DAK LAK: GRADUAL PROGRESS ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND FAMILY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 HO CHI MINH CITY 000741

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 7/13/16
TAGS: PHUM PREL KIRF PTER PGOV VM
SUBJECT: DAK LAK: GRADUAL PROGRESS ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND FAMILY
REUNIFICATION

REF: A) HCMC 740 B) HCMC 029 C) HCMC 968

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CLASSIFIED BY: Seth Winnick, Consul General, HCMC, State.
REASON: 1.4 (d)


1.(C) Summary: A visit by the Consul General to Dak Lak July
6-7 confirmed that the province has been making gradual progress
on religious freedom and ethnic minority family reunification
issues since new leadership was installed in December 2005.
Officials of the Southern Evangelical Church of Vietnam (SECV)
told us that the province is more proactive, especially since
Easter, in registering churches, a process that the new People's
Committee Chairman committed to accelerate. Our discussions
with religious leaders and officials and a visit to a village in
central Dak Lak (REF A) clearly indicated that ethnic minority
activists continue to operate in the province. In a first-ever
meeting with us on the subject of separatism, Dak Lak security
officials said that Kok Ksor and other U.S.-based members of the
FULRO organization continue to foment unrest to create an
independent ethnic minority state in the Central Highlands.
While the exact level of ethnic minority separatism remains
unclear, the presence of Dega activists in the province (and
with the SECV) complicates how the government responds to a
range of other issues, including religious freedom and family
reunification (VISAS-93) cases. End Summary.


2. (SBU) On July 6 and 7, the Consul General and PolOff traveled
to the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak to meet new
provincial leaders and to assess ethnic minority, family
reunification and religious freedom concerns. In a meeting with
People's Committee Chairman Lu Ngoc Cu (promoted in December
2005 to Chairman and to the rank of General within the Ministry
of Public Security),the Consul General emphasized the
importance of progress on religious freedom and human rights
issues in Dak Lak. Dak Lak is one of perhaps ten provinces in
Vietnam that attracts attention in the United States, the Consul
General told Cu. The USG and GVN would not have been able to
move the relationship forward at the pace we have without
progress on religious freedom and family reunification issues in
the Central Highlands. Acknowledging recent efforts to improve
conditions for the GVN-recognized Southern Evangelical Church of
Vietnam (SECV) and other Protestant house church groups (ref B),
the Consul General encouraged faster and more comprehensive
progress. He noted that the USG recognizes that religious
freedom issues are complicated in the Central Highlands and that
some persons may seek to use religion as a cover for ethnic
minority separatism. He emphasized that the U.S. rejects this
approach and any effort to undermine the territorial integrity
of Vietnam.

3.(SBU) In contrast to the tough exchange with Cu in September
2005, when he was head of the provinces' Department of Public
Security (ref C),Cu now said that the province would do
whatever it could to facilitate the VISAS-93 family
reunification process. Those that wished to leave Vietnam
legally would be allowed to do so; those that wish to return
would be equally welcome. Turning to religious freedom issues,
Cu said that he "shared our view" that the province should
accelerate the registration and recognition process for
Protestant congregations. The province is working to educate
officials at the district- and village-level on their
responsibilities under Vietnam's legal framework on religion.
Over the past few months, Dak Lak has registered 34 SECV
"meeting points" in addition to eight congregations that are
officially recognized.

4.(SBU) Turning to economic issues, the Consul General expressed
the USG's interest in supporting the most-rapid development of
the province possible. The U.S. also wanted to support efforts
to promote the well-being and integration of the ethnic minority
community in the economy. To that end, the USG was hopeful that
the agricultural NGO ACDI/VOCA might be able to expand its
successful cocoa-growing project from the Mekong Delta into Dak
Lak, with a particular focus on the ethnic minority community.


5. (SBU) Chairman Cu was clearly less comfortable discussing
economic development issues. Referring to the province's
five-year plan, Cu said he would seek to complete major
irrigation and hydro-electric projects, build new roads and
develop eco-tourism. The province also would seek to develop
the food processing sector, he told the CG. The province will
complete the "equitization" of most of its state-owned
enterprises; for example, the province has sold the Dak Lak
tourist company to Saigon Tourist, Cu said. (Note: Cu did not
seem to know that the HCMC-based Saigon Tourist also is an SOE.
End Note.) Cu did not discuss the ACDI/VOCA initiative.

Deparment of Public Security
--------------

6.(SBU) At our request, the Consul General met with senior

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provincial Department of Public Security officials to begin a
dialogue on security issues linked to ethnic minority
separatism. Vice Director Tran Ky Roi (who attended a 10-day
anti-terrorism seminar in ILEA in Bangkok) told us that elements
of "FULRO," the separatist ethnic minority organization continue
to have a presence in the Central Highlands. Although they are
active in Dak Lak, the problem is more acute in neighboring Gia
Lai province.

7.(C) FULRO continues to be led by Montagnard Foundation
President Kok Ksor from the United States, Ky said. Although
there are "fewer" armed operations than in the past (FULRO was
disbanded in an agreement with the GVN in 1992),Dak Lak
continues to note some "armed operations" involving home-made
bombs and weapons, in particular during the "violent protests"
in April 2004. Kok Ksor also is encouraging political unrest in
the province, Ky said. The provincial security apparatus has
intercepted many of the phone calls between "North Carolina" and
operatives in Dak Lak, which demonstrate Ksor's leading role in
fomenting unrest. The province has given recordings and
pictures to Hanoi to share with the USG, Ky said. Ky argued
that Dak Lak has no political or religious prisoners. Only
those that "violate the law" have been arrested.


8. (C) Ky said that Kok Ksor invented "Dega Protestantism" as
another way of continuing FULRO activities in the Central
Highlands. For example, there were 3,000 Dega Protestants in
the Dak Lak district of Ea Hleo, but these worshipers have since
switched to the SECV of house church organizations such as the
Seventh Day Adventists or United World Mission Church of
Vietnam. Ky said that delays in registration of SECV or other
churches was due to the separatist threat, although there are a
few "Dega" within the SECV hierarchy in the province. In fact,
the police are working to instruct local officials to speed up
registration. Where "conditions" allow, the province also has
allowed SECV congregations to function without official
registration or recognition. That said, the province will not
permit a person with only a second or third grade education to
lead a church congregation. These people cannot lead a
community effectively and "correctly," Ky stated. To address
this issue, the province is working with the SECV to open up new
training courses for pastors.

9.(C) We asked Ky about the case of Y Muon, the son of an SECV
Pastor who was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2005 for
separatist activities. Ky said that Y Muon and two other
brothers were arrested on suspicion of separatist activities.
The two other brothers were released after detention to their
parent's custody. However, in the case of Y Muon, police
developed sufficient evidence to demonstrate that Y Muon was one
of Kok Ksor's "key contacts" in the Central Highlands, who
received orders directly from Kok Ksor. His job was to recruit
new students and intellectuals to join the movement. As far as
the GVN was concerned, people like Y Muon and others were
"terrorists." Contacts within the SECV told us that they "were
not sure" why Y Muon was arrested and convicted, although he had
links with "bad people."

10.(SBU) The Consul General noted that it is illegal for anyone
to use the territory of the United States to foment armed
rebellion in another country. That said, speech and protest are
protected, including those who criticize other governments.
Similarly, while the U.S. will not countenance any effort to
undermine Vietnam's territorial integrity, those inside Vietnam
who have grievances or opinions should be allowed to air them
peacefully.

Religious Freedom Developments
--------------

11.(SBU) PolOff subsequently met with the Dak Lak representative
board of the SECV as well as with officials of the provincial
Committee for Religious Affairs (CRA) to review specific
developments in religious freedom. The SECV told us that, of
approximately 120,000 SECV members in the province, 40
congregations representing 20,000 believers are registered or
recognized under the legal framework on religion. Another
60,000 to 70,000 can gather in small groups of between 30 and
50, representing four or five families. The rest, particularly
in the districts of Ea Sup, Ea Hleo and Buon Don, can only
worship at home. SECV leaders said that increased progress in
registering and operating meeting points has been notable since
January 2006, with a particularly up-tick in registration and
cooperation since Easter 2006. (During Easter, with the
exception of Ea Hleo, provincial officials,"as a special
gesture," allowed almost all SECV meeting points in the province
to hold large services, according to a senior SECV official.)

12.(SBU) Provincial officials have approved the SECV's
nomination of eight new pastors and the appointment of 24 recent
graduates of a bible training class to Lay Pastor status within

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the SECV. The SECV also is working with the province to open a
new training course for 40 new pastor-candidates. Provincial
officials have promised the SECV that 100 of the province's 310
meeting points will be registered legally by year-end.
Therefore, by year-end 70,000 of the SECV's members will belong
to legally-accredited churches, the pastors told us.

13.(SBU) Turning to restrictions on gathering in Ea Sup and
other districts, the SECV does not have qualified leaders there.
Of the 35 students in the most recent bible training class,
none were from Ea Sup. This restricts the ability of SECV to
legalize congregations there. On the positive side, the
government has lifted travel restrictions on SECV officials, so
grassroots development in Ea Sup can take place.


14. (SBU) The SEV pastors also noted some improved cooperation
with provincial officials to resolve problems. For example,
village officials recently named the leader of a SECV meeting
point in Krong Pac district, a clear violation of the legal
framework. SECV leaders protested to more senior officials, who
overturned the decision and "educated" the local officials on
proper procedure.


15. (SBU) One senior SECV leader noted to us that, since January
2006, provincial officials have stepped up their delivery of aid
to ethnic minority communities. The province also has stepped
up land distribution to ethnic minorities, a report confirmed by
an international NGO official working in the area. The province
also has reduced the deployment of police and military personnel
to ethnic minority villages. The SECV pastor was aware of 12
cases of beatings of ethnic minority individuals by police in
previous years, but had not heard of any in 2006.


16. (SBU) CRA officials told us that the province is working to
operationalize the legal framework on religion for Protestants
in the province. In addition to the SECV, which they estimated
had 90,000 adherents, the CRA also was facilitating the
operation of 10,000 members of house church groups, including
the Seventh Day Adventists, and the UWMC. The province also is
seeking to provide land to some of the eight recognized churches
belonging to the SECV. According to the CRA, the SECV now has
registered congregations in all of Dak Lak's districts save Ea
Sup. In Ea Sup, the biggest challenge is building capacity
among potential church leaders in the district. This includes
ensuring that such leaders demonstrate that they have no "FULRO"
connection. The CRA officials confirmed that the province has
pledged to register another 60 SECV congregations by year-end as
well as to hold a training course for another 50 pastoral
candidates.

Why not like Gia Lai?
--------------


17. (SBU) We asked SECV and CRA officials why Dak Lak could not
emulate Gia Lai province's approach to registering the SECV. In
Gia lai, despite a shortage of trained personnel, all of the
SECV's meeting points are registered. Designated SECV pastors
take responsibility for the operation of multiple meeting points
until new church workers can be assigned. Dak Lak CRA officials
told us that "conditions" in Gia Lai were different. SECV
colleagues were more explicit. Perhaps 50 of the current SECV
leadership in Dak Lak have Dega roots, we were told,
complicating the environment in the province. In contrast, in
Gia Lai, the SECV has made a clean break with those who
supported Dega, allowing for more rapid progress in the
registration process.

Comment
--------------


18. (C) The elevation of MPS General Cu to People's Committee
Chairman and the promotion of another Deputy with military
experience to the post of Party Secretary highlights the
continued preoccupation of the GVN with ethnic minority
separatism. While we take the police allegations of ongoing
FULRO armed activity with a hefty dose of skepticism until we
see concrete evidence, our visit to a village in central Dak Lak
(septel) clearly indicated that ethnic minority activists are
operating in the province. Their exact activities remain
unclear, but the knee-jerk tendency of Dak Lak officials is to
equate any ethnic minority dissent or protest with separatism.
The presence of Dega activists in the province (and within the
SECV) complicates how the government responds to a range of
other issues, including religious freedom, family reunification
and economic development. For example, the province will vet
SECV congregations one by one and will not grant blanket
registration.


19. (SBU) That said, our visit confirms a trend of gradual, but
meaningful progress in Dak Lak on religious freedom and family
reunification issues since Dak Lak's new leadership was

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installed in December 2005. Suspicion of the U.S. is reduced
and we see greater readiness to engage in constructive dialogue.
For example, our meeting with the DPS Vice-Director to discuss
the Dega movement, although somewhat scripted, was the first of
its kind in the Central Highlands. Religious affairs officials
who in earlier visits rejected the existence of house church
groups in the province, now discuss the process of registration
with us and express interest in learning about how religious
affairs are managed in the United States. Security officials
have acknowledged to us for the first time that strengthening
mainstream religious organizations and giving ethnic minority
communities viable options is a critical element in any strategy
to weaken the allure of the Dega Protestant movement. In
contrast to past discussions on VISAS-93 cases, where the
province made clear that is wanted to prevent family
reunification to punish those that initially fled to the United
States, Dak Lak now has resolved successfully the vast bulk of
VISAS-93 cases.
WINNICK