Vietnam steps up pressure to expel UBCV monk Thich Chon Tam from Tay Hue Pagoda in An Giang

The International Buddhist Information Bureau (IBIB) has received an urgent appeal today from Venerable Thich Chon Tam, Superior monk of Tay Hue Pagoda in the southern province of An Giang and member of the outlawed Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV). Thich Chon Tam reports that the authorities are stepping up pressure to expell him from Tay Hue Pagoda and replace him with a monk from the state-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Church. This is the third time he has received expulsion orders because of his support for the banned UBCV. Thich Chon Tam has consistently resisted government pressure, but he fears that Police will soon return to carry out the expulsion order by force. This continued harassment of an UBCV monk takes place as Vietnam seeks improved trade status with the US and accession to the WTO, and is claiming improvements in its religious policies to seek removal from the US State Department’s black-list of “Countries of Particular Concern”.

Thich Chon Tam told IBIB that plain-clothed Security agents surrounded Tay Hue Pagoda on Monday morning (17.7.2006). A delegation of 11 officials then arrived, including Mr Mai Van Tong, Head of the Nui Sam district Vietnam Fatherland Front, Mr Lai Van Tan, head of the local People’s Committee and eight monks and nuns from the Executive Board of the local Vietnam Buddhist Church, headed by senior monk Thich Hue Tai. They read out Decision 036/2006/QD.BTS (8.4.2006) ordering him to evacuate the pagoda immediately and stating that Thich Thien Loi of the VBC would take his place. Thich Chon Tam protested that Tay Hue Pagoda did not belong to the VBC, but to local Buddhists, who had raised funds and built it themselves. They had invited Thich Chon Tam, as a member of the UBCV, to be Superior monk, and the authorities had thus no right to order him to leave. During the heated discussion that followed, the delegation threatened and insulted the UBCV monk. They drew up minutes of the “working session” and ordered Thich Chon Tam to sign. He refused, stating that the meeting was unlawful, and declared that he would remain at Tay Hue Pagoda, in accordance with his legal rights. The delegation and the Security agents finally withdrew, but the situation remains very tense, he said.

Thich Chon Tam, who is an active UBCV advocate, Commissioner for Education of the UBCV Executive Institute (Vien Hoa Dao), has suffered ceaseless harassments since he founded the UBCV Representative Board in An Giang province last year. Pressure has stepped up significantly in recent months. On 8 April 2006, the authorities ordered Thich Chon Tam’s expulsion from Tay Hue Pagoda within 15 days. When he refused, the local VBC organized a 7-day “study session” for Buddhists to denounce and slander Thich Chon Tam. In May 2006, senior cadres from the local Communist Party’s Propaganda and Mobilization Department tried to bribe Thich Chon Tam to become an informer and denounce UBCV leaders, offering him 4.8 million dongs per year, a huge sum for a poor Buddhist monk. On 10 June 2006, local government and VBC officials in An Giang Province accused Thich Chon Tam of “conniving with hostile forces overseas to betray the Vietnamese nation and people”. This week’s event is the latest step in a series of harassments against Thich Chon Tam and UBCV members all over Vietnam.

Thich Chon Tam concluded by appealing to the IBIB and the Paris- based Vietnam Committee on Human Rights to alert the United Nations and international opinion to the flagrant on-going repression against members of the UBCV. He also called upon the US Commission on International Religious Freedom and international human rights organisations worldwide to intervene to prevent further religious repression in Vietnam.