US embassy cable - 05HOCHIMINHCITY325

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HO CHI MINH CITY 000325 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, SOCI, PREL, PGOV, KIRF, VM, RELFREE, HUMANR 
SUBJECT: HOA HAO ACTIVISTS PLAN PROTESTS IN SOUTHERN VIETNAM 
 
REF:  A) 04 HCMC 252; B) 01 HCMC 302 
 
1. (SBU) Summary: The California-based Hoa Hao Buddhist 
Organization, Phat Giao Hoa Hao, informed us on March 4 of the 
arrest of two Hoa Hao activists in the Mekong Delta province of An 
Giang.  They are being investigated for distributing audio-visual 
materials without proper licensing.  In a follow-up meeting on the 
arrest with their spiritual leader Le Quang Liem, leader of the 
unrecognized Hoa Hao Central Buddhist Church (HHCBC), Liem 
(strictly protect) focused on a possible gathering of his sect in 
An Giang on April 3.  He said that if the police intervened, his 
followers would demonstrate and some might commit self-immolation. 
We categorically told Liem that while we supported freedom of 
religion and expression and peaceful assembly, we did not condone 
violence in any form and would halt all contact with him if he 
were to encourage his followers to self-immolate.  End summary. 
 
Hoa Hao activists arrested 
-------------------------- 
 
2. (SBU) Nguyen Mai, Director of the California-based Hoa Hao 
Buddhist Organization, Phat Gia Hoa Hao, contacted us on March 4 
to report on the arrest in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang 
of two brothers, Tran Van Thang and Tran Van Hoang, affiliated 
with Hoa Hao dissident Le Quang Liem.  On March 14 Thang's wife, 
Nguyen Thi Hoang Em (strictly protect), told us that on February 
25 An Giang police had arrested the men after a search of the 
house revealed approximately 900 DVDs.  The DVDs contained the 
teachings of Huynh Phu So, the founder of Hoa Hao Buddhism, as 
well as the interpretations of Le Quang Liem.  The police also 
confiscated a significant amount of audio-visual equipment and 
printed materials. 
 
3. (SBU) In response to our inquiries, officials of the An Giang 
Committee for Religious Affairs informed us on March 18 that the 
two men were arrested for illegally possessing, copying and 
disseminating video tapes and disks. They claimed that the two men 
had admitted that since August 2004 they had produced and 
distributed approximately 10,000 disks without government 
authorization.  Our understanding is that the brothers also could 
face indictment for disseminating anti-GVN materials, depending on 
police analysis of the disks' content.  (Note: The copying and 
distribution of audio-visual products is classified as a "business 
activity" under Vietnamese law, and must be licensed by GVN 
authorities.  The brothers had no such license.  End note.) 
 
4.  (SBU) On March 23, we met with the 85-year old spiritual 
leader of an unrecognized Hoa Hao sect, Le Quang Liem, to discuss 
the arrest of his two followers.  (Per ref A, there is a bitter 
split in the Hoa Hao church between a GVN-recognized faction and 
other non-recognized groups.)  Liem (strictly protect) used the 
meeting to advise us that his faction planned to hold a service on 
April 3 to commemorate the anniversary of the disappearance of the 
founder of Hoa Haoism.  (Liem maintains that the Viet Minh 
murdered the Hoa Hao patriarch in 1947).  Liem said that he 
anticipated that the An Giang police would try to prevent the 
gathering and observed that his followers would respond by holding 
public demonstrations, hunger strikes and possibly self- 
immolations.  Liem then urged the USG not to lift Vietnam's CPC 
designation, saying that by doing so "the door of religious 
freedom that was slowly starting to open would be sla-QQM1iut." 
 
5. (SBU) Liem asked what our reaction to self-immolations would be 
and whether we would attend the April 3 ceremony.  He cited the 
1963 self-immolation of a Buddhist monk, Thich Quang Duc, as a 
contributing factor in the fall of the regime of South Vietnamese 
President Diem.  We told Liem that irrespective of CPC 
designation, we would continue to press for greater religious 
freedom in Vietnam.  In that regard, we trusted that local 
authorities would allow Hoa Hao believers to worship peacefully, 
if that was the intent of the gathering.  We underscored that we 
neither condone nor support self-immolation or other acts of 
violence and would not attend the April 3 event.  We reminded Liem 
that the self-immolation of a Hoa Hao activist in 2001 (ref B) had 
not advanced the cause of religious freedom in Vietnam. 
 
6. (SBU) We later met with Liem's daughter and Hoa Hao activist, 
Le Quynh Nga, to discuss her father's planning for the April 3 
event.  Nga (strictly protect) stated that she and other family 
members had attempted to dissuade Liem from promoting self- 
immolation among his followers.  However, she said that her father 
believed that self-immolation might force the GVN to intercede 
with senior An Giang authorities, who in Liem's view have a 
particular hatred of Hoa Haoism dating back to the Vietnam War. 
Nga said that five followers of her father were prepared to commit 
self-immolation. 
 
7. (SBU) Comment: Liem has long been an outspoken critic of the 
GVN and has periodically threatened that he or his followers might 
self-immolate to attract attention to their cause.  His invitation 
for us to attend the April 3 event and his linkages between self- 
immolation and CPC strongly indicate that he is angling for 
greater international attention -- positive or negative -- for his 
cause.  We reiterated that while we staunchly support freedom of 
expression and religion in Vietnam and will follow the case of the 
Tran brothers, we reject self-immolation or any other violent acts 
or any attempts to exploit or manipulate our contact with 
dissidents.  We categorically warned Liem and his daughter that 
should Liem continue to advocate such activity we would suspend 
all contact with him and his organization.  End Comment. 
 
8.  (SBU) Bio note:  Liem was released in July 2004 from three 
years of house arrest stemming from a March 2001 altercation with 
authorities in An Giang province.  Liem, who lives in HCMC, claims 
that the GVN keeps him under 24-hour surveillance, and that he is 
prevented from returning to An Giang -- the spiritual home of the 
Hoa Hao religion, as well as his birthplace.  End Bio note. 
 
WINNICK