living in extreme poverty, and budgets for education and public health care are below 7 percent each.

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Besides, the Vietnam Communist Party (VCP) government announced that it would release 10,693 prisoners, among them 61 are foreigners including 4 Vietnamese Americans. As usual, VCP government did not release a list of prisoners to be set free, and its officials said that it has never held any political or religious prisoners, the reiteration of a Communist time-worn expression in the last 55 years.

Although the number of inmates being released is comparatively large, it is unknown how many prisoners are still in nearly a hundred prison camps at national , provincial and district levels. It is more difficult to estimate how many people who were and will be sent to prison to fill the vacant rooms left by the released inmates. The VCP regime is notorious of maintaining a pool of political and religious prisoners to have someone to release when it is necessary to do so to lessen international criticism of Hanoi's human rights record.

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The celebrations do not make VCP authorities hesitate to exert political security measures. State-controlled media in Hanoi reported that Mr. Le Quang Liem, a senior leader of the Hoa Hao Buddhist Church would be tried at a court in Saigon for the charge of "spying for foreign power." The evidence is mostly made up.

In a telephone interview with Radio Free Asia, Mr. Liem said that he was waiting to be arrested, but he would never give up his position that a religion must be independent from the state government. Recently he rejected an offer from Communist government giving him the seat of an advisor in the state-controlled Hoa Hao Church, an organization representing no one but a group of Communist party members of Hoa Hao origin.

He suggests that the government hold a general congress of the Hoa Hao Buddhists so that the people could express their will without interference from the Communist authorities.

Mr. Liem said that he is against those who are seeking violent means to overthrow the Communist regime. What the Vietnamese living abroad should be doing, he said, is to rely on intense non-violent struggles against the Communist regime with all efforts to draw strong international support. He concluded, "Do all you can because there is still hope."

At the same time, according to a source from Vietnam on August 28, Communist Public Security department of Long Xuyen province arrested Buddhist Monk Thich Hue Quang and Mr. Nguyen Van Dien, deputy chief of the Hoa Hao Buddhist (independent) Church board of managers. Communist authorities refused to say what he was charged with.

The source also predicted that the crackdown may incite Hoa Hao worshippers to violent protests.

In Quang Nam province, Communist Public Security officers barged into Phu Son Pagoda to break up a religious service. Four monks from a monastery in Hue, who were invited by the pagoda to preach to worshippers were sent back to Hue.

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Meanwhile, the Communist government denied an exit permit to the Most Ven. Thich Thai Hoa of Phuoc Duyen Pagoda, Hue City, who was invited to attend the Millennium World Peace Summit held in New York City from 28 to 31 August. The letter of invitation was signed by the Secretary General of the summit, Mr. Bawa Jain.

Local authorities deliberately delayed delivering the letter for nearly a month. When the Ven. Thich Thai Hoa applied for exit permit, it was only 12 days before the summit was to begin.

He spent many days visiting one office after another to do the paperwork. He was told by every office that he should wait for the decision. He did not receive any word from the Communist authorities. So on August 25, he sent an email to Mr. Bawa Jain to inform him that he would not be allowed to leave for the New York summit. He also suggested that the Dalai Lama and the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do be invited. He introduced his representative in the U.S.A. to participate.

While denying the Most Ven. Thich Thai Hoa exit permit, Hanoi sent a ten-member delegation to attend the summit. The only delegations chosen by their government were China's and Vietnam's.

The Hanoi's delegation was nominally headed by the Most Ven. Thich Hien Phap, general secretary of the state-control Buddhist Church and the Most Rev. Nguyen Son Lam, secretary general of the Episcopal Council of the Vietnam Catholic Church. The real leader of the delegation must be someone else.

The Ven. Chan Phap An, who is in New York, delivered a speech as officially entrusted by and on behalf of Most Ven. Thich Thai Hoa. The speech, compiled by Ven. Thai Hoa, introduced the issue of building up the future human society according to Buddhist teachings and practical methods to reach the goal of such society where people could live in happiness, peace and stability.