EXPERIENCES OF A HARDLINE HOUSE CHURCH IN VIETNAM

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HO CHI MINH CITY 000643

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR SOCI KIRF VM
SUBJECT: EXPERIENCES OF A HARDLINE HOUSE CHURCH IN VIETNAM


1. (SBU) Summary: Leaders of the Inter-Evangelical Church of
Vietnam, a large Protestant house church organization based in
HCMC, told us that, with the exception of a recent incident in
Binh Phuoc province, their operations in Southern and Central
Vietnam are stable. Conditions for the IEM in the Northwest
Highlands are much more difficult, particularly in the province
of Dien Bien, where at least two IEM congregations have faced
particularly severe harassment from local officials, including
allegations of forced conversions. Another house church leader
indicated that conditions elsewhere in the Northwest Highlands
continue to improve modestly. While the IEM's problems mirror
the experiences of other Protestant groups, the refusal of the
IEM's leadership to work constructively with provincial
officials creates unnecessary antagonism and slows progress.
End summary.



2. (SBU) On June 13 we met with Pastor Tran Mai, leader of the
Inter-Evangelistic Movement Bible Church (IEM),and twelve of
his subordinate pastors to discuss a religious freedom incident
in the province of Binh Phuoc on June 8. Ethnic Hmong pastors
from the Northwest Highlands also discussed the religious
freedom challenges they face, especially in Dien Bien province.


Binh Phuoc
--------------


3. (SBU) Pastor Lam Cuong, IEM Pastor for Binh Phuoc Province,
told us that he has been attempting to register IEM
congregations with local authorities for the past year without
success. However, the 1,500 followers in his area of
responsibility are able to worship regularly at eleven meeting
points. Every month, IEM followers in Binh Phuoc gather en
masse for a prayer meeting. Pastor Cuong does not seek
permission from the local authorities to hold the gatherings and
they usually go on unimpeded. However, on June 8, Pastor Mai
brought a group of approximately 150 IEM pastors from throughout
Vietnam -- including from the Northwest Highlands -- to the Binh
Phuoc prayer gathering. He conducted an ordination ceremony for
new pastors at the event. The prayer service was at least
one-third bigger than normal, with some 2,000 people in
attendance. Local police filmed the services but did not
otherwise interfere. Pastor Cuong demanded they leave but they
refused.



4. (SBU) Pastor Cuong said that the buses carrying Pastor Mai's
group back to HCMC were stopped after the ceremony and forced to
drive to the local government office. Local officials wanted to
question Pastor Mai and IEM Vice President Tran Long about their
"evangelizing and organization of a large crowd without
permission." Mai and Long replied that the authorities would
have to question all 150 pastors in his entourage and then tried
to bring the entire group into the local government offices.
The authorities locked them out.



5. (SBU) After a few hours, the head of the Binh Phuoc
Provincial Committee for Religious Affairs (CRA) arrived from
the provincial capital -- a one hour drive -- to speak with Mai.
He warned that the IEM needed to request permission to hold
large meetings. Pastor Mai told us he responded that they did
not bother to request permission since it would not be granted
and complained about the inaction on IEM's registration
requests. The CRA chief offered to meet with Pastor Mai
regarding pending registration requests. Mai said he would come
if he is recognized officially by the province in its dealings
with him as a Pastor and not as an ordinary Vietnamese citizen.
The group was allowed to return to HCMC without further
incident. Two AmCits accompanied Pastor Mai but remained in the
buses during the six hour negotiation at the People's Committee.




6. (SBU) We told the IEM pastors that the fact that they are
able to hold large gatherings and that the head of Binh Phuoc
Province's CRA offered to meet and discuss registration are
encouraging signs. Pastor Mai was dismissive, stating he would
probably not meet with the Binh Phuoc Provincial CRA even if he
were invited. Pastor Mai's only other complaint about
obstruction of IEM operations in the HCMC Consular District was
the authorities prevented IEM Christmas celebrations in Quang
Ngai Province in 2006.


Harassment in the Northwest Highlands
--------------


7. (SBU) Pastor Do Huu, IEM's Senior pastor in northern Vietnam,
and Pastors Vua A De and Vang A Tua from Dien Bien Province,

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provided an oral and written account of alleged harassment by
local officials in northern Vietnam, especially in the Northwest
Highlands. Pastor Huu said that older meeting points and house
churches, particularly those that have been in use since before
2004, are able to hold regular services with little or no
harassment. However, services at new meeting points are
consistently broken up and authorities prevent new meeting
points from being established. Pastors De and Huu claimed that
they have shown former Prime Minister Phan Van Khai's
"Instruction Number One" of February 2005 (ordering officials to
facilitate Protestant house churches) to local officials to
persuade them that they are allowed to gather and worship.
However, commune officials seize their documents and ignore the
Instruction's provisions.



8. (SBU) The pastors said that the situation is particularly
acute in Dien Bien province. Pastor Tua, from Hang Tro village,
Pu Nhi Commune, East Dien Bien District, Dien Bien Province,
stated he preaches to approximately 90 people. He said that his
followers have not been allowed to gather for prayer services
since 2004, but they "meet secretly at night, in the fields" for
prayers. Pastor Tua claimed on two occasions in 2004 and 2005,
local authorities brought all of the Protestants in his commune
to the village leader's home and demanded they return to their
traditional beliefs.



9. (SBU) The IEM also provided us with a list of other incidents
centered in Hang Tro village, Pu Nhi Commune, East Dien Bien
District, Dien Bien Province:


-- March 15: District police banned the IEM from gathering and
police pressured followers to sign a commitment stating they
would not gather or follow Protestantism. Police threatened to
fine each worshiper VND 250,000 (USD 16).


-- March 17: Police came to each IEM follower's home to pressure
them to abandon their faith. The police reportedly said that
"believing in Christ is to believe in the United States."
Police confiscated religious materials from Protestant followers.


-- March 27: Commune police and authorities detained Pastor Sung
Da Khua, fined him 500,000 VND (USD 31) and forced him to chop
wood in lieu of cash payment.


-- April 26: Police detained Pastor Khua for six days and forced
him to cut more wood. He was released after he signed a
commitment that he would not hold any more gatherings in his
home.


-- May 25: Two IEM followers came to visit their brother's house
in the congregation's area. Police detained them and Pastor
Khua for two days and fined them VND 500,000. The two followers
escaped; one of them was rearrested after 14 days and the other
fled to the jungle. Police reportedly punched Pastor Khua in
the face during his confinement.


Harassment elsewhere in the North
--------------


10. (SBU) Pastor Mai also claimed that in April, police in Lac
Thien village, Minh Hoa commune, Minh Hoa District, Quang Binh
Province confiscated Bibles from IEM follower Dinh Xuan Sam on
three occasions. Police also reportedly pressured followers to
abandon their faith, noting that "Protestantism is a bad
American religion." On May 20, police in Quang Phuc Commune,
Tien Lang District, Haiphong City disrupted prayer services and
confiscated religious materials from Pastor Tran Van Kien.


Pretending to be the ECVN
--------------


11. (SBU) In discussing his efforts to legalize the IEM's
activities in the Northwest Highlands, Pastor Tua noted that a
Voice of Vietnam radio program "in 2005" announced Protestants
would be allowed to register their congregations if they were
members of the Evangelical Church of Vietnam North (ECVN).
Subsequently, Pastor Tua and a number of other IEM leaders from
the Northwest Highlands traveled to Hanoi to meet with the ECVN.
He said that they obtained certificates of ECVN membership for
their congregations. The IEM members presented the certificates
to the local officials, but the officials confiscated the
certificates. Pastor Tua stated that he has met with local

HO CHI MIN 00000643 003 OF 003


officials on a number of occasions to request to register his
church, but the officials will not instruct him on how to do so.



Another View on the Northwest
--------------


12. (SBU) Separately, we spoke with Pastor Doan Trung Tin on
June 15 to discuss the situation in the Northwest Highlands.
Pastor Tin, an HCMC-based house church leader with extensive
operations in the Central and Northwest Highlands has ties to
both the SECV and ECVN. Pastor Tin noted some improvement in
overall religious freedom conditions for ethnic minorities in
the Northwest Highlands. In the past two months, the
authorities have approved 20 new ECVN "meeting points" that
serve ethnic Hmong. He also noted that fewer ethnic Hmong are
fleeing the Northwest because of religious persecution. Other
Hmong that fled to Laos have returned, noting that they had been
"cheated" by those promoting the establishment of a "Hmong
Kingdom" where, inter alia, they could practice their faith
without official harassment. However, when they arrived in
Laos, their belongings were confiscated and they were forced to
practice something other than Protestantism.


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


13. (SBU) The IEM split in two in 2006 following a leadership
dispute. Pastor Mai and his branch of the IEM are among the
most intransigent of the house church groups in Vietnam. In an
earlier meeting with us, Mai told us that he would refuse to
comply with GVN legalization and registration requirements and
that "he would consider Vietnam not to have religious freedom
until he could evangelize all of Vietnam's 84 million citizens."
Pastor Mai briefly also joined the "8406 Bloc" dissident
movement in 2006, but then resigned from the organization.



14. (SBU) Binh Phuoc is one of the least progressive provinces
on religious freedom in the HCMC Consular district. But even in
Binh Phuoc, the overall trend continues to be positive. Aside
from the IEM's (unauthorized) ordination service, the group has
has generally not had problems with large-scale religious
gatherings, despite Pastor Mai's refusal to work with the
authorities. Unlike Pastor Mai, other HCMC-based house church
leaders have sought a more cooperative relationship with
provincial and national authorities. By and large, these groups
have found that the registration process for their churches has
been faster and the police scrutiny of activities more limited.




15. (SBU) The IEM's refusnik reputation and its decision to
masquerade as the ECVN in the Northwest would do nothing to
predispose the authorities in the Northwest to approve its
registration requests. However, the IEM's experience in
Northern Vietnam largely parallels the difficulties that the
ECVN and other Protestant groups have encountered, especially in
rural areas. And Dien Bien, the province in which the IEM has
faced the most difficulty, is Vietnam's most retrograde province
on religious freedom matters. Elsewhere in the Northwest, our
contacts point to modest forward progress. If the experience of
the Central Highlands is any guide, it should be possible to
leverage progress in other provinces in the region to press for
change even among those most resistant to change. End Comment.
WINNICK