Modernity and Re-enchantment: Religion in Post-revolutionary Vietnam

12. Strangers on the Road: Foreign Religious Organizations and Development in Vietnam

399 12 Strangers on the Road: Foreign Religious Organizations and Development in Vietnam Andrew Wells-Dang Introduction When news of the disaster in Tân Cảnh village reached the office of “Protestant Aid”, the project officer, Mr Ðỗ, left immediately with his assistant and driver in their white Land Cruiser. It was early in the morning, yet there were already many people on the road. When Mr Ðỗ stopped by the side of the road to ask for directions to Tân Cảnh, another car went by with several white faces inside and an unfamiliar logo on the side door. Mr Ðỗ did not recognize them, and the car passed on. Less than a minute later, a second car pulled up alongside the Land Cruiser. In the back seat were two monks in orange robes. Mr Ðỗ did not recognize them either, and the car passed on. Following them, a third car with tinted windows and blue license plates travelled down the road. Mr Ðỗ could not see inside the car, and it too passed on. Having found the correct way to Tân Cảnh, Mr Ðỗ stopped in a field near the village gate. To his amazement, not only were the three cars that passed him on the road parked nearby, but several other vehicles 12฀Andrew฀p399-444.indd฀฀฀399 7/3/07฀฀฀10:44:19฀AM 400 Andrew Wells-Dang and dozens of motorbikes as well. Some of these were marked with organizational names and symbols; others were unmarked. “Who are all these people?” he asked himself. From one of the unmarked cars, a well-dressed Asian stepped out carrying two large suitcases. Mr Ðỗ had brought nothing but his notebook. At this point, he wondered if he should go on. Mr Ðỗ’s fictional predicament is becoming increasingly common in Vietnam. Of course, not all communities in need attract as many good Samaritans as the one in this retold parable. However, hundreds of foreign religious organizations are currently operating in different ways, alongside greater numbers of secular non-governmental organizations (NGOs), larger multilateral and bilateral development programmes, and existing programmes of the Vietnamese state. This expansion of development and charitable activity has occurred quietly since the mid-1990s, paralleling rapid growth in domestic religion. It is little known outside Vietnam and barely understood inside the country, due to a combination of unclear and shifting Vietnamese regulations, limited coordination among organizations, and incomplete or outdated outside perceptions of the operating environment in Vietnam. This chapter attempts to describe the scope and complexity of foreign religious organizations’ activities in Vietnam through three lenses. First, it reviews Vietnamese law and practice regarding foreign religious activities. Second, it seeks to place organizations on a virtual map of differing characteristics: registered and unregistered; religious and humanitarian purposes; Buddhist, Catholic, and Protestant. Third, these descriptions are mixed with a series of anonymous case studies of organizations and some of the issues and problems they currently face. The information presented here draws on my own experience as a staff member and consultant for several international NGOs (INGOs) and as a member of an international, ecumenical church in Hanoi since 1997. (The organization that I represented in Vietnam from 2002–05, the Fund for Reconciliation and Development, is non-religious in nature, though it comes from American Quaker roots linked to the anti-war movement.1 ) Since I am based in Hanoi, my findings reflect relatively more northern than central or southern experience. The specific cases and examples in this chapter are taken from personal interviews, published documents, and the Internet. Wherever possible, information has been checked and confirmed from outside sources. Since some interview respondents preferred 12฀Andrew฀p399-444.indd฀฀฀400 7/3/07฀฀฀10:44:19฀AM Foreign Religious Organizations and Development in Vietnam 401 to remain anonymous, I have left all organizational and individual names out of the chapter, instead identifying them randomly as “Organization A”, “Organization B” and so forth. No details have been changed, and a reader who is familiar with the case studies will be able to recognize them clearly. A few advance words about definitions. “Foreign” [nước ngoài] refers as in common Vietnamese usage to any person or organization coming from outside Vietnam; this includes overseas Vietnamese and other East and Southeast Asians, as well as those from further away. “Organization” [tổ chức] means any self-defined group, whether...