VZCZCXRO3220
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHNH
DE RUEHHM #0650/01 3020933
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P R 290933Z OCT 09
FM AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6116
INFO RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI 4009
RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 6353

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 HO CHI MINH CITY 000650 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS, DRL/AWH AND DRL/IRF 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KIRF PHUM PGOV PREL VM
SUBJECT: UNREGISTERED PROTESTANT HOUSE CHURCH LEADERS REPORT HALTING 
PROGRESS ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM 
 
HO CHI MIN 00000650  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Leaders of several unregistered house 
churches told ConGenOff recently that religious freedom 
continues to improve, but some congregations continue to 
experience problems with slow localized registrations and 
harassment by local authorities.  Some individual pastors have 
been subjected to public denunciations and prevented from 
traveling overseas.  On a positive note, some report an easing 
of restrictions in HCMC, and all pastors expressed appreciation 
for Mission advocacy in support of religious freedom.   End 
Summary. 
 
 
 
Spotty Record on Registration 
 
----------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) The Committee on Religious Affairs (CRA) has made 
considerable progress in registering congregations of nationally 
recognized churches, including over 1,000 registrations in the 
NW Highlands and all meetings points in the Central Highlands 
for the Evangelical Church of Vietnam South.  Protestant groups 
that have not yet received national recognition, however, report 
low numbers of local registrations for their congregations.  For 
example, the United Baptist Church successfully has registered 
only 13 of their 130 congregations; only 18 of the 148 United 
Gospel Outreach Church congregations that been registered in the 
last three years; 30 of the 225 congregations of the Vietnam 
Baptist Alliance have been registered; and none of the 200 
Vietnam Good News Mission congregations that have applied for 
registration in the past two years have been accepted. 
 
 
 
¶3. (SBU) Pastor Ho Tan Khoa of the United Presbyterian Church 
noted that contrary to GVN law, most of his congregations in Dak 
Nong province are asked to submit membership lists when they 
have petitioned for registration.  ConGenOff said that the 
National CRA has made it a goal to register all churches who 
have applied by 2010.  The CRA acknowledges, however, that 
implementation of the legal framework on religion is uneven, and 
has promised additional training of local officials to resolve 
the problem.  These assurances aside, most pastors told 
ConGenoff they were skeptical of the CRA's ability to overcome 
the lack of coordination among local and provincial officials, 
especially in less developed areas. 
 
 
 
Televised Denunciation in Central Highlands 
 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Pastors generally agreed that certain districts in the 
Central Highlands provinces of Kontum, Gia Lai and Dak Lak 
remain difficult places to operate due to local authorities' 
lack of familiarity with the legal framework on religion and 
overriding public security concerns about unsanctioned 
gatherings of ethnic minorities, including church groups. 
Pastor Doan Trung Tin of the Vietnam Good News Mission Church 
said one of his pastors in Ea Hleo, Dak Lak, who had been 
preaching since 1995, was publicly denounced in front of a group 
of 100 people that included local government officials.  He was 
later put under house arrest for three months, during which time 
a fifteen minute news segment showing officials, followers and 
leaders of a recognized Protestant church speaking derogatorily 
about the pastor's character and credentials was aired on local 
television during prime time evening news. 
 
 
 
¶5. (SBU) The Central Highlands is not the only area where 
unregistered Protestants reported problems.  All pastors agreed 
that central coastal provinces are a difficult place to 
proselytize.  Pastor Khoa said young United Presbyterian 
evangelists from Quang Ngai were stopped from meeting with 
followers in Danang city, and continued to be subject to 
harassment by local authorities once they returned home.  And 
issues aren't limited to remote, underdeveloped areas either. 
In Song Thao district of Dong Nai province, just outside HCMC, 
the United Baptist Church reported that after a husband objected 
to his wife joining a small meeting point he reported the 
activities of the congregation to the police, and subsequently 
the police threatened eighteen new converts, urging them to 
renounce their faith. 
 
 
 
 
HO CHI MIN 00000650  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
Some Pastors Prevented from Traveling 
 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Some pastors reported being stopped at the HCMC airport 
and questioned about participating in political activities while 
travelling abroad, sometimes for several hours.  One Lutheran 
pastor said he was asked by airport officials whether he 
contacted members of Viet Tan during his recent trip to 
Thailand.  Pastor Nguyen Ngoc Hien of the Baptist Alliance said 
he has been unable to travel since authorities confiscated his 
passport five years ago; he continues to be closely monitored by 
the police, who ask him why he prays for imprisoned lawyers 
Nguyen Van Dai and Le Thi Cong Nhan.  Police ask routinely ask 
Hien about his contacts in the U.S. and E.U., and whether he has 
been interviewed by foreign media or posted articles online. 
(Note: Pastor Hien's has been questioned more actively than most 
of the other pastors perhaps because of his support for 
Christian human rights activists.  Although he is not permitted 
to travel overseas, Pastor Hien maintains an active travel 
schedule throughout the country and runs a large training 
program in HCMC and in Northern provinces.  Other pastors say he 
is being singled out because of his involvement in a private 
commercial dispute of long standing.  Pastor Hien believes it is 
because he spoke critically about the GVN's religious freedom 
record during a meeting with former Secretary Rice.  End note. 
 
 
 
Mission Advocacy Making A Difference 
 
------------------------------------ 
 
7 (SBU) The pastors acknowledged progress in some areas, 
especially in HCMC.  Pastor Khoa said his congregations can now 
print religious materials without problems and hold major 
religious festivities with participants numbering in the 
thousands.  Shortly before meeting with ConGenOff, Pastor Khoa 
said he applied for a permit to hold a Christmas celebration at 
the 7th Military Zone stadium in HCMC on December 12 and the 
Deputy Director of the HCMC CRA promised to consider his 
application and facilitate the event. 
 
 
 
¶8. (SBU) The pastors also expressed their appreciation for 
Mission officers raising their cases with appropriate 
authorities, citing specifics instances where Mission advocacy 
eased pressures on their congregations.  Pastor Pham Toan Ai 
thanked ConGenOff for interceding with Dong Nai authorities on 
behalf of the United Baptist church, noting it "helped remove 
obstacles" for local congregations having difficulties 
registering there.  Pastor Ai also said after Embassy PolOff 
raised the case of a man suspected of murdering his mother after 
she joined a United Baptist church in northern Ha Giang 
province, authorities later arrested the suspect.  Local 
authorities, however, blamed the local pastor of the victim's 
church for not reporting the case to provincial authorities 
sooner. 
 
 
 
Troubling CPV Guidance 
 
---------------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) The Central and Northwest Highlands have been difficult 
areas for many churches, both registered and unregistered, to 
operate for many years.  The coupling of separatist movements 
linked with Protestantism and authorities' lingering resentment 
and suspicion of ethnic minority groups that assisted the U.S. 
military during the war have created historical tensions in many 
communities.  One additional new factor may help explain why the 
Central and Northwest Highlands remain so difficult, 
particularly for smaller Protestant religious groups.  According 
to official guidance from the Central Committee of the CPV that 
was recently--and inadvertently--posted on a provincial 
newspaper's website and later picked up by all the major 
blogs(to be reported septel), there has been an "unusual" 
expansion of Protestant religions in mountains regions and 
"hostile forces" are founding "strange religions" among ethnic 
minorities "to drive a wedge between peoples, creating the 
potential for social and political instability among minority 
peoples."  It is not difficult to see how local officials would 
view this official CPV guidance as encouraging them to thwart 
the development of Protestant religions in the Central and 
Northwest Highlands. 
 
 
HO CHI MIN 00000650  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
 
 
Comment 
 
------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) While many Protestant house churches are moving 
towards national registration and recognition, their 
unrecognized brethren continue to report problems.  These 
smaller groups are relative newcomers to Vietnam's religious 
landscape and are still in the process of establishing trust 
with local, provincial and national-level authorities, who 
question their evangelical activities and ties to overseas 
church organizations, as well as their potential political 
leanings.  The official guidance known as Decree 34, which was 
passed in April 2009 and published on the Internet in October, 
appears to provide an additional explanation for the added 
scrutiny experienced by newer (to Vietnam) and smaller 
Protestant religions.  It is important to note that all of the 
major religious groups in Vietnam reported similar issues before 
the GVN began to implement the legal framework on religion in 
2004, and many still struggle to build effective working 
relationships with officials in localities resistant to change. 
Religious freedom remains a work in progress in Vietnam, but 
steady and continuous advocacy with GVN officials at every level 
is helping to move things forward. 
 
 
 
¶10. (U) This cable was coordinated with Embassy Hanoi. 
FAIRFAX