With their own rallies, Vietnamese youth in Australia and New Zealand have joined their counterparts around the world in the "Light Up Our Faith" movement to celebrate their Vietnamese heritage, appreciate their current free homelands, and call for democratic changes and the respect for human rights in Vietnam.
On August 7, 1999 young Vietnamese-Australians held their Light Up Our Faith rally at the Cabravale Park of Cabramatta. This event was also broadcast and reported to other parts of the world, including Vietnam.
Among the participants at the rally were Chairman of the Free Vietnamese Community in Australia, Vo Minh Cuong; Mayor of Fairfield city, Chris Boren; Member of Parliament, Tony Stewart; State Senator John Ryan; representative of New South Wales Governor, Bob Carr; Leader of the Youth of Australian Liberal Party, Tony Chappel; representative of the Opposition Party, Chikarov Ski.
All of the speakers expressed their organizations' support for the noble cause of bringing democracy, freedom and human rights to Vietnam, and their appreciation of the Vietnamese-Australians' achievements and contributions to Australia.
The 13 youth associations of the organizing committee, representing tens of thousands of young Vietnamese-Australians across this country, then lit up the Torch of Faith together as the symbol of their hope to send the light of faith to their brothers and sisters in Vietnam, where the majority of the population is under 25 and facing a gloomy future.
"Only with faith will we take our destiny and that of the country into our own hands," said Thon Nguyen, head of the organizing committee, "and bring Vietnam forward to happiness and prosperity."
On August 28, 1999, Vietnamese exchanged students sent by Hanoi to New Zealand to study held the second rally in Wellington for human rights in Vietnam. This event is an unprecedented and courageous endeavor by these students who could have their privileges withdrawn or, worse, face prosecution by the Hanoi authorities like other dissidents under the Administrative Detainment policy upon their return to Vietnam.
Taking their cause to the New Zealand Parliament, about 50 students joined local Vietnamese-New Zealanders in lighting 45 candles, which represented the 45 years Vietnam has languished under the communist rule. The participants at the rally then prayed for an end to the suffering of the Vietnamese people and the respect of human rights in Vietnam.
Speaking for the students' organizing committee, Do Manh Tien called on the Vietnamese Communist Party to abolish article 4 of the Constitution that guarantees the Party the monopoly of power in Vietnam. Vietnamese youth everywhere, he said, could no longer keep silence once seeing the gap between the daily lives of the majority of Vietnamese and those of people in the free world. Do hopes the historical and political barriers between Vietnamese youth overseas and at home will finally be torn down so that a joint force for the human rights causes is possible.
Among the guest-participants were Member of Parliament Annabel Young, representing Prime Minister Jenney Shipley; Member of Parliament Petter Dunne, representing the Unity Party Ohariu Belmont, Ms. Kate McPherson of the Amnesty International, Fathers John Berry and G. Mills of Wellington diocese, Mr. John S. Petris. All guest-speakers at the rally expressed their support for democracy and human rights for Vietnam, and called on members of APEC to voice their objections to human rights violations in Vietnam at the upcoming APEC meeting in September.
Do Manh Tien also handed Member of Parliament Annabel Young and, through her, to the New Zealand Parliament a file of human rights violations in Vietnam, compiled by the Vietnamese-Australian Human Rights Committee.
The event was reported by the City Voice, Contact Wellington, and Evening Post newspaper, and broadcast around the world, including Vietnam, by radio services SBS, VOA and New Horizon.