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Vietnam Mennonite Church Leaders Appeal to Their Government

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — Leaders of the Mennonite Church in Vietnam have appealed to the government to release four men arrested on March 2.

In a March 28 - April 1 gathering for encouragement and training, 40 Mennonite Church leaders from many parts of the country signed a "letter of protest" on March 31 and sent it to the Prime Minister and to the Ministry of Public Security.

The letter protested "the entrapment, arrest, interrogation and vicious beating and imprisonment" of four church leaders on March 2 in District 2 in Ho Chi Minh City and the refusal of local authorities to provide any information about the leaders since then.

The letter also protests the actions of local authorities in the central highlands city of Kon Tum, including the January 16 bulldozing of the recently-built pastor's house that was used as a church meeting place. The letter cites instances of security forces terrorizing Mennonite church leaders among the ethnic minorities in the Kon Tum area and ransacking their houses.

In Binh Phuoc province, powerful economic groups wanting to develop rubber plantations have seized property belonging to the Mennonite believers of the Stieng ethnic group. They have farmed the land for several generations. The letter protests the confiscation of this land which has forced many from their homes, leaving them with no means of livelihood.

"We strongly protest these actions of the security police and local authorities against us. We request that you exercise your responsibilities to stop these actions against our Church," the church leaders' letter concluded.

Nguyen Quang Trung, President of MCVN, and Nguyen Hong Quang, General Secretary of the church, as well as more than 30 other leaders signed the letter.

In a companion April 1 "letter of request," 13 church leaders from ethnic minorities request that the government of Vietnam "assume responsibility for resolving the issue of freedom of religion and belief for the Mennonite community among the ethnic minorities in Vietnam whose rights have been seriously violated."

The letter, speaking for pastors and church leaders from 15 ethnic minority groups "who are serving the Lord within the Mennonite Church," states: "We face a situation where the right of freedom of religion for the ethnic minority communities is more clearly being violated by the security police than ever before.

"We acknowledge that the security police violate the laws of Vietnam, trample on human rights, treating the minorities differently, arrest and interrogate them, threaten, terrorize, beat and imprison them, take their land and houses, smearing and slandering them, damaging their physical health, their morale, and the property of individual believers with serious damage to the Church."

This letter was written 10 days before ethnic minorities staged public demonstrations in a neighboring province in the central highlands, protesting lack of religious freedom and loss of land.

The letter claims that they are falsely accused by the security police of being reactionaries, lackeys of Americans, opposing the government and the revolution, and supporting a separatist movement.

"We here officially reject this false propaganda," they write, " and at the same time call on every Mennonite believer to firmly hold to the faith and unite...to build the Church on the foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ."

They declare that they want to live united in love "as brothers and sisters in the same house with all ethnic groups," including the majority Vietnamese Kinh group, after the spirit of the Bible.

The letter condemns specific incidents against some Mennonite leaders and the "persecution and intimidation...of many other brothers and sisters who have disappeared, whose whereabouts we do not know."

In response to the documented reports of abuse, the Mennonite World Conference has sent a letter of concern to Vietnamese authorities about the treatment of ethnic minorities and the arrest of church leaders in Ho Chi Minh City. MWC has requested a meeting to discuss these matters.