Vietnam: The Anti-Christian Campaign in Vietnam Revealed

In March a fact-finding mission to Vietnam was sponsored by the Washington, DC based human rights organization International Christian Concern (ICC). The mission revealed disturbing information, including documents that were hand-carried out of the country. The government of Vietnam has been misleading the international community by pretending to be making improvements in human rights and religious freedom. The government of Vietnam has been glossing over human rights violations while intensifying its anti-Christian campaign.

To assess current human rights conditions, the ICC delegation met with pastors from the following tribal groups: Bahnar, Bru, Chrau, Ede, Hmong, Hre, Katu, Jarai, Kor, Mnong, Sanchi, Stieng, Zao.

All of the tribal groups face opposition from governmental authorities, though to varying degrees. Some groups still have a few buildings in which to meet (the Chrau and the Hre). Most have had their properties seized by the government. The Jarai of the central highlands (near Pleiku) have seen increased restrictions since a public protest in 2001 in which thousands of tribal Christians demonstrated to seek property rights and religious freedom. Initially, the government allowed them to return home. Later, however, the local authorities came back and arrested many of the participants one-by-one. Some were sentenced to 10-15 year prison terms. Others fled to Cambodia. Travel to and from the region has been restricted until recently.

The greatest obstacles faced by the Vietnamese people who desire to come to the Christian faith include ancestor worship and the brutality of the local authorities. People who become Christians are discriminated against and may be watched, fined, they lose their job, their children are not allowed in school, their movements are restricted, and they are omitted from any government assistance during floods that commonly plague the country.

Imprisonment of pastors is a frequent occurrence. Many of them are able to carry out church activities. The government tries to disrupt church activities and disband church groups through a variety of methods. All the groups have faced repeated harassment by local authorities through frequent questioning and observation. Any activity that is deemed "unauthorized" (typically an arbitrary determination) may be interrupted.

One of many reports of persecution by the government included one report from a pastor of the Katu tribe. He reported that the 450 Christians of his community are able to meet only in small groups because the local authorities keep a very close eye on them. Their meetings are moved around so they can't be easily detected. In August 2001, a house church meeting was raided by the police. The Christians were told to give their names and addresses of everyone in attendance. The police then confiscated all their belongings. They also took everyone in for questioning, even the children. They destroyed the home of the family who had hosted the meeting. The believers pleaded with the police not to beat the pastor.

Last Christmas (2001), when a number of Katu Christians from other areas were traveling to celebrate Christmas with fellow believers, the local authorities turned them back. One person refused and was badly beaten in the face.

The Hmong of the Chinese border region are presently suffering the most. There are approximately 600,000 Hmong living in this region, of which over 14,000 have escaped to the central highlands in the last five years. There are long-standing animosities between the Hmong and the Communists as the Hmong were trained to fight as U.S. allies during the Vietnam War. The cultural differences of language and dress cause them to stand out in the Vietnamese cities, and they face constant discrimination from the Vietnamese as a result. Many are afraid to go into the cities because they are treated so badly.

The Hmong pastors are commonly taken from their homes at night while the family sleeps. The pastors are taken away to prison and often the families are not told where they have been taken. As a result, many families lose contact for months before they are able to find out where they have been taken. In prison, the pastors must perform forced labor at brick kilns for 10 hours a day, 7 days a week. If they don't work, they don't get food for that day. Even if they are ill, they must try to work or they will get no food. The pastors are sentenced arbitrarily, though they usually serve 3-year terms. During this time the families are left too survive on their own.

In a number of localities, the authorities prevent pastors from leaving their villages after dark. There have been a number of instances when a policeman has been assigned to live in a pastor's home, eat the family's food, and monitor the family's activities.

During the past five years 14,000 Hmong Christians fled their homes and migrated to the central highlands. Now under stricter control, it has become more difficult to escape. Recently, however, 26 people tried to escape the persecution by leaving their homes and running to the remote jungle regions, where they still remain. Others have taken the more costly option of relocating to the central highlands. In the last 3 months (Dec 2001 - Feb 2002), 160 families have relocated to Dak Lak province. To do so, some walked 7 days through the jungle to reach a main road. Then they took a 2-day bus ride to Dak Lak. They leave everything for fear of drawing attention to themselves and being stopped. But this leaves them with no money to start over. Some families are near despair and some are considering giving up their faith to return to their Northern homes where they can make a living.

Conditions in the northern border regions appear to be worsening. The political leaders in the provinces of Lao Cai (including Lao Cai's head: Giang Seo Phu), Lai Chau, Ha Giang and Tuyen Quang have declared their intent over radio and television to eliminate Christian activity by the end of 2002 and if any remain by 2004 they will be driven into the jungles. Many Hmong Christians have written letters to the central Vietnamese government to ask for religious freedom, but the authorities have responded with more persecution claiming that the Christians are "disturbing the social peace." This has driven many Hmong near the breaking point, believing their situation to be hopeless.

Coincident with the increased persecution, the government is planning to host a cultural festival in Bac Ha (in Lao Cai province) for April 26, 2002 to demonstrate "religious freedom" to the outside world. Diplomats and religious leaders from around the world are slated to appear on the guest list.

In contradiction to the government's planned façade, in January 2002, seven families in Sinh Chai (in the Bac Ha district) were forced to relocate after the local authorities took all their belongings and divided them among themselves. Those who were unable to run away were beaten until their faces were bruised and swollen. In Bat Sat, even family prayer has been forbidden and Christian families are often watched to make sure they obey.

2. Introduction

The Tran Xoan Documents

Anti-Christian Campaign in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Revealed

What follows are five very recent letters that have been translated from Vietnamese into English. They were given to human rights workers from the organization International Christian Concern (ICC) who visited Vietnam in March 2002. These letters indisputably document religious discrimination, harassment and persecution in Vietnam.

Background: In the late 1980's Hmong minority people in Vietnam's northwest provinces responded to the Christian message. Within a short time, in a remarkable indigenous movement, thousands had converted to Christianity, finding solace in its message and hope in the Christian communities that formed. Vietnamese authorities reacted strongly to this new "superstition" and tried to marginalize it in orthodox Marxist fashion. In the mid-nineties, however, authorities radically changed their tactics and began promoting traditional Hmong culture and religion as an antidote to Christianity. Until this time it too had also been despised and considered backward superstition. But then the communist authorities began to recruit traditional Hmong leaders who were not Christians to help lead the attacks against the converts to Christianity.

The first document is a translation of an appeal letter written by a Hmong Christian believer named Vang Seo Su on behalf of a group of Hmong Christians of Tran Xoan Hamlet, Thai Nien Commune, Bao Thang District, Lao Cai Province in the northwest region of Vietnam along the China border. This letter is dated 31 December 2001. This particular copy is addressed to the Fatherland Front in Hanoi. Other copies of this letter were also addressed to other Communist Party and government offices. It appears from the government answer to the appeal that a similar letter was also written to the Bureau of Religious Affairs of the Central Government.

This appeal is like hundreds of other letters over the last decade that have been patiently and politely addressed to Vietnam's authorities at all levels by Hmong converts to Christianity, complaining about abuses and asking for religious freedom. Most such appeals are simply ignored. What distinguishes this letter is that it actually elicited a revealing written reply from the government, which appears here as the third document.

The second document is a terse report by the author of the appeal, briefly describing a raid by officials on his house a week or so after he and others had delivered the appeal to the authorities.

The third document is the official written reply sent from the Lao Cai Provincial Committee on Ethnic and Religious Affairs. This official government reply letter refers to a second appeal written by another author, a Mr. Cu Seo Sang, who describes similar persecution in Khe Den I Hamlet in the same commune. That appeal letter is not in hand but the author's reply to the government's letter is. It is not included as it very similar to the parallel letter of Vang Seo Su.

The fourth document is a detailed letter written by the author of the appeal in which he replies to the government's answer to the original appeal that was delivered by the Hmong Christians. In addressing it to the Bureau of Religious Affairs, the author is in effect going over the heads of the committee which wrote the reply. This letter offers significant insights into the sophistication, both political and theological, of Hmong Christians in Vietnam.

The fifth document is a brief general SOS written in sheer frustration and hopelessness. In it the author appeals to the United Nations General Assembly, and to the other Evangelicals Christians in the world through the World Evangelical Alliance, and the international community in general. He wistfully suggests that theses bodies send representatives to his hamlet to see for themselves and intervene to solve the problem.

3. First Document

AN APPEAL

We are Hmong people of the Tran Xoan Hamlet, Thai Nien Commune, Bao Thang District, Lao Cai Province.

We have been followers of the Protestant Christian faith, the kind widely practiced in Vietnam, from 1989 until the present time. We have suffered all kinds of adversity and persecution at the hands of local officials because of our religion. They pressure us to give up our faith and deny us freedom. They also confiscate our property.

Here is an example. On 24/12/1996 they came and destroyed and confiscated our property at the time we were together celebrating a Christmas worship service. They confiscated items mentioned below and did the things listed.

Beginning in 1989 we have been persecuted to try to get us to give up our faith. This persecution continues to this day and is lead by a Mr. Giang Seo Lenh. Also a Mr. Vang A Pao, who is now the chief of Tran Xoan Hamlet has joined with the Commune and the District in order to persecute us. Here is another concrete example.

On 5/7/2001, at 9:00 PM on a Thursday evening, we were meeting together for prayer at the home of Mr. Vang Seo Vang. Officials from the commune, the district and the province joined with hamlet officials to harass us while we prayed. They confiscated two songbooks, a Bible, and an audio tape belonging to the family of Vang Seo Vang.

On 8/7/2001 at 7:40 AM, on a Sunday morning, we were praying together at the home of Vang Seo Vang. When the following people came to the home:

These men confiscated 16 notebooks in which people had hand copied Christian songs, and a Bible that we used for responsive reading.

On 15/7/2001 at 7:00 AM on a Sunday morning, as we were gathered for worship and prayer, these same people with five more whose names we did not get, burst into the home of Vang Seo Vang. They threatened us, dragged us outside and told us to hold our small children in the air above our heads. And they have harassed us many more times. Mr. Do Quy, a local PSP, told us we were following Americans and that Americans were inciting us. These words are intended to slander us. We are citizens of Vietnam, born in Vietnam. We don't know anything about Americans or even where America is!

We are believers in Protestant Christianity. There is supposed to be freedom to believe and freedom not to believe and presumably all citizens are equal before this law.

But they say that in following Christianity we are breaking the law and therefore we do not have the rights of other citizens.

On 31/10/2001 during a meeting of Tran Xoan Hamlet, a cadre named Nguyen Van Phuong (we are not sure of his position) proclaimed that we had broken the law and therefore no longer had the authority to vote or participate in civic affairs. However, we completely fulfill our duties as citizens, paying taxes and supporting the government. So how can they say we have no rights as citizens? We are not even allowed to join public organizations. Because we are Christians they say, no.

Probably the worst we have been treated is illustrated in the following story. On 25/12/2001 at 10:30 AM, a team of people representing the four levels of government - the hamlet, the commune, the district, and the province, again came to harass us at the home of Vang Seo Vang. They confiscated two audio tapes and a Christian songbook.

These people and 14 more whose names we do not know, absolutely forbade us to celebrate Christmas, and confiscated the items mentioned for no reason and refused to give an official receipt.

Also, that same day, 25/12/2001 at 6:00 PM in the evening, we were preparing a Christmas worship service at the home of Vang Seo Vang. The team mentioned above, representing the four levels of government - the hamlet, the commune, the district and the province, and a group of women, about 20 people in all, came again. At 7:00 PM a number of this gang of 20 forced themselves into the home of Vang Seo Vang. The rest stood outside the doorway and in the yard and prevented Christians from entering the house. Those who managed to get near the house were grabbed and pushed or dragged away into the yard. They threatened those in the house with handcuffs and dragged them outside.

Among these were people with small children in carriers on their backs. Some people were hurt while being dragged out and they cried and screamed. Chenh and Hoa were thrown to the ground. Giang Seo Chenh has a small child on his back. They carted off some property, including 15 chairs and a large curtain measuring 2m x 4m. They roughed up people. Four were injured.

That night the authorities made us and our small children very worried and confused. Our children cried and screamed. They inflicted on us endless pain and suffering.

Mr. Giang Seo Lenh, Deputy Chief of the PSP of Tran Xoan Hamlet has slandered us about all kinds of things. He has taken the goods mentioned above without giving us official receipts and for no reason. On Christmas night they harassed and hurt us from 6:00 to 9:00 PM, preventing us from celebrating Christmas worship.

We have been Protestant believers since 1989. Since then we have suffered endless harassment and persecution. We already live in great hardship, and they just pile on more unnecessary hardships.

So, together, we Christians would like to make an appeal. By this petition we plead with the government to please try to provide us with favorable conditions, and to please allow us to follow the Protestant Christianity of Vietnam. And please permit us to practice the ceremonies and rituals of our Christian faith in our hamlets and homes.

We promise that we will implement all the policies of the government. We thank the Party and the government for considering our appeal to provide us with favorable conditions and for helping us Hmong people. Thank you very much.

We continue with more evidence of how our people are harassed and persecuted. On 12/12/2001 at 6:35 AM on Sunday morning, a group of officials again came to harass us at the home of Vang Seo Vang. These were the same people we have named above, and they

brought with them some 30 other people from Tran Xoan Hamlet. They stopped us from entering the house of Vang Seo Vang to worship and pray. Some of these people went into the house and others stayed outside blocking the doorways and the road to Vang Seo Vang's house - preventing us from worshipping and dragging us out of the house.

At 8:00 AM they arrested Vang Seo Vang and forbade us from worshipping and praying anymore. They ordered us home, but we refused to leave. But they were determined to stop us and so they arrested:

They took us to the school, ostensibly to interrogate us. But when we got there they did not say anything. They produced handcuffs and threatened us abusively, making some of the onlookers cry. Then a cadre named Vuong who is connected with the maternity clinic (we are not sure of his exact job) handcuffed Mr. Vang Seo Cha without any arrest warrant. They hauled the three of us (Vang Seo Vang, Vang Seo Su, and Vang Seo Pao) to the Thai Nien Commune. The ordered us to make our people give up Christianity to cease praying, but we refused to sign such an agreement.

Then a Mr. Thanh of the Thai Nien Commune defense force, and another man whose name we don't know, began to beat Vang Seo Vang and Vang Seo Pao on the sides of their heads. Then they put each of us in a separate room for two and half hours without any papers to arrest or keep us.

At 9:05 PM, Mr. Giang Seo Lenh, PSP of Tran Xoan Hamlet said: "The Protestant faith is American." But we have seen no Americans.

At 9:15 PM, Mr. Vang A Pao, the chief of Tran Xoan Hamlet, told us that the group of officials that came to harass us for following Christianity were sent by Mr. Giang Seo Phu, the Party Secretary of Lao Cai Province who did not allow us to follow the religion.

Also, about 9:15 PM, Mr. Giang Seo Lenh said: "The General Secretary of the Communist Party, Mr. Nong Duc Manh, will not allow you Hmong people to believe in the Christian faith."

They also said that we did not yet have permission, but we have asked permission many times. Evidence as follows:

And so, continually, our group of Christians has been harassed by officials of the hamlet, the commune, the district, and the province, who have banded together to persecute us and pressure us to give up our religious faith. So, therefore, we would like to know clearly, what are the government's regulations on religious freedom, and why are we subjected to endless harassment and persecution, and to the damages we have described above? They continue to refuse us permission to follow the Christian religion.

According to the constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the government's Decree on Religion No. 26, we the followers of Christianity, are not treated the same as other people are. Why do other ethnic groups receive permission to have their own church buildings and chapels, and permission to have priests and pastors to perform religious leadership functions? No one harasses or persecutes them, but our people are forced to experience all kinds of hardships.

We appeal to all concerned offices of the Central Government, the province, the district, the commune and hamlet levels, and all other citizens of religious belief, to please examine the constitution and Religion Decree No. 26, to tell us if these documents indeed exclude some ethnic groups from the freedom of religion. And look to see if some ethnic groups are to be singled out for different treatment and harassment, and to be subjected to legal discrimination and prosecution.

In summary, we Christians join together to propose to the government and all concerned offices of the Central Government, grant us Hmong people of Tran Xoan Hamlet the freedom of religion, which is the right of our citizens.

We plead with you. We wait expectantly, hoping each minute and each second, that you will give us written permission to worship and pray.

4. Second Document

Report of Vang Seo Su - written at 1500 hours on 11/1/2002

They took these items without giving any reason and without issuing a receipt. Then they ordered me to appear at the commune office.

Also, in Tran Xoan Hamlet, they (the authorities) said they would provide cement for the foundations of three houses, but in the end they refused to give it because the families concerned were Christian believers.

5. Third Document

SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM
Independence - Freedom - Happiness

LAO CAI PROVINCIAL PEOPLES' COMMITTEE
COMMITTEE FOR MINORITY AND RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS

On the January 22, 2002 you two men approached the Lao Cai Provincial Committee on Minority and Religious Affairs to present a petition asking the province to approve that a number of families in your respective hamlets be granted freedom of religion to follow the Protestant faith. To it was attached a request of the Bureau of Religious Affairs of the Central Government asking our Provincial Committee on Minority and Religious Affairs to reply to you. So after taking a look at your petition, the Provincial Committee on Minority and Religious Affairs replies as follows:

We request you to give the petition you sent to the Bureau of Religious Affairs of the Central Government to the Commune and to the Provincial Committee to be examined: According to receipt document from the Bureau of Religious Affairs of the Central Government, your petition was received on 07/01/2001, and it says the petition sent to our Lao Cai provincial Committee, is dated 30/12/2001. But the petition you gave to our Provincial Committee on Minority and Religious Affairs is dated 20/01/2002. This means that you didn't copy us on the original petition but you rewrote it and this is against the rules and makes it very hard for us to examine it and reply to you. Therefore we ask that you provide for us the original petition that you gave to the Bureau of Religious Affairs of the Central Government, to the Commune and the Provincial committee so that we can compare and can appropriately reply to the Bureau of Religious Affairs of the Central Government.

Based on the contents of the petition and the referral slip, the Provincial Committee on Minority and Religious Affairs answers you by raising a number major problems, as follows:

1/ First Problem: About the number of families in the two hamlets who have followed the Protestant religion since 1989 until now, which you say the local government authorities forbid to follow the Protestant faith, because, the authorities say, they have not yet asked permission and because they were influenced and lured by bad elements. Our answer:

To say that they were forbidden to follow the religion is not entirely correct. The local government officials of all levels are correctly implementing the policies of the Party and the government and are not forbidding religion but they are forbidding illegal activities, such as spreading and preaching the Gospel, calling meetings, receiving and using all kinds of illegal holy books and literature, and establishing religious organizations in your hamlets and villages, teaching literacy in the new Hmong script, establishing a church treasury, propagandizing against the regime, stirring up the people to migrate . . . in other words, all the illegal activities above have caused our officials to spend a lot of energy trying to educate and explain things to you, but you just won't listen and are determined to keep on with your illegal activities which disturb the peace and have other bad results.

Why do we start out by calling these "illegal activities"? The fact that a few individuals in your hamlets just get out there and organize and preach the Gospel is against both the internal Religious Law and State Law.

Religious Law: In Chapter VII, section 9, item 1 of the constitution of the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (Northern Section) it stipulates that only proper officials of the church (that is ordained pastors or reverends) have the authority to preside over preaching the Gospel, performing baptisms and other religious ceremonies.

State Law: Section 16 of Decree on Religion no. 26 stipulates that if people who are not duly authorized and ordained officials of the religion perform the duties of those proper leaders, they are considered imposters and law-breakers and they must face administrative actions or legal investigation.

Section 8 of Decree on Religion no. 26 states that if a religious organization operates contrary to its guiding principles and goals, or its approved methods, or its organizational structure, it loses its right to operate and the offending individuals will be judged according to the law.

The fact that various levels of local officials told you that you were following religion without having asked permission is correct. The reason we say "without having asked permission" is because you are not the ones to ask. Only the leaders of the General Assembly of the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (North) or some official they delegate, has the authority to approach the Central Government or the various levels of local government about this.

And asking permission includes all of the following religious activities: Preaching or spreading the religion, performing religious ceremonies, and organizing the religion . . . all these things require prior permission. If the church organization wants to establish new local congregations, it must get permission before it establishes them (stipulation of Section 8 of Decree on Religion no. 26 of the Central Government). And for permission to start a common fund for donations, you have to have the permission of the Provincial Peoples' Committee of the province (stipulation of Section 12 of the Decree on Religion no. 26), and about traveling around, and using Bibles and religious literature (stipulations are in Section 14 of Decree on Religion no. 26).

About your saying that you were not deceived and lured into the religion but rather chose it on our own. This we cannot accept. Let us ask you, who deceived you about the king of the Hmong, and said you should give your animals to Lord of Heaven and said that the Hmong king was about to appear and that you should get ready to welcome him? Who told you that if you follow the Lord you will have a wonderful easy life and you won't have anything to fear

or worry about? Who told you that in the year 2000 the world would explode and whoever followed the Lord would go up to heaven, and whoever didn't would die? Who told you to speak ill of your ancestors and blame them for the hardships of your children? Who incited you to want a king of your own, a country of your own, and said that for this you had to go to the west, the direction where the sun sets, and there you will find freedom to follow the (Christian) religion? And who by all this caused you great hardships and divided you from other people?

2/ Second Problem: About the matter in which you say that earlier petitions you sent to all local levels of government as well as to the Central Government and never received a reply, here is our answer.

3/ Third problem: About the matter of asking for the freedom to follow the Protestant religion and to become part of the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (North) and doing religious activities, here is our answer.

This means that freedom has limits, according to the framework that is agreed upon and the laws that have been decided, and that one cannot use freedom as a pretext to get out of the framework.

Recently among those who followed the religion, after they had listened to some cadre explain things, some people understood and they quit doing religious activities. Now that is a good thing which is to be warmly welcomed. But there are still some stubborn and determined people who refuse to heed the teaching of the cadre.

Above are a few ideas of the Committee in answer to the petition received, and if something is not clear, continue to discuss your ideas with the Committee.

6. Fourth Document

SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM
Independence - Freedom - Happiness

On 22/1/2002 we appealed to the Lao Cai Provincial Committee on Ethnic and Religious Affairs (hereafter "LCCERA") to accept us and grant us freedom of religion to follow the Protestant faith of Vietnam, and we were promised an answer in 15 days. But for a whole month we did not receive an answer.

On 25/2/2002, only after we went in person did we receive a letter and some answers from the LCCERA.

We are very grateful to the Committee. However, after our group of Christians examined and discussed the reply, we are unable to accept a number of issues and some of the answers in the reply letter.

In the letter you say we ask to follow the Vang Chu religion ("Vang Chu may be translated as the "Religion of the Lord of Heaven - translator), but in our appeal we did not write that we asked permission to follow the "Vang Chu religion". Vang Chu is a Hmong word which means God, Heavenly Father, or Jehovah, etc.

About your "first idea": Your Committee says, that we are to submit to you the appeal we wrote to the Bureau of Religious Affairs of the Central Government (hereafter BRA-CG), and that you know about this other appeal by a receipt paper signed by the BRA-CG. However, the appeals we wrote to the BRA-CG and the one to the LCCERA have a different slant and were written on a different date.

Our answer is that our letter to the BRA-CG had many concrete illustrations and recommendations to the BRA-CG and other central government offices to help them solve some of our problems. The appeal we sent to you, the LCCERA, was to ask the provincial committee on religion to accept and register a number of Hmong families as Christians belonging to the Protestant Christianity of Vietnam.

The matter whether the appeal addressed to the BRA-CG should be sent to the province, is up to the central government

On the "first problem", you say we say that local government officials forbid us and do not allow us to follow the religion of the Lord is not entirely correct. You say that you correctly implement the policies of the Party and the government and do not forbid religion, and that you only forbid illegal religious activities.

We respectfully answer. It is correct that the government does not forbid religion, but local authorities have forbidden us from following Protestant Christianity. You say it is illegal, but let's look at this issue in reality. We follow Protestant Christianity and ceremonies and rituals of this faith, and you call this illegal. Does this mean that the Protestant Christianity which the government has recognized for many years is illegal?

Among the things your committee calls illegal is that we spread and preach our religion. Our answer is that we have not yet preached our religion to anyone, because we have not yet gotten permission to do so. Your committee says we call people to large assemblies. We say, no. Large assemblies would include many hamlets or communes. We, households in the same hamlet and neighborhood, not more that 100 meters distant from each other, get together to pray and read the Bible and sing, and this cannot be called gathering a large assembly. Decree on Religion No. 26, section 7 says, "Citizens have the right to pray in their homes and study religious doctrine and participate in local religious ceremonies".

The committee says that we use the Bible and religious literature and that we teach the new Hmong script. We answer that if the literature used included divisive propaganda, and incited people, and said bad things about the Party and government, you would have reason to worry. What we use are (1) the Bible, and (2) a hymnal. The Bible we use is the universal Bible and it does not have one wrong word or one wrong sentence.

Concerning the matter of teaching the new Hmong script, we answer as follows. We have not opened a school or organized classes. Just in twos and threes we get together to study what is simply the language of our Hmong people, not, as you say, "new Hmong script". It is used by Hmong people in many countries.

The constitution says in item no. 133, that citizens have right to learn the language of their ethnic group, and that ethnic minorities have the right to speak and write in the Vietnamese language.

The committee says that we collect the peoples' money and establish a fund, and that we spread bad propaganda about the regime, and that we incite people to migrate illegally. We absolutely refuse to accept these accusations.

In the Old Testament the Bible says, in Malachi 3:10, that the followers of the Lord are to give a tithe to the Lord. In the New Testament, in I Corinthians 16: 1-2 it says that followers of the Lord should weekly, according to their ability and their faith, give money to the Lord.

We have not ever incited people in our hamlet to migrate anywhere. It is true that some of our fellow Hmong have been chased away from their homes and fields and are running hither and yon. From what we have heard, they do not want to leave, but because local authorities refuse to let them practice the Christian religion they are forced to be nomads, moving from one place to another in search of a safe place where they can freely practice their faith. It is not that we have incited them.

The committee says that we illegally had people who on their own preached the Christian Gospel, and on their own baptized people and have done so without the religious authority being vested in them.

Your committee says that local government officials have said that we have not yet asked permission and that this is accurate. And you say that only the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (North) has the authority to ask permission for us, and that we don't.

We would respectfully ask whether we as citizens are able to express our hopes and aspirations to the government and the Party. If you say we do not have the authority to ask, but who, pray tell, are we supposed to rely on? What person or office is able to address our problem?

Your esteemed committee says we were deceived and lured into the religion and did not do so of our own free will. We don't accept this. You say we follow because we believe a Hmong King is about to appear.

You further say that we say those who follow the Lord will have a wonderful happy life without and worries.

We answer that the Bible says, (this is hard to explain to you) that it is not talking about a wonderful life in term of material possessions, position and status or worldly power, but it speaks of joy in accepting the Lord as one's own, and of being able to get out of the bonds of sin and the power of Satan. This is what Christians believe.

Your esteemed committee says that we believed that the world would explode in the year 2000, and that those who followed the Lord would be saved and go to heaven, and those who did not would die.

We say where in the world do you get this idea? The Old Testament of the Bible has 39 books, and the New Testament has 27, and there is not a sentence or a word in them that implies the world will explode or end in the year 2000 and that those who follow the Lord will live and those who don't will die. The Bible says nothing about speaking ill of ones ancestors, or inciting people, or about people wanting a king, or having to leave their homeland.

Those of us who believe in the Christianity, put our faith in the word of the Lord as it is recorded in the Bible. This Lord is the Highest God, the Creator of all, the Eternal One. Besides this God we don't believe in another lord or king or anyone on this earth at all.

If you do not base your statements on the reality just described above, you simply slander the Christians in our hamlet.

Concerning the "second problem" your esteemed committee says that we said we submitted many requests and appeals to the province and to the central government and that we did not get any answer. You say the reason is that we did not submit these to the right office or the right place or the right level and therefore we received no answer.

We reply that it is true we submitted many appeals to the province and to the central government.

On 23/2/1993 we took a request to the commune. The commune chairman signed it and we took it up to the district where the then chairman of the Fatherland Front of Bao Thang District accepted it and promised us an answer in 15 days. But we received no reply.

Moving on, on 17/1/1997, we took an appeal to the Lao Cai Provincial Peoples' Committee. This central office also promised us an answer in 15 days, but until now we have heard nothing.

Concerning the "third problem", you say we asked the province for the freedom to join the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (north), and that we asked for permission to implement religious activities because we don't have ordained pastors to preach and baptize. And then you say that no official church organization has accepted our religion.

We answer, first of all, that you say that various local offices and then provincial offices must investigate and then approve us, and then you give us the run-around, using first this reason and then that reason to say the we are following religion illegally.

We have gone to the headquarters of the Evangelical Church at 2 Ngo Tram Street in Hanoi, and have studied and correctly implemented the ceremonies and the rituals of the Protestant faith, and you say that in doing things the way the Evangelical Church does is illegal for us and give this reason for not accepting or approving us.

We ask, under these circumstances, is there a pastor or a central church organization who would dare to accept us and our faith?

Your esteemed committee says that we are asking for freedom to follow the Protestant religion, but that the beliefs of that religion are being exploited by the enemy to resist and destroy us.

We respectfully answer that we are joined in one mind that we are citizens of Vietnam and that we have a responsibility for our nation and fellow citizens.

According to the news around the world today, there are various religions and all other kinds of factions that are involved in internal upheavals.

However, we understand that if an individual or an ethnic group truly follows the Lord, and truly wants to get away from sin, and truly wants to escape the darkness and evil of this world, it is impossible for such people to involve themselves in upheavals as mentioned above.

In the Bible, in Romans 13: 1 - 7 it says that everyone is to respect those in authority over them, and anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what the all-powerful God has instituted.

Your esteemed committee says we must understand and guarantee three elements of freedom. We reply that we always implement the three elements you mention.

Your esteemed committee says that in the past we have received instructions from the cadre and that as a result some of us have stopped participating in our religion. This is right, but as far as the Christians in our hamlet, these were not believers in the first place.

Here is what we mean. A person becomes a believer not just by saying so, but by changing their character, their way of living, way of speaking, their actions in society, and only then can it be said they are true believers.

Those who say they believe, but don't participate with us, don't study, don't change the quality of their life, the way they eat and drink what has been offered to idols, abuse liquor and get drunk, speak ill of others and swear, and use or sell opium, and generally cause problems in the hamlet, how can these say they follow the religion?

We cannot and will not accept the false accusations and false reasons noted above. If you base your thinking on these kinds of things, and do not examine the situation carefully yourselves, you are being unjust in your treatment of us Christian believers in Tran Xoan Hamlet.

We Christians are united as we write this appeal, and we ask the World Evangelical Alliance, and the General Assembly of the United Nations, and the international community, to please try to examine for yourselves, and find a solution for us Christian believers. We are currently residing in three hamlets, (1) Tran Xoan Hamlet, and (2) Khe Den I Hamlet, and (3) Khe Den II Hamlet.

We are eagerly waiting by the minute and by the second for the assistance of the organizations recorded above.

7. Fifth Document

An Appeal to the International Community

We are members of the Hmong ethnic group. We have followed the Protestant faith since 1989. Up until the present time we have not been recognized, nor granted permission to have freedom to believe in the Protestant religion. Since 1989, our Christian believers have continually been persecuted by our local authorities have forbidden us to follow Christianity.

VSV (of Tran Xoan Hamlet, Thai Nien Commune, Bao Thang District, Lao Cai Province)

(This piece was written in frustration by Mr. Vang Seo Su after they received the government's hopeless answer to their appeal, and further lack of any satisfaction following their response to the government's letter. - translator/analyst)

8. Conclusion

This series of documents smuggled out of the Christian hamlet of Tran Xoan illustrates the absolutely untenable position of the Vietnamese Christians, especially the Hmong believers, and the callous behavior of Vietnam's authorities toward them. Also clear is that this anti-Christian campaign is not the random actions of a few rogue officials, but is coordinated at all Party and government levels.

No reader can remain unmoved by the arrogance and barbarity of officials revealed in these documents. At the highest level, however, Vietnam Ministry of Foreign officials regularly denounce any reports of religious persecution with words such as "fabrications, baseless assertions and products of the imagination" that are supposedly conceived by persons with "ill will towards Vietnam". These documents, originating in a small hamlet in Vietnam's northern mountains, expose such propaganda for what it is. Vietnam strongly discriminates against its own citizens on the basis of their religious faith. At last listing in January 2002, some 20 Hmong Christian leaders remained in prisons throughout the northwest provinces.

These documents further corroborate what was has long been reported by religious human rights workers and has also been revealed in two publications by the Freedom House Center for Religious Liberty. In November 2000, Freedom House published a document entitled "Directions for Stopping Religion." It includes well over 100 pages of official Vietnamese documents and translations, including some stamped "Top Secret", and all detailing the rationale and beginnings of an anti-Christian campaign centered in Lao Cai Province, the same province where these documents originate. The second publication, called "'Correct Thinking' in Vietnam" was published by Freedom House in July 2001. It includes a series of Communist Party documents detailing the expansion and progress of the anti-Christian campaign.

The original documents in the Vietnamese language as translated in this report are on file at International Christian Concern (ICC) in Washington, DC and copies are available to qualified agencies by contacting ICC at:

Posted: April 17, 2002


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From:	Some people who have religious faith
To:	The Chairman of the Fatherland Front 46 Trang Thi Street Ha Noi

To:	The Bureau of Religious Affairs of the Central Government.
From:	Some Hmong Christian Believers of Tran Xoan Hamlet, Thai Nien Commune, Bao Thang District, Lao Cai Province.
Re:	Concerning our requests to the Lao Cai Provincial Committee on Ethnic and Minority Affairs and their answers.

Vietnam: The Anti-Christian Campaign in Vietnam Revealed

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