News Analysis: Vietnam’s War Against Christianity
by Scott Johnson
The last remaining US combat troops withdrew from Vietnam March 29, 1973. The Montagnard Peoples were allies with the American troops and are now being persecuted in part because of their allegiance.
Communist regimes like Vietnam have never been known for their tolerance of religion but recently in 2004 Hanoi has escalated the persecution of its “hill tribe” Christians to an unprecedented level.
In the Central Highlands of Vietnam the indigenous Montagnards or Degar Peoples are facing military operations where arrests, beatings, electric shock torture and even murder at the hands of Vietnamese security forces are commonplace.
This persecution did not go unnoticed in a damming study released February 2004 by the US State Department that reported, “Ethnic minority, unregistered Protestant congregations in the Central Highlands and in the northwest provinces continued to suffer severe abuses.”
Last May the US International Commission For Religious Freedom stated that this “increased repression of religious freedom has been reportedly sanctioned at the highest levels of the Vietnamese government.”
Today in Vietnam the Montagnard’s ancestral homelands are virtually sealed off from international observers as paramilitary forces enforce a campaign to crush the spread of Christianity.
This repression is the culmination of years of systematic persecution of Vietnam’s highland peoples who were once allied with American forces during the Vietnam War. Over 40,000 Montagnards had served alongside US troops during that conflict where their loyalty and fighting prowess became legendary. It was however, a loyalty not appreciated by the victorious communists.
“The Montagnards have been repressed by Vietnam for decades. This has got to stop,” reported Human Rights Watch in April 2002.
But the persecution has not stopped.
A year later in April 2003 Human Rights Watch released “secretly obtained” government documents from Vietnam ordering further repression of Christians. In December 2003, Human Rights Watch reported it had “records of 124 Montagnards who are currently serving prison terms of up to 13 years for non-violent political activism, organizing Christian gatherings or attempting to seek asylum in Cambodia.”
The horror perpetrated by Vietnamese security forces is hard to fathom, but it is well documented. Churches have been destroyed while authorities force Montagnards to renounce Christianity in actual blood drinking ceremonies.
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the US State Department have confirmed these and many other atrocities, including the hunting down of Montagnard refugees who try fleeing to Cambodia. On 24 July 2003 a Member of the Cambodian Parliament, Hon. Son Chhay publicly confirmed the payment of bounties (US$66 per refugee), was being paid to Cambodian police by Vietnamese authorities.
UN Special Envoy to Cambodia Hon. Peter Leupretch denounced this practice in a statement to the Associated Press on 5 December 2003 stating also that he has “reasons to believe that there are people in the highlands on the other side of the border who have a justified fear of persecution by the Vietnamese government.”
However, today in 2004 nothing has changed on the Vietnamese/Cambodian border and Vietnamese soldiers are still hunting down refugees.
On the diplomatic front, the Vietnamese government has tried to hijack the UN Human Rights Commission by accusing those who speak out in the United Nations against this brutality, of being “terrorists.” Mr. Kok Ksor, a committed Montagnard Christian and president of the US-based Montagnard Foundation has not only been formally declared a “terrorist” by Hanoi but he has had his relatives in Vietnam tortured in retaliation for speaking out (his 80-year-old mother had her ribs broken by Vietnamese police during an interrogation).
Hanoi has even demanded the United Nations kick the human rights group that sponsored him to speak at the UN - the Transnational Radical Party - out of the UN for good, as a warning to other groups who try bringing such issues to world attention. Kok Ksor has however vowed, “that the Montagnard Foundation will continue to speak and act in a non-violent and peaceful way for our persecuted brothers and sisters until Vietnam ceases interference in our religious affairs and stops persecuting our race.” Courageously the Transnational Radical Party also has refused to buckle under these threats from Hanoi.
But how does this persecution relate to foreign policy of the United States? Well for starters, the Montagnards were loyal allies to the US military during the Vietnam War. Thus the question arises - "Is there a historical debt owed to these people by the United States?"
Certainly many Vietnam Veterans think so. Some Special Forces veterans have launched a lobbying effort and website (Green Berets 4 Human Rights at http://www.gb4hr.net/) to assist in the passing of the Vietnam Human Rights Act.
Having fought alongside the Montagnards, these Green Berets understand what loyalty means. The act was re-launched again in 2003 in Congress by Rep. Chris Smith along with 30 bi-partisan colleagues. The legislation called for the halt of US non-humanitarian aid to Vietnam unless the Vietnamese government makes significant progress in improving human rights for all Vietnamese citizens.
President Bush’s administration too, has recognized “the duty owed to the Montagnards” and over the last three years has granted asylum to over 900 Montagnard refugees who had escaped the persecution in Vietnam.
True, the United States however, has strategic interests in dealing with Vietnam. Trade is one and the US/Vietnam Trade Council has lobbied very hard for entry into Vietnam’s markets. Vietnam’s ports and it’s strategic position in the South China Sea, not to mention offshore oil interests too all have a hand in influencing US foreign policy with Hanoi.
For the Montagnards in Vietnam however, this is little comfort ...
On 13 December 2003 Major Tuan of Dak Dao police cut the throat of a Montagnard Christian named “Nih” after arresting and torturing him with bouts of electric shock torture.
On 9 March 2004 Vietnamese police publicly beat and tortured a Montagnard Christian named Y-Don Bounya in view of his entire village before throwing his battered body on a truck - to be taken to an unknown prison or graveyard.
One victim that I personally interviewed stands out in my memory. It was a 5-year-old Montagnard boy who was forced to watch his father beaten by Vietnamese police. The police did not torture or arrest the boy but instead they abandoned him in the jungle - to die. By a miracle he survived. His father however, is still in Nam Ha Prison in Hanoi. His crime was that he was a Christian and that he tried fleeing to Cambodia.
These atrocities are just some of the thousand of incidents reported from the central highlands.
One thing is certain however, and that is no civilized nation treats its indigenous citizens in such a barbaric manner. It should also be certain that civilized nations today do not contribute further to such barbarity by collaborating with repressive nations like Vietnam.
Referring to America’s role with Vietnam, Rep. Frank Wolf, R – VA, recently commented on “those who worship at the shrine of trade.” A courageous statement, he was hitting out on those who abandon justice in favor of trade. He was condemning those who practice economic prostitution with repressive governments like Vietnam.
Particularly now, as the Iraq conflict and the global war on terrorism continues, there exists a duty for the United States and free nations to change the destiny of the world. Potential future allies will be watching America and its role in upholding ideals and standing by the oppressed peoples of the world. They will also watch America and how it treats its former allies.
For the Montagnard’s sake, for the sake of honor, for the sake of a little 5-year-old Christian boy who may never see his father again - let's hope today’s leaders cast down the false idols being worshipped at the shrine of trade.
-Pastors.com®-
Scott Johnson is a human rights advocate. He was present at the UN in Geneva when the Vietnamese ambassador interupted Kok Ksor's speech and declared him to be "terrorist." He has been working hard the last few years trying to get the Montagnard issue internationalized to stop the repression. He also recently produced a documentary on the Montagnards that was shown on RAI Italy in December 2003. ©Copyright 2004. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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