US embassy cable - 05HOCHIMINHCITY949

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HO CHI MINH CITY 000949 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/BCLTV, DRL/IRF 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, SOCI, PREL, PGOV, KIRF, VM, HUMANR, RELFREE 
SUBJECT:  PROBLEMS IN HCMC EXPAT PROTESTANT CHURCH 
 
1. (SBU) Summary: The New Life Fellowship Church (NLF), a 
Protestant church in HCMC that has served primarily the expatriate 
community, has run afoul of Vietnamese authorities, apparently due 
in part to the church's recent outreach to Vietnamese citizens. 
Working with the church's leader and local authorities, ConGen 
HCMC encouraged both sides to launch a dialogue that would result 
in the church's ability to continue its services.  The church 
decided to launch a public campaign on the web, with letters to 
the Vietnamese Prime Minister and to President Bush regarding its 
difficulties.  This may make resolution more difficult and result 
in further confrontation with Vietnamese authorities.  End 
Summary. 
 
2. (SBU) On August 29, HCMC learned that services of the NLF had 
been forcibly cancelled at a Ho Chi Minh City hotel the previous 
day.  PolOff met with the church's pastor, Eric E. Dooley who said 
the church has 500 to 700 expatriate members and has been 
operating unofficially in HCMC since 1997.  Dooley reported that 
HCMC District 5 police had told the Windsor Plaza Hotel to stop 
allowing the NLF to meet at the hotel.  While Dooley was at the 
hotel turning away worshippers from the cancelled service, 
Vietnamese immigration police delivered a summons to his home.  He 
was questioned for three hours regarding his stay in Vietnam under 
a business license, but officials took no further action. (Note: 
Dooley's visa lists his occupation as pastor and is due to expire 
in January 2006.  End note.) 
 
3. (SBU) The initial incident appears to have resulted from the 
confluence of a number of factors since the beginning of the year: 
 
-- The NLF Church moved its services from downtown District 1, 
where most foreigners live and work to District 5 (which includes 
the old Cholon area). 
 
-- The church started advertising in Vietnam News, though VNN two 
weeks ago stopped taking the ads. 
 
-- The church began Vietnamese-language services. 
 
4. (SBU) Dooley recognized that his church was operating outside 
of Vietnamese law, and that ministering to Vietnamese citizens in 
Vietnamese would have been considered more provocative than 
working with expatriates.  He told us that he was willing to stop 
that service if necessary and to examine other ways of 
regularizing his mission here.  We encouraged him to continue to 
maintain a dialogue with the HCMC Committee on Religious Affairs 
(CRA). 
 
5. (SBU) On August 30, Consul General met with the HCMC External 
Relations Office (ERO) to bring this issue to its attention and 
encourage resolution as an expatriate resident and 
investor/business climate type issue.  ERO promised to see what 
could be done.  PolOff followed up with Tran Ngoc Bao, Vice 
Chairman of the HCMC CRA. We emphasized the impact that suspension 
of expatriate services would have on HCMC's image and the business 
climate here.  Bao made clear that there were a number of expat 
congregations operating with no problems (citing Korean groups in 
particular.)  He said that CRA was working with HCMC authorities, 
including police, in an effort to find an amicable resolution to 
the problem.  We encouraged them to continue in that vein. 
 
6. (SBU) Later that day we spoke further with Bao who regretted 
what happened with the NLF Church in District 5.  He said, in what 
we took as a face-saving offer, that the problem lay with the 
hotel management rather than the police.  Bao recommended that 
Pastor Dooley approach the Windsor Plaza Hotel again to see if it 
was amenable to allow services to resume.  If not, he said, the 
church might return to its previous locale in a hotel in District 
1.  Bao added that, if Dooley continued to have problems with the 
police, he should contact the CRA.  Over the longer term, Dooley 
needs to work with the CRA to find a permanent home for the NLF. 
Bao suggested that the NLF might affiliate itself with the 
Southern Evangelical Church of Vietnam (SECV), the officially 
recognized Protestant organization.  Bao agreed to contact Dooley 
to begin a dialogue.  Following that discussion, Dooley agreed to 
contact the District 5 hotel, to work with the CRA and to keep us 
updated on the status of his church. 
 
7. (SBU) On September 6 and 7, we followed up with Pastor Dooley 
who reported that members of the NLF met in 7 different private 
homes to worship on September 4.  According to Dooley, the church 
planned to expand worship to 11 private homes on Sunday, September 
11.  Dooley said that the NLF had "no desire to go creeping back 
into District 1" and would like to resume services at the Windsor 
Plaza Hotel in District 5.  Pastor Dooley also did not plan to 
pursue holding services under the aegis of the SECV, though he did 
note that a meeting with the SECV is "in the works." 
 
8. (SBU) It does not appear that Dooley has been in touch with the 
CRA since August 29.  However, he has initiated a press campaign, 
contacting Time, AP and Reuters, and has written to Prime Minister 
Phan Van Khai and President Bush.  Dooley informed us that his 
Vietnamese parishioners had either returned to their former 
churches to avoid trouble or were worshipping privately in homes. 
 
9. (SBU) Comment:  The NLF Church has been operating for years in 
HCMC without difficulty.  Its decision to initiate and publicize 
outreach to Vietnamese citizens as an unofficial and unregistered 
church is the likely cause of its current problems.  The HCMC 
Committee on Religious Affairs appeared eager to facilitate the 
resumption of services for expats but has not engineered a 
compromise with the NLF. 
WINNICK