A Redemptorist- known for his role as a prolife advocate and an out spoken critic against Vietnam government's bauxite mining plan has been detained at Tan Son Nhat airport in Vietnam on Jun 6, 2009 as he was returning home from his pastoral trip abroad.
Rev Le Quang Uy said his luggage had been searched meticulously and his lap-top was confiscated by the airport security and customs agents. The priest was later released with a citation that requires him to come to the Office of Cultural Inspection for a follow-up meeting on next Monday Jun 8, 2009
Fr. Joseph Le has been known as a pro-life hero who devotes his time and effort for the good cause of saving lives of the unborn and the underprivileged. He has long been under a watch list of Vietnam government since he started to organize a small but devoted army of Catholic volunteers mobilized to the abortion clinics for persuading desperate young girls to abandon their abortion plans, or searching for the remains of aborted fetuses at dumping sites, bringing them to the designated cemetery for religious burial rituals. While his work goes against the state's policy on strict family planning policy, it has been praised by many as humane and a message of hope in the dark age of humanity in a country where abortion rate is among the highest in the world. Fr. Joseph Le is also known for being a spiritual adviser to the DOJ - short for the Disciple of Jesus- pairs of volunteers who set out on their motor bikes to search for the homeless who are roaming the streets of Saigon on religious or national holidays, providing them with small gifts of basic necessities such as snacks, rice, personal hygiene products etc...or just offering them companionship when they should be at home with loved ones.
But his latest mission was something that made him a marked man by Vietnam government: in his open letter dated April 25, 2009, Fr, Joseph Uy publicly called for all Vietnamese- at home and abroad- to sign on a petition to challenge the decision of Vietnamese government to open the door for the Chinese to start bauxite exploitation in central highland regions of Vietnam without adequately informing its Congress and citizens. In his letter, Fr. Joseph Le criticized the current communist regime as follows:
"And for two years now, they have become so inconsiderate that they have eagerly sold off the Western Highland, the rooftop of Indochina for bauxite exploitation. Poor ethnic minorities were dazed to move to other areas giving places to thousands of imported Chinese laborers. Not only is the soil of the Western Highland producing red viscid watercourse but the Vietnamese also are bleeding when fighting against their so-called neighbors who are really robbers.
In their articles and papers, many authors have analyzed the scientific, living, cultural tragedies and territorial sovereignty threat if the bauxite exploitation starts. We do not need to discuss more. However, as Catholics enlightened by Gospel, we would like to give some warnings.
Yes, we would like to repeat what we mention above: this is warning, now and here, for the very Vietnamese Catholic Church, that “They are killing “the Author of Life”."
Fr. Joseph went on further to tackle another social evil that is being done at an alarming rate
"We all know that more and more crimes have been rampant in our country. Millions of abortion cases have been committed per year for a long time. But we have kept quiet. Now we have read, heard and understood how bauxite exploitation does harm to the human life, so if we continue keeping silent, it means we are on the same boat with evils killing “the Author of life” "
As a result of his call for action against the government, he and another fellow Redemptorist - Rev Peter Nguyen Van Khai, the spokesperson of the Redemptorist monastery and Thai Ha parish in Hanoi- had been severely attacked by the state media.
Some of these outlets even called the government for "immediate and severe punishment" of the two priests, "before they go too far." The accusations issued against the two priests, in particular the "sin" of plotting to overthrow the government - a crime in which the death penalty could be applied - are so serious that they lead to the belief that the government is preparing public opinion for an immediate crackdown.
In light of Vietnam government's latest action against Fr, Joseph Le, one can only speculate what's going to happen once his computer has been in the police custody, and how determined the government is in their seemingly new effort to silence their most influential critics like Fr Joseph Uy since he is now attracting so much attention from concerned citizens who are experiencing a wake-up call and showing serious interest in national issues and beginning to question the real motive of the government behind their mysterious silence about the Chinese deep involvement in a long term project in a country that's once been dominated by them for over 1000 years.
Rev Le Quang Uy said his luggage had been searched meticulously and his lap-top was confiscated by the airport security and customs agents. The priest was later released with a citation that requires him to come to the Office of Cultural Inspection for a follow-up meeting on next Monday Jun 8, 2009
Fr. Joseph Le has been known as a pro-life hero who devotes his time and effort for the good cause of saving lives of the unborn and the underprivileged. He has long been under a watch list of Vietnam government since he started to organize a small but devoted army of Catholic volunteers mobilized to the abortion clinics for persuading desperate young girls to abandon their abortion plans, or searching for the remains of aborted fetuses at dumping sites, bringing them to the designated cemetery for religious burial rituals. While his work goes against the state's policy on strict family planning policy, it has been praised by many as humane and a message of hope in the dark age of humanity in a country where abortion rate is among the highest in the world. Fr. Joseph Le is also known for being a spiritual adviser to the DOJ - short for the Disciple of Jesus- pairs of volunteers who set out on their motor bikes to search for the homeless who are roaming the streets of Saigon on religious or national holidays, providing them with small gifts of basic necessities such as snacks, rice, personal hygiene products etc...or just offering them companionship when they should be at home with loved ones.
But his latest mission was something that made him a marked man by Vietnam government: in his open letter dated April 25, 2009, Fr, Joseph Uy publicly called for all Vietnamese- at home and abroad- to sign on a petition to challenge the decision of Vietnamese government to open the door for the Chinese to start bauxite exploitation in central highland regions of Vietnam without adequately informing its Congress and citizens. In his letter, Fr. Joseph Le criticized the current communist regime as follows:
"And for two years now, they have become so inconsiderate that they have eagerly sold off the Western Highland, the rooftop of Indochina for bauxite exploitation. Poor ethnic minorities were dazed to move to other areas giving places to thousands of imported Chinese laborers. Not only is the soil of the Western Highland producing red viscid watercourse but the Vietnamese also are bleeding when fighting against their so-called neighbors who are really robbers.
In their articles and papers, many authors have analyzed the scientific, living, cultural tragedies and territorial sovereignty threat if the bauxite exploitation starts. We do not need to discuss more. However, as Catholics enlightened by Gospel, we would like to give some warnings.
Yes, we would like to repeat what we mention above: this is warning, now and here, for the very Vietnamese Catholic Church, that “They are killing “the Author of Life”."
Fr. Joseph went on further to tackle another social evil that is being done at an alarming rate
"We all know that more and more crimes have been rampant in our country. Millions of abortion cases have been committed per year for a long time. But we have kept quiet. Now we have read, heard and understood how bauxite exploitation does harm to the human life, so if we continue keeping silent, it means we are on the same boat with evils killing “the Author of life” "
As a result of his call for action against the government, he and another fellow Redemptorist - Rev Peter Nguyen Van Khai, the spokesperson of the Redemptorist monastery and Thai Ha parish in Hanoi- had been severely attacked by the state media.
Some of these outlets even called the government for "immediate and severe punishment" of the two priests, "before they go too far." The accusations issued against the two priests, in particular the "sin" of plotting to overthrow the government - a crime in which the death penalty could be applied - are so serious that they lead to the belief that the government is preparing public opinion for an immediate crackdown.
In light of Vietnam government's latest action against Fr, Joseph Le, one can only speculate what's going to happen once his computer has been in the police custody, and how determined the government is in their seemingly new effort to silence their most influential critics like Fr Joseph Uy since he is now attracting so much attention from concerned citizens who are experiencing a wake-up call and showing serious interest in national issues and beginning to question the real motive of the government behind their mysterious silence about the Chinese deep involvement in a long term project in a country that's once been dominated by them for over 1000 years.