VZCZCXRO4466
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHNH
DE RUEHHM #0028/01 0120912
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P R 120912Z JAN 09
FM AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5298
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 5529

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 HO CHI MINH CITY 000028 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR PRM/ANE, EAP/MLS, PRM/A, DRL/AWH AND DRL/IRF 
BANGKOK FOR RMA AND USCIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF PHUM KIRF UNHCR CB VM
SUBJECT: MONTAGNARD RETURNEES POOR AND FRUSTRATED 
 
HO CHI MIN 00000028  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  Home visits from November 24-26 with 28 
Montagnards in two of the poorest provinces in Vietnam revealed 
that economic factors, particularly a desire to escape from 
poverty, continue to be the main factors that drove these ethnic 
minority highlanders to flee to Cambodia, with the onward goal 
of reaching the United States.  ConGen officers, accompanied by 
provincial External Relations Office staff members and a 
succession of local officials from Gia Lai and Dak Lak 
provinces, spoke at length with these so-called "returnees," 
Montagnards who have come back home to the Central Highlands 
after failed attempts to reach the United States via Cambodia. 
Discussions focused on the returnees' socio-economic conditions, 
the reasons underlying their travel to Cambodia, their religious 
lives, and their interactions with local governments before and 
after going to Cambodia.  A gulf of understanding and outlook 
between returnees and local officials was also often evident. 
Compared with previous monitoring visits, our meetings with 
returnees were less private, but the number of security 
personnel in evidence appeared to be fewer, and the level of 
local government briefing of returnees was reduced in some 
cases.  Although most returnees were very poor and had too 
little land to support their families without outside 
employment, some had clearly made the transition to cash crop 
production.  All recent returnees reporting having paid 
smugglers to help them reach Phnom Penh; in two cases the 
smugglers turned traffickers, taking advantage of their clients' 
vulnerability to take all their money.  END SUMMARY 
 
¶2.  (SBU) From November 24-26, USCG HCMC staff (DPO, HRS chief 
and HRS LES) traveled through Gia Lai and Dak Lak provinces, 
accompanied by a variety of local officials, in order to meet 
with a pre-arranged list of 28 returned Montagnards.  The 28 
returnees selected for monitoring included 24 who had returned 
recently from Cambodia -- within weeks or months of our visit -- 
and who had not been monitored before, as well as four who had 
returned in 2005 whom we selected for follow-up visits.  Of this 
list of 28, we were able to meet 26, including all the recent 
returnees and two of the earlier returnees.  Additionally, we 
met with two other persons returned under the 2005 MOU between 
Cambodia, Vietnam, and UNHCR and one pre-MOU returnee.  Finally, 
we met with family members of one previously monitored returnee 
who was not in the area, having moved to his wife's village -- 
some 50 km away from his former home -- since he was last 
monitored in 2006.  The other returnee we were not able to meet 
reportedly lives at a remote location, several hours of 
additional travel over roads in bad condition at the end of the 
rainy season. 
 
The 2005 Returnees 
------------------ 
¶3.  (SBU) Ksor Khai is a landless agricultural laborer with less 
than a year of formal education.  Rahlan Hying has worked as a 
rubber tapper since his return and also has a 0.2 hectare pepper 
grove.  Although both received some food assistance and roofing 
material for their homes after returning, they exhibited little 
interest in further help from the local authorities.  Indeed, 
both appeared to be trying to live quietly in order to avoid 
attention from local authorities.  Khai reported that he and his 
wife each earn about $3.50 a day as laborers.  Their two younger 
children are in school, but their two teenagers stopped at Third 
Grade and do not work.  Khai seemed indifferent about education, 
and his wife openly disdained it.  He had little to say about 
any interaction with local authorities, but expressed thanks 
that we had visited.  His wife, on the other hand, suggested 
that we not visit again.  Hying, working eleven hour days on a 
rubber plantation, said he earned over $220 (roughly twice the 
private sector industrial minimum wage) some months, and 
combined with support from his in-laws, built a relatively large 
and sturdy three room house in 2006.  Both returnees told us 
they had gone to Cambodia to seek better employment overseas. 
 
What They Sought and What They Left Behind 
------------------------------------------ 
¶4.  (SBU) All returnees who provided clear reasons for going to 
Cambodia said that they were looking for better employment and 
that they were inspired by others who had reached the U.S. and 
were remitting money to their families.  Most referred to 
poverty as the reason they wanted to send money home, but some 
already had relatively prosperous and stable lives that they 
wanted to improve.  Individuals who returned to established 
livelihoods in Vietnam had fairly clear ideas about their future 
plans.  They will continue working with their families 
cultivating cash crops on land they already own or rent.  Those 
who are landless or have too little land for subsistence were 
less self-assured.  Many had arrived back in their villages in 
October, an awkward time in the agricultural cycle.  They had 
nothing to harvest and were waiting until February for the next 
planting season, when local governments promised to help them 
with seeds. 
 
HO CHI MIN 00000028  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
 
Mostly Money, But Also... 
------------------------- 
¶5.  (SBU) Four returnees spoke of non-economic reasons for 
trying to get to the U.S. through Cambodia.  One, Siu Chang, was 
a high school graduate who lived in his father's home.  His 
father reported having tried to cross the border after the 2001 
demonstrations in the Central Highlands, only to be caught and 
jailed for several months.  Chang, applying for college at that 
time, said he had good test scores and hoped to become an 
English teacher, but was unable to enter because his family was 
blacklisted due to his father's attempt to cross the border. 
Chang's father had a few hectares of land, which he began to 
develop intensively upon getting out of jail, thanks to -- he 
acknowledged -- considerable help from government anti-poverty 
programs.  Planting pepper, rice, and corn, the father became 
the wealthiest farmer in the village.  He said his annual income 
is about $4,700, but his neighbors opined that was a very low 
estimate.  Earlier in 2008, he was made the Vice Chairman of the 
local Farmer's Association.  Chang did not provide an explicit 
reason for wanting to go to America, but indicated that he still 
wished to get a college education and become a teacher.  He 
spoke some English, and seemed despondent over his inability to 
rise above his circumstances. He said that since he now had a 
family, college was no longer a realistic option. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Adrang Y Kat told us he went to Cambodia to escape 
poverty, but also said he wanted freedom, particularly freedom 
of religion.  He related that he became a Protestant in 1985, 
but from 1997 experienced difficulty in following his religion 
because police denounced the open observation of religion and 
pressured followers to abandon their beliefs.  From October 2003 
to October 2005, he said, he had to report all his movements to 
local police and obtain a travel permit before leaving his 
locality.  (Note:  Kat lives in La Da hamlet, Ea Drang commune, 
about two or three kilometers from Ea Hleo town, site of one of 
the biggest protests in 2001.  End note.)  He did not report 
experiencing any other specific problems before he left for 
Cambodia. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) During his repatriation, he said that provincial 
police confiscated from him a Bible, an English language book, 
some photographs from the UNHCR sites in Phnom Penh, and a 
letter with U.S. Consulate General contact information. 
According to Kat, police did not give any reason for taking the 
items or say whether he would get them back.  When asked, he 
told us that there were no current restrictions on his 
activities.  Before he was repatriated on October 18, he said 
that UNHCR officials had told returnees that they would have no 
problems in Vietnam and that they would have freedom to practice 
their religion.  Without citing specific problems, Kat asked 
rhetorically in the presence of the district official who 
accompanied us: what kind of freedom do I have?  When asked what 
his greatest needs were, he said that he wanted freedom of 
belief and movement, for the police not to interfere with him 
and his family, and for his children to be educated according to 
their ability.  Kat's oldest and best-educated daughter, who 
followed him to Cambodia and was also repatriated on October 18, 
thanked us for our visit.  After we left Kat's house, the 
district official apologized for Kat's statements, explaining 
that local police had not briefed Kat on what to tell us.  We 
have recommended that UNHCR make a follow-up visit to Kat to 
speak with him under more private conditions and check whether 
his belongings have been returned. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) We heard an entirely different kind of personal story 
from a young woman of a relatively well-off family.  She had 
gone to Cambodia primarily to join her "husband," who had gone 
to the U.S. in June 2006 as a Visas-93 beneficiary.  Per Ede 
custom, the young man was to live in the household of his 
fiancee for three years before they became legally married. 
After one year he went with his mother and siblings to join his 
father in the U.S.  It appears that he was still legally 
unmarried when he left.  Post has identified him and informed 
the returnee about how she could eventually legally join her 
fiance in the U.S. 
 
¶9.  (U) Another returnee told us that he went to Cambodia 
because he was angry with his family after a drunken fight with 
his brothers.  He said he paid a smuggler about $180 out of his 
average annual income of $3,000 from coffee and fruit to get him 
to Phnom Penh.  He returned to Vietnam voluntarily after less 
than two months in Cambodia. 
 
Smugglers and Traffickers 
------------------------- 
¶10.  (SBU) All 26 of the recent returnees went to Cambodia with 
the assistance of smugglers who took them across the border 
between Tay Ninh and An Giang provinces in the Mekong Delta. 
 
HO CHI MIN 00000028  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
The normal fee is between $190 and $310 and includes 
transportation from somewhere on the Vietnamese side of the 
border to within sight of the UNHCR office in Phnom Penh.  Most 
returnees said their "guides" spoke Khmer and that they traveled 
in small groups.  The smugglers usually had the mobile phone 
number of one group member.  Relatives in the U.S. reportedly 
helped arrange many of the trips.  Two of the more prosperous 
returnees separately became trafficking victims after their 
guides threatened to turn them over to Vietnamese police if they 
did not give up almost all of their money.  One man reported 
losing the equivalent of over $1,800, the other about $700.  The 
latter was on the management board of the local Southern 
Evangelical Church of Vietnam (SECV) congregation, but resigned 
after he returned to Vietnam.  His younger brother is a village 
official. 
 
...and Then the Cop Came 
------------------------ 
¶11.  (SBU) Three returnees in one family -- the son (17 years 
old), the daughter (21), and the son-in-law (25), respectively, 
of a primary school teacher -- told us they went to Cambodia 
"for fun."  The teacher's son-in-law has a sister in the U.S. 
who may have inspired their trip.  They left home without 
telling their mother.  Three days later police informed her that 
her children had gone to Cambodia. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Local authorities had apparently forgotten about our 
visit to the family's home and we began our interview 
accompanied only by two members of the provincial ERO office who 
simply observed our meetings.  After a few minutes, a village 
policeman arrived and introduced himself.  He sat quietly until 
we asked the three young returnees how much they paid their 
smuggler to cross the border.  After a vague answer from the 
teacher's son-in-law, the policeman, almost shouting, demanded a 
more exact response.  With the policeman glowering at the 
abashed returnees, we immediately ended that part of the 
interview and skipped several possibly sensitive questions. 
 
The Religious Dimension 
----------------------- 
¶13.  (SBU) With some possible exceptions, the returnees appeared 
to be able to practice their religions mostly as they wished. 
Adrong Y Kat was the only returnee who complained specifically 
about religious issues.  One of the 2005 returnees described 
himself as an SECV member, but added that he does not gather 
with others to worship, "since thinking about religion troubles 
me."  He did not appear comfortable speaking with us, perhaps 
because local officials were present, so we did not ask him to 
explain.  There were no churches in the villages we visited, so 
most believers (including Adrong Y Kat) were gathering in homes 
with government approval, sometimes going to a more distant 
church.  Most said they belonged to the Southern Evangelical 
Church of Vietnam (SECV), described by some as "Pure 
Protestantism."  The four returnees we visited in Kia hamlet, 
Nhon Hoa village, Chu Se commune, Gia Lai province said that 
they were Protestant, but not SECV.  The SECV had a meeting 
point in the community, but their group did not, so they did not 
gather.  We did not ask the school teacher's children (paras 11 
and 12) about their religious affiliation.  Two others said they 
were not religious. 
 
The Land and Community Dimension 
-------------------------------- 
¶14.  (SBU) Most villages we visited were inhabited almost 
exclusively by Montagnards.  The only exception was in an 
irrigated rice growing area of Krong Ana district.  Nine 
returnees -- eight from Dak Lak -- reported that they had at 
least one hectare of land.  The ninth is Siu Chang, the would-be 
school teacher son of the wealthiest farmer in his village. 
Thirteen others have less than one hectare, some reporting as 
little as 1000 square meters.  Four from Gia Lai, including the 
two 2005 returnees, have no land at all.  All of the returnees 
have electricity in their homes and the homes we saw had 
televisions and DVD players. 
 
The Monitoring Tool 
------------------- 
¶15.  (U) For the first time, we used a questionnaire designed by 
PRM/ANE with input from HRS Chief to conduct returnee 
interviews.  Questions cover family background, community 
composition, livelihood, why and how returnees traveled to and 
from Cambodia, religious practice, treatment by the government, 
assistance received, and a self-assessment of needs.  Returnees 
seemed to be at ease with the use of the questionnaire; most of 
the questions are not overtly sensitive, but allow returnees to 
provide considerable information about difficulties they may be 
facing. 
 
Comment 
 
HO CHI MIN 00000028  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
------- 
¶16.  (SBU) These home visits permitted an intimate look at the 
difficult, often suffocating world experienced by ethnic 
minorities the Central Highlands as well as the complex 
circumstances in which they live.  We observed many Montagnards 
who clearly disdain such trappings of a "modern life" as 
education.  On the other side of the fence, we observed local 
officials who by their body language and other behaviors 
demonstrated suspicion and ignorance of Montagnards and 
Protestants.  Blatantly patronizing attitudes by officials were 
on full display.  We also met some "assimilated" Montagnards 
working for local government, who seemed to have adopted the 
prejudiced and ill-informed -- even if well-intentioned -- local 
government plans and projects for the Montagnards.  While 
national laws and policies theoretically support equality for 
ethnic minorities and offer financial subsidies to improve their 
lives, the reality on the ground can be much different, where 
mutual distrust, mutual disdain, and enormous cultural 
differences remain evident. 
 
¶17.  (SBU) In this environment, it is not difficult to 
understand why these individuals tried to leave.  The majority 
of the returnees had no better than limited access to education 
when they were of school age.  Of those with better access, some 
dropped out after deciding that the education offered had little 
relevance to their lives.  Now, as adults, they are either 
disinterested in or face difficulty in trying to adapt to a way 
of life driven by a cash economy, sedentary farming, and 
commodity production as opposed to traditional swidden 
subsistence agriculture.  They exhibit a sense of frustration at 
the local power structure that is largely closed to them and 
that looks down on them.  Nevertheless, some returnees seem to 
be reintegrating fairly well into their original villages. 
These individuals tend to have sober and practical outlooks that 
have probably eased their adaptation to the changes sweeping the 
Central Highlands.  Both the frustrated and the pragmatic went 
to Cambodia hoping for better prospects in the United States. 
End comment. 
 
¶18.  (U) This cable was coordinated with Embassy Hanoi. 
FAIRFAX