US embassy cable - 05HOCHIMINHCITY191

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HO CHI MINH CITY 000191 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, SOCI, PREL, PGOV, KIRF, VM, RELFREE, HUMANR 
SUBJECT: S/P STAFFER'S HCMC CONSULTATIONS ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM 
ISSUES OF THE PROTESTANT COMMUNITY 
 
REF:  A) SECSTATE 29193; B) HANOI 392; C) HCMC 160; D) HCMC 142 
 
1.  (SBU) Summary:  In meetings with visiting S/P staffer William 
Inboden and ConGenOffs in HCMC February 20-23, HCMC officials 
cited the Prime Minister's February 4 "Order on Protestantism" as 
evidence of the GVN's commitment to improve the climate for 
religious practice in Vietnam.  They said the PM's Order clears 
the way for all Protestant denominations to register with relevant 
local government authorities to legalize their status.  Leaders of 
the GVN-recognized Southern Evangelical Church of Vietnam (SECV) 
and Vietnam's house church movement agreed that the overall 
climate for religious practice has improved, even in a number of 
Central Highlands provinces.  They enthusiastically welcomed the 
PM's Order on Protestantism.  However, they pointed to continued 
religious freedom violations, particularly in a number of 
provinces in the Northern and Central Highlands, and the slow 
process of church recognition as evidence that the PM's order may 
not be sufficient to rein in hard-line and obstructionist local 
officials.  They hope that GVN-USG dialogue on religious freedom 
will encourage Vietnam to produce a legal framework that 
streamlines overlapping and sometimes restrictive rules that 
govern religious practice in Vietnam, and that expedites the 
registration of churches.  Ideally, such a legal framework would 
minimize the discretion of local officials.  End Summary. 
 
2. (SBU) Policy Planning Staffer William Inboden visited HCMC from 
February 20-23 to assess religious freedom developments in the 
context of USG-GVN discussions on an action plan to improve 
religious freedom in Vietnam (ref A).  This cable focuses on the 
status of the recognized and unrecognized Protestant churches and 
their reaction to recent GVN initiatives.  Discussions on the 
United Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) and on the status of 
imprisoned Mennonites Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang and Le Thi Hong 
Lien will be reported septel. 
 
The Government and Party:  Vietnam is making real progress 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
3. (SBU) In separate meetings, Deputy Head of the HCMC External 
Relations Office Nguyen Hung Quoc, the Deputy Head of the HCMC 
Committee for Religious Affairs (CRA) Vo Ngoc Hue, and the Vice 
Chairman of the HCMC Fatherland Front Tran Trung Tinh emphasized 
that the PM's February 4 Order on Protestantism (ref B) is but the 
latest step in the GVN's efforts to foster religious freedom. 
They stressed that the GVN welcomes the growing role of religious 
organizations in social and charitable efforts, particularly in 
combating HIV/AIDS (ref C).  The Vice Chair of the Fatherland 
Front said that the GVN approach to religion in the Central and 
Northern Highlands was to prevent the "abuse of religion" and the 
use of religion to encourage separatism, particularly in remote 
areas among impressionable ethnic minorities.  While defending the 
prosecution of Mennonite Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang (ref D) for 
creating "social disorder," he said he hoped Quang and his wife 
might be able to carry out religious activities in accordance with 
the law in the future. 
 
4. (SBU) The CRA deputy told us that over the next few days the 
Central Government will organize instructional meetings in Hanoi 
and HCMC to guide provincial officials in implementing the PM's 
order on Protestantism.  He maintained that the PM's order was 
sufficient legal basis for Protestant groups to apply for 
registration and legalization of status.  He said that for 
registration, a group must certify its membership, identify its 
leader, who need not be an ordained minister, and demonstrate that 
they have a wish to assemble together to conduct religious 
services. 
 
5. (SBU) According to the CRA Deputy, all Protestant denominations 
are eligible to register to legalize their operations under the 
PM's Order.  At a later stage they would be able to apply for GVN 
recognition, which is a more complex process governed by the 
Ordinance on Religion and pending implementation guidelines for 
the ordinance.  Hue said the implementation guidelines would be 
issued by mid-March; the GVN has gone through five drafts already. 
However, the Fatherland Front Vice Chairman said the 
implementation guidelines would not be issued before April. 
 
6. (SBU) The CRA and Fatherland Front differed on whether the 
Ordinance on Religion and the PM's Order on Protestantism 
superseded the 1999 Decree 26 on religion, which, inter alia, made 
non-recognized house churches illegal under Vietnamese law.  The 
CRA Deputy told us that Decree 26 is no longer in effect. 
However, the Vice Chair of the HCMC Fatherland Front told us that 
only "certain" portions of Decree 26 were rendered obsolete and 
the remainder of the Decree remained in force.  Leaders of the GVN- 
recognized Southern Evangelical Church of Vietnam (SECV) and key 
Protestant house church leaders told us that Decree 26 continues 
to be cited by local government and police officials as 
justification for taking action against non-recognized churches. 
 
The SECV 
-------- 
7. (SBU) Pastors Thai Phuoc Truong, Duong Thanh and Phan Quang 
Thieu, senior members of the executive board of the SECV (all 
strictly protect), said the climate for religious freedom in 
Vietnam continues to improve.  They welcomed the PM's Order on 
Protestantism after having reviewed unofficial drafts publicized 
on the internet.  In the SECV's view, one of the most significant 
improvements of the order was that it appears to direct provincial 
and local People's Committees to register new churches.  In the 
SECV's view this is a critical improvement as prior instructions 
were issued through the Committee for Religious Affairs, which has 
no authority over provincial governments. 
 
8. (SBU) In response to the PM's order, the SECV has begun to 
consider a new push to register its approximately 600 unrecognized 
churches.  Before moving ahead, the SECV awaits official 
notification from the GVN as to how the PM's order will be 
implemented.  The SECV also desires a detailed explanation on how 
the order will mesh with other rules and regulations governing 
religious practice in Vietnam, including the yet-to-be issued 
implementing guidelines for the Ordinance on Religion. 
 
9. (SBU) The SECV leadership told us that they are taking this 
cautious approach because of their past negative experience in 
working with the GVN on the recognition of new churches.  They 
noted that almost immediately after the GVN recognized the SECV in 
2001 it also recognized some 400 SECV churches.  However, since 
then, GVN recognition of other churches has been frustratingly 
slow.  They said that in 2003, after the Central Committee for 
Religious Affairs issued a directive on "normalization of 
operation of churches in the Central Highlands," the SECV 
submitted a list of churches to the various provincial authorities 
for registration.  Almost all those applications were denied; 
local authorities cited Decree 26 as justification for their 
denial.  At this point, the SECV desires -- at a minimum -- for 
its churches to be allowed to operate normally, as the 
registration process moves forward. 
 
10. (SBU) The SECV officials told us that the organization has 
1032 churches from Quang Tri in the Central region to Ca Mau in 
the Mekong Delta.  Of those, roughly 400 are GVN-recognized.  The 
SECV places its churches in three categories:  those with a 
building, pastor and financial self-sufficiency; those with a 
building and a pastor but dependent on the SECV organization for 
financial support; and "satellite" or "sub-branch" churches that 
lack an official pastor, building or financial self-sufficiency. 
The SECV leaders told us that the vast majority of unrecognized 
SECV churches are in the Central Highlands; the majority of these 
are house churches or "meeting points" that operate as a branch or 
satellite of a recognized church.  The SECV leaders told us that 
the SECV has made some progress in Gia Lai, Dak Nong and Binh 
Phuoc (the latter technically is not part of the Central 
Highlands, but has a predominantly ethnic minority SECV 
membership) in securing local government recognition of new 
churches and receiving permission to operate satellite churches. 
In Lam Dong province the situation varies from district to 
district.   However, in Dak Lak province, other than four 
recognized churches, no other SECV facility has been allowed to 
operate.  They admit that their ability to monitor the state of 
the SECV in Dak Lak is extremely limited, as Dak Lak SECV 
representatives routinely are denied permission to travel within 
the province.  (A province-by-province breakdown for SECV churches 
in the Central Highlands is listed in appendix A.) 
 
House Church Movement: cautious but positive 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
11. (SBU) We met with four leaders representing the Protestant 
house church movement throughout Vietnam:  the Vietnam Evangelical 
Fellowship (VEF), the Christian Interfellowship Church (CIC), the 
Vietnam Good News Mission (VGNM) and the Christian Fellowship of 
Vietnam (CFV).  The VEF claims to have over 2,000 house churches 
and 200,000 worshipers; the CIC 1,511 house churches with over 
150,000 members; the CFV claims 500 house churches with 50,000 
members.  The VGNM says it supports 671 house churches and focuses 
much of its efforts on ethnic minorities in the Northern and 
Central Highlands.  The majority of the VGNM churches are 
affiliated with the SECV and ECVN. 
 
12. (SBU) The house church leaders acknowledged improvement in 
religious freedom in Vietnam in recent months.  Meetings with 
local officials are "warmer and more relaxed."  The vast majority 
of their house churches now are able to operate without police 
harassment, particularly in non-ethnic minority areas.  In one 
notable case in an HCMC suburb, a chagrined policeman actually 
apologized to the pastor of a house church for attempting to stop 
a service the previous Sunday. 
 
13. (SBU) However, religious freedom violations persist, 
particularly in the Northwest Highlands province of Lao Cai and 
the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak.  According to the VGNM 
pastor, in November and December 2004 in Lao Cai the members of 
five ethnic Hmong house churches reportedly were pressured to 
renounce their faith.  As a result, 22 Hmong families fled to Dak 
Lak, Dak Nong and Binh Thuan provinces in the south, where they 
face an uncertain future.  The CFV leader related another 
incident, where 19 house churches and 3,000 ethnic Hmong from 
Thanh Hoa Province in northern Vietnam relocated to Dak Nong 
Province to avoid harassment.  Other church leaders described 
incidents in the central province of Phu Yen and in the Mekong 
Delta province of Ca Mau where hard-line village and district- 
level officials attempted to force house churches to close and 
declared that Protestantism is a U.S. plot to undermine the Party. 
 
14. (SBU) The house church leaders welcomed the PM's order on 
Protestantism, although they believed it was more a ploy to avoid 
CPC sanctions than a fundamental change of GVN approach toward 
religion.  Nonetheless, they hope to be able to legalize their 
status, but are hesitant to act until the GVN ensures that the 
procedures for doing so are clear and consistent across Vietnam. 
They also await the issuance of the implementation guidelines for 
the Ordinance on Religion.  The house church leaders expressed 
concern that the GVN would try and manipulate the new legal 
framework to encourage house churches to join the GVN-recognized 
SECV or its Hanoi counterpart, the Evangelical Church of Vietnam 
North (ECVN). 
 
The Mennonites 
-------------- 
 
15. (SBU) Le Thi Phu Dung, wife of the imprisoned Mennonite leader 
Pastor Quang, told us that her church welcomes the PM's order on 
Protestantism; her church would consider applying for 
normalization of status, but was doubtful that such an application 
would be approved.  She said that her church continues to face 
police harassment and that worshipers are being intimidated.  Her 
Mennonite organization also is grappling with an internal schism 
as a rival pastor has broken away from Quang's organization to 
form a separate Mennonite church.  (Dung's update on the condition 
of her husband and that of the apparently mentally ill Mennonite 
prisoner Le Thi Hong Lien are reported septel.) 
 
16. (SBU) Comment:  The SECV, Vietnam's single largest Protestant 
organization, and key leaders of the house church movement are 
responding positively, albeit cautiously, to GVN overtures.  They 
are not looking for specific numbers of churches to be recognized 
under the PM's Order on Protestantism.  Rather, they hope that the 
Ordinance on Religion, its implementation guidelines and the PM's 
Order on Protestantism will create a positive legal framework that 
streamlines the hodgepodge of conflicting, overlapping and 
restrictive rules that govern religious practice in Vietnam. 
Ideally, such a legal framework would minimize the discretion of 
local officials and have a clear appeals process.  The end result 
of having such a system in place would be greater numbers of house 
churches registered and afforded the opportunity to apply for full 
GVN recognition.  End Comment. 
 
Appendix A:  SECV Churches in the Central Highlands 
 
Gia Lai:  70,784 worshipers in 150 churches of which 17 or 18 are 
recognized by the GVN.  (Note: the head of the SECV board in Gia 
Lai told us the SECV has over 75,000 worshipers and roughly 440 
churches and "meeting points." 
 
Dak Lak:  98,358 worshipers in 204 churches, of which 4 are 
recognized.  (Note: the SECV board in Dak Lak told us there were 
nearly 125,000 worshipers in 400+ churches and "meeting points.") 
 
Dak Nong:  24,242 worshipers in 82 churches, of which 1 is GVN- 
recognized. 
 
Lam Dong: 64,946 worshipers in 230 churches, of which 10 are GNV- 
recognized. 
 
Kontum: 480 worshipers in four churches, none are GVN-recognized. 
 
Binh Phuoc:  61,542 members in 150 churches, of which 3 are GVN- 
recognized.  (Note that while Binh Phuoc technically is not 
considered part of the Central Highlands, the SECV tells us its 
membership there is predominately ethnic minority.) 
 
WINNICK