(Sender note: article below falls into main stream
news media's category of "all the news that's fit to
ignore."   Thanks news media, for keeping us all so
well informed.)
 
Vietnamese Church Leaders Testify in Washington, D.C.
Special to Compass Direct

Three Vietnamese house church leaders submitted
written testimony to the International Relations
Committee of the House of Representatives in
Washington, D.C., on Monday, June 20, the first
working day of Vietnam Prime Minister Phan Van Khai's
historic visit to the United States.

The church leaders are the Rev. Tran Mai, general
director of the Inter-Evangelistic Movement of
Vietnam, Evangelist Truong Tri Hien of the Vietnam
Mennonite Church, and the Rev. Pham Dinh Nhan of the
United Gospel Outreach church. 
 
Congressman Chris Smith, who said he convened the
committee hearings to "speak truth to power," read
their names along with those of several religious
leaders in Vietnam who had submitted written
testimony. The last Vietnamese religious leader who
submitted written testimony to a U.S. government
agency, the United States Commission on International
Religious Freedom, was Father Nguyen Van Ly.

After his written testimony was read into the
Commission record on February 13, 2001, Vietnamese
officials sentenced him to 15 years in prison for
slandering Vietnam. He was released in February this
year as part of a government amnesty for the Lunar New
Year, but not before he had completely changed his
views. His close friends believe his mind was altered
through drugs.
 
Nhan and Mai serve as top leaders of their respective
house church organizations in Vietnam, while Hien, a
close protégé of the Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang, had to
flee Vietnam following the arrest of Quang just over a
year ago. He has U.N. refugee status and is awaiting
asylum in the United States. Nhan and Mai also serve
as chairman and vice chairman respectively of an
association of house churches called the Vietnam
Evangelical Fellowship.
 
In a compelling 14-page document, Hien, who has legal
training, described 77 separate actions against the
Mennonite church and headquarters in District 2 of Ho
Chi Minh City from June 8, 2004, to May 31, 2005. The
arrest of Quang and five other church workers took
place between March and June, 2004. Many of the
actions against the church came after Vietnam
proclaimed new, and supposedly more liberal, laws on
religion in the last
few months.
 
Hien analyzed the actions and found they could be
classified under five methods commonly employed by the
communist regime against religion. First, the regime
simply uses force to break up meetings. Second,
authorities use administrative paperwork such as
identity (ID) cards, motorbike registrations and
licenses to harass, and at times, confiscate property.

For example, they will confiscate an ID card without
giving the person a receipt and a week later, fine the
same person for not having an ID card. Third,
authorities incite the Christians' neighbors to hate
them and to take "spontaneous" action against them.
Fourth, the authorities try to destroy the morale of
believers. For example, they have raided the church
and home of Mrs. Quang and her three small children in
the middle of the night, for several nights in a row,
and have written up frequent charges against believers
and made them wait many hours for their
interrogations. Finally, the government employs the
state monopoly of the media to launch scurrilous and
sustained character attacks against religious leaders
it deems "bad."
 
In the document, Hien requests that the two Vietnam
Mennonite Church leaders remaining in prison be
immediately released. The Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang is
serving a three-year sentence and Evangelist Pham Ngoc
Thach is serving a two-year sentence; both sentences
were upheld at an appeal court hearing on April 12.
 
He also asked that the Mennonites be treated according
to the new legislation on religion (which local
officials have said does not apply to them) and be
allowed to register their activities. Two special
appeals to the prime minister on this matter have gone
unanswered. In connection with this, he asked that the
prime minister's office set up a special task force to
handle quiet appeals coming from religious groups
which cannot get redress in any other way. Hien also
asked that the government create a plan and method to
deal with the many officials who routinely violate the
religious freedom of Vietnamese citizens and abuse
them because of religion.
 
Mai submitted his testimony directly from Vietnam. He
gave current stories of religious persecution from Hai
Phong harbor to the Mekong Delta. He quoted Hmong, Kor
and Hre ethic minority leaders recounting incidents of
beatings, pepper spray, forced labor, confiscation of
property -- including land and houses -- and
imprisonment, all of which have occurred since the
"liberalization" of laws and regulations on religion.
He named victims and perpetrators.
 
Mai concluded, "The Ordinance on Religion and the
Instructions signed by the Prime Minister [is] 'old
wine in new skins.' The new legislation still retains
the essence of oppressing religion. The government has
officially announced that 'The government will only
recognize a few religious denominations.'

So what does this mean for those who will not be
recognized? It means plainly that these organizations
will be outside the law. Today they may meet for
worship, tomorrow not. Today they are released,
tomorrow they may not be. How is it different for
these organizations than being a fish on a chopping
block? How is this different than being a fish in a
pond that can be caught and killed at any time?" He
warned that Western countries should not be gullible
and should be very careful not to be taken in by
Vietnam's "illogical and immoral religion policies."
 
In the committee hearings, Helen Ngo of the Vietnam
Committee for Religious Freedom read a section from
Nhan's testimony of how oppression and restrictions
had affected his pastor father, his mother and his own
family.
 
Congressman Smith warned Vietnam that the U.S. would
be looking closely to see what happened to those who
stand up to speak the truth. "This will be a test for
both the U.S. and Vietnam," stated a Vietnam observer.