On the streets of Vietnam nowadays, when asked about how trustworthy the government of Vietnam is to its citizens, lots of people might surprise you with their candid answers which would have been nonexistent just couple decades ago for fear that it might land them in jail for bad-mouthing the government - if wall have ears. Take the sisters of St Paul of Chartres for example. When they responded to an invitation from the People's Committee of Vinh Long province in good faith by coming to a meeting on December 12, 2008 to "exchange (ideas) and discuss" the status of their home as indicated in the Committee's invitation letter, the sisters soon found out they were in fact being the victims of a cheap trick played by the government officials whose only intention was to set the nuns up for making known of (the government) decision to convert the nuns' home in to a square instead of returning it to the rightful owner, the Sisters of St Paul of Chartres.
The nuns, being as honest and humble as usual, entered the conference room a believer in goodwill and faith in their own government for doing the right thing, but what happened during that meeting was enough to change their view on the government's credibility drastically when they were informed by Mr. Nguyen Van Dau, Head of the People's Committee about the decision to turn the disputed land lot into a public square, and not back to their possession as they anticipated. Ironically, the nuns back in 1977 did not voluntarily donate their home to the government. They were flushed out of their only home in 1977 without any belongings and left in the cold for uncertainty. Since they had no where to stay, they undoubtedly became homeless. The only "crime" they were alleged to commit was educating the orphan, disadvantaged children, a few with Downs syndrome, whom the government viewed as potential anti-revolutionary forces as Bishop of Vinh Long Thomas Nguyen Van Tan had revealed in his letter to all priests and faithful in Vinh Long diocese on Dec 18, 2008. The raid was carried out based on Decision No 1958/QD -UBT-77 which in many people's view was wrongful, offensive and derogatory to the principle of the St Paul religious order. According to the provincial superior sister Huynh Thi Ngoc - Bich, The government's action was the cause of substantial material, and more importantly, mental damage to the pacific nuns whose only mission was to study and practice what God had asked them to do: serving mankind and loving them unconditionally. By charging the nuns with such offense to justify their needy ego, the government had done to the public a disservice when disrupting the nuns' charitable operation for so long.
But the sisters of St Paul of Chartres are not about to let the government's wicked intention smear their good name, or take away good things they have been dedicated their entire religious lives to bring to people.
In the letter dated Dec 13, 2008 sister Huynh Thi Bich Ngoc on behalf of the defamed nuns has reasserted their position on the disputed land, that it belongs to the Order legally, therefore unless it has been seized as a result of a hostile governmental policy on religious freedom, then a confirmation is needed from Vinh Long provincial government. Otherwise, the property needed to be returned to the nuns without any condition.
She further challenged the legitimacy of Decision No 1958/QD-UBT-77 since the document handed to the Order in 1977 did not bear any signature of the issuer, nor had it appeared authenticated even with the naked eyes since there were 2 distinct fonts in the same document, one was done by a type-writer and the other was computer generated, something was impossible to have around the 1970's in Vietnam.
To the nuns' view, if the government decided to convert their land into a public square, citing to serve common good of the public” then where would build a convent, a kindergarten a nursing home stand in comparison with a square?
They were also clear on the issue of compensation, by saying that if the government would like their land lot, they would have to compensate the nuns with something equivalent in values, according to the state guidelines.
The nuns, being as honest and humble as usual, entered the conference room a believer in goodwill and faith in their own government for doing the right thing, but what happened during that meeting was enough to change their view on the government's credibility drastically when they were informed by Mr. Nguyen Van Dau, Head of the People's Committee about the decision to turn the disputed land lot into a public square, and not back to their possession as they anticipated. Ironically, the nuns back in 1977 did not voluntarily donate their home to the government. They were flushed out of their only home in 1977 without any belongings and left in the cold for uncertainty. Since they had no where to stay, they undoubtedly became homeless. The only "crime" they were alleged to commit was educating the orphan, disadvantaged children, a few with Downs syndrome, whom the government viewed as potential anti-revolutionary forces as Bishop of Vinh Long Thomas Nguyen Van Tan had revealed in his letter to all priests and faithful in Vinh Long diocese on Dec 18, 2008. The raid was carried out based on Decision No 1958/QD -UBT-77 which in many people's view was wrongful, offensive and derogatory to the principle of the St Paul religious order. According to the provincial superior sister Huynh Thi Ngoc - Bich, The government's action was the cause of substantial material, and more importantly, mental damage to the pacific nuns whose only mission was to study and practice what God had asked them to do: serving mankind and loving them unconditionally. By charging the nuns with such offense to justify their needy ego, the government had done to the public a disservice when disrupting the nuns' charitable operation for so long.
But the sisters of St Paul of Chartres are not about to let the government's wicked intention smear their good name, or take away good things they have been dedicated their entire religious lives to bring to people.
In the letter dated Dec 13, 2008 sister Huynh Thi Bich Ngoc on behalf of the defamed nuns has reasserted their position on the disputed land, that it belongs to the Order legally, therefore unless it has been seized as a result of a hostile governmental policy on religious freedom, then a confirmation is needed from Vinh Long provincial government. Otherwise, the property needed to be returned to the nuns without any condition.
She further challenged the legitimacy of Decision No 1958/QD-UBT-77 since the document handed to the Order in 1977 did not bear any signature of the issuer, nor had it appeared authenticated even with the naked eyes since there were 2 distinct fonts in the same document, one was done by a type-writer and the other was computer generated, something was impossible to have around the 1970's in Vietnam.
To the nuns' view, if the government decided to convert their land into a public square, citing to serve common good of the public” then where would build a convent, a kindergarten a nursing home stand in comparison with a square?
They were also clear on the issue of compensation, by saying that if the government would like their land lot, they would have to compensate the nuns with something equivalent in values, according to the state guidelines.