CONTRASTING PERSPECTIVES ON VESAK DAY CELEBRATIONS: THE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HANOI 000617 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/MLS, DRL/IRF AND DRL/AWH E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM KIRF PGOV PREL VM SUBJECT: CONTRASTING PERSPECTIVES ON VESAK DAY CELEBRATIONS: THE VBS AND UBCV REFS: A) HANOI 571 B) 07 HCMC 609 C)07 HCMC 766 AND PREVIOUS D)HANOI 184 HANOI 00000617 001.2 OF 003 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: While the vast majority of Vietnamese Buddhists celebrated Vesak Day with an exuberantly colorful display of Buddhist traditions and full GVN support throughout Southern Vietnam, the outlawed United Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) held private ceremonies at their pagodas. While the VBS enjoys good relations and high-level support from the GVN, UBCV leaders maintain they have no desire to register through the legal framework on religion because they do not feel they need the GVN's approval to legitimize their organization or to practice their faith. Because of their confrontational stance and advocacy for various social and political causes, the UBCV has been a notable exception in Vietnam's progressively positive story of widening religious freedom. Post continues to receive reports of police harassment and intimidation of UBCV monks and followers in southern Vietnam. There is a 50-year history to the conflict between government officials and Buddhist activists in southern Vietnam that portends more trouble for some time to come. End summary. Vesak Day, Southern Style -------------- ¶2. (U) Brightly colored Buddhist flags and banners decorated streets and pagodas in HCMC and across the Delta provinces, announcing annual Vesak Day celebrations commemorating the birth, enlightenment and passing of the Buddha. While Hanoi hosted the official events for the United Nations Day of Vesak May 14-17 (Ref A),the HCMC Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS) also held a ceremony here on May 19 that coincided with the anniversary of Ho Chi Minh's birthday. Thousands of Buddhists from HCMC's 21 districts joined senior VBS monks and government leaders in an early morning ceremony at a large stadium owned by the military near Tan Son Nhat airport. ¶3. (U) Among the attendees were Deputy National CRA Chief Nguyen Huu Oanh, National Fatherland Front Chief Representative Le Minh Hien, HCMC People's Committee Chairman Le Hoang Quan, Lieutenant General Le Manh, Commander-in-chief of the 7th Military Zone and the Vicar General of the Catholic Church. Diplomats and monks from several Buddhist nations, including India, Cambodia, Thailand and Japan, were also in the VIP seats. (Note: ConGen HCMC was the only "Western" consulate present. End Note.)_ Patriotic and socialistic motifs were woven throughout the Vesak celebrations, with HCMC leaders making reference to the Buddha's birthday and Ho Chi Minh's birthday in their official remarks while Vietnamese flags and popular Ho Chi Minh bon mots were interspersed with Buddhist flags and banners in HCMC and the Delta provinces. UBCV Celebrates Quietly -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) contacts in Ho Chi Minh City, Thua Thien Hue and Ba Ria-Vung Tau Provinces also held smaller celebrations commemorating Vesak this year and most reported no interference from local authorities. Thich Thien Hanh, Chief Representative of the UBCV in Thua Thien-Hue Province, said the UBCV Board celebrated Vesak at Quoc An Pagoda in much the same way they did last year with approximately 120 monks and 2,000 followers gathered (Ref B). Some pagodas did report an increased security presence, but Monk Thich Vinh Phuoc at Phuoc Buu pagoda in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province said that with the thousands of international visitors here for the United Nations Vesak Day celebrations, it was "not surprising that security was tightened." Vesak notwithstanding, UBCV leaders continue to experience limitations on their ability to communicate and assemble, in part due to their long history of conflict with the GVN. A Brief History of the UBCV -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Readers of a certain age will recall a long period of repression of Buddhists in the former Republic of South Vietnam that captured international attention only when Thich Quang Duc immolated himself during a public demonstration in June 1963. In 1964, Buddhists regained official status and formed the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam. In 1975, the Communist Party attempted to create a state-controlled Buddhist organization in the South and harshly suppressed those who opposed their efforts. The officially sanctioned Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS) was founded in 1981 from the rank and file of the UBCV. Those UBCV adherents who opposed the Communists and refused to join were considered "outlaws," although the GVN never officially disbanded the UBCV. (Note: Since many senior VBS monks were once a part of the UBCV, the two groups maintain informal contacts and some have speculated that the GVN is "easier" on the UBCV than it is on other political activists because many VBS monks in high positions sympathize with their estranged Buddhist brethren. End note). ¶6. (SBU) Since 1981, the GVN has implemented tactics ranging from coercion and intimidation to persuasion and diplomacy to encourage HANOI 00000617 002.2 OF 003 UBCV leaders to join the VBS. In recent years, the GVN has also encouraged the UBCV to register under the legal framework on religion. UBCV leaders, however, assert their legitimacy does not hinge on the GVN's approval, and UBCV General Secretary Thich Quang Do has often said "asking for permission [from the GVN] for the right to practice our faith implies that we do not have it already." The UBCV has claimed they would accept Buddhist "reunification" under the following conditions: --Official GVN recognition of the UBCV's legitimacy; --An end to "State management" over Buddhism; --Clarification regarding the circumstances of death of UBCV leader Thich Thien Minh (believed to have died during police interrogations in 1978); and --return of certain UBCV properties confiscated after 1975. ¶7. (SBU) There are no official statistics on the number of UBCV adherents as many UBCV monks reside in VBS pagodas or "house pagodas." The main centers for the UBCV are in HCMC, Hue and Binh Dinh province, but the growth of the UBCV can be seen through the increasing number of UBCV representative boards that have sprung up in provinces in recent years. ONE UBCV contact confirmed that the organization has now introduced representative boards in some 20 provinces and towns. UBCV's Political Activism -------------- ¶8. (SBU) The UBCV's fight for freedom of religious practice is inextricably tied to its struggle for human rights, democracy and political pluralism in Vietnam. UBCV leaders have longstanding connections with several pro-democracy activists and share similar views on a number of "sensitive" domestic and international issues such as Chinese actions in the Spratleys/Paracels, the suppression of human rights in Burma and the crackdown on Buddhist monks in Tibet. ¶9. (SBU) In his meetings with US officials over the past year, UBCV leader Thich Quang Do has advocated for the reinstatement of the Countries of Particular Concern designation for Vietnam as a way to pressure the GVN to improve its human rights record. Despite his lack of mobile phone and Internet access, he manages to track Vietnam human rights measures in Congress and is well-versed on which Congressional representatives advocate on behalf of Vietnamese religious and political activists. When Poloff informed Thich Quang Do of the upcoming Human Rights Dialogue in Hanoi, he advised us "not to be fooled by the GVN" because "they say ONE thing and do another." Thich Quang Do said "after APEC, PNTR, WTO were over, the GVN returned to its true identity as suppressor of human rights." ¶10. (SBU) Last year UBCV leader Thich Quang Do joined the land-rights protesters gathered in front of the National Assembly Office in Ho Chi Minh City to offer spiritual support and give them money raised by overseas Vietnamese supporters (Ref C). The protests, which had proceeded without incident over several weeks, were broken up by police shortly after Thich Quang Do called for multiparty democracy via loudspeaker. Recently, a land-rights organizer in HCMC told Poloff that land rights activists "know" they can go to UBCV pagodas for aid and assistance if needed. As a result of their activism, UBCV leaders are often targets of official harassment and intimidation. Recent reports of UBCV harassment -------------- ¶11. (SBU) In Lam Dong province, UBCV contacts reported that Superior Monk Thich Tri Khai from Giac Hai Pagoda received an eviction notice from local authorities ordering him to turn the pagoda over to the VBS on April 6. Contacts say Fatherland Front representatives and police gathered other Buddhists to publicly denounce Thich Tri Khai and offered "rewards" to those who participated in the public denouncement. UBCV Buddhists adherents protested the officials' actions and around 200 signed a petition in support of Thich Tri Khai. Several followers were subsequently summoned by the police for questioning. ¶12. (SBU) Subsequently, on April 29, Chief Monk Thich Nhu Tan and Deputy Chief Thich Tam Man were briefly detained for a three hour police interview after they visited Giac Hai pagoda. The two also received summons to return to the police station before Vesak Day, but both refused to attend. Thich Nhu Tan said authorities forcibly removed him and other resident monks from the pagoda, searched the property and changed the locks on May 7 and 8. Because of the ongoing harassment, UBCV contacts say Thich Tri Khai suffers from ill HEALTH and has come to HCMC for medical care. Contacts cannot confirm his whereabouts presently. ¶13. (SBU) In Hue, contacts reported that Deputy Chief of UBCV Representative Board Monk Thich Chi Thang was summoned to attend a public denouncement session accusing him of conducting "illegal activities" in April and suggesting that he be expelled from the VBS's Phuoc Thanh pagoda. Contacts say Hue police also tried to HANOI 00000617 003.2 OF 003 prevent Thich Khong Tanh from giving the funeral service for Democratic Party of Vietnam (DPV) dissident Hoang Minh Chinh in Hanoi (Ref D). Thich Khong Tanh said he had stopped in Hue to meet with UBCV leaders there en route to the funeral when local police came to his hotel and asked him to come to the police station for questioning. Thich Khong Thanh said he decided to leave the hotel early the next morning in order to avoid the attending the interview, which could have delayed his arrival in Hanoi. ¶14. (SBU) In Binh Dinh province, Thich Minh Tuan, a disciple of UBCV Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang at Nguyen Thieu Monastery, said police maintain heavy surveillance over the pagoda and have prevented the Patriarch from traveling outside. On February 23 during the Lunar New Year holiday, Thich Minh Tuan said hundreds of policemen gathered in front of the monastery to conduct "exercises," ostensibly blocking the road and preventing the Patriarch from attending traditional ceremonies at another local monastery. Que Me, the UBCV's official overseas website, claims the police were also trying to deter the Patriarch from paying Lunar New Year visits and receiving UBCV clergies from other provinces. ¶15. (SBU) UBCV Monk Thich Thien Minh told us he decided to relocate from Bac Lieu province to Ho Chi Minh City two months ago, partly to get medical treatment and partly because of the repeated harassment and public denouncements held by local authorities there over the past year. According to Thich Quang Do, Thich Thien Minh has since resigned from the UBCV executive board and is now concentrating on his work with the Association for Former Political and Religious Prisoners, an organization that includes dissident Nguyen Dan Que. Comment -------------- ¶16. (SBU) Although the GVN continues to make progress in its relationship with many religious denominations, including the VBS, the Catholic Church and various Protestant denominations, the UBCV remains a thorn in its side. The UBCV's political and social activism and its refusal to accept the GVN's legal framework on religion means there is no hope of any reconciliation between the UBCV, the VBS and the GVN in the near future. It is no more likely that the GVN will agree to the four conditions set out by the UBCV than the UBCV will agree to set aside its political agenda and join its VBS brethren. It is an irreconcilable dispute, a half-century in the making, pitting officials bent on conformity against Buddhist activist-adherents with minds of their own. However, it is worth recalling that the UBCV represent only a very small fraction of Vietnam's Buddhists, the vast majority of whom enjoy relative freedom of worship -- so long as they steer clear of political activism. End comment. ¶17. (U) This telegram was coordinated with Consulate General HCMC. MICHALAK