Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization

March 26, 2008

Montagnards: No Let Up In Christian Harassment

The Montagnard Foundation is appealing for international help in urging Hanoi to release detained Degars and permit religious freedom.

Below is an appeal issued by the Montagnard Foundation:

Last month, in February 2008 a Degar Catholic named Dinh Plok had his home, his farmlands and all his belongings included his motorcycle […] confiscated by the Vietnamese government because he refused to sign a document renouncing his Christian faith.

Dinh Plok is a 44 year old male from the village of Ploi Kuk Tu, in the commune of Ktung, from the district of Kpang in the province of Gialai. He lived on his farm with his family and many of his relatives, who all depended on Dinh Polok’s farm for their sustenance and livelihood. 

Dinh Plok was converted to the Catholicism in 2007. Shortly after, his whole family, including those living under his roof as well as many of his wife’s relatives, followed his lead and also converted to Catholicism.

[…]

On February 28, 2008, two Vietnamese security officials, Ong Nam and Ong Ar, from the district of Kpang, along with 100 soldiers came and surrounded Dinh Plok’s home and farmlands. The security officials demanded that Dinh Plok and his family sign documents renouncing their Christian faith.  However, Dinh Plok and his family all refused to sign the renouncement papers. The security police and soldiers became angry; they violently forced the family out of their home and marched them at gunpoint to a nearby wooded area. Dinh Plok was told that his farm and house now belonged to the government and that if he or any of his family or relatives stepped foot on those lands again, they would be immediately killed.

[…]

Farming is the only way they know to survive. How long will a family of this size survive in the woods, especially with young children? Where can they go?  If they go home, they will be killed by the security police and there are no other farmlands that they can develop; The Vietnamese government has already confiscated them all.

[…]

In another separate incident, two more Degar Catholic believers were beaten and imprisoned because they refused to sign a document renouncing their faith.

On February 26, 2008, four Vietnamese security police (Thai Ba Chien and Quinh Lua from the commune of Hoa Binh and Dong Hong Trung and Vo Quang Duy from the city of Kontum) went to the village of Ploi Cor, in the commune of Hoa Binh and the province of Kontum to demand two indigenous Degar Catholic believers (A Plit, a 35 year old man, and A Um, a 25 year old man) to sign documents renouncing their Catholic Christian faith.

Since both of our Christian brothers refused to sign these renouncement papers, the security police became enraged. Vietnamese security official, Thai Ba Chien, became so angry that he began to beat our brother […t]hen, the security police handcuffed both Catholic men and took them to the Hoa Binh prison facility, where they continue to be incarcerated. The families of A Plit and A Um are all terribly worried about them because they know what the Vietnamese security police usually do to Degar prisoners. 

Therefore, we the Degar community in the United States, earnestly plea to the international community, the United Nations, the European Union, the United States, Catholics and Christians worldwide to urgently advocate for Dinh Plok and his families, A Plit, and A Um. Please convince the Vietnamese government to allow Dinh Plok and his family to return peacefully to their home and also to allow A Plit and A Um to be released from prison and to return safely home to their families.  We, the Degar community, thank you and pray that God will bless you for your time and assistance.

[…]

The US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, CHRISTOPHER HILL, testified before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the recent hearing on “US – Vietnam Bilateral Relations”, that “religious freedom in Vietnam has expanded significantly” and that “Vietnam no longer qualifies as a serious violator of religious freedom,” The policy of forcing Christians to renounce their faith would certainly seem to contradict this statement. We, therefore, beseech Mr. Hill to retract this statement.