HRWAsia@aol.com wrote:
From: HRWAsia@aol.com For Immediate Release Government Attempt to Take Over Funeral Risks Confrontation ( A Buddhist peace activist who opposed French colonial rule and the “Thich Huyen Quang gave up his liberty for 30 years in a quest for greater human rights and religious freedom in The UBCV plans to hold funeral services for Thich Huyen Quang on July 11 at Nguyen Thieu Monastery in Binh Dinh province. Thich Quang Do – the patriarch’s deputy, close associate, and likely successor – will preside over the ceremony. However, the Vietnamese government has already taken steps to wrest control over the funeral and the patriarch’s legacy by announcing that the proceedings will be organized by the state-sanctioned Government-controlled media has run vitriolic denunciations of Thich Quang Do, accusing him and “extremist elements disguised as Buddhist monks” of plotting “devious schemes” to exploit the patriarch’s death for political purposes. On July 6 the state television station, VTV1, broadcast a statement saying: “Confronting the immoral actions of the Quang Do group, the students and disciples [of Thich Huyen Quang], as well as the genuine monks of Nguyen Thieu Monastery, have vehemently reacted and they are determined not to let the Quang Do group organize the funeral ceremonies.” “The Vietnamese government is risking unnecessary confrontation with the patriarch’s followers by trying to control him in death as in life,” Thich Huyen Quang, who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by two former laureates, became Supreme Patriarch of the UBCV in 1992. He joined the monkhood at the age of 12 and had a long history as a Buddhist activist. In the 1940s he participated in the resistance to French colonial rule as vice president of a regional section of the Buddhist Movement for National Salvation. In the 1960s he was a prominent Buddhist peace advocate during the Vietnam War and a critic of anti-Buddhist policies by the South Vietnamese government of President Ngo Dinh Diem. After the reunification of From pagoda arrest in November 1993, Thich Huyen Quang issued a 12-point “Buddhist Proposal for Democracy and Human Rights,” calling on the government to implement democratic reforms, release political prisoners, lift restrictions on religious freedom, and respect human rights. Human Rights Watch expressed concerns about reports from Buddhist sources in The Vietnamese government’s interference during the UBCV’s last transfer of leadership after the death of UBCV Patriarch Thich Don Hau on May 3, 1992, sparked widespread protests by Vietnamese Buddhists. Thich Don Hau, the most senior UBCV monk still at liberty at the time of his death, had stipulated that his funeral was to strictly follow Buddhist tradition, without any official intervention. Upon his death, however, the government swiftly bestowed upon him the Ho Chi Minh Medal and set about organizing the funeral, despite hunger strikes and threats of self-immolation on the part of many monks. Thich Huyen Quang, who was under house arrest at the time, was permitted to attend the funeral only after a day-long hunger strike. He delivered an oration condemning the government’s attempt to dissolve the UBCV with the establishment of the state-controlled “The government should let anyone who wants to attend Thich Huyen Quang’s funeral services to travel there freely,” For more Human Rights Watch reporting on http://www.hrw.org/doc?t=asia&c=vietna For more information, please contact: In In In
Date: Tue, 8 Jul 2008 22:04:02 EDT
Subject: Vietnam: Don’t Interfere in Buddhist
Patriarch’s Funeral
To: hrw@online.com.kh
