North Thai Binh, South Xuan Loc: Vietnamese in Southern California show solidarity

LOS ANGELES TIMES (September 8, 1997)
By LORENZA MUNOZ, Times Staff Writer 

 WESTMINSTER--In what police described as the largest rally held in
Westminster, an estimated 2,000 Vietnamese immigrants marched along
Bolsa Avenue on Sunday to protest alleged human rights abuses and
religious oppression by their homeland's Communist regime. 
     The 11 a.m. gathering brought out young and old, from veterans of
the French occupation in the 1940s and '50s to those who fought in the
war beside the U.S. military. Marchers said it was an opportunity for
Orange County's Vietnamese expatriates--72,000, according to the 1990
census--to show solidarity with people back home. 
     As the crowds grew, motorists honked their horns in support of
the protesters, who held signs reading, "Speed up the Vietnamese
Communist collapse" and "Freedom for Vietnam." 
     Four vintage airplanes, modeled after South Vietnamese air force
craft, flew above the crowds, with one trailing the red-and-yellow
South Vietnamese flag. 
     Organizers said they planned the event in the wake of one of
Vietnam's worst episodes of public unrest in years. 
     In July, Vietnamese security forces arrested hundreds of
protesters who demonstrated against high taxes and official corruption
in two cities: Thai Binh in the north and Xuan Loc in the south. 
     "We hope that the people of Vietnam see our efforts here and that
they know we support them in their struggle for freedom," said Thich
Giac Nhien, the most venerable monk of the Minh Dang Quang Temple in
Westminster. "It's not getting better in Vietnam for people, it's
worse. Things have to change." 
     The organizers, who call themselves the Committee for Supporting
People in Vietnam, began spreading the word about the gathering more
than three weeks ago, said Thang Ngoc Tran, president of the group. 
     Tran said the situation in Vietnam has been getting worse for the
population even as the country's economy has begun to grow. For many
common Vietnamese, the benefits of American and European investments
and tourism are not trickling down, Tran said. 
     "People there are looking for a better life," he said. "The
Communist Party is still the only party. They control everything." 
     Marchers said religious oppression continues in Vietnam, a
country that is officially atheist but whose people practice
Catholicism and Buddhism. 
     The national Buddhist organization, the Unified Buddhist Church
of Vietnam, was disbanded in 1982 and replaced by a
government-sanctioned Vietnam Buddhist Church. 
     In 1995, the U.S. monitoring group Human Rights Watch/Asia said
at least two dozen Buddhist leaders had been arrested since 1992. 
     Though Vietnamese officials have loosened the reins on religious
worship since 1989, Hanoi still exerts tight control over dissent and
worship, according to the U.S. State Department's 1995 Human Rights
Report. 
     On Sunday, several members of the Vietnamese Catholic Community
of Orange County and several Buddhist temple representatives attended
the march. 
     "They need our support from the outside because if you speak out
inside the country you get jailed," said Tom Bui, who attended the
rally. "We are here to support them." 
     For 14-year-old Han Truong, the rally was about issues close to
her heart. Her father, Minh, a senior civil servant, was jailed by the
government in a remote holding camp near the Mekong Delta for seven
years. After Minh Truong was released, he applied for political
asylum; he brought his family to the United States four years ago, Han
said. 
     The Communist regime, she said, has "caused our country a lot of
pain. They caused us to move to this country." 
     Minh Truong said he is slowly growing accustomed to life in the
United States but is eager to return to his homeland--free of
Communist rule. 
     "I would like to go back," he said, when Communism falls, adding
that he hopes "it won't be too long." 
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