US embassy cable - 05HOCHIMINHCITY847

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HO CHI MINH CITY 000847 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/BCLTV, DRL/IRF 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, KIRF, PGOV, VM, Human Rights, Religious Freedom 
SUBJECT: MENNONITE PASTOR REPORTS ON DISSENTING MEMBERS AND 
GOVERNMENT REGISTRATION PROGRESS 
 
REF:  HCMC 762 
 
1.  (SBU) Summary: In meetings with PolOffs, Pastor Nguyen Quang 
Trung, president of the Vietnam Mennonite Church (VMC), 
characterized relations as amiable between his church and 
government officials at central and provincial levels.  Trung 
claims to represent the entirety of the 8,000-strong Mennonite 
church in Vietnam, with the exception of the breakaway church of 
imprisoned Mennonite Pastor Nguyen Hong Quang.  The two split 
after serious acrimony in mid-2004.  Trung views as relatively 
positive Vietnam's new legal framework on religion and told us the 
VMC had applied for registration with the HCMC Committee on 
Religious Affairs (CRA) in mid-July.  He said he had received 
assistance from the HCMC CRA on the registration and expected the 
process to go smoothly.  He was critical of Pastor Quang for 
mixing his own political views into purely religious matters.  The 
more moderate Trung is generally respected within the local house 
church community; successful registration of his 112 churches 
would be a significant step forward.  End Summary. 
 
The Mennonites: A Brief History 
------------------------------- 
 
2. (SBU) On July 19 and 21, PolOffs met with Pastor Nguyen Quang 
Trung, President of the Vietnam Mennonite Church (VMC), to discuss 
the impact of Vietnam's new legal framework on religion on his 
church.  According to Pastor Trung, VMC has 8,000 believers 
nationwide who worship in 112 house churches in six dioceses. 
They are primarily concentrated in the southern provinces, around 
HCMC and in the Mekong Delta.  Trung explained that the Mennonite 
Central Committee (MCC), the international church's wing for 
social work, began refugee relief work in the south in 1954.  The 
Eastern Mennonite Mission, the division responsible for 
congregational development and pastoral training, came to Vietnam 
in 1957.  Before 1975 the church was very active throughout South 
Vietnam, performing charity work and distributing free medicine. 
The MCC remained in Vietnam following the fall of Saigon. 
 
Split in the Mennonite Church 
----------------------------- 
 
3. (SBU) We held our second meeting with Trung two days after the 
partial demolition of Pastor Quang's home and house church 
(reftel).  Trung said that his relationship with Quang had grown 
increasingly strained prior to Quang's arrest in June 2004.  Trung 
is a pre-1975 VMC leader and was more senior in the VMC hierarchy 
than Quang, who joined the church much later.  However, Trung said 
that when he served as president of the VMC Administrative 
Committee and Quang as vice president and general secretary 
beginning in June 2003, the two initially shared a cordial 
relationship.  This did not last long.  Trung and other house 
church leaders told us of infighting among VMC leaders over how 
far and how hard to agitate against GVN control over religion. 
Trung and Quang in particular clashed on this question; Trung 
preferred a more quiet, gradualist approach, while Quang was more 
of a firebrand in the eyes of Trung and his supporters. 
 
4. (SBU) The split in the church occurred when four of Quang's 
associates, then VMC representatives, attempted to remove Trung as 
President, calling a hastily-organized and sparsely attended 
meeting in November 2004 after Quang's imprisonment.  The board's 
other 10 representatives did not agree with the vote, according to 
Trung.  The pastor stated he then impressed upon Quang's followers 
that religion and secular activities must remain separate.  Trung 
said he believes Quang and his parishioners started to mix 
political and religious issues. 
 
5. (SBU) Trung said he believes the negative votes from Quang's 
associates stemmed from Trung's alleged "sympathy" towards the 
GVN, a claim rooted in Trung's decision to engage with the GVN on 
registration under the new legal framework in spite of Quang's 
imprisonment.  Trung has tried unsuccessfully to speak with 
Quang's wife, Le Thi Phu Dung, since her election to head the 
district 2 parish in June 2005, but he said that Dung made it 
clear that they had parted ways.  Since then, she and Quang's 
followers have severed all contact with Pastor Trung and the 
Vietnamese Mennonite Church. Trung views her election as a church 
leader absurd because of her youth and lack of training.  He sees 
Dung as a self-proclaimed teacher who lacks credibility in a 
larger Mennonite audience. 
 
Impact of the New Legal Framework on Religion 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
6. (SBU) Since 1997, Pastor Trung had tried annually to apply for 
legal recognition from the GVN.  He only received a reply in 2004, 
when he was told that the central government was "considering" his 
request.  Despite the GVN's acknowledgement of the 2004 
application for recognition, Trung was required in 2005 to submit 
all application forms related to registration to the HCMC 
Committee on Religious Affairs (CRA).  Trung told us he had done 
this by mid-July.  He did not anticipate any problems in the 
process, adding that the HCMC CRA had been helpful.  Trung said 
that on June 23, immediately prior to his submission of the 
registration application, the HCMC CRA met with him, along with 
Vietnam Southern Baptist Convention and Seventh Day Adventist 
leaders, to review instructions on registering their churches. 
 
7. (SBU) Trung said he submitted applications for all 112 VMC 
churches, with the exception of Pastor Quang's HCMC district 2 
church.  He had offered to work with Quang's church to include it 
in the registration process, but Quang's parishioners reportedly 
refused to register until their pastor is released from jail. 
(NOTE: Quang was sentenced last November to three years in prison 
on charges of obstructing justice.  END NOTE.)  Trung said he had 
told Dung, Quang's wife and current leader of the district 2 house 
church, that she was putting the followers at risk by not 
registering the church as required by the Ordinance on Religion 
and Faith.  In Trung's opinion, this refusal places "Quang above 
the religion." 
 
8. (SBU) Comment:  While Trung's claim to represent all but one of 
the 112 Mennonite house churches in Vietnam may be overstated, as 
Pastor Quang's activism has made him very popular among many house 
churches, Trung remains a respected leader, according to key 
contacts in the house church community.  The rift between Trung 
and Quang over how to manage the VMC's relationship with the GVN 
mirrors experiences outside the Mennonite Church.  We have seen 
the same tensions in other house church denominations, although 
not to the extent that it generated a formal split in the 
leadership.  Should Trung successfully register the VMC with the 
GVN -- and then be able demonstrate that local officials 
subsequently are facilitating his churches' activities -- it would 
be a major step forward in convincing many fence-sitting house 
churches to move ahead as well.  According to the legal framework 
on religion, in the case of a religious organization with churches 
in multiple provinces, the central-level CRA in Hanoi must rule 
within 60 days, or roughly late September or early October, in 
this case.  Moreover, as a pre-1975 church, if and when 
registered, the VMC also would be eligible to apply for full 
recognition, which would grant the church additional rights.  How 
the GVN plans to handle conversion from registration to 
recognition remains unclear at this time. End Comment. 
 
CHERN