VIETNAM CENTRAL HIGHLANDS: ETHNIC MINORITY ISSUES IN DAK

UNCLAS HO CHI MINH CITY 000230

SIPDIS


SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM PREF KIRF SOCI EAID VM ETMIN HUMANR RELFREE
SUBJECT: VIETNAM CENTRAL HIGHLANDS: ETHNIC MINORITY ISSUES IN DAK
NONG

REF: HCMC 72


1. (SBU) Summary: EAP/MLS Desk Officer and Poloff visited Dak
Nong February 24-26. Officials emphasized their commitment to
religious freedom and economic and social development of the
large ethnic minority community. Leaders of the GVN-recognized
Southern Evangelical Church of Vietnam (SECV) and a local house
church said that religious freedom conditions were substantially
better than in neighboring Dak Lak; they were cautiously
optimistic about further, gradual improvement. The USG team
also met with seven ethnic minority voluntary returnees from
Cambodia; although the returnees were coached on some of their
responses, in private meetings they did not complain of
mistreatment, and appeared relaxed and relatively prosperous.
End Summary.

Dak Nong Government: We are Different from Dak Lak
-------------- --------------


2. (U) Nhu Do The, Standing Vice Chairman of the Dak Nong
People's Committee, said that the province looked for USG
involvement and assistance to accelerate development of the
province. According to Nhu, the province has a per capita
income 5.6 million VND (USD 350),with 34 percent of households
falling under the GVN poverty line. Of these, slightly over
half -- 53 percent -- are ethnic Kinh. 24 percent are
indigenous ethnic minorities and 26 percent are ethnic minority
migrants from other parts of Vietnam, especially ethnic Hmong
from the Northwest Highlands. The province's annual rate of
growth was 13 percent in 2004 and 2005, up from the nine percent
earlier in the decade when the province was still part of
neighboring Dak Lak. (Dak Nong province was created in January
2004.) In 2005, the province earned a modest USD 85 million in
export revenue, primarily from coffee, rubber, pepper and
cashews. The province had identified sizeable bauxite deposits;
Chinese and Australian mining companies were conducting
feasibility studies to assess the economic viability of
recovery.


3. (SBU) Nhu said that province was working hard to ensure that
economic development reached the 34 percent of province's
414,000 citizens that were ethnic minority. The province had
established six ethnic minority boarding schools and had begun
to develop a vocational training school for ethnic minority
youth; the province was interested in international assistance
in this effort. The province seeks to minimize tensions between
the native ethnic minority population and new migrants by
grouping the migrants into new villages and allocating them
land. The province also wanted to build an ethnic minority
community college to reduce the subsidy cost it incurs to send
ethnic minority students to universities elsewhere in Vietnam.
Provincial officials noted that ethnic minority students' level
of education is low and limits their competitiveness. Even when
they graduate from university, ethnic minority students have a
hard time obtaining private sector jobs and must find employment
in government or in state-owned enterprises; the private sector
"only wants the best," he noted.


4. (SBU) Both Nhu and Bui Viet Phu, Head of the Provincial
Committee for Religious Affairs, repeatedly stated that the
province was implementing Vietnam's legal framework on religion
proactively. The CRA Chairman was particularly positive about
the impact of the new legal framework, saying it placed binding
timelines on government officials and eliminated many previous
legal inconsistencies.


5. (SBU) According to the officials, the province has 83,224
Catholics, 35,698 Protestants and 21,000 Buddhists. The province
has allowed both the GVN-recognized Southern Evangelical Church
of Vietnam (SECV) and unregistered house churches to operate in
the province. The province is working to register SECV
"meeting points" as well as the small house church community,
but must ensure that all activities are "purely religious."
That vetting process is slower for recent ethnic minority
migrants from the Northwest Highlands, in part because of the
language barrier; few speak Vietnamese. Many ethnic minority
individuals are recent converts and do not have "a thorough
understanding" of religious practice, Phu maintained. Moreover,
the vast majority of church workers were illiterate, limiting
their "understanding of religion" as well as their ability to
build a relationship with local and provincial-level government
officials. That said, the province allowed the SECV to organize
a training class for 32 pastor-candidates; once these pastors
are ordained, they can be assigned to local churches, which
could then be recognized officially. Since becoming a province
in 2004, the provincial CRA has not refused a request from the
SECV or the Catholic Church, the CRA Chairman asserted.


6. (SBU) Chairman Phu indicated that, prior to 2003, the "Dega
Protestant" church was a factor in the ethnic minority community
in the province. However, since the province created "favorable
conditions" for the SECV to operate, the pull of the Dega Church
has declined substantially, the CRA Chairman said.


7. (SBU) According to the CRA Chairman, Baptist and the Assembly
of God denominations also had house churches in the province.
While the province is facilitating their operation, it will not
entertain their registration. The Chairman explained that,
according to the legal framework, the organizations' national
representatives (based in HCMC) would have to apply for
registration at the central-level as the groups maintained house
churches in more than one province. We pointed out to the
Chairman that while his interpretation of the law appeared
correct, other provinces, including HCMC, were in the process of
registering house churches.


8. (SBU) Provincial officials acknowledged that Protestantism
was the fastest growing religion among ethnic minority groups in
Dak Nong. From their perspective, two factors explained the
phenomenon: first, social pressure from other recent converts
in the village. Second, ethnic minority women are driving the
process to eliminate alcohol from their villages; traditional
animist rites foster alcohol consumption among ethnic minority
men.

Assembly of God
--------------


9. (SBU) Dieu Srong, Chief Pastor of the Assembly of God house
church ushered us into the attic of his home that had been
converted into worshiping space. Local officials waited
downstairs, but were listening. The pastor told us that the AOG
has 1500 members -- mostly ethnic minority -- in 28 house
churches. Conditions prior to 2004 -- when the province was
still part of Dak Lak -- were "very difficult," including
incidents of forced conversion. Since the formation of Dak
Nong, and particularly since the Prime Minster's Instruction on
Protestantism of February 2005, harassment has decreased
markedly. Pressure eased further before Christmas 2005; he now
can travel freely to cover all 28 AOG gathering points.
Meetings with police responsible for religious affairs (section
PA-38) are more relaxed as well.


10. (SBU) Despite the overall improvement, the pastor indicated
that the AOG still faces problems at the village level. Some
problems are triggered by friction between the converted and
traditionalist -- animists -- in the ethnic minority community.
However, local authorities sometimes exploit this tension to
encourage animist village elders to oppose the spread of
Protestantism.

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


11. (SBU) In a private meeting in his home, Pastor Rmah Loan,
head of the SECV in Dak Nong, told us that the organization has
33,048 believers, of which 11,184 are baptized. (Loan said that
all new converts must pass a test to demonstrate that they are
"changed" and committed to their new faith before they can be
baptized.) Of the SECV's 122 meeting points in the province, 13
are officially recognized. Loan confirmed that the province has
facilitated the SECV's running of a training class for 32
pastor-candidates; those that graduate will be assigned to
meeting points so that those churches could apply for
recognition under Vietnam's legal framework for religion. In
December 2005, SECV meeting points serving 8,000 ethnic Hmong
from the Northwest Highlands were legalized. The SECV has been
told that meeting points serving 1,000 ethnic Dao and Sanchi
from the Northwest also will be legalized. For linguistic and
cultural reasons, these groups have their own churches and
evangelists.


12. (SBU) Loan added that the SECV hopes to run a second
training course for another 39 pastor-candidates in the middle
of 2006. The number of churches to be recognized is a source of
friction between the SECV and the provincial government.
According to Loan, the province wants to collapse three or four
meeting points into one recognized church. The SECV wants to
independently decide how many and which meeting points should be
recognized as churches under the legal framework.


13. (SBU) As part of the recognition process of a meeting point,
the SECV must hand over a list of worshipers; every month the
SECV updates that list for local authorities. Loan commented
that the updates really are not needed as police have a network
of informers in the villages and monitor the membership of the
SECV very closely. Looking to the future, Loan said that he
wanted more freedom to worship, evangelize and to build churches
-- approval of the application to build a permanent church in
his village has been pending for two years.

Visits with Returnees
--------------



14. (SBU) Accompanied by the district People's Committee
Chairman, a film crew and "other" officials, the team traveled
to Bu Bong and Bu Dap villages in Dak Rlap district to meet with
seven voluntary, "spontaneous" ethnic minority returnees from
Cambodia. (See Appendix A for list of returnees visited.) We
were allowed to meet them privately in their homes.


15. (SBU) All the returnees were ethnic Mnong Protestants who
said they were affiliated with the SECV. All spoke Vietnamese.
Many were uneducated, some finished 5th grade. They claimed
that they were conned into fleeing by three other villagers --
the ringleader was Dieu Gai -- having been told that there were
"riches" in Cambodia and warned that they faced arrest in
Vietnam if they stayed. None of the returnees would say why
they feared arrest. The returnees said that the three
"instigators" were resettled in a third country, perhaps the
United States. All the returnees called on the international
community to close the refugee camps in Cambodia and return
those resettled in third countries, saying that the families
they left behind are suffering the absence of the primary
breadwinner.


16. (SBU) There were no claims of abuse or mistreatment. One
returnee (Dieu Xep, MTN-757) told us that he was kept in a
government detention center for a month after return. He was
questioned, but not mistreated. Another returnee (Dieu Dang,
MTN-768) told us that he was held for four days upon return.
All the returnees appeared relatively prosperous and relaxed,
especially in comparison to returnees we saw in January 2006
visit to Kontum province. The Dak Nong returnees claimed to
have between 4 to 10 hectares (roughly 10 to 25 acres) of land
on which they grew coffee, rubber, cassava and other cash crops.
Some had modest plots of rice paddy as well. Average income
ranged from 14 to 20 million VND per year (USD 880 to 1250).
All returnee homes were electrified with TVs. Some families
owned motorbikes and tractors. One returnee (Dieu Lo --
MTN-752) had a concrete home given to him by the state after his
return. Another returnee (Dieu Mpyuh, MTN-767) told us that his
eldest son just completed compulsory military service.


17. (SBU) While some returnees said that religion played no part
in their decision to flee and that they could practice freely,
some indicated that the village faced tougher restrictions on
religious activity prior to their flight. One returnee told us
that prior to 2005, pastors were not allowed to preach in the
village, the wife of another returnee told us that religious
freedom conditions improved markedly only in September 2005
after authorities allowed an SECV church to be built.


18. (SBU) A number of returnees alleged that while they were in
the refugee camps in Cambodia, a number of ethnic Jarai
individuals urged them to support a separatist -- "Dega" --
agenda. When they decided to return to Vietnam, roughly 70
ethnic Jarai camp members threatened them with bodily harm if
went through with their return plans, but camp police intervened
to protect the Mnong. Returnee Dieu Lo said that UNHCR
officials refused to facilitate the return of the Mnong, which
is why they decided to go back on their own, taking a bus from
the camp to the border and then crossing into Vietnam. He also
alleged that some camp ringleaders had spoken to Montagnard
Foundation President Kok Ksor via cell phone and that the USG
should "bring him to justice," as he incites violence and riots
in Vietnam.


19. (SBU) Comment: Government officials in Dak Nong struck us
as relatively progressive and open -- especially for the Central
Highlands. Although the returnees seemed coached in some of
their responses, there were no indications of abuse. Unlike in
Dak Lak, where many provincial leaders appeared consumed with
the perceived threat of ethnic minority separatism, the focus in
Dak Nong was more oriented towards poverty alleviation and
development. In this regard, the pitch at the provincial-level
for USG assistance was the strongest that we have heard in the
Central Highlands. One district-level leader said he could
envision NGOs running rural development and micro-finance
projects for ethnic minorities in his district, "with the right
political backing." Moreover, although problems remain at both
the provincial and village level, the province's approach on
religious freedom also has been positive, particularly within
the past six months. End Comment.

Appendix A: List of ethnic minority returnees met in Dak Nong:

MTN-752, Dieu Lo
MTN-755 Dieu Khuch (aka Dieu Quyt)
MTN-756 Dieu Glou
MTN-757 Dieu Xep
MTN 759 Dieu San
MTN 767 Dieu Mpyuh
MTN-768 Dieu Dang
WINNICK


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