VZCZCXRO9583
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHNH
DE RUEHHM #0452 1191058
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 281058Z APR 08
FM AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4436
INFO RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI PRIORITY 3044
RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 4660

UNCLAS HO CHI MINH CITY 000452 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MLS AND DRL/AWH 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM VM
SUBJECT: SOME ACTIVISTS PREVENTED FROM CELEBRATING DEATH ANNIVERSARY 
OF VETERAN DISSIDENT HOANG MINH CHINH 
 
REF: A)HANOI 184   B) 07 HCMC 766 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  In late March, Vietnamese police prevented 
democracy and land rights activists from attending a ceremony in 
Ho Chi Minh City to commemorate the death of Hanoi-based 
dissident and former General Secretary of the outlawed 
Democratic Party of Vietnam (DPV), Hoang Minh Chinh.  Chinh died 
on February 7, and hundreds, including Embassy PolOff, attended 
his Hanoi funeral on February 16 (Ref A).  The HCMC death 
anniversary ceremony, which was organized by the outlawed 
Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) monks at the request 
of Hoang Minh Chinh's relatives on the 49th day after his death, 
went ahead amid heavy police surveillance.  UBCV's Venerable 
Thich Quang Do, a fierce GVN critic, was able to visit the 
ceremony undeterred.  End summary. 
 
A COMBINATION RELIGIOUS - POLITICAL EVENT 
----------------------------------------- 
¶2. (SBU) Venerable Thich Khong Tanh, a key UBCV member, told 
Post that Hoang Minh Chinh's children asked him to arrange the 
traditional forty-nine day death ceremony for their father at 
his pagoda in HCMC.  In the Vietnamese Buddhist tradition, 
funerals will be followed with seven-day, forty-nine-day, 
one-hundred-day and yearly death anniversaries.  Buddhist monks 
are often asked by the family to carry out these ceremonies. 
While a Buddhist tradition, this ceremony was also clearly 
political.  Tanh said that the eldest daughter of Chinh, the 
late Secretary General of the Democratic Party of Vietnam (DPV), 
had invited DPV Deputy Secretary General Tran Khue and Bloc 8406 
co-founder Do Nam Hai to the ceremony, scheduled on March 27. 
Other contacts said key members of the land rights movement were 
invited to the ceremony as well. 
 
SOME PEOPLE STOPPED; SOME NOT 
----------------------------- 
¶3. (SBU) On March 27, plainclothes police stopped Do Nam Hai 
near his home as he was going to the ceremony.  Hai reported to 
us that police forcibly took him to the police station for a 
"working session" that lasted eight hours.  The police also 
searched his house and took all of his documents, computer, two 
cell phones and a printer while he was at the police station. 
Hai said the police did produce a search warrant and showed it 
to his relatives before conducting the search.  Police also 
stopped DPV Deputy Secretary Tran Khue and his wife on their way 
to the pagoda, although his children had no problems attending 
the ceremony. 
 
¶4. (SBU) While at least three members of the land rights 
movement were also barred from going to the pagoda, our sources 
in the UBCV said that Venerable Thich Quang Do was able to 
attend the death anniversary ceremony for about fifteen minutes. 
 It is not clear whether GVN authorities intentionally allowed 
the Venerable Thich Quang Do to reach the ceremony or whether he 
evaded his minders and "snuck out" of the monastery where he 
lives under virtual house arrest.  In July 2007, Thich Quang Do 
claimed he was able to give his minders the slip when he met 
with land rights protesters in front of the National Assembly 
Southern office in HCMC (Ref B).  Afterwards, Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs spokesman Le Dung pointed to his presence at the 
protests as proof that Thich Quang Do's movements were not being 
restricted by authorities. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The late Mr. Chinh's daughter confirmed to us that 
about twenty relatives of her family participated in the 
ceremony.  Attendees said police surveillance during the HCMC 
ceremony was intense, with up to one hundred plainclothes 
policemen outside the pagoda and dozens inside filming the 
event.  Contacts said land rights activists from the Central 
Highlands province of Lam Dong were allowed into the pagoda but 
those from Can Tho and Tien Giang were not. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
¶5. (SBU) Hoang Minh Chinh's legacy as a former Communist Party 
of Vietnam (CPV) leader and French colonial war hero turned 
democracy activist makes events commemorating his death a 
natural rallying point for pro-democracy activists.   While most 
of the leaders of Vietnam's nascent pro-democracy groups are 
either in jail, overseas or under virtual house arrest, networks 
live on.  The UBCV remains as defiant as ever and Internet 
activists have recently come to the forefront, including groups 
and individuals highlighting issues ranging from anti-China to 
corruption in Vietnam.  Hoang Minh Chinh's legacy has itself 
been the subject of numerous blog posts.  End comment. 
 
FAIRFAX