VZCZCXRO5824
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHNH
DE RUEHHM #0887/01 2750837
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 010837Z OCT 08
FM AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4967
INFO RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI PRIORITY 3328
RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 5195

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HO CHI MINH CITY 000887 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS, DRL AND PRM 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV KIRF VM
SUBJECT: THE AMBASSADOR TALKS EDUCATION, NGOS AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM 
IN CENTRAL HIGHLANDS 
 
REF: A) HCMC 517   B) HCMC 448 
 
HO CHI MIN 00000887  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: During the Ambassador's September 19 trip to 
Kontum, he highlighted the contributions the USG and 
international NGOs are making in the province, including the 
recent opening of a USAID-funded ethnic minority boarding 
school. Kontum leaders were open to the idea of further US 
cooperation and investment, especially in education, health and 
tourism. The Ambassador also met with the Bishop of Kontum to 
discuss his efforts to reinvigorate church operations in the 
diocese and the challenges of serving the province's Catholic 
population, who account for 75 percent of the province's 170,000 
religious adherents. End summary. 
 
USAID-EMW School Opening in Kon Ray 
----------------------------------- 
¶2. (SBU) On September 19, the Ambassador helped kick off the 
opening of a new ethnic minority boarding school in Kon Ray 
district, a joint GVN-USG-NGO effort that will expand 
educational access to the province's most disadvantaged 
children. The school is entirely wheelchair accessible, and 
includes a vocational training workshop, computer lab, library, 
and boarding facilities for 240 students. Representatives of the 
implementing NGO East Meets West (EMW) said similar schools they 
have opened in other provinces usually see a doubling in 
enrollment within a year, and they fully expect the same to 
happen in Kontum. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The school addresses many of the challenges unique to 
ethnic minority students, including the long distances most 
children must travel in order to get to schools normally located 
in provincial and district towns located far from the rural 
areas where most ethnic minority groups live. For many children 
who do attend boarding schools in urban centers, the culture 
shock and homesickness they experience as a result of living far 
from their communities, often for the first time in their lives, 
also inhibits their learning experience and contributes to the 
high drop out rates reported for students transitioning from 
primary to secondary institutions (ref A). Kontum Bishop 
"Michael" Hoang Duc Oanh noted that these cultural differences 
are exacerbated by socioeconomic changes. As economic 
development projects take up more agricultural land, ethnic 
minority adults have moved deeper into forest areas to continue 
their traditional farming practices, leaving their children at 
home with little adult supervision. The lack of discipline 
leaves them ill-prepared for a structured school regimen once 
they leave home. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The Kon Ray boarding school addresses some of these 
issues by literally bridging the gap for students by being 
situated close to ethnic minority communities, rather than in 
the district center. Students will be able to go home for 
holidays and weekends more easily and parents will also be able 
to visit their children and participate in school programs more 
often. The project also successfully enlisted the support--both 
financially and logistically--of local officials in the region. 
EMW said local officials worked closely with the contractor and 
the NGO to ensure the project closed on time and under budget, 
including linking the school to water and power lines just days 
before the official handover. EMW representatives added that the 
high level of commitment by local officials boded well in terms 
of ensuring continued financial support to keep the school up 
and running. 
 
Kontum People's Committee Welcome NGOs 
-------------------------------------- 
¶5. (SBU) People's Committee Chairman Ha Ban welcomed the 
Ambassador and HCMC Poloff, noting he was pleased by the 
increase in visits from U.S. Mission officers and hoped more USG 
delegations would continue to come to Kontum.  Chairman Ban 
pledged his continued support for the work of international NGOs 
in Kontum, including Vietnam Assistance for the Handicapped 
(VNAH) and World Vision. Chairman Ban welcomed the Ambassador's 
news regarding the upcoming USAID needs assessment to determine 
other areas where the USG can support development, noting that 
education and health projects are especially desired. Ban said 
secondary boarding schools were now present in all nine 
provincial districts, and assured the Ambassador all the schools 
welcomed students regardless of their ethnic background or 
religion. Chairman Ban said 42 percent of provincial residents 
practiced religion, with the overwhelming majority being 
Catholics (75 percent), Buddhists (16 percent), Protestants (8 
percent) and Cao Dai (1 percent) accounted for the rest of the 
province's 170,000 believers. The Chairman added that 50 percent 
of Kon Tum residents belong to ethnic minority groups. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Turning to economic development, the Chairman outlined 
many of the challenges Kontum faces in terms of attracting 
foreign investment due to its landlocked position, mountainous 
 
HO CHI MIN 00000887  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
terrain and lack of adequate transportation networks. Only 600km 
of the province's 2,000km road network is paved, leaving most 
roads subject to severe damage from torrential storms during the 
rainy season. Looking to the future, the Chairman pinned great 
hopes on increased economic growth via transportation 
connections to the East-West Highway, new hydroelectric power 
projects and efforts to promote ecotourism in the province's few 
forested areas. 
 
¶7. (SBU) The Ambassador welcomed the Chairman's support for 
ethnic and religious diversity as well as the efforts officials 
were making to improve bilateral cooperation, including the 
participation of Kontum officials in the Humanitarian 
Resettlement Section's recent workshop on U.S. refugee 
admissions June 30 in Ho Chi Minh City. The Ambassador said the 
increased exchanges by officials on both sides will help promote 
better understanding of the changes taking place in the Central 
Highlands in the United States. 
 
Catholics Cautiously Optimistic 
------------------------------- 
¶8. (SBU) During his lunch with Bishop "Michael" Hoang Duc Oanh, 
the Ambassador discussed the long history of the Catholic Church 
in the region, beginning with the arrival of French missionaries 
back in the 16th century. Today, Bishop Oanh's diocese covers 
both Kontum and neighboring Gia Lai province, encompassing 344 
parishes with 220,000 followers. Bishop Oanh, who was sent by 
the Archbishop of Hanoi to serve in the region in 1969, said 
conditions for Catholics have improved since the new legal 
framework on religion went into effect in 2005. The Church is 
negotiating with local authorities to expand and rebuild 
churches, but the Bishop's main concern was finding and training 
enough new priests to serve the diocese's burgeoning number of 
followers. 
 
¶9. (SBU) The Bishop said government leaders welcomed the 
Church's growing role in charitable activities, but remained 
mute on the issue of granting official approval for the Church's 
educational and training programs. He noted that despite the 
lack of legal status, some of the first children to attend his 
new kindergarten classes were the sons and daughters of 
provincial leaders. Bishop Oanh hoped these activities would 
someday receive official sanction, and was cautiously optimistic 
regarding the expanding opportunities for the region's ethnic 
minorities, noting authorities were "trying their best." 
 
¶10. (SBU) Comment: As one of the poorest and most logistically 
challenged provinces in the Central Highlands, Kontum presents a 
good opportunity for future USG assistance, especially given the 
increasingly open attitude of local leaders to religious 
organizations and international NGOs working on health and 
education programs. Unlike Gia Lai and Dak Lak, Kontum has a 
significantly lower number of illegal migrants to Cambodia, and 
there are fewer reports of hostile encounters between provincial 
authorities and ethnic minority groups. Part of the reason for 
this could be the relatively low level of large-scale economic 
development programs that has spurred resentment over GVN land 
use policies in neighboring provinces, resulting in ethnic 
minorities demonstrating over the loss of their ancestral lands 
to coffee and rubber plantations. 
 
¶11. (SBU) This cable was coordinated with Embassy Hanoi. 
FAIRFAX