Freedom of belief and religion in Vietnam: The undeniable truth - Lang Son Electronic Newspaper

Over the past years, ill-intentioned, extremist, and reactionary elements have continuously sought every means and trick to sabotage our Party and State. One of the issues they frequently spread, fabricate, and relentlessly pursue is distorting and slandering the situation of freedom of belief and religion in Vietnam. These tricks and activities will continue to be promoted by hostile forces in 2024.

Bao Lam District Police ( Cao Bang Province) propagated and mobilized people to practice a civilized lifestyle and obey the law during a meeting at the H'Mong Protestant group in Na Ca hamlet, Pac Miau town.

Since the beginning of 2024, during the International Religious Freedom Summit (IRF - an annual conference of civil society organizations) held on January 30-31 in Washington, DC, USA, dozens of individuals claiming to be "activists for religious freedom for Vietnam" have taken the opportunity to approach and lobby legislators, law enforcement agencies and international organizations in order to put pressure on the Vietnamese government.

As revealed by one of the conference participants, this was somewhat clear: “We divided into many groups to meet with congressmen and senators to present typical cases of religious freedom and human rights repression in Vietnam.”

Among them, we cannot fail to mention the enthusiasm of BPSOS (the Committee for the Rescue of Boat People, chaired and directed by Nguyen Dinh Thang). Taking advantage of the forum, BPSOS organized a series of roundtables under the pretext of discussing religious freedom, but in essence, they distorted religious policies in Vietnam, providing false information about the so-called "religious organizations controlled by the state", "the state's repression of indigenous communities in Vietnam". And as usual, this organization continued to loudly advocate internationally for the release of "religious prisoners" in Vietnam, calling for the intervention of organizations and governments of other countries against the Vietnamese government, intending to internationalize Vietnam's internal issues.

Recently, on July 22-23, at the International Religious Freedom Summit-Asia (IRF Summit-Asia) held in Tokyo, Japan, BPSOS “rehashed the old story”. As a member of the Organizing Committee, this organization took the opportunity to polish its reputation as well as try to show its dark purposes.

The head of the organization, Nguyen Dinh Thang, took advantage of the opportunity to speak. And it is not surprising that this person continued to blatantly slander and defame Vietnam in the issue of “religious control”; at the same time, he made public opinion extremely indignant by distorting the coordination between the Government Committee for Religious Affairs and the Ministry of Public Security as “to restrain and suppress religion”, as well as providing false information about the so-called “transnational forms of repression by the Vietnamese communists”.

Not stopping there, Nguyen Dinh Thang continued to go to Taiwan (China) to meet with a number of organizations, calling on them to contribute to the movement to fight for global religious freedom, and at the same time participated in calling for the establishment of a group to lobby congressmen to support Religious Freedom in Vietnam in the United States.

In an interview with the press, Nguyen Dinh Thang said that senators who have influence on US foreign policy, especially regarding the issue of religious freedom, need to listen to the voices of their constituents. Therefore, BPSOS arranged a delegation of 7 people to work at the office of Congressman Lou Correa in Orange County, California. This is also the second most populous county in the state and the third in the United States, especially Orange County is also home to a large Vietnamese population.

Information from BPSOS said that the delegation had made a number of proposals and scheduled regular meetings with the local office of Representative Correa and the National Assembly to coordinate actions. From this, there are opinions that Nguyen Dinh Thang is plotting to use the "voter voice" trick to put pressure on US representatives or not?

Recently, under the direction of Nguyen Dinh Thang, BPSOS has continuously promoted the implementation of the so-called "Vietnam Civil Rights Project", calling for "Ensuring the proper implementation of civil rights protection provisions in national laws and promoting compliance with human rights standards under international law".

However, in reality, this organization often disseminates false and fabricated information about the Party's policies and the State's laws on religious issues, inciting and causing division in the great national unity bloc, undermining the people's trust in the Party's leadership, obstructing the path to socialism in Vietnam, and lowering the role and prestige of Vietnam in the international arena.

On June 20, 2024, BPSOS issued a notice distorting the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha as a "pseudo-religious" organization, thereby inciting people to "use their civil rights to denounce illegal acts to the authorities and request that these agencies handle them in accordance with the provisions of the law". Even more arrogant, BPSOS's "Vietnam Civil Rights Project" prepared two forms (Request Form, Crime Complaint Form) calling on people to fill in their personal information and sign, while declaring "We (ie BPSOS) and international human rights organizations will pay due attention to monitor and protect anyone who performs these legitimate legal acts".

It is worth mentioning that in the two forms issued, BPSOS deliberately prepared incorrect content to criticize and attack the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha and made an outrageous demand "requesting the Government Committee for Religious Affairs to perform its functions and issue documents to rectify the illegal acts of the above-mentioned organizations and individuals.

In the course of performing its functions, if it is determined that the above acts show signs of crime, it is necessary to immediately transfer that information to the criminal investigation agency according to the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code. BPSOS blatantly sent out a threatening message that: "If the Vietnamese Government complies with the law and punishes violators, that is good. But if they cover up for the pseudo-religious organization that they themselves created, that will be the basis for us to mobilize international attention and action."

The actions of BPSOS do not surprise those who are knowledgeable about the issue, because they have long been familiar with the organization's way of operating. In essence, BPSOS is a reactionary exile organization with fierce opposition methods and tactics both at home and abroad, directly violating Vietnam's national security.

Reports from the authorities show that from 2016 to present, BPSOS has organized many training courses for domestic subjects, mainly intellectuals, members with distorted perceptions of politics and law, and extremist political subjects in religion and ethnicity.

Through training, BPSOS has instructed these subjects to write reports on democracy and human rights issues with the purpose of propagandizing against Vietnam. This organization also actively incited and incited some subjects in the country to establish groups disguised as "democracy" and "human rights" activities to gather forces to carry out activities against Vietnam.

BPSOS itself has stated that it has collaborated with domestic opposition groups to collect information and create distorted reports on the situation in Vietnam in order to bring this issue to meetings and seminars organized by competent authorities. The operation of this organization shows that although it uses the name of “refugee support”, BPSOS has in fact thoroughly exploited the refugee issue to propagate and sabotage Vietnam in international forums as well as complicate the security and order situation in some localities in the country.

It is necessary to affirm that Vietnam has consistently implemented the policy of respecting and ensuring freedom of belief and religion. The report at the conference reviewing the first 6 months of the year and deploying work for the last 6 months of 2024 on religious work held on July 18, 2024 in Ha Long city, Quang Ninh province stated:

In the first 6 months of 2024, the state management sector on religion closely followed the direction of the Politburo, the Secretariat, the Government, the Prime Minister and the leaders of the Ministry of Home Affairs; strictly implemented discipline and administrative discipline and successfully completed the political tasks assigned by the Party and the State; advised the Party, the State, the Government, the Prime Minister and the leaders of the Ministry of Home Affairs on many major policies and tasks in state management of beliefs and religions; promptly detected and advised on handling of illegal activities related to religion, creating consensus among dignitaries, believers and the masses.

State management of beliefs and religions ensures effectiveness and efficiency, contributing to stabilizing the situation of beliefs and religions throughout the country. Authorities at all levels pay attention to guiding and assisting religious organizations to operate in accordance with the law; ensuring stable religious activities, compliance with the law, and attachment to the nation.

The work of inspecting and examining the implementation of the law on beliefs and religions is carried out in accordance with the provisions of the law. Religious diplomacy and the struggle for human rights continue to be maintained and promoted; proactively providing information and refuting the distorted arguments of hostile forces, actively contributing to the open foreign policy of our Party and State.

In the first 6 months of 2024, religious activities nationwide were vibrant and basically in compliance with the law. The trust of religious dignitaries and followers in the Party and the State was strengthened. Legal religious organizations continued to determine their operational directions to closely accompany the nation; and promote resources for the cause of national construction and defense.

The above results continue to show that the correct and effective policies of our Party and State have contributed practically to ensuring freedom of belief and religion in Vietnam, which no force can distort or defame.

Source: https://baolangson.vn/tu-do-tin-nguong-ton-giao-o-viet-nam-su-that-khong-the-phu-nhan-5017423.html