The Vietnamese Canadian Federation is pleased to learn from Mr. Hung Nguyen, representative of the Vietnamese community of Whitehorse, that Ms. Deb Jutra, President of the Whitehorse Heritage Festival Society has informed him: there will be no communist flag in the Grand March. The Federation hopes that the decision of the Whitehorse Heritage Festival Society on this flag of the Communist regime in Vietnam (a gold star on a red background) will be extended to include all forms of political propaganda of this regime at the festival. Most members of the overseas Vietnamese community, including Vietnamese Canadians, are former political refugees who fled the Communist regime in Vietnam after South Vietnam was taken over by Communist troops from North Vietnam in 1975. Therefore, allowing the Vietnamese Communist regime to spread its propaganda at the festival would be an utmost affront to them and would bring back the painful memories of their sufferings under the Vietnamese Communist regime. The Vietnamese Canadian Federation calls upon the organizers of the Whitehorse Heritage Festival to show understanding of the feelings of the Vietnamese community in Canada on this issue and to act accordingly. The Federation is the non-profit umbrella organization of the Vietnamese community in Canada. Established in 1980, it currently has 10 chapters in all major cities from coast to coast, with a national office in Ottawa. ********************************************************************************** Liên Hội Người Việt Canada mới được ông Nguyễn Gia Hưng, đại diện cộng đồng người Việt tại Whitehorse, cho biết bà Deb Jutra, Chủ Tịch Hội Chợ Di Sản Whitehorse thông báo: sẽ không có lá cờ của Cộng Sản Việt Nam trong cuộc diễn hành của Hội Chợ Di Sản. Liên Hội Người Việt Canada mong mỏi quyết định của Ban Tổ Chức Hội Chợ Di Sản Whitehorse về lá cờ của chính quyền Cộng Sản Việt Nam (ngôi sao vàng trên nền đỏ) sẽ được áp dụng cả với các hình thức tuyên truyền khác của chính quyền này. Phần lớn người Việt tại hải ngoại, kể cả người Canada gốc Việt, đều là những người tị nạn chính trị chạy trốn chính quyền Cộng Sản tại Việt Nam sau khi quân đội Cộng Sản Bắc Việt xâm chiếm miền Nam Việt Nam vào năm 1975. Do đó, cho phép chính quyền Cộng Sản Việt Nam tuyên truyền trong cuộc hội chợ này sẽ làm tổn thương về phương diện tinh thần cho họ và gợi lại những kỷ niệm đau thương của họ dưới chế độ Cộng Sản. Liên Hội Người Việt Canada kêu gọi Ban Tổ Chức Hội Chợ Di Sản Whitehorse hãy thông cảm lập trường của cộng đồng người Việt tại Canada và hành xử một cách tương xứng. Liên Hội Người Việt Canada là một tổ chức bất vụ lợi bao gồm các tổ chức cộng đồng người Việt tại Canada. Liên Hội được thành lập vào năm 1980, hiện có 10 hội thành viên từ đông sang tây, với trụ sở chính đặt tại Ottawa.   more »

Vietnam: Don’t Interfere in Buddhist Patriarch’s Funeral Government Attempt to Take Over Funeral Risks Confrontation (New York, July 9, 2008) – Members of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) should be allowed to organize and attend funeral services for their patriarch without government interference, Human Rights Watch said today. The Vietnamese government has announced that the state-sanctioned Buddhist church will organize the funeral for the UBCV Supreme Buddhist Patriarch, Thich Huyen Quang. A Buddhist peace activist who opposed French colonial rule and the US war in Vietnam, Thich Huyen Quang was a lifelong champion of human rights and religious freedom in Vietnam. He passed away in a monastery in Binh Dinh province in central Vietnam on July 5, 2008, at the age of 88. As a member of the UBCV since the 1960s, which is banned by the Vietnamese government because of its refusal to join the state-sanctioned Vietnam Buddhist Church, Thich Huyen Quang spent much of the last three decades in government-imposed internal exile, house arrest, or prison. “Thich Huyen Quang gave up his liberty for 30 years in a quest for greater human rights and religious freedom in Vietnam,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “His followers should be allowed to pay their last respects without government interference, at a ceremony of their own choosing.”   more »

Paris, 5 July 2008 (IBIB) - The 4th Supreme Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), who passed away on 5th July at the Nguyen Thieu Monastery in Binh Dinh, was one of Vietnam’s most loved and respected spiritual leaders. He was also a determined opponent of tyranny in all its forms. For his uncompromising determination to stand firm, he paid a high price, spending over half his life in prison, internal exile or under house arrest under a succession of political regimes. Together with the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do, Thich Huyen Quang waged three decades of peaceful opposition to the Communist regime, becoming a symbol of the non-violent Buddhist movement for religious freedom and human rights. But he was also a great peacemaker and a man of dialogue, seeking every opportunity towards harmony and the healing of divisions in a Vietnam torn by war and conflicting ideologies. In April 2003, he was received in Hanoi by Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai to discuss the situation of Buddhism. This is the first time a political prisoner had ever been received by a top government official in Communist Vietnam. The International Buddhist Information Bureau wishes to make public some salient points of his life and work. More information and translation of his major texts will be posted on the IBIB website. On 20.11.1993, from house arrest, Thich Huyen Quang issued a landmark 12-point “Buddhist Proposal for Democracy and Human Rights”. This was a turning point for the UBCV. Whereas the Buddhists had limited their demands to religious freedom, Thich Huyen Quang called for fundamental political reforms such as free elections, a multi-party system, and the end of the Communist Party’s political monopoly. "The abolition of Article 4 (of the Constitution on the VCP’s political mastery) does not imply the exclusion or the dissolution of the Communist Party... [it will] stimulate the participation of all sectors of the population, regardless of their political affiliations or religious beliefs [and] foster competition as a mutually reinforcing relationship, not as a race to oust one's opponents. After all, whether our compatriots be communists or members of any other political party, they are first and foremost Vietnamese. Our common heritage of 5,000 years' civilisation will form the basis for future dialogue and co-operation, and we will be bound together in one common aim - that of forging a place within the community of nations for a stable, flourishing and prosperous Viet Nam" . Thich Huyen Quang’s Proposal defined the Buddhist vision of a just and open society, and underlined the UBCV's resolve to struggle not only for religious freedom and Church independence, but for the fundamental rights and freedoms of Vietnamese people as a whole. He also stressed the role of Buddhism and religious movements this process: "After 50 years of devastating war waged in the name of conflicting, imported ideologies, religious movements alone possess an unparalleled capacity to temper hatreds, defuse conflict and restore moral values in a society plunged in a spiritual and moral crisis. As such, they have a vital role to play in the reconstruction of our country...".   more »

PARIS, 3 July 2008 (IBIB) - The International Budhist Information Bureau is shocked and outraged by the news report issued by the official Vietnam News Agency and relayed on 3rd July by several State-run newspapers in Vietnam (Thanh Nien, Hanoi Moi etc) concerning the “imminent funeral” of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang, 89, who is gravely ill at the Quy Nhon General hospital in Binh Binh. Under the title “Unmasking the dark intentions of Quang Do”, VNA states that Venerable Thich Quang Do and several senior UBCV dignitaries and Buddhist Youth leaders have gathered in Binh Dinh “on the pretext of visiting Thich Huyen Quang”, but are in fact “awaiting his death” and “plotting to make use of his funeral make public the banned UBCV”. The official press agency accuses Thich Quang Do and the UBCV of “usurping the right” (sic) to organise Patriarch’s funeral, and claims that the funeral should be organised by the State-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Sangha in Binh Dinh. Whilst denouncing Thich Quang Do’s presence beside the UBCV Patriarch, the news agency’s statement commended members of the Government Religious Board and local religious officials for visiting Thich Huyen Quang in hospital, “even though he is not a member of the [State-sponsored] Vietnam Buddhist Sangha”. Mr. Vo Van Ai, UBCV International spokesman and IBIB Director, expressed his profound indignation at this “cynical and inhumane” statement, which reveals the “heartless political manipulations of the Hanoi regime”. Since Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang was taken into the emergency ward of Quy Nhon hospital on 27th May, many senior UBCV dignitaries travelled to Binh Dinh to visit him. “Thich Quang Do went out there immediately to bring comfort to his leader and lifelong friend, hoping that his prayers, presence and care could help Thich Huyen Quang to recover. Yet whilst Thich Quang Do and the UBCV pray for the Patriarch’s life.   more »