UNIFIED BUDDHIST CHURCH OF VIETNAM
DHARMA PROPAGATION INSTITUTE
Thanh Minh Zen Center
90 Tran Huy Lieu Street
Ward 15, Phu Nhuan District
HCM City
Buddhist Year 2544
No. : 03/VHD/VT-TB
REPORT
Subject: Public Security of Vinh Hoi Dong, An Giang province, detaining the mission from the Dharma Propagation Institute, banning the distribution of aids to the victims; and the Institute's future plan to aid the victims
Respectfully sent to all Offices of the Unified Buddhist Church inside and outside the Country.
Dear Respected Church Members,
Through this report I would like to let you know clearly how the the Public Security force of the An Giang Province obstructed and arrested the Buddhist Relief Mission led by me to provide relief to the victims of the recent flood. I also want to clarify that the statements made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Socialist Republic of VietNam in Hanoi on October 11th regarding my flood relief trip were complete lies just to deceive the public inside and outside the coutnry.
As you might have known, I issued a report on September 24, 2000 regarding the three relief missions sent by the Social Charity Office of the Dharma Propagation Institute to the three provinces of Long An, Dong Thap and An Giang to help the flood victims there. We, however, ran into all kind of barricades, particularly in An Giang province. The government prevented the Unified Buddhist Church from helping the people in desperate situations.
On the same day, I wrote a letter (no. 11/VHD/VT ) to Messrs. Le Kha Phieu, Tran Duc Luong, Phan Van Khai and Nong Duc Manh stating the situation and requesting the central government to ask the local governments to facilitate our relief activities for the flood victims.
After the above report and letter were released by the International Buddhist Information Office on September 28, 2000,a Reuters reporter in Hanoi asked the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs if the authorities in An Giang stopped the Church from distributing gift packages to the victims. The answer was: "No country would hinder the relief effort for the flood victims."
[I assumed] the official statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of a country could not be a lie. On that assumption I decided to lead a relief mission to An Giang on October 6, 2000 also to see if the statement of the government of the Socilist Republic of Vietnam is truthful.
Our Mission was planned to consist of 50 people on two buses. Ven. Thich Nguyen Ly, who led the previous [unsuccessful] mission to An Giang, would be among the members. However, at 18:00 on October 5, 2000 Ven. Nguyen Ly sent a messenger to inform me that the Public Security came to his pagoda and prohibited him from lending his vehicle to me and accompanying me to An Giang. So we had to leave on one bus. The mission included Ven. Thich Long Trinh, Deputy Chief of the Social Charity Office of the Dharma Propagation Institute; Thich Quang Hue, Secretary of the Office; Thich Tam An, Auditor of the Office; together with Venerable Thich Hanh Chau, Thich Chuc Hau, 5 lay Buddhists and myself. Ven. Thich Khong Tanh, Chief of the Social Charity Office left for An Giang on October 5 to assess the situation ahead of the mission. We departed from Thanh Minh Zen Center at 8 a.m. on October 6 and arrived in Chau Doc at 6 p.m. the same day and stayed overnight at the Van Ha boarding house.
At 7 a.m. the next day we headed for An Phu district, 15 kilometers from Chau Doc, by boat. An Phu was heavily flooded. About 5 kilometers outside An Phu, we began to see only halves of the houses above water. Some were dipped to the roofs. Makeshift boards and rooftops were used as precarious shelter for people, young and old. Fish, floating water vegetation and lotus flowers were collected for food. When we stopped and handed them food and clothing, they happily told us those were the first aids packages they had received. We felt surprised, touched, and fortunate for being able to reach them.
While we were busy helping these victims, suddenly, a Public Security boat appeared and ordered the owner of our boat to go to the tax collecting station nearby. It was about 10 a.m.. The flood victims looked on in surprise and hopelessness. Once at the station, the Public Security asked us where we came from. I told them we were from Ho Chi Minh City. They inspected our relief packages each of which contained 10 packs of instant noodles and an envelope of 100,000 dongs. After the inspection, they told me: "This is not a legal organization. Remove the name Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam from the envelopes." I asked them: "Do you see people suffering around you? Water is everywhere. People, young and old, are sitting precariously on rooftops waiting for help. How could you ask us sit here and rewrap these packages to comply with such meaningless rules?" I understood the real reason for the obstruction and asked directly: "Does this mean we are not allowed to provide any relief to the flood victims?". The Public Security cadre nodded. I continued: "These gifts came from Buddhist clergies and followers and overseas Vietnamese. They sent to our Church and asked us to hand delivered them to the victims. Now, if you forbid us to do so, please state the reasons in writing so we can let the donors know. Otherwise, they might think we have not tried our best to help people in desparation." Upon hearing my request, the Public Security cadre walked away. After waiting for a while in tiredness and sadness for being unble to help the victims, I climbed down to my boat and rested. Meanwhile, the other members of our mission were interrogated until 10 p.m..
When I was back on my boat, many canoes were approaching with mothers and small children begging for help. The Public Security shooed them away. Despite the victims' desperate pleas, the Public Security refused to let any gift packages leave the boat. The scene was so painful to watch! As we later counted the donation, only 92 packages were successfully distributed to the victims. In the afternoon, more Public Security cadres and Border Patrol soldiers were sent in with full weapons and ammunitions to surround our boat and block the canoes of the flood victims from approaching.
At 21:00, the Public Security summoned me over for "working". However, I was too exhausted to meet their demand. A few minutes later, a Public Security cadre, roughly 20 years old, with a flashlight and a piece of paper came sit beside me and said "Brother, I suggest you sign this report". I sat up and replied: "It's too dark and I can't see a thing. Could you read to me what it says in there". He raised the flashlight and read word by word. The section of my identification contains many errors. Even my name was misspelled. He then read the charge that I approached the border without permission and therfore violated Chapter 2 Article 31 of the Border laws. This morning, the charge was the illegality of our Church and that was the reason we were banned from distributing the relief packages. When I asked them to state that in writing, they refused to do so. Now they accused us of violating the border. On October 11, while I was writing this report, I heard from various news agencies that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the SRVN denied they had detained me and the relief mission. Instead, they charged that we illegally videotaped and took pictures of the border pass to Cambodia. The Ministry spokesperson lied blatantly that we had signed our admission of guilt. Neither me nor any member of our relief mission signed such nonsense documents.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that "there were no detainment." What would they call the guns, the soldiers, and the Public Security cadres that intimidated us for 12 hours? As for the photos taking and video taping, we did do those things. However, we were taking pictures at the Vinh Hoi Dong ward of the An Phu district which is tens of kilometers from the boder. We never came to the Khanh An boder pass as alleged by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. What kind of pictures did we take? We videotaped and took pictures of the flooded houses, of people, young and old, sitting on rooftops in hunger and cold. These pictures will serve as proofs that we distributed the aids to the real victims and to let the donors inside and outside the country know their further help is still needed. Sad pictures of this kind have appeared on the Government's papers and television. How could these pictures be illegal? We absolutely did not videotape or take pictures of any restricted areas.! We did not see any signs prohibiting picture taking along the way.
Of the same incident, the morning Public Security said one way, the afternoon Public Security claimed another, and still, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs invented one more. This experience helps us see one thing. This government, from the top down, is as afraid of the truth as bats are of light. They keep going around, twist, distort, and discolor the truth.
Back to the story on the Public Security'r report, after the young cadre finished reading it, I said: "I am not going to sign because you all accused me of violating Chapter 2 Article 31 of the Border Laws. For such a charge, you have to prosecute me at a court of law for judgement. After the trial, I will sign the papers. Out here, the Public Security are not judges. They cannot arrest people at will, nor freely intimidate, oppress, and abuse their power over people. You can go and tell your superiors those words. A moment later, another Public Security cadre came down to our boat with a threatening tone "You must sign [the document]!" I replied: "I would sign [such a document] only in a court of law and not here". Knowing that I would not give in, they turned the pressure on other clergymen who were being held at the tax collecting station. None of our group members signed the papers. The monks refused to comply on solid reasoning. At the last resort, the Public Security forced the husband-and-wife owners of the boat to sign the paper to prove that we had "violated the border". Once the signatures were acquired, they ordered us to leave the area around 10 p.m.
I responded to the Public Security: "The night is pitch dark and the water is boundless. The river waterway is also unsafe. If thugs knew we carried the relief money and stalked us, who would provide protection ? Please let us moor under the row of bamboo. We will leave early tomorrow morning." The crowd of Public Security cadres angrily ordered: "You are not allowed to stay even a minute longer. Leave immediately. Live or die is up to you ! Leave immediately !". While shouting at us, they cut the rope and push our boats to the middle of the river. We could do nothing but let our fate flow with the water in the dark night. It took us almost 24 hours to reach the rented house in the Chau Doc City.
During the 12 hours of detainment on the river, the night was painfully cold. The wind and the waves moved violently. I received a bad cold. The next morning, my entire body was in pain and could hardly move. After a lot of coughing, I lost my voice. Today, as I am writing this report to you, I have not fully recovered yet.
Above is what happed to me. The Public Security "worked" with each of us separately with a snobbish attitude. They were bellicose, impolite, uncultured, and lawless. Each of the Public Security cadres had a different expression but [the messages] were the same. Following are the reports of four Venerables Thich Khong Tanh, Thich Long Trinh, Thich Quang Hue, and Thich Tam An:
"At the Chau Giang port, the Institue Director Venerable and other clergies hand delivered the packages to the victims. The crowd gatherd and many said that was the first time they actually received any flood aids despite the news of many relief missions on the State Media. The donation for the relief came only to be stored in the warehouses run by the People Committee and the Fatherland Front. Once every long while, some of the goods were distributed under the order of the local Party Chapter and local government. Very little of aids actually reached a few victims. The rest received nothing."
"The deeper we moved into the affected areas the graver the scene appeared. People called on one another to row their canoes over to receive the packages from the clergies. When the Public Security motor boat appeared as a nightmare and forced our boat to the river tax collecting station, the Venerable sighed: "They banned our Church from flood relief again. The scene of 1994 just repeats itself ! When will the hunger and suffering of our people end?"
"As soon as our boat reached the station, a Public Security cadre (bearing the rank of three stars and a line) screamed: "Who is the head of the group ? Come up here for "working". On the double !". Ven. Thich Khong Tanh responded: "You are a Public Security cadre who is a public servant. How could you be so impolite to people of old age ? To our respectable Venerable, how could you shout "this guy" or "that man"? If you don't respect the religious clergies, how could you respect the freedom of religion ? How could you "respect the old and love the young [as your motto claims]?" Afterwards, the Public Security "worked" in five rounds -- the first with Ven. Quang Do, the second with Ven. Quang Hue, the third with Ven. Long Trinh, the fourth with Ven. Khong Tanh, and the fifth with Ven. Hanh Chau."
"When they finished "working" with Ven. Thich Quang Do around 2 pm, Public Security started "working" with Ven. Quang Hue. Before the Public Security and the leader of the Border Patrol unit brought out Ordinance 34/TTCP (regarding national border) to read, Ven. Quang Hue stopped them and said: "Forget the reading of the Ordinance because this ordinance does not provide any relief for the suffering flood victims. If you just looked, you would see the calamity around you, province after province, all over the 16 provinces along the Mekong river. People die; houses are flooded; human beings are in deep trouble; their farms are devastated; victims have neither food nor clothing. [But] you just simply refuse to see or to hear the pain of the people. If this ordinance was a Party's spell that could drain away the water, revive the dead, then I would solemnly read it to everyone. This morning, our Director of the Dharma Propagation Institute said 'Rescueing flood victims should be as urgent as fighting a fire. Yet you demand to see our permits.' Do hunger, cold, death, and epidemics wait for your permits ?".
"The Public Security responded unrestraintedly: "You are people who do not think. You violated the border, traveled without permission of the government and the [Fatherland] Front." Ven. Quang Hue retorted: "The border is still almost 20 kilometers away. How could we violate it. [And if not the border,] what did we violate then? And even if we were providing aids to Cambodian people, that would be good, too. The two countries are currently in good relation [anyway]! Hunger, suffering, flood know no borders ! Your Border Ordinances just interfere with people's living and ally with natural disasters to cause even more man-made hardship on people. Please put your ordinances away!"
"At this point, the leader of the Border Patrol unit said: "Your group violated three laws - entering the border without permit, organizing relief without going through the government and the [Fatherland] Front, and distributing packages in the name of the Unified Buddhist Church which the State has yet recognized. Your goup now has to comply with the State laws." Ven. Quang Hue replied: "This is within the territory of Vietnam. This is not the border so why should we apply for permission ? Your laws are laws of the jungle, of the power that oppress innocent people. Had this government been operated by the laws, it would not have banned people from traveling, banned people from helping their fellow-citizens; it would not have turned blind eyes on smuggling, corruption, and abuses of power from central to local levels. We will not obey or comply with laws that terrorize innocent people. To tell you the truth, we had intended to contact the Red Cross of Vinh Hoi Dong Ward, but before we could reach them, you stopped and pulled us over to the tax collecting station in the middle of the river. We are not tax evaders. We traveled with the Director Venerable to help the flood victims. This must be a concerted scheme directed by your central government to confiscate all of our relief goods and money as you did in 1994. This only prove your Communist Party and government are inhumane and indifferent to the suffering of our fellow-citizens. Your laws are harmful to the people and the nation and yet serve the Party very well ..."
"The third round starting around 3 pm with Ven. Long Trinh. The Public Security said: "You have come here freely, now you are allowed to return freely !" Ven. Long Trinh responded: "Your notion of freedom is quite interesting ! How in the name of freedom could you detain us the entire morning? How could "return freely" require the Public Security permission before we could actually go ? That is the kind of freedom in prison ! You detained us for interrogation since 10 am without any causes or court orders. Did you not violate the laws ? I will press charges against you. If you now order us to go home then we want it in writing and a report declaring the reasons for our detainment, why you forbade us from helping the flood victims, and which articles of the Criminal Codes we violated. Then we will leave." The Public Security replied: "The ward or the district will make the decision [on that request]." Ven. Long Trinh reacted: "Whoever arrested us must make the decision. There is no way to pass responsibility like that. Don't think bullying us is easy."
"The Public Security realized the predicament and so phoned someone else for direction (probably a higher-ranking office). At the same time they brought in more border patrol soldiers, fully armed, to intimidate the relief mission of the Dharma Propagation Institute. "
(...)
"The number of soldiers and Public Security cadres was in the hundreds, carefully guarding all 4 sides of the floating tax collecting station in the river. People in the area were frightened by the ferocious faces of the Public Security cadres and the hostile behaviors of the soldiers. There were some drunk among the guards. They staggered and spat profanity. A province-level cadre then said: "Bring all video camaras, film camaras, and tape recorders out here and turn them in. Be aware that if we search the boat and find anything you are hiding, someone will go to jail." We had to give all equipment to the Public Security at about 5 pm."
"Four cadres that stood out in their thugs-like behaviors were Bui Phong Giang, Leader of the Border Post 941; Huynh Van Phu; Mai Thanh Dung, Deputy Chief of Ward Public Security Office, and Le Hoang Dung, a Public Security cadre that represented local government. In particular, Bui Phong Giang came with a red face, liquored breath, and less than full movement coordination."
"Ven. Thich Quang Hue and Ven. Thich Long Trinh represented the mission in witnessing the [Public Security's] recording of the equipment and films before confiscation. The receipt is attached [to this report]. At first, they intended to confiscate all video cameras, photo cameras, and films but the clergies refused to comply. After a long impasse, they decided to take the films only."
"While the receipt was being signed, a fierce-looking Public Security cadre asked Ven. Long Trinh: "Who among you is Thich Khong Tanh ?". Ven. Long Trinh pointed [to Ven. Khong Tanh] and replied: "There. The monk in the yellow robe. What is the matter?" This cadre pointed his finger at Ven. Thich Khong Tanh's face and ordered: "You, come here for 'working'". That was the fourth round of working. The Public Security immediately intimidated [Ven. Khong Tanh]: "You are still under the 5 years term of detainment. Your term has yet expired and you already traveled all over the place. I now write an order to expel you immediately. Go back to your [assigned] locality right now. Do you hear me ?" They then forced him to write an admission to the violation [of his parole]. Ven. Khong Tanh asked back: "Why did you arrest the relief mission? You have no authorities to do so. I am not "working" with you. Bring Le Kha Phieu or the President here and I will "work" seriously with them. In 1994, I asserted in front of the Court that I did not recognize the 5 years prison term [as punishment] for my attempt to help the flood victims along the Mekong delta of that year. The State is lawless and the court made no use of the laws, so I will not comply with your people-terrorizing laws. I shall appeal to the Central government and all the way to the United Nations. Do you hear me ? Now explain to me why you prevented the relief effort and detained our mission. Do you hear or see anything since the day water began to cover this Mekong area? Water covered everything. So many houses are now under water. So many people died, starved, and shivered in the cold. You cannot continue this monopolistic policy which brought death to innocent people by forbidding the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam to help the victims. We can't distribute the donation through you because you would divide the gift among yourselves. We have to hand deliver them to the victims. You can't disregard people's lives forever. I condemn you all for (1) valueing the lives of the flood victims so cheap and doing nothing to help; (2) The Party and the State called on the world and all people to contribute to the rescue effort but at the same time the hands of the Party and the State everywhere prevented people from helping one another." The Public Security cadres were so angry they screamed: "I are not allowed to say another word. I forbid you ! You are but a detainee. I will issue order to expel you immediately !"
"Afterward, they summoned Ven. Hanh Chau for the fifth round of working at 5:30 pm. They threatened and urged Ven. Hanh Chau to sign a fault admitting document. Ven. Hanh Chau absolutely refused and said: "If you want to arrest me, go ahead. If you want to kill me, go ahead. I am not afraid [of you] and will not sign such an illegal paper." Upon hearing the verbal exchanges, Ven. Long Trinh intervened: "What give you the right to shout at my student like that. If you want to say anything, just sit down and talk like adults. Do the honorable things. Stop the questionable and oppressive acts !". The Public Security then let Ven. Hanh Chau leave the station."
"As for Ven. Tam An, facing the surrounding guns and the aggression of the Public Securities and other [government] cadres, he sat down to meditate and hold his speech for 6 hours while praying to the Quan-Yin Buddha for her blessings on the flood victims."
"Another significant point is during the time the mission was "working" with and intimidated [by the Public Security], a crowd of people rowed their canoes to the boat of Ven. Quang Do begging for the gift packages. Among them were pale children from days of hunger. Their parents had left them for the cities trying to find food for the families. The soldiers, however, formed a separating wall. The Public Security even rode their motored boat after the canoes that had received gifts from Ven. Quang Do and confiscated the packages. Is this still land of the living or is it hell ? How will overseas people and those in the cities know of this situation when the State continue to sweet talk and do the opposite?"
"What is new in Vietnam today ? -- Just lip service, pretentious kindness, brutality and wickedness. People's cry for justice must have reached the sky."
Dear Respected Church Members,
Above are excerpts from the reports of the Social Charity Office of the Dharma Propagation Institute. It truthfully recorded what happened in An Giang province where our relief mission tried to help the flood victims from October 6 to October 11, 2000. If the tone of this Report still contains some anger, please kindly understand our situation. For a moment, our monks [could not hold their temper] after seeing so much pain and endless suffering of the victims in contrast to the unjustifiable and irrational attitude of the representatives of the State. There is no point in hiding our true feeling!
On October 8, 2000, Ven. Thich Khong Tanh was summoned by Public Security of Chau Doc City for a "working" session. "Working" again! They issued an order to send him back to Saigon within 3 hours. [Ven. Thick Khong Tanh said he had] a severe cold after 12 hours of traveling and detainment on the windy river. The Public Security later allowed a delay until noon October 9. Ven. Thich Khong Tanh left the mission for Saigon as ordered.
Seeing the hardship and sickness among members of the mission, I advised the lay Buddhists, who had accompanied us, to return to Saigon ahead of time to recuperate. Myself and Venerables Thich Long Trinh, Thich Quang Hue, Thich Tam An remained in Chau Doc. We took some medicine and rested for 2 days. In the morning of October 11, 2000, our mission headed for the Dong Thap and Long An provinces to continue our task. Unfortunately, many roads and bridges were flown away by the flash flood. Traffic was stopped and all vehicles could only park and wait. So I had to make the decision to return to Saigon. I then called a meeting of the Institute's Council, compiled the experiences from the trip, and planned for various scenarios to proceed with the task of flood relief in the near future.
Despite the irrationality of the Party's and the Government's banning of a religious organization like the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam from helping the flood victims in the Mekong delta, the Dharma Propagation Institute is determined to continue this task in the coming days. Once we have heard the cry of the victims and witnessed the scene of children, women, and the elderlies floating aimlessly on the water, if we covered our eyes on them, we would not deserve to be children of the Buddha, the student of the teaching of Helping Anyone in Danger and Suffering. Therefore, starting next week, our Institute will send various relief missions to the Western area to help the flood victims. We will not form a big group this time. Instead the distribution task will be delegated to various pagodas and individual clergies and lay-Buddhists of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam. If possible, they will also carry out Buddhist ceremonies to help alleviate the pain of the people.
Like a hundred streams flowing to the river, and hundred rivers to the ocean, a number of relief missions will depart [for the affected areas] next week. Once my health is recovered, I will accompany one of these missions. To meet the actual needs of the victims and to help the missions travel more easily, this time we will donate money only. Each portion will be 150,000 dongs. According to the government's report, the water level is inching down very slowly. A complete withdrawal will not take place until December at the earliest. In An Giang province, water is still as high as 4.29 meter ! The flood victims are in desperate need of canoes for transportation and temporary shelters. For the first phase, our Institute has placed an order for 200 canoes of 500,000 dongs each.
I, therefore, call on all philanthropists inside and outside the country to support this plan to provide canoes and assistant money to the victims. Each canoe is a floating house on the flood water and each portion of the money will bring emergency food to the affected families.
From overseas, please write your check to the Social Charity Office / Dharma Propagation Institute and send it to the following address:
The Second Office of the Dharma Propagation Institute
Dieu Phap Pagoda
424 S. Ramona Avenue
Monterey Park, CA. 91754 USA
The Social Charity Office of the inland Dharma Propagation Institute will send a receipt to each donor.
So Reported.
Thanh Minh Zen Center
Buddhist Year 2544
October 16, 2000
Director / Dharma Propagation Institute
(Signed)
Samon Thich Quang Do
** Translation notes:
- The Vietnamese authorities call all forms of interrogation, from questioning to torture, as "lam viec" (working).
** This English version is translated by the Free Vietnam Alliance