arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

The 2,547th birth anniversary of Buddha, which fell on May 15 this year was
jubilantly celebrated in Vietnam with its festive atmosphere still lingering
on until now in pagodas throughout the country.

Another good tiding for Vietnamese Buddhists was President Tran Duc Luong¹s
conferment of the Independence Order, first class, a noble State
distinction, on the leader of the Vietnam Buddhist Shanga, Most Venerable
Thich Tam Tich. This was in recognition of the contributions made by the
religious dignitaries and Buddhist followers to society and the fatherland
in the spirit of "Dharma-Nation" and the tradition of unity between Buddhism
and the nation throughout two thousand years of Buddhist development in
Vietnam.

Yet, ironically, on the same day, the European Parliament adopted the
so-called Resolution on Human Rights in Vietnam with unacceptable content
and language. In the document, they have repeatedly used dozens of times the
phrases such as "continual arrest," "suppression of the freedom of speech
and freedom of religion," and "religious repression" relating to Vietnam¹s
situation including Buddhism. The document has not only hurt the religious
community but Vietnamese people in general.

First of all, the resolution raises a "worry" about the case of the Most
Venerable Thich Huyen Quang who they called ŒLeader of United Vietnam
Buddhist Shanga,¹ then urged for the release of the Most Venerable. This is
an absurd demand as he was neither arrested nor detained. Only last month
the Buddhist dignitary went to Hanoi for medical treatment and a tour of the
capital city and was received by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai. Thich Huyen
Quang said later that he was very impressed with his meeting with the
government leader.

The European Parliament¹s resolution also requested that the Vietnamese
government recognise the United Vietnam Buddhist Shanga despite the fact
that such an organisation does not exist. The sole legal organisation is the
Vietnam Buddhist Shanga which was united on November 7, 1981. Also on that
same day, the former leaders of the United Vietnam Buddhist Shanga joined
the Vietnam Buddhist Shanga, among them the Most Venerables Thich Tri Thu,
Thich Minh Chau, Thich Tri Tinh and Thich Thien Sieu. So there is nothing
like Thich Huyen Quang leading the United Vietnam Buddhist Shanga as co-oked
up by the resolution. It should also be pointed out that those who are too
ambitious about power and material benefit or seeking plots of division,
sowing hatred among followers, are strangers to the actual morality of
genuine religious followers and are against the teaching¹s of Buddha.
Talking with monks and nuns at the Tu Dam Pagoda in the imperial City of Hue
in Central Vietnam on April 7, the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang also
expressed his aspiration that all past differences be removed for the
harmony of the national Buddhist Church.

In addition, the resolution demands the Vietnamese government recognise the
so-called "Dega Protestantism" in the Central Highlands, while knowing
nothing or pretending to know nothing about the sect. God never asks or
teaches his followers to do evil. Yet, those who called themselves "Dega
Protestants," tried to deceive many ethnic minority people in the Central
Highlands into sabotaging the revolution and national unity and solidarity.
Accordingly, some people were misled by Dega Protestantism to leave their
rice fields and coffee gardens behind or demand the majority Kinh people be
chased away from the Central Highlands. These misled people have also
incited others to oppose the revolutionary administration which has been
established by endeavours of generations of people from both upland and
lowland regions. Such moves must not be seen as religious. Actually those
who pulled strings of such incidents in the Central Highlands are remnants
of the reactionary Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races known as
FULRO, who as bandits and murderers, were eliminated by the United Nations
Transitional Forces in Cambodia (UNTAC). In a letter sent to vicars,
clergymen, other dignitaries and followers in Dak Lak province, the
representative of the provincial Protestant Church, wrote that God has
taught us and strongly denounced anyone that initiates another sect of
Protestantism. In that spirit, the provincial Protestant Church does not
recognise Dega Protestantism while calling on followers in the province to
raise their vigilance against deception.

Although the country is still poor, with its open-door policy of renovation,
Vietnam has been fully tapping internal resources towards socio-economic
development, hunger and poverty reduction and won international acclaim for
its efforts in human resources development while winning support and
assistance from international friends far and near on the basis of equality
and mutual respect. The country never accepts groundless imposition of will
of any other which damages the nation¹s self-respect. Along the course of
building a law-governed State, each nation worldwide adopts its own legal
system for governance. The legal system of one country cannot be used for
another due to differences in geographical and historical conditions, the
level of socio-economic development as well as the will the administration.
Consultations can be made, but not imposition with regard to a nation¹s
legal system. Vietnam is in the process of perfecting its own legal system
with the National Assembly in session dealing with a very important task of
making, amending and revising 17 draft laws. Yet, the European Parliament¹s
Resolution requests Vietnam remove or annul certain laws or demands the
Vietnamese court withdraw from indicting this or that person when he or she
has been found guilty of breaching laws. Their moves have proved their
complete ignorance of Vietnam¹s situation. Recently USA Today columnist Brad
O¹Leary wrote an article stressing that for the past 150 years, at no point
of time has Vietnam ever been freer than it is now. He wrote that as a
Catholic, he called at the central Cathedral whenever he visited Ho Chi Minh
City. He said as it was always crowded with worshippers, he had to come
early to get a place. In fact few people in Vietnam say they are not
religious followers or have no alter dedicated to their ancestors or the
Buddha.

So who initiated and stands behind the resolution? It is a handful of
overseas Vietnamese living in exile who have been opposed to the country in
the past decades. Yet some figures in Europe¹s political parties, who own
little knowledge of Vietnam, have placed their belief, and acted upon
pressure from those betraying persons who are not entitled to talk morality.

In the past years, Vietnamese people from all walks of life, including tens
of millions of religious followers have shared joys and hardships with the
Party, State and people to push the country ahead, making it more and more
prosperous with every passing day with preferential policies towards those
in remote, mountainous and other disadvantaged areas. Poverty and repeated
natural calamities have all the more united Vietnam's people to surmount
difficulties and hardships. Against this background, the resolution adopted
by the European Parliament on Vietnam¹s situation has been absurd and
unconstructive to the long established co-operative and fine relationship
between Vietnam and the European community.

By KHOI NGUYEN