US embassy cable - 04HOCHIMINHCITY789

UNCLAS HO CHI MINH CITY 000789 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/BCLTV and DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, SOCI, PGOV, SCUL, PREL, KIRF, VM, RELFREE, HUMANR 
SUBJECT: WELL KNOWN MENNONITE PASTOR DETAINED IN HCMC 
 
REF:  A) HCMC 0232  B) 03 HCMC 0766  C) 03 HCMC 0933  D) 03 HCMC 
 
1215 
E) 03 HCMC 1222 
 
1.  (SBU) On the evening of June 8, ConGen HCMC received 
information from several reliable Protestant contacts that police 
in HCMC had "arrested" Mennonite Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang at his 
home in District 2.  This followed earlier reports that police 
were searching the home, which doubles as an unrecognized house 
church.  One leading HCMC pastor said police had arrived at the 
home at 1:00 p.m., under the pretext of performing some sort of 
property survey.  When Pastor Quang joined them outside, he was 
quickly arrested and transferred to the District 2 police station. 
The police returned an hour later to search Pastor Quang's entire 
home, including his upstairs office.  They also searched the house 
next door, where Pastor Quang maintained office space for his 
unofficial Boy Scout operations.  Family and church members inside 
the home witnessed the arrest and subsequent searches.  They also 
witnessed the police removing many documents from the two 
premises, although they were not allowed to accompany police 
during the search of the upstairs office.  Police continued the 
search until approximately 10:30 p.m. that night. 
 
2.  (SBU) According to one leader of the Vietnam Evangelical 
Fellowship (VEF - a loose association of nearly 30 different 
evangelical house church groups to which Pastor Quang belongs), 
HCMC District 2 police arrested the Mennonite leader at around 
4:00 p.m. on June 8.  When several VEF members attempted to enter 
the pastor's house, police blocked their way.  Some members of the 
VEF leadership telephoned their contacts in the HCMC police force 
to protest the detention and search.  (Post Note: The VEF has 
built a relationship with individual police officers over the past 
few years.  They frequently call these officers for information 
and/or advice.  End note.)  One VEF contact said a high-ranking 
police official had told him that under "orders from the highest 
authority," Pastor Quang would be brought up on charges for 
"acting against the government."  This VEF pastor speculated that 
the arrest probably had something to do with the events of March 4 
(ref A), when Pastor Quang and his colleagues physically attacked 
security officials they believed were surveilling his house, and 
after grappling with them, took their motorcycle.  Police 
eventually detained four individuals in the course of this 
incident.  Police "invited" one of Pastor Quang's assistants, 
Pastor Nguyen Huu Hien, in for questioning on June 9, presumably 
on a related matter. 
 
3.  (SBU) Pastor Quang is a self-described legal expert with plans 
to establish an underground legal defense training and advocacy 
center for religious groups.  While he was unsuccessful in gaining 
GVN recognition as the official legal representative of Father 
Nguyen Van Ly, he somehow managed to talk his way into the trials 
of the imprisoned Catholic priest's niece and two nephews last 
year.  Pastor Quang has also been a key player in several highly 
publicized incidents of alleged GVN religious oppression in HCMC 
over the past year, including the construction of an illegal house 
church in District 2; the destruction of a small chapel in Can Gio 
District; the physical altercation between police and Pastor Bui 
Van Ba at a house church in District 11; and the distribution of 
religious tracts disguised as sports program schedules for the 
Southeast Asia Games (SeaGames) in December 2003 (refs B-D).  In 
the aftermath of the SeaGames incident, Pastor Quang organized a 
sit-in with his followers at the local police station.  He and a 
couple dozen followers remained there until he got a signed 
contract from the police agreeing to release two other followers 
from detention in return for Quang calling off his bold sit-in 
(ref E).   He told Post last year that he has established an 
independent, unregistered Boy Scout organization for Christians 
only. 
 
4.  (SBU) Comment:  This latest GVN move against a well-known 
Protestant pastor is extremely unfortunate, though not entirely 
unexpected.  Details are still sketchy, but Pastor Quang has been 
on the GVN's radar screen for some time.   Pastor Quang's tendency 
to make unsubstantiated claims that do not match what other 
members of the Protestant community have told us about specific 
events, and his increasingly strident rhetoric and militant 
actions have moved some of his VEF colleagues to ask a sympathetic 
foreign missionary to "counsel" him on self-control.  Other 
Protestant contacts in Vietnam have expressed concern that many of 
Pastor Quang's activities are more political than religious.  In 
the past, Pastor Quang has told ConGenoffs that the GVN is 
reluctant to take him on because they know the U.S. is on his 
side.  He has embroidered an American flag on his shirtsleeves, 
challenging security forces to "go ahead and hit me there, because 
if you hit the United States, it will strike back."  It is 
possible that this latest turn of events is based on the results 
of a lengthy and detailed police investigation into Pastor Quang's 
activities over the past few years, and the authorities may not be 
so forgiving this time.  Post will continue to follow up. 
YAMAUCHI