~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

[Year 1997]
[Year 1998]
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Vietnam Hoa Hao members mass for rare celebration

HANOI- About a million believers from a long-frowned upon Buddhist sect in Vietnam have flocked to a remote Mekong Delta township for their first permitted major festival in 24 years.
Local officials said on Friday that Hoa Hao Buddhists had massed at Phu My town in An Giang province over the past five days for the 60th anniversary of the founding of their indigenous sect on July 1.

``It was very crowded on (June 30 and July 1), there were 300,000 to 400,000 people each day,'' an official from the local district people's committee told Reuters. ``This was the biggest ceremony here since before liberation day (April 30, 1975).''

Hoa Hao -- which counts three to four million adherents in Vietnam -- is a neo-Buddhist sect which emphasises home worship, and amalgamates Buddhism, animism, Confucian doctrine and other indigenous practices.
The sect was persecuted by French colonial rulers before entering an uneasy alliance with Viet Minh guerrillas in 1945. Two years later the Viet Minh executed Hoa Hao founder, Prophet Huynh Phu So, on charges of treason.
Since the end of the Vietnam War in April 1975, communist authorities have confiscated thousands of Hoa Hao properties, abolished its management structure and banned its major celebrations, including the annual Founder's Day festival.
Permission for the gathering came after Hoa Hao was finally given official status in May and authorities appointed the 11-person so-called Hoa Hao Buddhism Representative Committee, which includes a number of communist party members but excluded Le Quang Liem, the sect's chosen leader.

Information distributed by the U.S.-based Overseas Hoa Hao Buddhist Association (OHHBA) said the influx of Hoa Hao faithful to Phu My had reached a critical mass, and authorities were concerned about security and crowd control.
``To hinder the flow of devotees coming to the Hoa Hao Holy Land, the local authorities required all Hoa Hao followers to go through a long sign-in procedure,'' said the document, which was obtained by Reuters.
The document added that many people had ignored the demand, and had flooded to To Dinh -- the founder's birthplace -- with truck- and boat-loads of food to help feed devotees.
An official from the local Fatherland Front, the Communist Party's mass movement umbrella organisation, said the festival had been peaceful and showed Vietnam's respect for religious freedom.

``There was a lack of accommodation for the Hoa Hao, many of them were just hanging around on streets all night,'' he said. ``There were many more people than we expected, we had anticipated around 100,000 people.''
International organisations and some foreign governments say Vietnam continues to limit religious freedom and imprisons people for the peaceful expression of religious or political beliefs -- charges rejected by Hanoi.

An official with the OHHBA told Reuters his organisation estimated at least seven Hoa Hao Buddhist clergy were in jail for crimes related to illegal religious activities. Mass public outpourings of faith are rare in Vietnam.

Reuters - July 2, 1998.