US embassy cable - 04HOCHIMINHCITY315

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HO CHI MINH CITY 000315 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/BCLTV, DRL/IRF, INR/B 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, SOCI, PREL, PGOV, KIRF, VM, HUMANR, RELFREE 
SUBJECT: LETTERS FROM HOA HAO DISSIDENT 
 
REF:  HCMC 0252 
 
1. (SBU) Summary.  Leading HCMC-based Hoa Hao "dissident" Tran Huu 
Duyen recently provided Post with two letters detailing his views 
on the status of religious freedom and the Hoa Hao.  One letter 
was addressed to the Consulate General and one to Congress. 
While few of his points are new, they provide a reminder that 
there remains deep disatisfaction in some Hoa Hao quarters with 
the current status quo.  End Summary. 
 
2. (SBU) In an English-language petition dated January 13, 2004, 
and given to Poloff in late February during preparations for a 
reporting trip to the Hoa Hao Holy Land in An Giang Province, 
Duyen detailed his version of Hoa Hao complaints from 1975 to 
present, including the treatment of Mr. Nguyen Van Lia (reftel). 
In the letter, he asks the USG to press the GVN in six specific 
areas.  The complete text of the six points follows: 
 
BEGIN TEXT 
 
-- Allow Hoa Hao Buddhists to exercise their freedom of religion 
and participate in independent religious activities. 
 
-- Allow Hoa Hao Buddhists to organize a General Election of the 
Central Council of Administrators and all other levels of the Hao 
Hao Buddhist Church.  The election of all administrative officials 
should be free and fair, with the participation of all Hoa Hao 
Buddhists, instead of the current system of appointment by the 
Communist government. 
 
-- Allow the re-establishment of the Board of Directors of the 
Ancestral temple. 
 
-- Allow the Hoa Hao Buddhist Church to reprint all publications 
and teachings in their original forms; allow the use and display 
of the Hoa Hao Buddhist flag at all religious functions and church 
properties. 
 
-- Return all confiscated prosperities of the Hoa Hao Buddhist 
Church. 
 
-- Release all Hoa Hao Buddhist prisoners who have been wrongfully 
convicted and/or imprisoned. 
 
END TEXT 
 
3. (SBU) In early March, Duyen forwarded to the ConGen by email a 
"Heart Letter from Mr. Tran Huu Duyen to U.S. Representatives and 
Senators sent via U.S. ConGen HCMC."  The letter (in Vietnamese) 
thanks the USG and other foreign groups for pressuring the GVN on 
religious freedom issues, and describes his views on the current 
religious freedom and human rights situation in Vietnam.  Included 
in the letter is a proposal for USG assistance to help revive a 
pre-1975 human rights organization of which he was a member. 
According to Duyen, the former Saigon government permitted the 
establishment of the Vietnam Human Rights and Civil Rights 
Protection Association in 1964.  Several members were arrested 
after 1975.  The letter goes on to say that Duyen would like the 
Consulate to forward this letter to the U.S. Congress so that the 
USG can create "favorable conditions" for this Association to 
operate again.  Duyen further expressed hope that a resurrected 
Vietnam Human Rights and Civil Rights Protection Association could 
work with the current Government of Vietnam to find an "emergency 
escape route" toward "real democracy and fairness," so that a 
healthy Vietnam can be integrated into world economic, political 
and cultural life.  According to his letter, this would be the 
start of a "national mediation and conciliation process." 
 
4. (SBU) Due to their history of armed rebellion, the Hoa Hao have 
always been watched closely by whatever government happens to be 
in power.  Duyen himself has spent nearly half of his 80-plus 
years in prison.   He was arrested several times by the French 
before 1954, three times by the South Vietnamese, including for 
his alleged role in an attempted coup against President Ngo Dinh 
Diem in 1960, and another three times by the GVN.  He was arrested 
most recently in 1991, and released in 1998 as part of a general 
amnesty.  Duyen was a contemporary of Hoa Hao founder Huynh Phu 
So, and appears to command great respect and influence within the 
Hoa Hoa community, both in Vietnam and overseas. 
 
5. (SBU) The Hoa Hao have been greatly factionalized since the 
founder's death in 1947, and Duyen has always claimed to operate 
as something of an honest broker between rival factions.  (Post 
Note: Depending on the source estimates of the number of Hoa Hao 
followers ranges from 1.2 million to 3 million.)  Duyen has also 
generally maintained that the privatistic nature of Hoa Hao 
worship really obviates the need for any sort of formal religious 
association.  He is proud of his contacts with other political and 
religious activists, including outlawed Unified Buddhist Church of 
Vietnam deputy Thich Quang Do (they were released from detention 
on the same day and transported in the same vehicle), Cao Dai 
priest Le Quang Tan, and democracy advocate Dr. Nguyen Dan Que. 
Duyen has recently moved to a small apartment on the outskirts of 
HCMC, which is an improvement over the run-down apartment he had 
occupied since the family home was confiscated by the GVN in 1975. 
His son, formerly a U.S.-trained officer in the South Vietnamese 
Navy, works as a cyclo driver. 
 
6.  (U) Post will forward an unofficial translation of the letter 
to the Desk via separate e-mail. 
YAMAUCHI