Archbishop Kiet's controversial comment
From: Anthony Le <leductony@yahoo.com>
Date: 2008/9/21
To: Vietnam Studies Group <vsg@u.washington.edu>
In a meeting with the Hanoi People's Committee, Archbishop Ngo Quang Kiet gave a speech. Towards the end of the speech, he made the following comment:
"I travel to other countries very often, and I feel humiliated when holding a Vietnamese passport, because wherever I go, I am examined and checked. Of course I am very sad by this. I wish for the country to be stronger. We have to be like the Japanese who with his passport, can go everywhere without being checked by anyone. Now, the Korean man is the same. As for our Vietnamese people, I really wish that we would be big and strong and truly unified and good, so that we can be strong and be respected anywhere that we go. But our sentiments alone cannot achieve this; we need to have reason built firmly on the foundation of law."
However, the media has been widely reporting that Archbishop said, ""I travel to other countries very often, and I feel humiliated when holding a Vietnamese passport". I believe this is part of a defaming campaign against individuals that would lead up to something like a possible arrest. A warning has also been issued to the archbishop that he would face consequences if he did not stop the prayer vigils and stop mobilizing and instigating the faithful to protest and cause public disorder against the law. I believe in the past a defamation campaign to prepare public opinion usually preceded arrest of individuals.
I wonder if VSGers think that this is so in the case of Archbishop Ngo Quang Kiet.
anthony
"Chúng tôi đi nước ngoài rất nhiều, chúng tôi rất là nhục nhã khi cầm cái hộ chiếu Việt Nam, đi đâu cũng bị soi xét, chúng tôi buồn lắm chứ, chúng tôi mong muốn đất nước mình mạnh lên. Làm sao như một anh Nhật nó cầm cái hộ chiếu là đi qua tất cả mọi nơi, không ai xem xét gì cả. Anh Hàn Quốc bây giờ cũng thế.
Còn người Việt Nam chúng ta thì tôi cũng mong đất nước lớn mạnh lắm và làm sao thật sự đoàn kết, thật sự tốt đẹp, để cho đất nước chúng ta mạnh, đi đâu chúng ta cũng được kính trọng.
Thế nhưng chúng ta không phải chỉ có tình cảm mong muốn là được mà phải có lý luận xây dựng thật là vững chắc trên nền tảng pháp lý."
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From: L Kammas <chukam05@hotmail.com>
Date: 2008/9/22
To: vsg@u.washington.edu
Hello list,
Re: Archbishop Kiet's comments and the historical method of defame then arrest, I would be surprised if this would be the case with Kiet. I do not think the state expected such a turnout of such size nor the immediate public response to its actions. Even more eyes are looking now and I think the state's next move may be to defuse the situation. Church-state relations since the early 90s had more or less been stabilized and I think further measures against the Church would bring unintended consequences to the state. I'm not suggesting collapse; something more along the lines of breeding more (non)religious sympathizers to the Church's cause.
If Kiet is arrested, I suspect a brief detainment; just another way for the state to remind both the Catholic Church and the people of its power but I chalk that up to showmanship. The fact that people are publicly siding with the Church challenges the state. And of course in Vietnam, the state continues to operate as if this is an impossibility.
Best wishes and thanks to Ben Stocking: for a speedy recovery and for doing his job.
Lan Chu
Assistant Professor
Diplomacy & World Affairs
Occidental College