Posted on Sun, Oct. 12, 2003
By Ben Stocking
Mercury News Vietnam Bureau
HANOI - Expanding its crackdown on two leaders of an outlawed Buddhist church, the government Saturday accused them of running an illegal secret organization and plotting with foreigners to subvert Vietnamese law.
By moving against Thich Huyen Quang and Thich Quang Do, the government said it was not engaging in religious persecution but was simply upholding national law, which authorizes six religions.
``The consistent policy of the Vietnamese government is to always respect the religious freedom of its citizens,'' the Foreign Ministry said. The statement came two days after police stopped Quang and Do as they drove to Ho Chi Minh City and discovered documents the government said contained state secrets.
The authorities have not yet said whether or how they would punish the two elderly church leaders, who have previously been placed under house arrest after earlier confrontations with the government. Police escorted the two back to their respective pagodas.
When they set out Wednesday on their trip from the central province of Binh Dinh, church members say, local police tried to block Quang and Do from proceeding. But several hundred followers showed up to support them, so police let the two monks continue until they were stopped again Thursday.
Church members say they have been subjected to escalating harassment since September, when Quang and Do took the bold step of organizing an official church meeting at which they appointed several monks to new positions. In recent days, church members say, authorities have cut off the phones at their pagodas in a half-dozen central and southern Vietnamese cities and subjected some of them to lengthy interrogations.
The Foreign Ministry statement issued Saturday said authorities had been lenient with Quang and Do, considering the nature of their offenses.
``Even though Mr. Huyen Quang and Mr. Quang Do have repeatedly abused religion to sabotage the national solidarity and Buddhism, our government has been indulgent to them,'' the statement said.
A Western diplomat who monitors religious issues in Vietnam expressed shock that the government would level such serious charges against Quang and Do -- just six months after Prime Minister Phan Van Khai received Quang for a private meeting. It would be even more stunning, he said, if they subjected Quang and Do to criminal prosecution.
``I hope that this won't end in more formal steps against these very revered and very respected Buddhist leaders,'' the diplomat said. ``He just met this year with the prime minister. Now to say that he's selling state secrets -- how ludicrous. It doesn't make any sense.''
The International Buddhist Information Bureau, a Paris-based group that supports the church, denied Saturday that Quang and Do possessed any state secrets.
``It is a totally absurd accusation, which demonstrates the total paranoia of the Vietnamese regime,'' the bureau said. ``These men are simple Buddhist monks whose sole wish is to freely and peacefully exercise their rights to freedom of religion and expression, just like other people in civilized countries all over the world.''
The government recognizes only one Buddhist organization -- the Buddhist Church of Vietnam. Quang and Do have tried to retain their independence from it ever since the official church was established in 1981.
Quang and Do knew they were pushing the limits of government tolerance when they organized the September church meeting, the diplomat said.
``They have crossed a line,'' he said. ``But all the signs they were given said that this was a line that they could cross with impunity.''