Still angry at the act of defiance of millions of Hoa Hao Buddhists streaming to their Holy Land to commemorate the founding of the Church 60 years ago, Hanoi started new measures of harassment against the Hoa Hao Buddhist Church. Government's undercover cadres have penetrated Hoa Hao communities and tried hard to detect the identities of the underground Council of Elders to Defend the Faith, who gave the order to hold the celebration in July. At the same time, the state tried to confiscate all private vide o recording of the event. The official released version had been censored to keep out scenes deemed unfavorable to the regime.
To severe the Elders Council's influence from the followers, the government also formed the state-sponsored Hoa Hao Representative Committee as the only legally recognized spokesperson for the Church. Needless to say, the Committee has met a strong rejection from the followers. On August 17, 1999, about 400 Hoa Hao Buddhists came to the Holy Land to question the Committee on its arbitrary elimination of the annual service on February 25 to commemorate the death of the Hoa Hao Founder at the hand of the communist cadres at Doc Vang; on the elimination of the Church's flag; on the name change of the Holy Land; etc. Public Securities cadres immediately and brutally disband the group. They also detained a 75 years old follower, Nguyen Thi Thu, who was preparing to set herself afire in protest.
On August 28, under the instruction of the Council of Elders to Defend the Faith, more than 2000 Hoa Hao Buddhists gathered peacefully at the An Hoa Pagoda in the Holy Land to pray for people who had sacrificed their lives for the country and the Church. Public Security cadres immediately reinforced their presence in the Holly Land with troops in full riot gear.