Underground Buddhist Church decries Vietnamese repression

Agence France Presse
The underground Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) has joined the growing chorus of harsh critics of Vietnam's communist government in an open letter quoted in a release Friday.

A communique received by AFP from the UBCV headquarters in France quotes an open letter to Prime Minister Phan Van Khai by a senior Vietnamese UBCV monk denoucing increased repression against its members.

Thich Thien Khai attacked in his letter the Government Board of Religious Affairs describing it as comprising "entirely Communist Party members who are atheists, and thus fundamentally opposed to religion."

The publication of exerts from Khai's letter comes on the heels of two other biting attacks on the communist party by retired general Tran Do, and Phan Dan Dieu, a prominent intellectual.

Both said the communist leaders had strayed from true communist revolution and said the party was threatened with disintegration triggered by grassroots unrest and economic turmoil.

Khai also expressed deep concern over the use of "terrorist language" by the board against Bbuddhists not belonging to the Vietnam Buddhist Church, the only buddhist organization officially recognized in Vietnam.

He sounded the alarm over comments made by Le Quang Vinh, head of the board who said that any "organization acting in the name of Buddhism outside VBC structures or in violation of the VBC charter and statutes is illegal, and will be resolutely repressed."

Khai said that the authorities had already made good their threat, and he claimed in the letter that 3000 security police "had shaved their heads and dressed as monks and nuns to infiltrate Buddhist ranks and control religious affairs."

The letter also highlighted recent restrictions on Buddhism, including the ban announced earlier this month on alms-begging by monks and nuns of the Theravada school.

"In practice prohibiting alms-begging is tantamount to prohibiting the teaching of Buddhism," Khai wrote.