[killjoy]

Assuming you are a Vietnam Veteran, which your followup post implies, you know very well that the problems with the Montagnards has nothing to do with Christianity and it is a tangent issue. They would have the same persecution no matter if they are Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, or any other religion. In this case, religion has been mixed with politics and has been used as a cover for anti-government activities. Given the situation, it is easy to see why the government would prohibit free worship under these circumstances. A very close parallel can be drawn between Islam and western nations. Western nations are not interested in prohibiting the worship of Allah, but when those activities advocate anti-government activities, it is a different story.

In the full HRW report, it goes into a lot of these details. Most interesting is the charges brought against these individuals. They are along the lines of, "Disturbing national security and breaking national unity", "Underming national security, organizing demonstrations, inciting refugees to flee", "Causing security and political instability", and other similar charges. I do not wish to get into the merit of these charges or defend the Vietnamese government, but there is clearly more going on than the simple prohibition of Christianity that many on here want to believe.

There is a very strong revolution going on in Vietnam and that is capitalism. The days of the 'socialist' government of Vietnam are numbered and soon, hopefully, there will not be a need for this type of discussion. The only discussion will be how to properly put on trial those who were responsible for the real re-education camps of the 1970s and early 1980s.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

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The Communist Vietnamese have always coveted economic control over the Montagnards' fertile Central Highlands of the Formerly Free South Vietnam.

Highly profitable Coffee Bean production being the 1st of the money reasons for doing so =

A purpose-led reduction in Montagnard population.

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[angkor]

"The only discussion will be how to properly put on trial those who were responsible for the real re-education camps of the 1970s and early 1980s."

There's also going to be an interesting discussion about the return of properties siezed by the Communists, particularly in the south. I know that many Viet Khieu talk about suing the government for return of family property once WTO has settled in (many still have their deeds and titles).

But that's just a small part of a larger problem surrounding land-use, title registrations, leaseholds, etc. that the government will eventually have to face.