Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 121 | Wed 17 Aug 2011

By Elizabeth Kendal

The Montagnard / Degar people are the indigenous inhabitants of Vietnam’s
Central Highlands. After the French left Indochina in 1955, the Vietnamese
authorities — who demean the Montagnards as ‘Moi’ (savages) — sought to
seize, colonise and exploit the Montagnard’s resource-rich lands. During
the Second Indochina War, the Montagnards fought alongside the Americans
in a struggle for human rights and autonomy. Under the Communists,
religious freedom has become a major issue. Predominantly Protestant, the
Montagnards are resisting government efforts to force them into Communist
Party-controlled, State-sanctioned organisations. The Communist
authorities, fighting everything they cannot control, accuse the church of
being a front for the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and for
‘reactionary’, ‘evil’ and ‘separatist’ forces.

In March 2011, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a most significant
report, ‘Montagnard Christians in Vietnam: A Case Study in Religious
Repression’. Repression and violent persecution are escalating, according
to HRW. More than 70 Montagnards were detained or arrested in 2010 alone
and over 250 are known to be imprisoned on national security charges.
Furthermore, at least 25 Montagnards have died from beatings, torture or
illness while in custody.

The HRW report states that mobile police units have been patrolling the
Central Highlands, harassing the people and forcing them to renounce’Dega
Protestantism’ publicly. In just one of dozens of cases cited by HRW, the
provincial Gia Lai government-run newspaper, Bao Gia Lai, reported in
October 2010 that 567 households affiliated with ‘Dega Protestantism’ in
the Krong Pa district were renouncing the religion. Furthermore, the
commune chief was making daily visits to pressure 15 more households to
abandon the faith.

The Montagnard Foundation reports that Vietnamese security forces and
police surrounded the village of Buon Kret Krot in Gia Lai Province on 7
July 2011 while the villagers were attending a Christian evening prayer
service. At the appointed time, the authorities charged and violently
assaulted the believers. Twelve men and four women were beaten severely,
whilst others were detained and tortured. Of those who were beaten, 12
were left unconscious. Ten of them were young men aged 19-29, one was a 53-
year-old woman and the other was a 15-year-old girl. Victims of other
extreme police brutality included girls and boys aged from 13 to 16. The
villagers have been warned that if they continue to worship independently
of Communist control they will all go to prison.

Meanwhile, repression and persecution continue to escalate too in the
lowland cities, mostly against Vietnamese Catholics who include lawyers,
bloggers, human rights activists and priests. Catholics in Vinh City,
south Vietnam, recently took to the streets to protest the government’s
refusal to return confiscated land to Cau Ram parish. Furthermore, eight
devoutly Catholic university students and young laymen have been arrested
recently without cause, their whereabouts unknown. Candlelight vigils for
the Catholic detainees have been held in Vinh Diocese.

PLEASE PRAY THAT GOD WILL —

* comfort and heal all his people who are suffering physically,
materially, emotionally and spiritually due to violent persecution by
the Vietnamese Communist authorities.

* bring to those who persecute his children a revulsion against violence
and a conviction of sin, so that the extreme violence and appalling
injustices and betrayals might cease, praying especially for Vietnam’s
new ceremonial president Truong Tan Sang (62), elected by the
parliament on 25 July and for the more powerful Prime Minister, Nguyen
Tan Dung.

* bring many Vietnamese Communist officials — police, bureaucrats and
ideologues — to faith in Jesus Christ; may the Church in Vietnam be
able to rejoice, as did the Churches of Syria and Cilicia, saying, ‘He
who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to
destroy.’ (Galatians 1:23 ESV)

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SUMMARY TO USE IN BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE

———————————————————–

VIETNAM REPRESSING CHRISTIANS VIOLENTLY

The Montagnard / Degar people are the indigenous inhabitants of Vietnam’s
Central Highlands. The Vietnamese Communists covet their resource-rich
lands and persecute them on ethnic and religious grounds. Predominantly
Protestant, the Montagnards are resisting government efforts to force them
into Communist Party-controlled, State-sanctioned organisations. The
Communists accuse the ‘Dega Protestant’ church of being a front for the US
Central Intelligence Agency and ‘reactionary’, ‘evil’ and ‘separatist’
forces. Human Rights Watch reports that persecution has been escalating
since mid-2010. Mobile police units are running large-scale operations
forcing ‘Dega Protestants’ to renounce their faith. Police brutality and
torture have long been an issue. Severe repression has been mounting too
in the lowland cities, mostly against Vietnamese Catholics. Please pray
that God will intervene for his Church in Vietnam.

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We suggest that churches and fellowships using the above Summary might
also provide a copy of the listed prayer points to be used in their
worship by people who are leading in prayer.

For more information, updates and helpful links see Elizabeth Kendal’s
blog ‘Religious Liberty Monitoring’ <http://elizabethkendal.blogspot.com>.

Previous RLPBs may be viewed at <http://rlprayerbulletin.blogspot.com/>.

This RLPB was written for the Australian Evangelical Alliance Religious
Liberty Commission (AEA RLC) by Elizabeth Kendal, an international
religious liberty analyst and advocate, and a member of the AEA RLC team.

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