Deutsche Presse-Agentur
March 27, 2001, Wednesday
Vietnamese religious leaders came under increasing fire Tuesday, with state media calling for severe action against the leader of an outlawed Buddhist sect as Hanoi steps up its public denunciation of what it considers anti-government agitators.
The official army daily Quan Doi Nhan Dan offered a blistering critique of Le Quang Liem, the 82-year-old head of the Hoa Hao Buddhist Church of Vietnam.
It called for legal action against Liem, who is currently under administrative detention in Ho Chi Minh City, the former Saigon. "In light of the criminal code, he is guilty of opposing the country and the people, including Hoa Hao Buddhist followers, the paper reported.
"Placing him under administrative detention is too lenient, (but it) reflects the tolerance of the state," it added.
Liem was detained by police and beaten for over 24 hours March 17, according to the Overseas Hoa Hao Buddhist Association.
The detention was thought to be aimed at discouraging large-scale commemorations of last week's anniversary of the abduction of the Hoa Hao founding prophet in 1947 by communist Viet Minh forces. A Hoa Hao elder, Nguyen Thi Thu, was said to have fatally set herself ablaze during the commemoration, in which she and others were calling for greater religious freedoms.
Hanoi's foreign ministry has refused to comment on the act. The paper called on Hoa Hao faithful to keep calm, "maintain confidence in the leadership and obey the instruction of the Hoa Hao Buddhist representative board recognized by the state."
In January the outlawed group's secretary general, Ha Hai, was sentenced to five years in jail for violating house arrest rules and "abusing democratic rights to encroach upon interests of the state." On Monday, the same paper blasted dissident Catholic priest Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly, of Hue's Nguyet Bieu parish, for "taking advantage of religion to spread propaganda against the revolution."
"Reverend Nguyen Van Ly is still continuing his frenzied efforts to oppose and challenge the authorities," the paper said.
Ly, 54, was placed under administrative detention last week. He was vilified for having contributed testimony last month to a Washington hearing on human rights in which he urged the U.S. Congress not to ratify a bilateral trade pact due to rights abuses.
U.S. President George W. Bush has come out in support of the deal, which is up for review by Congress this year, but human rights concerns are looming ever larger as debate over the pact nears. Last month saw Vietnam's worst anti-government unrest in four years, in the central highlands, where thousands of ethnic minorities stoked by outside agitators and religious tensions participated in violent demonstrations which led to Hanoi sealing off the region.
The government allowed international correspondents into the highlands more than a month after the unrest began.
It then pilloried the foreign press in official media Monday for trying to "blacken the situation" and tie the permission to travel there to Hanoi's worry that mounting human rights concerns may jeopardize Congressional approval of the trade pact.
State media reported recently that Hanoi had warned U.S. Ambassador Pete Peterson not to interfere in the central highlands issue before traveling to Washington to lobby for the trade deal.