Mennonite pastor's home raided

From: Stephen Denney <sdenney@ocf.berkeley.edu>

Date: May 26, 2006 10:40 AM

Subject: [Vsg] Mennonite pastor's home raided

A police raid of a Mennonite pastor's home in Ho Chi Minh City can be

viewed at:

http://hoamai.org/audio/video/Mennonite_01.htm

Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang, general secretary of the Mennonite church of

Vietnam, had been imprisoned from June 2004 to Aug. 30, 2005, for

allegedly "instigating others to obstruct persons carrying out official

duties," after police searched his house in Ho Chi Minh city, originally

sentenced to three years but released early. He was most recently in the

news for signing a dissident appeal for human rights in Vietnam, see:

http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=6151

- Steve Denney

From: Hao Phan <haophan@library.ucla.edu>

Date: May 26, 2006 2:53 PM

Subject: Re: [Vsg] Mennonite pastor's home raided

For those who watched the video clip regarding Rev. Nguyen Hong Quang, but

did not follow the Vietnamese dialog, I offer here a summary.

////

Basically Mr. Quang was trying to defend his home. He said he would let the

police take the house down if the police came with an official paper

explaining what building code he had violated. The police said Mr. Quang

upgraded his house not accordingly to the permit. Mr. Quang upgraded his

house one meter higher than what the permit allowed. In Vietnam, this is

quite common in home construction. People are given the permit to built

only a 2 story house, for instance, but they end up building a 3 or 4 story

one. Things are often resolved quietly without destroying anything,

certainly not with this kind of violence. It is obvious that the local

police was directed to abuse Mr. Quang whenever they could find a reason.

By the end of the video clip, the police violently tackled Mr. Quang down,

amid his wife and children's screaming. Among many uniform police, there

were also a bunch of plain-clothes police who look bossy.

From: Chuck Searcy <chucksearcy@yahoo.com>

Date: May 28, 2006 10:01 PM

Subject: Re: [Vsg] Mennonite pastor's home raided

Across the alleyway from the house I rent in downtown Hanoi, a neighbor last year began renovation of his house using a work crew that smashed and drilled incessantly for two months, mixing cement and sawing floor tiles, adding second and third stories to the building. After they had completed the work and a merciful silence ensued (at least compared to the previous two months of jarring construction), I was surprised to come home one day and find a labor crew sledge-hammering to rubble the walls and balcony of the third floor, while a group of uniformed police officers looked on officiously and my neighbor shook his head and shrugged his shoulders and explained to me that he did not have the correct permissions to construct the third floor, or else the design was too high -- I failed to understand the exact problem or violation, but he seemed to accept it with resignation although sadly.

Several years earlier, at a meeting hosted by the U.S. Embassy for the congressionally appointed committee or commission on religious freedom (I forget the exact name of the group), and some NGO representatives (only two of us showed up, and one was the MCC representative in Vietnam), one of the commission members brought up the allegation that the Vietnamese government was "destroying Protestant churches" and there was a videotape to prove it. The Embassy staff member who had been assigned to investigate that much reported incident said he had visited the Central Highlands area, went to the site, examined the situation thoroughly and conducted extensive interviews with local people, and he concluded that when church leaders decided to build the church, they chose a "secure" border area which was restricted from any kind of construction. Authorities told them they could choose among numerous other sites instead. Church members began building on the restricted site anyway, and when government officials discovered the fact after the foundation had been laid and walls erected, they ordered the uncompleted structure torn down. As the labor crew was hammering the walls down, they were videotaped by someone hiding behind the trees nearby, and hence the widespread allegation that the Vietnamese were destroying churches.

Just two illustrations of what may likely be complicated problems for some time to come, with many dimensions.

Chuck Searcy

Return to top of page