Venerable Thich Quang Do:
What We Need Is Freedom

(Reuters, 8 April 1999) - A leading dissident Buddhist monk has issued a fresh call for democracy in communist-ruled Vietnam and for the restoration of a banned Buddhist organisation.

Thich Quang Do, 72, an outspoken critic of the government and secretary general of the outlawed Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), said international donors should reconsider unconditional aid and loans to Vietnam as these served only to strengthen the Communist Party. "What we need is freedom, democracy and human rights, this is more important for us than international aid," Do said in a recent interview. "The Soviet Union collapsed in just three days after existing for 74 years, that is our hope."

He said Vietnam's landmark reform policies introduced in 1986 had been limited to the economic field, and that there had been no political change. Do, who has spent much of the last 20 years under detention or in prison, said his release from jail as part of a broad amnesty last September was a direct result of protests from foreign governments and the United Nations. "Under house or pagoda arrest I lost 10 years (1982-92), and in prison the first time was two years (1977-78) and the last time (1995-98) three-and-a-half years," Do said.

Prior to his release Do had been serving a five-year sentence for offences connected with attempts to send relief supplies to flood victims in 1994. But he added that his newfound freedom did not signify the party was relaxing its stand against dissidents or unofficial religious organisations. About 10 Buddhist monks were still imprisoned, he said.

Hanoi denies it detains and imprisons people for the peaceful expression of religious or political beliefs, as charged by some foreign governments and international human rights groups.

Last month (on 22 March 1999), Do was detained and questioned for six hours before being ordered to return to the former Saigon, after secretly travelling to central Quang Ngai to meet UBCV patriarch Thich Huyen Quang. The patriarch has been held under pagoda arrest since 1981.

Do said his telephone was tapped and his home at the Thanh Minh Zen monastery in Ho Chi Minh City was under constant surveillance, but he vowed to continue to speak out.
"People are frightened to come here to see me because I am considered a reactionary monk. But I see nothing in myself that is dangerous, I only speak the truth," he said.

He called for the restoration of the UBCV, which had been banned and replaced by the state-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Church in the years following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. "We are hoping for the situation to change so that we can restore our activities. As long as we live under a communist regime we can't do anything to restore the UBCV," Do said.

The UBCV had been involved in widespread Buddhist protests during the 1960s against repression and corruption from the former U.S.-backed Saigon regime. Do called for peaceful fundamental political change. "We don't want a sudden revolution because that means bloodshed," he said.

But he added he held no hatred towards the Communist Party. "I love them because I am a Buddhist. I do not hate them, I am only sad because they did not bring happiness to the Vietnamese people. They did not realise the idea of freedom, democracy and happiness," he said.

Back to top