AUGUST 14-16 VISIT OF AMBASSADOR HANFORD TO HCMC: MEETINGS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 HO CHI MINH CITY 001056

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/12/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL KIRF PINR VM
SUBJECT: AUGUST 14-16 VISIT OF AMBASSADOR HANFORD TO HCMC: MEETINGS
WITH CHURCH LEADERS

REF: HANOI 1888; B) HCMC 761 AND PREVIOUS; C) HANOI 1666 AND PREVIOUS

HO CHI MIN 00001056 001.2 OF 004



1. (C) Summary: Protestant leaders representing the
GVN-recognized Southern Evangelical Church of Vietnam (SECV) and
unregistered house church groups told Ambassador Hanford that
they see continuing improvement in religious freedom conditions,
even in the Northwest Highlands. Some complained of occasional
police harassment of house church congregations in rural areas
throughout Vietnam. They called on the central government to do
more to enforce the legal framework on religion consistently at
the local level and to speed up the process of church
recognition and registration. SECV officials acknowledged that
certain of their pastors in the Central Highlands province of
Dak Lak have sympathies with ethnic minority, "Dega" separatists
, complicating the process of church recognition in the Central
Highlands. Septel covers Ambassador Hanford's meetings with
national and city government officials in HCMC. End Summary.

SECV
--------------


2. (SBU) Pastor Le Van Thien, General Secretary, Pastor Ngo Van
Buu, Deputy President, and Pastor Phan Vinh Cu, Deputy General
Treasurer of the GVN-recognized Southern Evangelical Church of
Vietnam (SECV) told Ambassador Hanford that conditions for the
church have improved notably since Vietnam's legal framework on
religion came into effect in early 2005. Many congregations
closed in the Central Highlands in 2001 have been reopened. The
HCMC government recently approved construction of a new SECV
seminary in the city. When operational, the seminary would
double the training capacity of the church to 200 pastors per
year. Additionally, another 200 preachers in five Central
Highlands provinces and Binh Phuoc also will be ordained as
pastors follower GVN-sanctioned refresher training for preachers
in the region. (Note: Under current recognition rules, an SECV
church in the Central Highlands cannot be recognized unless it
has an ordained pastor in charge. End Note.)


3. (SBU) SECV leaders told Ambassador Hanford that they
welcomed the initiative of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to
meet with them in July (ref A). During their visit to Hanoi,
the Prime Minister and other GVN officials gave the SECV the
"green light" to reunify with the Evangelical Church of Vietnam
North (ECVN),but stated that the process would take time
because of friction and disorganization within the ECVN.


4. (SBU) However, the SECV wants additional progress, the
pastors told Ambassador Hanford. Their major concern is
securing the return of 266 properties that were expropriated
throughout the SECV's area of operations (Quang Tri to Ca Mau
provinces) after 1975. Of these six are of paramount
importance: the former SECV headquarters in HCMC and another
key downtown property as well as its four seminaries in Dak Lak,
Lam Dong, Khanh Hoa and Danang provinces. The pastors noted
that the SECV encounters occasional obstacles when seeking to
transfer pastors between localities. This largely affects those
pastors who were active in the 1980s and 1990s (when conditions
were much more restrictive).


5. (SBU) SECV officials complained of a double standard in the
GVN recognition process. In areas other than the Central
Highlands and Binh Phuoc provinces -- areas where ethnic
Vietnamese predominate -- all SECV churches are recognized
immediately. However, in the Central Highlands and Binh Phuoc
-- ethnic minority areas -- the SECV must apply for recognition
church-by-church. Moreover, although many congregations in the
Central Highlands have been allowed to reopen, thus far only 60
have been recognized.


6. (SBU) We asked if GVN concerns over ethnic minority
separatism was a legitimate reason for the government to
recognize churches one-by-one in provinces such as Dak Lak (ref
B). The SECV leaders acknowledged that they discussed the issue
with Ministry of Public Security (MPS) officials in Hanoi during
their most recent visit. They told MPS officials that there are
"some indications" that those advocating separatism in Dak Lak
"may not be SECV pastors, or they [the pastors] may not be
acting out of their own will." They added that perhaps these
individuals are pushed by those that want to undermine the
spread of Protestantism.

SECV Leader in the Central Highlands
--------------


7. (SBU) The Ambassador also met separately with Pastor Siu Y
Kim, a member of the SECV National Executive board and a senior
leader from the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai. While
acknowledging that all but one SECV congregation in Gia Lai is
functioning, Kim complained that the process of church
recognition had slowed in recent months. He had submitted 25
applications to the provincial government, but only two have

HO CHI MIN 00001056 002.2 OF 004


been approved. The province has told him informally that it
will recognize an additional two every month. This pace is not
acceptable to Kim. He also has requested to meet with the new
provincial Party Secretary three times since December 2005, but
has not yet received a response. The SECV in Gia Lai still
awaits a provincial decision to hold a second training course
for pastoral candidates. On the positive side, the provincial
government has been more responsive on SECV requests to
construct churches. One was completed in February 2006, a
second is under construction and a third will begin construction
shortly.


8. (SBU) Kim said the Gia Lai branch of the SECV has 38
outstanding property claims; none have been addressed yet by the
government. However, the SECV has had some success elsewhere in
having property returned. According to Kim, the provincial
government in Dak Lak gave the SECV new tracts of land for a
church and a seminary that had been confiscated after 1975. The
provincial government in Quang Ngai returned a training facility
to the SECV.

DEGA a Real Problem for the SECV
--------------


9. (SBU) Pastor Kim told the Ambassador that, while he has been
able to build a firewall between the SECV and ethnic minority
separatists, in Dak Lak there are still significant overlaps
between the Dega movement and the SECV. Kim explained that the
roots of the problem go back to before 1975, when the FULRO
movement (the ethnic minority political and military movement
for independence) recruited ethnic minority seminarians from the
Buon Ma Thuot (Dak Lak) seminary. Many of these seminarians
were sent to reeducation camps after 1975. According to Kim,
though the FULRO insurgency ended in 1992, Montagnard Foundation
President Kok Ksor sought in 1999 to reestablish a separatist
network in the Central Highlands. He focused on the Protestant
community, particularly SECV deacons and preachers, because they
were educated and trusted in the community. In Dak Lak, Ksor
had success in recruiting members of the SECV; in Gia Lai, Kim
and others largely were able to rally the community against the
effort. In response, Ksor formed a new, ethno-centric church in
Gia Lai called the "Dega Church." This fundamental difference
helps explain why the process of normalization of SECV
activities in Gia Lai has gone far smoother than in Dak Lak, Kim
said. Kim said that the SECV national board is aware of this
problem, but has not reached a "clear decision" on how to
resolve it.

Pastor Steven
--------------


10. (SBU) Pastor Doan Trung Tin (aka Pastor Steven) of the
Vietnam Good News Mission -- a missionary organization active in
the Northwest and Central Highlands -- told Ambassador Hanford
that most Protestant congregations are allowed to gather, even
in the Northwest. Only a handful of congregations -- those
where ECVN representatives previously had run-ins with local
officials -- are prevented from gathering. Steven noted that
when problems arise they tend to be caused by local officials
who refuse to implement Hanoi's directives. The Central
government, however, has not been as forceful as it could be in
ensuring full implementation of the legal framework on religion
and reprimanding those officials that violate the law. As a
result, there continue to be local religious freedom violations
throughout Vietnam. For example, in Ca Mau province in the
Mekong Delta, local officials have prevented a Baptist group
from gathering. SECV church workers in Kontum province's Sa
Thay district -- one of the most oppressive areas in HCMC's AOR
-- also continue to face harassment.


11. (SBU) Pastor Steven also complained that Protestant
believers who apply for identification cards sometimes are
rejected if they insist on registering their religion. Those
who have not been able to register as Protestants, sometimes
have been refused the right to attend house church services.
While this problem is most acute in the Northwest Highlands, it
has cropped up throughout Vietnam.


12. (SBU) Responding to a question from the Ambassador, Pastor
Steven confirmed that Ma Van Bay was a respected church deacon
serving the ethnic Hmong community in the Northwest Highlands.
According to Steven, Bay and two other church workers were
arrested in 1996 for "stealing money from local citizens", when
the church secured 100,000 VND (roughly USD 10 at that time) in
alms from local parishioners. Bay escaped prior to his trial
and went into hiding for six years. He was sentenced in
absentia to three years in prison for the "theft." Bay was
recaptured in November 2003 and sentenced to another three years
in prison for the escape. He said MPS officials are reluctant
to amnesty Bay because they are embarrassed over his escape.

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The other two church workers were released at the expiry of
their original sentences, Steven said. According to documents
provided by Steven, Bay's prison term is set to expire in July

2009.

House Church Leaders
--------------


13. (SBU) DRL/IRF Advisor Adamson and HCMC PolOff also met in
HCMC with four representatives of the unregistered house church
community:

-- Pastor Pham Dinh Nhan of the United Gospel Outreach Church
and Vietnam Evangelical Fellowship, an umbrella group of 27
house churches with a claimed membership of 250,000 worshipers
in 1,500 meeting points,

-- Pastor Nguyen Ngoc Hien of Vietnam Baptist Fellowship Church.
Pastor Hien's organization represents 15,000 Baptists in 130
meeting points nationwide, and,

-- Pastor Nguyen Quang Trung, President of the Mennonite Church.
Pastor Trung's branch of the Mennonite Church claims 10,885
members in 152 meeting points throughout southern Vietnam.

-- Pastor Tran Cong Tan of the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
The Seventh Day Adventists claim 12,000 members with 7 church
buildings and another 33 meeting points. The HCMC government
also registered Pastor Trung's city-wide operations in December

2005. Tan told us that, in July 2006, Danang provincial
officials registered one of four Seventh Day congregations.
They told Pastor Tan that the other three will be registered as
soon as the congregations establish a permanent location of
worship.


14. (SBU) Overall, the four pastors agreed that conditions for
house churches had improved steadily since the legal framework
on religion came into effect in 2005. The Mennonite and Seventh
Day Adventist pastors told us that none of their churches --
even those outside of HCMC -- have faced any harassment
whatsoever since the HCMC government issued its registration
decision. They explained that, although the HCMC decision
technically is not binding on other jurisdictions, official word
had gone out to other provinces that the two groups were fully
legal. The two organizations are in the process of formally
registering in other provinces.


15. (SBU) Pastor Hien told us that he remains frustrated that
the central government continues to stall on accepting his
group's registration application. On August 14, Hien met in
Hanoi with a Vice-Chairman of the national CRA, Nguyen Xuan, to
discuss registration. Xuan reportedly said that the CRA was not
prepared to accept the Baptist's application because it already
has its "hands full" with other petitions and is developing a
new application form for registration. Referring to the fact
that Henry represents five separate Baptist organizations, Xuan
said that the GVN wants to give "smaller groups time to merge"
before it accepts their registration petition. The GVN has no
right to dictate merger or division of religious organizations,
Hien said. The GVN should encourage and accept registrations
from any group that wishes to begin the process, without
imposing extra-legal conditions, pastors Hien and Nhan said. In
particular, Nhan and Hien chafe at a GVN requirement for house
churches to list all their members during the registration
process. This is not required by the legal framework, and is
particularly pernicious as some local officials have used lists
submitted by house churches to identify and harass followers.


16. (SBU) Detailing a string of police harassments of house
church groups -- almost exclusively in remote rural areas ---
Pastors Nhan and Hien echoed the views of Pastor Steven that
enforcement of the legal framework remains spotty and still
depends too much on the goodwill (or lack thereof) of local
officials. Even when local officials want to assist, they are
unclear of the process, they noted. Nhan and Hien handed us
copies of two press articles (scanned original and translation
sent EAP/MLS, Embassy Hanoi and DRL/IRF) from a Binh Phuoc
provincial newspaper and the Hanoi Youth Union newspaper,
extolling local officials and villagers in ethnic minority areas
for preventing the spread of Protestantism. They also reported
that two church workers were badly beaten in Thanh Hoa province
immediately after they met with a church worker who was badly
beaten in July (ref C). Local officials initially told the two
victims that they were assaulted by highwaymen and the incident
had no connection to religious freedom. Provincial and district
officials subsequently visited the two victims and told them
that they would investigate, but asked them not to report the
incident to anyone else. To send a clear message on its
commitment to religious freedom, Hanoi needs to punish publicly
those who violate the legal framework.

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17. (C) Comment: Although frustrated by continuing problems at
the local levels, even Pastor Nhan -- the most uncompromising of
mainstream house church leaders --- told us that he is
considering applying under the legal framework. Quick GVN
approval of pending registrations for the United World Mission
Church, Mormons and Baha'i and more robust instructions from
Hanoi to local officials to apply the legal framework more
consistently would go far to getting Nhan off the fence and
beginning the process of registration. It is notable that the
National Executive of the SECV acknowledged for the first time
what Pastor Kim had told us previously; namely that some of the
organization's hierarchy in Dak Lak may be ethnic minority
separatist sympathizers, complicating the SECV's registration
and recognition process in the Central Highlands. End Comment.

WINNICK