State-sponsored Vietnam
Buddhist Church Protests
Against Government Interference in Religious Affairs
International Buddhist Information Bureau
Director : Vo Van Ai 25 rue Jaffeux, 92230 Gennevilliers, France
Tel. (33 1) 47 93 10 81 - fax. (33 1) 47 91 41 38
E-mail : 100302.3100@compuserve.com
For Immediate Release
8 January 1997
Leaders of the State-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Church in Lam Dong province resign in protest over Government interference in religious affairs - Local authorities in Ba Ria seize Son Linh Pagoda and prohibit the return of UBCV monk Thich Hanh Duc
Two of the highest-ranking dignitaries of the State-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Church (VBC) in Lam Dong Province, Venerables Thich Tu Man and Thich Tam Thanh have resigned from their respective posts as Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Lam Dong VBC Provincial Executive Committee in protest over Government interference in Buddhist affairs. The two monks, who are also respectively Director and Deputy Director of the Lam Dong Institute of Buddhist Studies, submitted their resignation by letter to the Lam Dong Communist Party Mobilization Department, the People's Committee and the VBC Central Executive Committee, announcing their withdrawal from all functions within the VBC.
Their resignation followed a Government clamp-down against Buddhists in Lam Dong province in which Security Police arrested Thich Minh Dao (secular name Truong Thanh Tam), Superior monk of Long Tho Pagoda near Dalat, expelled 34 resident monks and nuns and subsequently razed the Pagoda's 15 buildings to the ground. In order to legalize this arrest, the authorities forced Thich Tu Man to sign a letter on behalf of the Lam Dong VBC Executive Committee (ref. 59/BC-BTS, 24.10.1996) denouncing Thich Minh Dao and calling for him to be "punished according to the law". Thich Minh Dao was arrested afew days later, on October 30th 1996. This was not the first time that the VBC Lam Dong Executive had been made to comply with the Government's repressive campaigns against Buddhists. Following directives issued by Vu Quang, Head of the Government Board of Religious Affairs (Ref. 01-TT/TGCP, 3rd March 1995, Government Board of Religious Affairs), Thich Tu Man was forced to sign a letter (Ref. 99-BC-BTS, 12th August 1995, Lam Dong VBC Provincial Executive Committee) ordering the dissolution of the "Gia dinh Phat tu" - an independent "Buddhist Youth Movement" founded over 50 years ago which now has a nationwide membership of more than 300,000 Buddhists aged 6-18 years - and ordering the movement to come under the umbrella of the State-sponsored organisation of "Buddhist Boys and Girls". This is another example of the rising discontent amongst VBC dignitaries - most of whom are former members of the independent Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) who were forced join the State-sponsored VBC after its creation in 1981. Many VBC monks and nuns resent being used as a political tool in the Government's campaign against the independent UBCV.
On 5 December 1996, UBCV monk Thich Hai Tang was released from prison after serving a four-year sentence for his involvement in a 40,000-strong Buddhist demonstration in Hue on 24.5.1993. Thich Hai Tang was arrested on 5.6.1993 along with Thich Tri Tuu, Superior monk of Linh Mu Pagoda, Hue, Thich Hai Thinh and Thich Hai Chanh. The four monks and five lay-Buddhists were charged with "disturbing public order" and sentenced to 3-4 years in prison at a closed trial in Hue on 15.11.1993.
It is not yet known whether Thich Hai Tang will be able to resume his religious functions at Linh Mu Pagoda where he lived before his arrest. Thich Hai Chanh and Thich Hai Thinh, released respectively on 30.4.1995 and 5.3.1996, were evicted from the Pagoda in November 1996 and are now under house arrest in their villages, prohibited from all religious activities. Linh Mu Pagoda, which is well-known as an active centre of UBCV dissidence, was recently declared a national heritage site by the Government. The authorities are using this as a pretext to put the Pagoda under government control, evict UBCV monks and suppress all activities in support of the independent UBCV.
Another facet of Government repression against the UBCV is the systematic practice of forbidding UBCV monks to return to their former Pagodas after their release from prison and detaining them under house arrest in their native villages, deprived of the right to exercise religious activities. The International Buddhist Information has just received a letter from Venerable Thich Hanh Duc, Superior monk of Son Linh Pagoda in Xuan Son village, Vung Tau-Ba Ria province (Southern Vietnam) protesting to the Vietnamese authorities against such treatment. Thich Hanh Duc (secular name Vo Hanh Duc) was an official of the State-sponsored VBC. In 1992, he attended the funeral of the late UBCV Patriarch Thich Don Hau in Hue and began to openly manifest his sympathy for the new UBCV leader, Venerable Thich Huyen Quang. From then on, he began to have trouble with the Police. In 1993, Police came to evict him from Son Linh Pagoda on the pretext that he did not have a residence permit (he had been living there for the past 10 years). He refused to leave.
On July 9th 1993, Security Police and mobile army forces used electric truncheons, tear gas and an army tank to break through a crowd of 2,000 Buddhists and arrest Thich Hanh Duc along with 25 novices and 100 Buddhist followers. He was convicted of "obstruction" and sentenced to 3 years in prison in 1994. He was detained in Phuoc Co prison, Ba Ria, then Gia Trung Reeducation Camp in the Central highlands. Released in July 1996, Thich Hanh Duc was not allowed to return to Son Linh Pagoda. Indeed, he found that the Pagoda and all its property had been confiscated by the local authorities. In his recent letter to SRV Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet and the Ministry of the Interior, Thich Hanh Duc declared : "My disciples and I built this Pagoda with our own hands, we paid for it with our own hard-earned savings and the contributions and good-will of the local Buddhist community. It wasn't as though we were squatting in a Pagoda built by the State or the VBC... "I ignore for what reason, `or under what law the authorities brutalized me and forced me to leave Son Linh Pagoda where I lived for over 10 years. According to Decrees No. 52 and 64 adopted by the Prime Minister, all citizens of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam who have been authorized temporary residence in a particular locality for 5-10 years are entitled to take up permanent residence at that place and be issued with a permanent Residence Permit and Identity Card (articles 01 and 08)...
"After I was arrested, the local authorities confiscated all the pagoda's property, including religious books worth a total of over 100 millions dongs. This violates Article 6, Chapter 1 of the SRV Criminal Procedures Code which states that "Citizens are entitled to the protection of the law for their lives, health, property, honour and dignity"...
Thich Hanh Duc also stated that his arrest in 1993 was "totally unfounded... I was arrested without a warrant, for no specified reason" ... "Throughout the whole process of my arrest, trial and detention, the authorities totally disregarded the laws of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam... does this mean that those who are responsible for implemening the law have the right to put themselves above the law? "
In conclusion, Thich Hanh Duc called on the Prime Minister and Government leaders to :
"a) order the local authorities to authorize my immediate return to Son Linh Pagoda. No citizen of the SRV should return from prison to find himself homeless;
"b) order the local authorities to return all confiscated property, or at least pay adequate compensation for such property, and authorize the Pagoda to reopen its "Distribution Office for Sutras and Religious Books" which was closed down without explanation despite the fact that it has a legal permit. No citizen of the SRV should return from prison to find himself dispossessed".
Copies of this letter were sent to Party Secretary Do Muoi, President Le Duc Anh, National Assembly President Nong Duc Manh and other Government leaders. Another copy was sent clandestinely to the International Buddhist Information Bureau and the Paris-based Vietnam Committee on Human Rights with the request that it be forwarded to the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights.