US embassy cable - 03HOCHIMINHCITY520

UNCLAS HO CHI MINH CITY 000520 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
Department for EAP/BCLTV and DRL 
 
E. O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, SOCI, VM, RELFREE, HUMANR 
SUBJECT: PROTESTANTS IN QUIET STAND OFF WITH POLICE OVER NEW HOUSE 
CHURCH 
 
 
1.  (SBU)  A group of 50-100 Protestant believers has been working 
around the clock for two days to construct a new (unrecognized) 
branch church in HCMC, in defiance of local police and government 
officials.  The situation has remained peaceful thus far, but at 
least one pastor on the scene has encouraged his followers to 
physically resist any attempts to stop construction or disperse 
the believers.  Protestants working at the site say anywhere from 
50 to 200 police and other local government officials have been 
present at various times during the construction.  They accuse the 
government of employing undercover policemen and hired thugs in an 
attempt to provoke a confrontation.  Police  allegedly interfered 
with the shipment of construction materials -- taking custody of 
at least one vehicle, though after the supplies had been removed 
by the Protestant believers.  Police have also allegdly warned 
local merchants not to sell to the group.  In spite of this, 
construction of the prefabricated structure, which began at 5:00 
am on June 9, is slated to be completed early on June 11 local 
time.  Some pastors at the scene took the initiative, contacted a 
Time correspondent in Hanoi, and were interviewed by telephone 
today. 
 
2.  (SBU)  According to regular ConGen contacts in the Protestant 
community, the new church is being constructed on a parcel of land 
in District 2 owned by a GVN-recognized Southern Evangelical 
Church of Vietnam (SECV) pastor from District 9.  The government 
ordered an earlier church on the same site demolished some years 
ago, after which the congregation continued to worship outdoors 
for several more months before the government finally clamped down 
completely.  Local authorities have allegedly denied numerous 
written applications over the intervening years to build a new 
structure on this site.  The reason given is that while the 
District 9 church has been recognized, a church on this District 2 
parcel of land has neither been approved for construction nor as a 
"branch" of the older church.  Post's contacts admit that 
officials at the ward level have apparently issued an order 
explicitly denying permission to build and authorizing local 
officials to remove any illegal construction.  But they also claim 
that the HCMC People's Committee and Committee on Religious 
Affairs have recently given them some form of unwritten, informal 
consent to proceed. 
 
3.  (SBU)  A Protestant pastor not directly associated with the 
new church told Poloff this evening that the law actually allows 
construction to begin if the government fails to respond to an 
application for a building permit within three weeks.  ConGen is 
unable to verify this assertion at this time, but this could be 
the passive, informal "permission" on which these believers base 
their case.  In the meantime, this same pastor believes the police 
are unlikely to crack down on such a large group out in the open. 
YAMAUCHI