Who Are the Montagnards and Why Are They Dying?

[MORTARDUDE]

Who Are the Montagnards and Why Are They Dying?
A Shot Across the Bow

Thomas D. Segel
tsegel@americasvoices.org


"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others."
-- Marcus Tullius Cicero (c. 106 AD - 43 AD), Pro Plancio, 54 B.C.

August 28, 2002

Why would any people want to align themselves with the United States? The American people are warm, friendly, helpful and kind. They have great loyalty. The government of this country, however, is a different matter. Our history does not reflect universal support for those who called out to us in need. We have a government that, time and time again, has turned its back on allies. Why did we turn our backs on those crying out for human rights? No answers are provided. We only know it has happened time and time again.

It happened at the Bay of Pigs and again during the Polish uprising. We turned away from Romania and East Germany. We forgot Hungary. The right or wrong of it will be debated into infinity. Even so, when our political class joined with the anti-war movement and brought about the American defeat in Vietnam, more than a war was lost. We also lost our honor as a nation. We showed the world our political elite could never be counted upon to respect and protect friends.

It is well known that we abandoned our allies in the Republic of South Vietnam. As the final helicopter lifted off from the roof of the American Embassy in Saigon, hundreds of our Vietnamese supporters were left screaming and clawing at its gates.

What is not so well known is that we also abandoned our strongest allies of that conflict, the Montagnard tribes from Vietnam's hill country, who fought and died beside our own troops throughout the entire war.

Today, as veteran groups and church organizations labor to correct this national shame, our officials continue to ignore the fact these indigenous people are faced with a life or death problem. In some cases our government even places roadblocks in front of attempted action.

The Montagnards (mountain-yards) are aborigine people who have historically made their home in the deep forests of Vietnam's Central Highlands. For as long as there are historical records this region has been the home of this nature loving people, along with an abundance of exotic wild life, tigers and elephants.

When guerrilla forces tried to intrude on their land and their way of life, the Montagnards fought back. They joined with the French during the Indochina War, and later became allied with the Americans, as the seemingly endless conflict continued. They formed an almost blood-bond relationship with our Special Forces soldiers who met, befriended and trained these tribal warriors. Fighting side by side with their American friends, the "Yards", as our forces called them, were indispensable allies. There are few Special Forces veterans of those Central Highlands campaigns who do not owe their lives to those loyal warriors who fought beside them.

Most of the world feels the war in Vietnam ended with the fall of Saigon in 1975. The consequences of Montagnard allegiance to America served to extend their more than half century of conflict. Without support, poorly armed and greatly outnumbered, they were left to face the communist enemy alone. The fighting continued in the mountains. They kept up hit and run actions for almost twenty years, always moving, always hiding and always looking for American support, which never came.

In 1986 a small number of Montagnard fighters and survivors managed to gain asylum in the United States. More were allowed to leave in 1992. Since that time, until now, relocation of the native population has been an almost impossible task. Adding to the urgency of gaining asylum for these beleaguered people is the ongoing genocide or "cultural leveling" being practiced by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

According to political anthropologist Walker Conner, "In 1976 the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Vice Minister of Culture proclaimed: 'It is necessary to eradicate all the outmoded customs ? while gradually bringing the new culture to each ethnic minority. The state has the duty to bring new, progressive culture to these people in order to build a new culture with socialist objectives and Vietnamese national characteristics'."

What has taken place since that time would be considered barbaric in any civilized country. Still, the communists continue to bring their "new culture" to the Montagnards.

At the start of hostilities in 1960 there was a Montagnard population of 1.5 million people. The combined population of North and South Vietnam was 33 million. By war's end there were one million people in the Montagnard tribes. Today, according to a Vietnamese national census, the population has exploded more than 230% to 76 million people. According to these same Vietnamese sources, the Montagnard population remains at 1 million. Western relief workers have a different number. They say the native population is less than 750,000 and still falling.

Under their program of cultural leveling, the communist leadership has forced the tribes to move into restricted areas where they cannot be observed by the outside world. There is always a military presence in the villages to assure peaceful compliance with directives.

Tribes are denied medical treatment, medicines and adequate food supply. Strong Christians, the people have seen their churches closed or destroyed. When discovered, those who practiced their faith at home were beaten, tortured or imprisoned. Unless Montagnards renounced Christianity, they were denied irrigation for crops, electricity and medical attention. Education consisting of communist indoctrination became the only study allowed. Farmlands have been confiscated. Tribes are now limited to small "kitchen gardens" that allow them to produce barely enough food to sustain life.

Montagnard women are required to attend continuous indoctrination on family planning and birth control. These endless classes prevent them from farming or earning any other form of living wage. They are only allowed to end their class attendance when they "consent" to sterilization.

The sterilization is performed by Vietnamese technicians, without anesthetic, either by surgery or insertion of Quinacrine Hydrichloride into the upper uterus. The chemical burns the walls and permanently closes the fallopian tubes. To date, 20 countries have used this chemical procedure for sterilization. A total of 104,500 women have been so treated. Of these, more than 50,000 were in Vietnam.

Another method of thinning the Montagnard population is having Vietnamese men purposely-impregnate tribal girls. This is so culturally taboo in Montagnard society that it creates great family strife and disharmony.

Many of the native children today are of mixed Vietnamese?Montagnard blood, are being brought into the world as the result of compelled mixed marriages. Those Montagnards who married within their own ethnicity and have children face high fines and other punishments.

Last year, the Montagnards staged a peaceful demonstration, protesting their repressive living conditions. The Vietnamese answered this protest with tanks and troops. Fleeing their army pursuers to what they hoped would be safety, less than 1,000 tribespeople reached sanctuary in neighboring Cambodia. Even then, more than 200 Montagnards were sold back to the communists by Cambodian police.

Is all of this harsh, inhumane treatment retribution for Montagnard?American allied war participation? Are there other objectives? Though the Vietnamese have a historical record of atrocities against the Montagnards dating back more than half a century, there are many who feel this ethnic holocaust is linked closer to economics than it is to vengeance.

The Central Highlands now contains some of Vietnam's most productive coffee plantations. These were established on the traditional lands of relocated Montagnards. Because the exportation of coffee has been a major source of national revenue, more of the product was needed. Because the lands were heavily forested, another source of revenue is obtained by stripping the hills of timber. Since the Montagnards resided on some of the most desirable land, their removal was demanded. To many people this might strike a familiar note. What happened between the United States government and the people we then called Indians?

Basic mathematics can make what happened to the Montagnards easier to understand. If there were fewer people, less land would be needed. "Cultural Leveling" was the method used to accomplish this objective. Experts in population growth and decline estimate that within 20 years the Montagnards, as an ethnic society, will be extinct.

With no hint of a life free of government oppression in their future, tribal leaders have cried out for sanctuary in other countries. The governmental answers to their call have been very muted.

This has not been the case in concerned American communities. Special Forces organizations, along with Lutheran Family Services, Catholic Social Services, The Hebrew Immigrant Society and local churches in North Carolina have worked tirelessly for years to bring Montagnard refugees to the United States. To date only about 4,000 have been resettled, primarily in that state.

It must be noted that not everyone in the U.S. Government has ignored Montagnard pleas for help. In the House of Representatives, House Bill HR 2833, The Vietnam Human Rights Act, was introduced and passed 410 to 1 last year. Since that time it has been blocked by Senate leadership and locked up in Senator John Kerry's committee (see my August 21 commentary John Kerry - Point Man for the Enemy in a New Vietnam War). The current Senate leadership is more concerned with Vietnam trade than Vietnam human rights issues.

Until we can gain coordinated government support for Montagnard relocation, their only hope rests with the humanitarian and charitable efforts of our religious organizations and the Special Forces volunteers from active and retired veteran associations. Those wishing to learn more about the Montagnard plight and how they can become involved are invited to write or send donations to:

U.S. Army Special Forces Association
P.O. Box 41436
Fayetteville, NC 28309

If you send donations, be sure to include a note stating they are for Montagnard resettlement. E-mailed questions will be answered by writing unclewest@aol.com.

[Arrow]

another Special Forces Website concering the Montagnards:

http://www.montagnards.org/

I don't know why but these people stay on my mind all the time. Loyalty and courage are the two words that always come to my mind. Not to mention that a whole lot of them are one in the Spirit with me.

[Arrow]

Recon Team Washington, C&C Central, MACV SOG, 1971

Photo courtesy of Howard Sugar via John Plaster, all rights reserved

---

"The US Orderly Departure Program

Although the US and Vietnam concluded an emigration agreement in 1979, it wasn't until 1989 that Vietnam began allowing political prisoners, former USG employees, and reeducation camp survivors to apply. Known as the Orderly Departure Program (ODP), the intent of the negotiating US officials was to rescue our former allies from a life of misery and reunite families. However, the ODP eligibility criteria created by the US Department of State (USDOS) and Immigration & Naturalization Service (INS) benefits primarily those who threw down their weapons and lost the war. The US criteria mirrored the post-war persecution priorities of the communists and slammed the door on our staunchest allies:

Montagnards of The Forgotten Army and others who didn't surrender within four months of the fall of Saigon and kept fighting Many of these men and their families were captured, tortured, and spent long years in prison.

When those who are Montagnards apply for ODP, the records the communist provide are stamped ?FULRO.? If the applicant is Vietnamese or another minority, the records indicate some other crime of a subversive nature.

Just as the communists, USDOS and INS classify these freedom fighters as ?terrorists.? To reject them from ODP, they use 212-A-3-B of Immigration & Naturalization Act (INA), a law enacted to keep extremists out of the US

Anyone who went underground and concealed their US association. Such an offense is a violation of the communist criminal code that became effective for SVN citizens when the NVA won the war. Therefore those who were later discovered and jailed, committed a crime against a US-recognized government and US officials reject their ODP applications.

MACV SOG Vietnamese (?Lost?) Commandos who infiltrated North Vietnam and were captured. Apparently the communists were satisfied with the long years of imprisonment in North Vietnam and did require them to spend much time in post 1975 reeducation. Indeed, after years of torture and abuse, many were incapable of taking care of their personal needs.

US ODP criteria requires an applicant to have spent at least three years in reeducation. To minimize the number of these intrepid souls who qualify, i.e. the caseload, USDOS dismissed the years in prison prior to the end of the war as ?POW? time.

Literally,those who fell short of the three-year reed requirement by two days were rejected by the US MACV SOG Earth Angels, Kit Carson Scouts, and others who defected to our side through the US Open Arms Program Many of these people made very significant contributions to our war effort and were our most fervent fighters. Following the NVA victory, all were subjected to the most brutal torture. Most were then executed while others were sentenced to the longest of prison terms. Of those who survived, US officials disapprove their ODP applications this time perverting 101A(42)B of the USINA. This law was enacted to preclude from US immigration, political persecutors which include communists. And having once been a communist, they are not acceptable Former USG Employees,The head of the US ODP office in Bangkok is said to openly denigrate former USG employees as nothing more than maids, PX workers, bartenders, and cooks. Since top-level USDOS bosses circled the wagons in 1999 to defend him against congressional criticisms, obviously they share this man's position.

Did you know that the 60,000 or so indigenous troops and intelligence agents on the USSF payroll were USG employees? This is the approximate number that USSF was authorized at any given time. Considering turnover and that the USSF program operated for nearly ten years, conservatively the total number would exceed 250,000 and does not include the thousands employed by other USG agencies and programs.

Ever wonder why only a handful have appeared in the US? First, the Vietnamese only allowed 1,842 applications to reach US officials. One would think though, with the knowledge that they were only seeing a trickle of those they were chartered to rescue, that US ODP and INS officials would have been favorably disposed. Instead it was quite the opposite. The U11 applicant must either have a record in the archives of the US National Personnel Records Center to verify his US employment, or he must miraculously find Americans to identify him. Next an INS officer must be convinced of his story in an interview. From fiscal year 1986 through 1998 only 385 (21%) of U11 applicants passed the US INS interviews and only five (5) were Montagnards. Through FY 1990 the US approval rate averaged 100%. In FY?s 1991 through 1993 only 36% were accepted and in FY?s 1994 and 1995 the approval rate dropped to 6%. In the last two years of the U11 subprogram of ODP, FY?s 1996 and 1997, none passed the US ODP/INS gauntlet and the USG terminated the U11 subprogram. Either USDOS and INS officials are incredibly stupid, or they set the applicants up for failure. In keeping with (1) through (4) above most likely it was the latter.

The interpreters INS used for interviews were from the Vietnamese Ministry of Interior, i.e., communist security personnel! Understandably the applicants were intimidated and limited their USG histories to their confessions on-file with the communists, no doubt greatly down-played to keep them alive. If our ODP officials really cared about rescuing our allies from a lifetime of discrimination, they would have hired interpreters from the US refugee communities.

Vietnamese child swapping and US INS screening of children. A typical ODP interview scenario: Following his years in reeducation, the social and economic discrimination that followed, and paying a huge bribe to province officials, a Montagnard ODP applicant is granted an Exit Permit to interview with US officials and the date is set. For nearly thirty years he's prayed for this day, the day he imagines an American official saying ?thank you for serving the cause of freedom, I'm pleased to be processing you out of Vietnam to the USA.? Arriving in Saigon with his family, he's required to stay in the most expensive hotel. Dressed in their Sunday best, they nervously appear at the USG interview site. Just prior to the interview, the MOI interpreter wants a bribe for an unbiased translation. Taking no chances, the man pays it feeling the nightmare will end once he meets the American. Instead his dream is crushed. The US INS officer insults him as just wanting to get on American welfare roles. Next his son doesn't look enough like him nor his wife, so the INS officer wants a DNA test. In addition, his daughter is an adult and claiming to be single, so INS wants proof of her marital status from province officials. USDOS states the DNA test is merely a ?suggestion? but naturally the submissive applicant sees it as a requirement. Another emigration cottage industry is spawned in Vietnam and the DNA testing cost is staggering to a Montagnard.

As for proof that his daughter is single, province officials only issue marriage certificates. But you can bet they've created a ?single certificate,? to sell. The INS DNA requirement was recently implemented because communist officials occasionally substitute their wives and children, or children only, for those in the Montagnard family. When the ?family? arrives in the NC, the Vietnamese simply disappear. The Montagnard man has been forced to cooperate because his dependents, and other relatives in Vietnam, are hostage. Again, the Little People get caught in the middle and suffer the most.

[frisco-kid]

Alot of the things mentioned in Larry's post, James and I saw firsthand on our visit to Nam. These people are referred to as "The Minority People" by the Vietnamese. They still live in the Central Highlands. We didn't see any of them that had ventured down out of the mountains.

Those of you that have seen my video of our trip will recall how often I mentioned, in amazement, the proliferation of the coffee plantations in the Highlands. It's by far, the largest crop and industry up there. It has been used extensively in land reclamation of areas that we cleared during the war, and much of the forest and jungle has been cleared since the war to accommodate this commodity. Alot of this clearing was going on while we were there, as evidenced by the smokey conditions due to the slash and burn tactics used to clear the land. They were clear cutting acres and acres of forest, and then burning it off. I'm not surprised that this is displacing the 'Yards. As we drove past these coffee plantations we noticed that most of the poorest housing was occupied by the Montagnards. These were the laborers of the plantations, and their housing was reminiscent of the slave quarters of the pre-Civil War South. Dirt floors and all. We saw many of them with the small personal vegetable gardens in the front.

I was hoping to get to see, mostly for Kath and Sue's sake, a 'Yard village. However, you had to leave the main road to go to them and needed permission from the local tourism office. Like in Larry's post, they mostly live in the equivalent of reservations. Their villes are unique, in that all of the houses are on stilts. This is probably to keep the pigs, and some of the wildlife, out of the house. As I remember, most of them have a communal long house in the middle, with other houses scattered around.

Most of my first tour ['66-'67] was served in the Highlands around Dak To and Kontum, and saw quite a few of the 'Yards back then. I found them quite interesting. They were a very simple and rugged people. Many of the men still hunted with cross bows. The women wore long skirts, but were usually topless. Tattooing was part of their culture, for both sexes. The villages were mostly made up of women and children and old men. That's because most of the younger men were living in SF base camps, running patrols, setting up ambushes, etc.. I always found them quite friendly and most of us always believed them to be fearless fighters. I'm truly sorry to hear about the conditions that they're living in under the Commies. One thing that I found suprising in Larry's post was that the author said that the Montagnards were persecuted as Christians. On our visit I saw alot of evidence that Catholicism was flourishing in Vietnam. Every town of any size had at least one Catholic church in it. I counted four in one town as we drove through. Many of the well-to-do living in mansions had Catholic shrines in their yards. Saw several Christian cemetaries. I have no doubt that they are persecuted, but I find it hard to believe that it's because they're Christians.

[Arrow]

Tom I loved the detail in your post it was a great read.

In regard to religious persecution if you are interested you can follow this link. And there are several links within this link that will take youprobably farther than you want to go. ButLarry and some others mightbe interested.The problem with religion in Vietnam is not that they don't have places of worship. It is that within those places of worship they must hold to the party line. And there is no doubt that many true believers worship in these "legal" places. But there are many more that prefer a wider definition of freedom of religion and are outsidethe parameters of the law. That would probably be me. I just hate when someone pulls a rein on my spirit with silly rules and regulations regarding what I can and can not believe and where I can and can not practice my faith.On the other hand they would have a hard time provin'just what I was doing because I much prefer the cathedral of Griz's mountains to any enclosed place.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/010/4.62.html

[exlrrp]

[i]Originally posted by frisco-kid Every town of any size had at least one Catholic church in it. I counted four in one town as we drove through. Many of the well-to-do living in mansions had Catholic shrines in their yards. Saw several Christian cemetaries. I have no doubt that they are persecuted, but I find it hard to believe that it's because they're Christians.

Great Post, Tom and I second everything you said. Larry's original post was interresting to read also, as were the subsequent ones.
I'm trying to balance everything I saw there with what I read in various places and it doesn't always match up. There's a lot of BS in the world and it's hard to go by what you read
Remember in the hotel we stayed in at QuiNhon, there were all these Catholic weddings going on simultaneously in the hotel, the battle of the Karaokes at about 6 zillion decibels per. We walked down the beach to get away from the sound. It was all over by 7:30, though. They all pulled up on their motorbikes, all neatly parked in rows--theyre a naturally orderly people, I guess.
You and I were sitting in the pool commenting on their affluence and sophistication--these were equal to any Catholic wedding here in the US. These sure didn't look like oppressed peasants to me, no just happy people having a good time.
It sems to me like there was little or no restriction on religion and you and I commented frequently on this. but you can't see this on a bus.
I'd be a little hesitant to comment on the quality of another man or woman's religion, especially if I don't go to that church, it's just a little too Jerry Fallwellish intolerant for me. If I see happy people going into and out of church with absolutely ZERO sign of police activity around, I'm going to figure theyre happy with it, I mean as happy as you can be with the Catholic Church.
Got news for people--The Catholic Church has served as political allies and colonial scouts for some of the most repressive governments in history, too many to list here, but you could start by looking at the history right here in California. The padres we revere now herded the peace loving Indians on to missions where they died by the 10s of thousands from overworked slavery(no doubt about it) and illneses, all for God, King and Country. Well, at least they died Christian, though young, which must have pleased the pope no end. This is how the Catholic Church treated the Vietnamese in the 1800s when they were a colonizing tool for the French
But I digress here.
This repression stuff was just what I was looking for when I went back to Vietnam--I've read a lot of BS and I wanted to see the truth as much as possible. One of the most surprising thingswas lack of police presence, no more than, possibly less than you see here and almost all of them were unarmed. It didn't look like a repressive country to me and Ive been in several--Mexico in the 60s and 70s, Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, The Phillippines and more. I might point out these were our allies and you didn't hear one peep from us about their complete lack of human rights or shtty treatment of indigenous peoples, some of which goes on today. The CAtholic Church is dominant in these countries --I don't fault the Vietnamese for keeping them at arms length.
Here's what a repressive country looks like. Armed cops and soldiers everywhere, checkpoints where your ID is checked and bribes cadged, barb wire, a lot of military activity, people walk looking down, not making eye contact. (Just exactly like Vietnam when we were there in the war) Foreigners and strangers are treated suspiciously and unfriendly. People don't go there for vacation.
Vietnam was not like that, at least as much as we saw. It wasn't idyllic but the people didn't seem unhappy and many of them seemed very patriotic. There was no doubt the situation had improved tremendously and that they want foreigners in their country.
By comparison, Sue and I stopped in the Phillippines--there were armed guards and policemen EVERYWHERE. The 7-11 had two armed guards with shotguns, so did the gas stations and fastfood places, the hotels all had armed squads of roving security guards, every doorman was packing a pistol. Just another Catholic colonized country, I guess. Much of Latin America is like this too.

Well this is what I saw, draw your own conclusions--I certainly drew mine. Maybe it's better to have been the enemy of the US than it's ally--just ask the Germans or Japanese.The Vietnamese would STILL rather ally with us than China (who wouldn't?) strange but true. George Bush could pull this off where a liberal counldn't because he wouldn't have all the screaming conservatives trying to screw him for doing it. I hope he does, it's about time.
Is there still repression in Vietnam? of course there is But if you want to focus on people getting screwed by government, Mexico is the place to start--they are our neighbors. I'm going back again and this time I'm going to pay attention to this better. I'm going up to the Central Highlands again, the Ia Drang Valey and tallk to the Yards myself. Youre welcome to go with me, Larry, and see for yourself
James

[Boats]

Mort I found this article maybe some would find interesting.

Vietnam's Hidden Tragedy
American church leaders manipulated as communists cover up abuse of tribal Christians.
posted 09/20/2002

The communist campaign against Vietnam's Montagnard, Hmong, and unregistered house churches shows no signs of ending. These vibrant Christian movements are calling new attention to Vietnam's effort to repress them. Hmong believers, who number at least 250,000, are showing researchers countless documents spelling out the official campaign against their people. Hmong churches blossomed in the late 1980s as Hmong-language radio broadcasts reached their villages with the gospel. Persecution of Hmong leaders has been cruel. Dozens have spent years in substandard prisons. As of June, twelve church leaders remained in confinement. In the past five years, 14,000 Hmong seeking greater freedom have fled south to Vietnam's Central Highlands.

But recent comments from American mainline Protestants support the view of Vietnam's communists, who say religious freedom is secure in the southeast Asian nation of 79 million. Lonnie Turnipseed, a United Methodist and a retired Church World Service executive with extensive experience in southern Asia, recently told United Methodist News Service (umns), "While isolated incidents of religion-related harassment ?. have occurred in some areas, these are not the result of government policy. There is clearly freedom of religion in Vietnam." umns quoted United Methodist John McCullough, chief executive of Church World Service, as praising "the cooperation between government and religious communities."

Cover-up campaign
The government of Vietnam, stinging from the latest reports exposing its persistent abuse of human rights and religious liberty, has launched a propaganda counterattack this year?and some religious leaders are being used as political props in that effort. In mid-May, Vietnam's National Bureau of Religious Affairs (nbra) dispatched a delegation of government officials and religious leaders to visit mainline Protestants, relief agency officials, and other Americans in Washington and New York. Meeting in New York, the delegation (as well as leaders of the hosting United Methodist Church) painted a glowing picture of flourishing religious freedom and warm church-state cooperation, as detailed in a May 13 umns report.

Le Quang Vinh, head of the nbra, tried to "correct certain misunderstandings concerning Vietnam's policy of freedom of religion," according to Vietnam's official news media. "The government is not interfering in religious affairs," Vinh said in the umns article. Vinh added that Vietnam only intervenes when groups press for political independence, as Montagnard protesters did in February 2001. (Montagnard is a collective term for numerous tribal groups in Vietnam's Central Highlands.)

But is it a coincidence that the friendly sentiments of these Christian leaders were echoed in Vietnam's state-controlled media? The English-language Vietnam News reported on May 15: "Vietnam and the U.S. have forged closer ties in the religious arena following a remarkable visit by Vietnamese religious bodies to the U.S."

Struggle for control
The visit's big surprise was the participation of the Evangelical Church of Vietnam, South, including ecvn's president, Pham Xuan Thieu, and two colleagues. Some local leaders within ecvn South sharply criticized Thieu for making the May trip. ecvn is the only religious body recognized by the state but not co-opted by communists.

The other religious figures on the trip included four from the Vietnam Buddhist Church, a small organization not at all representative of Vietnam's Buddhists, and one priest from an association of "patriotic Catholics" held in disdain by the large Roman Catholic Church in Vietnam. Catholic sources in Vietnam told me the priest was so embarrassed that on his return to Vietnam he tried to prevent people from knowing about the trip. One of the Buddhists on the delegation is a well-known government "parrot."

Since the 1975 communist takeover of Vietnam, officials have harassed evangelicals. In 2001, however, the government changed its tactics, granting official recognition to ecvn South, the country's largest Protestant body, and allowing the group to hold its first assembly in February 2001.

ecvn South members learned from a leaked document how communist authorities intended to control the ecvn assembly by installing government-friendly leaders. But assembly delegates refused to vote for the pro-government candidates. Instead, delegates elected Thieu, a respected professor of theology. Thieu, a graduate of Gordon?Conwell Theological Seminary north of Boston, said his challenge was to "rebuild a structure out of complete rubble."

During the May visit, someone questioned Thieu about ecvn South, which represents two-thirds of Vietnam's 1.1 million evangelicals. Thieu "told his U.S. counterparts it is time to focus on a better future, not [to] dwell on the religious problems and restrictions of the past," according to the umns account. umns also quoted Thieu as saying that Vietnam has 80 Protestant churches. There are actually hundreds of Protestant congregations in Vietnam. When back in Vietnam, Thieu was questioned privately about citing the figure of 80 Protestant congregations. "I said that, speaking only for the ecvn South, there are 800 churches," the chagrined leader said, "and used that number to include the Montagnard churches." Vietnamese authorities refuse to recognize the Montagnard membership, so the numerical "mistake" is no mere slip of an interpreter's tongue in New York.

Close observers of Vietnam suspect that authorities pressured Thieu to travel to the United States precisely in order to damage his reputation among his evangelical peers. A small number of pastors, sympathetic with the government, circulated letters accusing him and others of ineffectiveness.

Thieu, 60, died of heart failure on June 24, after 17 months in office and seven weeks after his visit to America. Four days later, an estimated 2,000 Christians attended his funeral in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). "Thieu was forced to come from Vietnam and to speak against his own conscience," Nam Tuan Kieu, a Vietnamese American pastor, told Congressmen in July. Duong Thanh, Thieu's likely successor and first vice president of ecvn South, is an elderly and physically infirm pastor. Contrary to the propaganda, recent reports from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom reveal pervasive repression of religious belief and practice outside officially permitted outlets.

Repressing Montagnards
In April, Human Rights Watch published a groundbreaking 200-page report, Repression of Montagnards: Conflict over Land and Religion in Vietnam's Central Highlands. Christians in this minority group have long constituted a large percentage of Vietnam's evangelicals. Some tribal churches have grown tenfold since 1975. There are an estimated 500,000 Montagnard Christians in the Central Highlands.

Several thousand Montagnards, predominantly Christians, shocked Vietnam's authorities in February 2001 when they peacefully protested religious oppression and the illegal seizure of tribal lands by ethnic Vietnamese settlers. The protesters called for land reform and religious freedom. Communist authorities swiftly responded with a brutal crackdown. Dozens have been jailed, and hundreds of refugees have fled across the border to Cambodia. The incident has been called "Vietnam's Tiananmen Square," a reference to China's bloody repression in 1989.

The Human Rights Watch report includes a description of authorities trying to force reconversion to animism by making Christians drink a repulsive cocktail of goat's blood and rice wine. "They asked us to drink goat's blood," one young man told Human Rights Watch. "If we didn't drink it, they would beat us."

Vietnamese authorities blamed a small group of U.S.-based Montagnards for inciting the protests. While many Montagnard Christians seek a just return of ancestral lands and complete religious freedom, most do not share in a call for political independence. Nevertheless, Vietnamese authorities continue to use the 2001 event as an excuse for a wholesale anti-Christian campaign.

Closing house churches
The official campaign against unregistered house churches puts an estimated 250,000 Christians in 30 or more house church organizations at grave risk. Police regularly break up house churches and interrogate the homeowners and leaders. Officials fine church members and confiscate Bibles, hymnals, and Christian literature. In official paperwork, officials often cite the accused with "following Christianity illegally."

Here are recent examples:

In the Tan Uyen district of Binh Phuoc province, a public security policeman named Ly confiscated the motorbikes of two Christians attending a house church. They were told they would get their motorbikes back only when they recanted their faith.


In Ninh Son district of Ninh Thuan province, authorities are "upgrading" a Roglai minority village to a "cultural village." They distributed pictures of Ho Chi Minh to all households, along with a supply of joss sticks. The families were told they must burn the incense before an image of "Uncle Ho" (Ho Chi Minh). When four house-church families in the village objected because they considered it ancestor worship, officials threatened them with expulsion from their village.


Several Ede minority Christians involved in the house-church movement in Ea Trol commune, Phu Yen province, had their electricity cut in April. The official receipt said that the local official issuing it was "implementing an order by the [communist] party and the government to cut the electricity of Christians."


Church teardown
Three weeks before Vinh of the nbra traveled to America to assure the world that all was fine on the religious front, authorities in the city of Vinh, Nghe An province, destroyed a historic Protestant church.

Communist officials had long used the substantial brick church, built in 1936, for government purposes. In the early 1990s, the Christians of Vinh began submitting petitions for the building's return. They were ignored. On the morning of April 17, machinery arrived at the church site and workers demolished the church building.

In a letter sent to the prime minister by leaders of ecvn North, the Christians in Nghe An wrote this plaintive understatement: "It was with great pain that we learned of the destruction of our church. In this place, government officials give no consideration to the needs of people with faith, and they do not implement the religion policies of the government." Such conditions are the rule rather than the exception in Vietnam.

For security reasons, Christianity Today is withholding the identity of this article's author, who has supported religious freedom inside Vietnam for many years.

[frisco-kid]

I know next to nothing about Protestant churches in Vietnam. I didn't know that the Christian Montagnards are affiliated with Protestant churches, for example. What I do know about is the number of Catholic churches that I saw firsthand. Almost all of these were large churches sitting on large, well kept grounds. Most of these were not poor parishes. Now, being in a Communist country, I have no doubt that the Catholic Church has to stay within certain perameters laid down by the government to stay in operation, let alone prosper. We were there on 30APR, the day they celebrate the fall of the Saigon government. Like our 4th of July, every ville was decked out in patriotic banners and Vietnamese flags.......including the churches. This told me that there is a strong tie between Church and State.

Like James pointed out, the Catholic Church dates well back within the 1800's in Vietnam. Since it's establishment there, it has always been a major player in the country's politics, upto and including our involvement there. I can only suppose that this is still true. I'm guessing that any Protestant religions present in Nam are relatively newcomers, and have little or no foothold or influence in the government. If the government is trying to suppress Protestant churches, I'd bet that this is being done with at least a thumbs-up from the Catholic Church. Historically, they have always tried to keep the competition for souls to a minimum.

[Arrow]

Tom, thank you for your thoughtful post. I could not agree more with yours and James assessment of the Vatican both historically and in this present time. Native American Studies in Northern California opened my eyes early to the treatment ofour Native peoples.They not only were treated as slaves but if they did not comply they were baptized and then shot through the head.I'm on the roles of the Vatican from birth. I was in their handsfor the greater part of myyears until seven years old. I am considered one of their lost sheep.What they don't know isI know exactly where I am and exactly why I will always be on theoutside looking in.