Thayer Catholic Buddhist Linkage In Vietnam

Thayer Consultancy ABN # 65 648 097 123

Background Briefing: Linkages between Catholic Land Protests and a Zen Buddhist Monastery Incident Carlyle A. Thayer August 6, 2009

{client name deleted] Q1. The political situation in Vietnam seems very hot now on the religious front. How do you assess the tensions between the government and the Catholics arising from the Tam Toa church (Quang Binh province) issue? Is it something simply local or does it reflect a ‘national policy’? ANSWER: The Tam Toa affair is only the most recent incident involving a clash between Catholic authorities and the Vietnamese government over land confiscated by the communist regime. Last year there were well-publicized confrontations between the Catholic community and local authorities over property rights at Thai Hoa and the site of the former Vatican Nunciate in Hanoi. But there have also been less publicized land disputes in An Giang, Ha Dong and Vinh Long. The Tam Hoa affair, however is of more recent origins dating to the 1990s when local authorities designated the church ruins at Tam Hoa as an ‘Americans’ War Crimes Memorial Site’. The land was reportedly confiscated in 1996 but local Catholics were permitted to worship regularly. In March 1997, the People’s Committee of Quang Binh province issued a decree declaring the church a memorial site. The Tam Hoa affairs appears very much a local issue but it has much in common with other church-state land disputes. Namely, the current dispute arises from the inability of the local government to respond constructively to requests by the local Catholic church for land on which to build a place of worship. The current dispute arose on 20th July when local Catholics attempted to erect a tent to serve as a temporary chapel. Police attempted to pull down this structure and pushing and shoving between the police and Catholics led to violence. Church authorities report that the police used tear gas, stun guns and batons to beat the protesters. It is clear from Church accounts that local Catholics intervened and forcibly freed several parishioners from police custody. Police brutality and the detention of eleven suspects then became a focal point for local protests. Massive public protests were held in parishes in a three province area (Nghe An, Ha Tinh and Quang Binh) on successive Sundays, 26th July and 2nd August. Prayer vigils involving several thousand were held in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The response by local authorities follows a pattern evident in previous church-state land disputes. First, national authorities unleashed a massive and well-orchestrated media campaign that denigrated the Tam Toa Catholic community including provocative charges that they were counter-revolutionary and a threat to national unity. And as in other land disputes, plain clothed police and gangs of thugs physically assaulted Catholic priests and their parishioners. Q2. The Tam Toa issue with Catholics appears almost simultaneously with the problems at the Monastery of Bat Nha (Bao Loc province) involving Thich Nhat Hanh, an internationaly

2 famous Zen Buddhism master. How do you explain this campaign against Buddhists and Catholics at the same time ? ANSWER: The incident at Bat Nha monastery in Bao Loc province appears to involve different dynamics. Originally the Bat Nha monastery was run by Buddhists affiliated with the state-sanctioned Buddhist Church of Vietnam. The Abbot of Bat Nha invited followers of Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh to come to the monastery to train and worship. It will recalled that Thich Nhat Hanh was permitted to return to Vietnam with great fanfare in 2005. Since then Thich Nhat Hanh’s support for the Dalai Lama as well as his calls for increased religious freedom in Vietnam have earned him the ire of communist authorities. It appears that security officials have applied pressure on local government and Buddhist authorities to expel Thich Nhat Hanh’s followers. In late June local authorities cut of electricity, water and telephone connections. Then a local rent-a-mob armed with sledge hammers and other tools attacked and ransacked the Bat Nha monastery. State media has adopted the line that this incident was between local Buddhist gangs. But it is clear, however, that the hand of central security authorities can be seen in the orchestration of heavy-handed tactics including violence. Q3. If we link those ‘religious’ issues with the arrests of Le Cong Dinh, Nguyen Tien Trung and others, the repressive mood seems to prevail in Vietnam now. What are the reasons behind this? ANSWER: The incidents a Tam Toa and Bat Nha have taken place at the same time as the government has cracked down on pro-democracy dissidents, most notably Le Cong Dinh. These three separate events are linked by the larger context where the authority of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has been undermined by his poor handing of the bauxite mining issue. The bauxite issue involves not only a direct challenge to government’s competence to set major development projects, but broader and more sensitive issues involving Vietnam’s relations with China. Both Catholic and Buddhist leaders, have weighed in on these issues, supporting the loose coalition of environmentalists, economists, scientists and retired military who oppose the bauxite project. Catholic officials and leaders of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) have directly criticized the government’s commercial dealings with China. Le Cong Dinh and other pro-democracy activists have also raised the China issue in their blogs. Recent Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea in enforcing a fishing ban affecting Vietnam’s fishing industry have only made the leadership in Hanoi squirm. In sum, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and his government is faced with a ‘perfect storm’ over the very emotive question of relations with China. These events are occurring as the Vietnam Communist Party has just announced the start of preparations for its next national party congress in early 2011. It would appear that Vietnam’s conservative ideology and security bloc is flexing its muscles early to stamp down hard on issues that are likely to become divisive within the party. Party reformers must tread carefully in this new ideologically charged atmosphere.