NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN THE HOA HAO COMMUNITY

UNCLAS HO CHI MINH CITY 000902 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM SOCI PREL PREF KIRF PGOV VM SUBJECT: NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN THE HOA HAO COMMUNITY REF: HCMC 630 AND PREVIOUS ¶1. (SBU) We met twice in June and July with Le Phuoc Sang, Chairman of the Central Executive Council of the Hoa Hao Buddhist Church based in Garden Grove, California. Sang was a leader of the Hoa Hao community before 1975 but fled to the U.S. before the fall of Saigon. According to Sang, after being a "fierce opponent" of the Communist Party for decades, he decided to work for reconciliation and the "stabilization and development" of the Hoa Hao community in Vietnam. Sang said he first returned to Vietnam in February 2006 to hold preliminary talks with the GVN. At that time, he was not allowed to travel to the Mekong Delta to consult with the Hoa Hao community. When he returned in June, however, he was warmly welcomed by the GVN. He was received by then-President Tran Duc Luong and the outgoing Chairman of the Fatherland Front Pham The Duyet. He also was allowed to travel to the Mekong. ¶2. (SBU) Sang said that in his meetings with GVN officials, he had proposed three major initiatives: -- The establishment of a National Institute for Hoa Hao Buddhist Studies which would train Hoa Hao clergy. The Institute would be located in Can Tho in the Mekong Delta. (Sang was director of the Hoa Hao University in An Giang province before 1975.) -- The creation of a Foundation for Hoa Hao Charities based in Vietnam that would coordinate domestic and international charities to improve conditions for the Hoa Hao community in Vietnam. -- The opening of a branch of Westland University in Can Tho to offer training in a wide range of fields. According to Sang, Westland University was licensed by Washington State in 2004 and has a campus in California. Sang is affiliated with the University. ¶3. (SBU) Sang said that GVN officials supported these ideas. He noted that Can Tho City had offered him 20 hectares of land for a Westland University campus and had invited the University's administrators to visit the city for further discussion. ¶4. (SBU) Sang said that he had told the GVN that he rejected the radical approach of Hoa Hao activist Le Quang Liem. He had proposed ideas to resolve conflict between the GVN and the Hoa Hao community. He said he had advised the GVN to restructure the GVN-recognized Hoa Hao Executive Council and elect a new slate of leaders mutually acceptable to the GVN and the Hoa Hao community. He had pushed the GVN to remove the ban on the Hoa Hao community's use the Hoa Hao religious flag, to publish the full writings of the Hoa Hao founder, to allow the Hoa Hao to commemorate the founder's disappearance day, and to return church property expropriated by the GVN. Sang estimated that perhaps five to ten percent of the Hoa Hao community in the Mekong Delta supported Liem. ¶4. (SBU) During one meeting, Sang introduced us to Huynh Van Nong, a cousin of the Hoa Hao founder. He called Nong the "legitimate successor" to the founder and a respected member of the Hoa Hao community capable of voicing Hoa Hao grievances to the GVN in a peaceful way. ¶5. (SBU) Meanwhile, the Hoa Hao group led by Le Quang Liem announced the formation of a provincial representative board in An Giang Province in the Mekong Delta. The group announced that it would create a network of provincial representative boards in key Hoa Hao centers. In early July, Liem's group also sent a letter to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung announcing that it was planning to hold a ceremony on July 25 to commemorate the first death anniversary of Tran Van Ut in Dong Thap Province in the Mekong Delta. (Ut, a follower of Liem, committed suicide via self-immolation in September 2005 during a police raid. Ut was involved in an altercation with police in June 2005 during a rally organized by Liem.) According to a reliable contact within the Hoa Hao community, many members of the Hoa Hao community in Dong Thap attended the family-run ceremony. Liem did not attend and authorities did not intervene. ¶6. (SBU) Comment: Liem's faction sharply criticized Sang's return to Vietnam as a betrayal of his anti-Communist roots and the "true Hoa Hao faith." Whether or not Sang can emerge as a constructive force within the fractured Hoa Hao community remains to be seen; the GVN almost certainly remains suspicious of his motives. Some of his proposals for compromise also are difficult for the Party to accept. For example, while Sang's call for allowing the Hoa Hao flag to be flown again may have resonance for the Hoa Hao, its wartime symbolism would alarm Party hardliners. End Comment. WINNICK