Identifying the plot to exploit religious issues to undermine the country.

Taking advantage of this situation, some individuals, groups, and organizations, for their own purposes, have exploited it for personal gain, causing insecurity and disorder, and even distorting and slandering to attack the regime and undermine the Party and the State.

This reality requires people to be cautious and vigilant, not allowing themselves to be manipulated or exploited by malicious individuals to commit illegal acts.

Over the past few days, social media has been flooded with countless video clips showing groups of Buddhist monks following "Venerable Thich Minh Tue" on their alms-gathering walks through the central provinces.

Initially, the group consisted of only a few people, moving quietly, but due to the bandwagon effect, the number of participants grew steadily, sometimes reaching over 70 people.

Practicing Buddhist teachings is a legitimate need of the people and is protected by law, but some individuals on social media have taken things too far, even praising "Venerable Thich Minh Tue" as "reminiscent of the image of the Buddha of old," venerating him as "the Buddha reborn"...

From here, the situation became excessively chaotic, with every move of the monastic group being recorded by hundreds of YouTubers, TikTokers, and Facebookers.

Upon calm consideration, we can all see that the person referred to as "Venerable Thich Minh Tue" is actually an ordinary person, whose birth name is Le Anh Tu, born in 1981, originally from Ha Tinh province, and residing in Ia Grai district, Gia Lai province. After finishing high school, Mr. Le Anh Tu served in the military . After his discharge, he attended the Tay Nguyen Forestry Vocational School and later became a land surveyor.

During this time, Mr. Le Anh Tu studied Buddhism through books and practiced vegetarianism and meditation at home. In 2015, Mr. Tu decided to become a monk, taking the Dharma name Thich Minh Tue. From 2017 to 2023, he walked three times from south to north and back again. On those occasions, his travels and personal practice went smoothly, without difficulties or obstacles, and did not affect public order or security.

2024 marked the fourth time "Venerable Thich Minh Tue" embarked on his alms-gathering journey across Vietnam. This time, however, the excessive involvement of social media brought the event to the forefront of public attention, despite his sincere explanation: "I am not a monk or a teacher. I am just a Vietnamese citizen studying the Buddha's teachings."

And we've seen the immediate consequences when social media, as well as a segment of the population, interferes excessively in an individual's private life. This is evident in the fact that dozens, even hundreds, of people producing digital content on social media platforms suddenly see this as a lucrative opportunity to make money, so they flock to follow in their footsteps to livestream, causing chaos.

This led to thousands of people, driven by curiosity or excessive reverence for "Venerable Thich Minh Tue," flooding the streets, jostling, pushing, and shouting at each other to see, photograph, or even touch "Venerable Thich Minh Tue," resulting in frequent scenes of chaos.

Local authorities struggled to manage traffic flow and maintain order along the route taken by this group of monks.

Taking advantage of the situation, malicious individuals infiltrated the community to commit theft, spread heretical doctrines, and distribute illegal materials. Subversive and extremist elements also exploited this phenomenon to attack and distort the image of the Vietnam Buddhist Church, and to slander the Party and the State.

Furthermore, perhaps feeling uneasy about the excessive attention from the curious crowd, Mr. Tu repeatedly expressed that he didn't need anyone to accompany him and advised everyone to return to their work. However, this wish of his could not calm the crowd, and the situation showed signs of becoming increasingly tense and difficult to control.

Notably, on May 30, 2024, a man in the group, named Luong Thanh Son, residing in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, suffered heatstroke, multiple organ failure, and gastrointestinal bleeding, leading to his death.

On June 2, 2024, two women who were accompanying Mr. Tu and his group suffered from heatstroke and exhaustion, collapsing on the road. Authorities promptly took them to the hospital for treatment.

As someone directly involved, Mr. Le Anh Tu understands better than anyone the social unrest that has been and is still occurring, and therefore he has voluntarily stopped his begging for alms.

Specifically, information from the Government's Religious Affairs Committee on June 3rd indicated that relevant authorities had met and discussed with Mr. Le Anh Tu the State's consistent policy of respecting the freedom of belief and religion of all people; local authorities have always been attentive and created conditions for Mr. Le Anh Tu to walk and practice as he wishes, but it is necessary to ensure the safety and health of the people and social stability.

Mr. Le Anh Tu, recognizing his rights and responsibilities as a citizen, voluntarily stopped his walking alms-gathering. This action by Mr. Le Anh Tu has received the support of many people because a long walking trip in extremely hot weather would affect the health of Mr. Le Anh Tu himself as well as his companions.

On the other hand, attracting a crowd would disrupt his rest and recuperation, and would be offensive and counterproductive to Mr. Tú's personal wishes. Therefore, Mr. Lê Anh Tú's decision to stop his alms-gathering at this time and switch to a life of seclusion is wise, necessary, and deserves respect.

However, some subversive and reactionary elements immediately exploited this incident to distort religious policies in Vietnam and oppose the Party and the State.

Such as spreading false information about "discrimination and religious persecution," fabricating stories about "monk Thich Minh Tue" being arrested and forced to stop his religious practice...

Faced with the need for authorities to intervene to ensure security, order, and traffic safety along the routes the Buddhist procession was traveling, hostile forces loudly proclaimed: "The police are obstructing the monks' religious practice."

The Viet Tan terrorist organization's fan page regularly posts articles and comments containing false information and distorting the nature of events to create conflict and division between religions and the government, incite people, and claim that "state-sponsored monks and the police must find ways to destroy the spiritual path of Master Minh Tue."

Along with that, the Executive Council of the so-called "Unified Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha" also issued a document containing distorted information, claiming that: "The authorities have decided to neutralize Venerable Minh Tue by separating him from Buddhists and the people, placing him in a place where they can easily control him," and "The Buddhist organization established by the authorities has aided the authorities."

It's not difficult to explain this distortion by the "Unified Vietnamese Church" because, historically and legally, this "Unified Vietnamese Church" no longer exists in the original sense as an independent religion.

However, over the years, those who run and participate in the so-called "Unified Vietnamese Church" have regularly engaged in activities aimed at undermining Vietnam, such as fabricating numerous events to falsely accuse Vietnam of religious persecution and human rights violations, calling on people to fight for religious freedom according to Western viewpoints, and absolutizing the right to freedom of belief and religion without any constraints or sanctions.

The actions of the "Unified Vietnamese Buddhist Church" have caused widespread public outrage because they have led some monks, nuns, and Buddhists both domestically and internationally to misunderstand the true nature of religious freedom, tarnishing the image of the Vietnamese Buddhist Church, affecting national unity and religious harmony, undermining the cause of national construction and defense, and causing the international community to misunderstand human rights and religious freedom in Vietnam.

Vietnam is a country that always prioritizes and guarantees the human rights of all citizens, including the right to freedom of belief and religion.

According to statistics from the Government's Religious Affairs Committee, the State has currently recognized and granted operating licenses to 43 organizations belonging to 16 religions, with over 26.5 million followers, accounting for 27% of the country's population, more than 54,000 religious dignitaries, over 135,000 religious officials, and nearly 30,000 places of worship.

According to a survey by the US-based Pew Forum Institute, Vietnam is among the 12 countries in the world and six countries in the Asia-Pacific region with very high levels of religious diversity.

Vietnamese law protects the right to religious freedom, stating that "everyone has the right to express their religious beliefs; practice religious rituals; participate in festivals; study and practice religious doctrines and laws" (Article 6, Law on Beliefs and Religions 2016), but also resolutely deals with acts of exploiting religion to cause social instability and undermine the regime.

Clause 3, Article 24 of the 2013 Constitution of Vietnam clearly stipulates: "No one shall infringe upon freedom of belief and religion or exploit belief and religion to violate the law."

At the same time, Article 5 of the 2016 Law on Beliefs and Religions stipulates prohibited acts, notably: infringing upon national defense, security, national sovereignty, social order and safety, and the environment; dividing ethnic groups; dividing religions; dividing people of different beliefs and religions from those who do not, and between people of different beliefs and religions; and exploiting religious activities for personal gain. This reality requires citizens, in exercising their right to freedom of belief and religion, to be cautious and vigilant, and not to be manipulated or exploited by malicious individuals to commit illegal acts.

Source: https://baolaocai.vn/nhan-dien-am-muu-loi-dung-van-de-ton-giao-de-chong-pha-dat-nuoc-post385100.html