An American Is Never Quiet
Chapter 1
Vietnam’s Great Wall, Harold Camping, The Muong Nhe Massacre & Me
By Adam Bray
Adam Bray (me) pictured at the ruins of a military fort along the Long Wall in 2010.
In the USA, a radio preacher by the name of Harold Camping predicted the beginning of the end of the world would occur on May 21, 2011. When things didn’t go as planned, he modified his prediction and claimed the world would actually end on October 21; five months later. While the rest of the world saw the first prediction come and go without consequence, a mysterious and troubling event, closely related to Camping’s prophecy, occurred in northern Vietnam.
The following is a story of an American journalist and travel writer (myself) who was wined and dined by Vietnamese communists at one moment, then arrested and interrogated by them the next. This account not only uncovers the brutal treatment of minority groups by the government of Vietnam, but also presents a new context in which to re-examine the events of the alleged ‘Muong Nhe Massacre’ of Hmong Villagers by the Vietnamese military in the early days of May 2011. These villagers had allegedly gathered in anticipation of Camping’s first prediction.
Dinner with Communists
The government-sponsored conference on the Long Wall. I'm seated under the red arrow. This photo appeared in local newspapers and the images were broadcast on Vietnamese television.
On Friday, May 6, through Sunday, May 8, 2011, I attended a conference and ceremony to inaugurate the Long Wall of Quang Ngai as a new Vietnam national monument.
The Long Wall of Quang Ngai is a recently-discovered, 200-year-old rampart, spanning nearly 130km in Central Vietnam. While the wall itself isn’t very old, it was built to guard an ancient trade route once used by the Champa Kingdom, connecting several ancient port cities and a variety of ethnic groups. Perhaps more important is the discovery of the historical and cultural context surrounding the wall, which sheds much light on the development of central Vietnam, than the physical monument itself.
The provincial government had invited me to attend these special events because they were pleased with a story about the Long Wall that I had recently written for CNN. By that time I’d also written another story for BBC, which the government was equally pleased to learn about. A third story would later appear at CNNGo, by the end of the month.
Across the aisle from me sat the aged communist leaders.
During the conference I sat across the aisle from the old guard; the aged communist war heroes and retired government officials that helped found the ‘liberated’ province of Quang Ngai. In other words, ruthlessly patriotic, ex-Viet Cong. Though no longer in office, their approval was vital to winning support for the development of the Long Wall as a tourism attraction, in an area where tourists were previously unwelcome.
In the evening I was honoured with the gracious hospitality of the heads of the People’s Committee (the governing body of Quang Ngai), including Mr. Nguyen Hoang Son (at that time the Vice Chairman of the Quang Ngai People’s Committee), and Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh, the head of the province’s Communist Party at the time.
This was highly unusual. Not only was I a foreign journalist—and the only one invited to such an event in this remote, retro-Marxist, backwater—a place made famous by the horrific events of the American-instigated My Lai Massacre, but I was after all, an American. Fraternization between government officials and foreigners—let alone an American journalist--without official documents of authorization is forbidden by the Communist Party.
Mr Binh (left) and Mr Son (right) at the conference.
At dinner I knocked my beer glass with Mr Binh and Mr Son. Mr Binh introduced me to the local brew; Dung Quat Beer. Mr Son coaxed me to try the tiny fried sugar cane birds (a delicacy of the province), guts and all. I was announced at the events like a VIP, right along with the guest speakers, scholars and archaeologists. I was rather shy when I was even given what I considered the best front-row seat at the inauguration ceremony. I would also appear in the local newspapers and television broadcasts that weekend.
One of several delightful group dinners.
When the ceremony was finished I made it known that I would stay on for a week, by myself, and visit sights of tourism interest around the province. My hosts were well aware of my considerable body of work (I’d published more than 20 guidebooks on Vietnam and Southeast Asia by then) and so they were pleased that I was giving their province so much attention.
Betrayal in the Mountains
Beautiful Quang Ngai countryside, and one of the last things I tweeted before the police came.
My first day trip would be out to visit the countryside west of the Long Wall, stopping at various ethnic minority villages for photos. Quang Ngai has a number of ethnic minorities, including the Hre (who are believed to have been most involved with the construction of the wall), Ca Dong (related to the Stieng) and Cor. One of the unique aspects of the Long Wall is that scholars believe it was built in cooperation between the Vietnamese and local hill tribes. Thus, understanding the diverse cultures leaving near the wall is vital to understanding the historical context of the wall, as well as exploring possibilities for future tourism development.
Once in the mountains however, I ran into serious problems. I was traveling by motorbike with several local friends who served as guides and translators. We stopped in a village and within minutes we were approached by secret police. I’d made trips into the mountains of Quang Ngai numerous times over the years as part of my research for guidebooks and travel articles. I’d never had any problems in the mountain villages before.
Secret police. Officer Dinh Xuan Sang and officer Dinh Van Hanh were the first to arrive. As 'christian hunters' they root out protestants in minority villages for harassment and interrogation. They would reappear later in police uniform.
First came one police motorcycle, then another, one more, then a jeep full of officials, followed by still more motorbikes. Eventually 35-40 policemen and officials were in attendance. Again and again I explained to them that I was there with the knowledge and invitation of the government. I showed them photos, government business cards—anything I had with me from the conference and ceremonies to prove that I was on official guest.
Most disturbing however, was when I tried to call Mr Son. I managed to reach him, but he told me that he was sorry, because he was ‘in a meeting and was too busy to help.’ I felt more than betrayed.
We walked up a tall hill. I was exhausted and dehydrated in the hot sun. The police were yelling and call me a liar. They refused to even attempt to verify my information. I was told that I was being arrested.
My friends were forcibly separated from me, their motorbikes illegally confiscated, and they were dragged to a secret location. The man in charge—who’s real mission I would learn later—was laughing and walked around shaking hands and congratulating the other police and government officials present. They had caught their ‘big American prize.’
One of many police escorts corralling me.
I was put in a car but I didn’t know where they were taking me. I was concerned I might be secretly delivered to a remote police station and held at length—maybe days--for interrogation. Another expat friend told me how he was once held by the Vietnamese military for several days in a remote location, without even being allowed to call his embassy.
As we slowly drove through the mountains, I saw that police had set up roadblocks and cut off all roads leading into the district. Nobody was being let in or out. The situation looked dire.
“How could this ALL be just for me?” I wondered. ‘This couldn’t be real. Why was all this necessary to catch one person—even if I actually was doing something wrong?”
The three officials in the car never spoke to me. They only snickered and whispered to each other.
A Tweet for Help
“Help! 25 Police have arrested me in Quang Ngai. Please call USA embassy. Take me to secret place.”
This tweet, posted on May 10, went viral on Twitter. Friends and followers inundated the US Embassy and Consulate with calls. I knew my phone only had a few moments of battery left so I frantically typed only the most essential details. Originally I said there were a total of 25 police, but upon further reflection in the car, I realized the number was closer to 40. A few more tweets followed before my phone finally died.
My iPhone had a few minutes of battery charge left, so when I came into reception range I frantically posted a few SOS messages on Twitter (which also re-posted on Facebook automatically), urgently pleading with anyone who was listening to help me by contacting the American Embassy and let them know what had happened. Thank God for the GPS feature that also pinpointed my location with those tweets.
A few friends saw the messages and called me, relaying the message to the Embassy and even my family in the USA. Although my phone died after a few minutes, I later learned that both the US Consulate and Embassy had been inundated with phone calls on my behalf, creating an overwhelming incident that the State Department had no procedures to deal with at the time. By the time my family was alerted and called the embassy themselves, the embassy already knew who I was and why they were calling—my family didn’t even have to give my name. I have no doubt that Twitter, my iPhone and all of my friends played a big role in behind-the-scenes events that helped ensure my safety that day. I owe everybody a big thank-you.
After a two-hour drive, I arrived in Quang Ngai City and was delivered to the heads of Immigration and the police department. Again I explained myself to the officials and gave them the names of my government hosts. They wouldn’t hear of it. They refused to call the government officials who had invited me. They said they didn’t believe me so there was no reason to even attempt to verify my story. I was called a liar and a spy, and repeatedly insulted by the administrators.
In total I spent about 7 hours in custody, without access to water or a toilet, but was finally released at the end of the ordeal, without any charges. One of the policeman admitted that my story ‘seemed to be true.’
I was told that I could continue my travels, but that ‘foreigners are not allowed to travel outside the cities in Vietnam without an official guide.’ I knew this wasn’t true but I got the impression that they planned to enforce this, at least with me.
Before I left the office I insisted that the police release my friends, and return their two motorbikes. I was promised ‘On the Honour of the Quang Ngai Provincial Police Department’ that my friends had already been released and taken home. Later that evening I learned that the word of the police department was worthless. My friends had been taken several hours into the mountains, interrogated, and dumped in the jungle overnight by the police, without food, water or shelter, and told to wait there for more interrogation the following day. Like most of mountainous Vietnam, the jungle there is infested with dengue and malarial mosquitos.
One of these friends, a young university student, had helped me locate the Long Wall for the first time, on an earlier visit to Quang Ngai in November 2010. He was instrumental in my research for CNN and BBC articles, and would later be pictured in my article for CNNGo.
Trouble In The North
It might seem insane, to any rational person, that a government would invite a foreign journalist to help promote a tourism attraction, and then send a mob of policemen to arrest him, a la ‘The Jewel of The Nile” (1985). Insane that is, if it weren’t for a grave incident secretly occurring just days before, in the far north.
About a week later, on May 17, Human Rights Watch would issue a call for the Vietnam government to investigate the military’s response to unrest among ethnic Hmong villagers near the border with Laos.
“On April 30, 2011, thousands of Hmong began to gather near Huoi Khon village in Muong Nhe district of Dien Bien,” wrote the rights group on their website. “On May 4 and 5, Vietnamese military troops and helicopters moved in to suppress the assembled people. There are unconfirmed reports that dozens of Hmong were killed or injured. The authorities sealed the area and refused permission to foreign diplomats and journalists to travel there.”
While rejecting reports from foreign news agencies about any unrest in Muong Nhe as ‘erroneous’, Vietnam’s communist party posted a notice on its website nonetheless, trying to explain it all away.
“In fact, from April 30 to May 6, some extremists in several localities in Muong Nhe used cunning to incite and cheat about the appearance of a “supernatural” force, to lure and coerce thousands of Mong people from everywhere into gathering in Huoi Khon village, in Nam Ke commune in Muong Nhe, in order to execute a scheme to undermine the great national unity block,” read the communist government’s statement.
“Local authorities in Muong Nhe then mobilised agencies and mass organisations to take measures in accordance with Vietnamese law to prevent further extremist acts, which had included formation of the extremists' own guard units, blocking the ordinary travel and daily activities of local people in the area as well as the operations of local authorities, detaining on-duty officials, and expressing conditions and claims against the laws of Viet Nam.”
As if the above statements weren’t self-incriminating enough, the Vietnam government continued, “A few elements which committed acts in violation of the law were temporarily detained for re-education.”
The eventual fate of these religious-political prisoners is unknown, as the government has not allowed them to be interviewed or even released their identities. I would observe in a future, unpublicized clash between Vietnamese riot police and civilians however, that ‘a few elements’ does, at times, number into thousands of villagers.
A reliable count of casualties at Muong Nhe has never been determined. The government admitted none. Some human rights groups claimed dozens killed. Others alleged hundreds. Most suggested that thousands of Hmong villagers had fled into the jungles and were unaccounted for.
On May 27, the Vietnam government finally bowed to pressure from foreign diplomats and human rights groups, allowing a small group of foreign journalists to come on a government-led tour of Muong Nhe, where the incident was said to have occurred. The journalists were only allowed to speak to individuals chosen and prepped by government officials. Journalists were not allowed to travel on their own.
Many Hmong are protestants but some groups are reportedly influenced by cults, due perhaps to their relative isolation and lack of doctrinal education. According to UK-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), the Hmong ethnic group have "a mythical belief in their culture that a messiah figure will appear and found a Hmong kingdom." Hanoi feels threatened by this union of political and religious belief, and in response, routinely attempts to root out any outward display of either among the Hmong people.
A number of sources have said that the prophecy of American preacher Harold Camping, who caught the world’s attention by claiming Jesus would return and the world would end on May 21, was instrumental in the timing of the gathering. The thousands of villagers were apparently waiting for the arrival of their savior on the date set by Camping.
During the tour, Ian Timberlake, reporting for AFP, saw ‘a military truck loaded with armed soldiers travelling away from Muong Nhe district where the Hmong gathered.’ Continuing, Timberlake wrote, “It was not clear what the troops' mission was but the truck's tell-tale red army licence plate had been obscured, and the soldiers were concealed under a tarpaulin.” Despite this observation of armed military units at the site, the government denied using any force or violence to quell the crowds.
Not So Different
Police raid a private residence and threaten and arrest students who are praying together. I have blurred the identities of victims in the following photos to protect them.
Timing and gross overreaction was not the only commonality between my arrest and the alleged “Muong Nhe Massacre.” The government has a long history of intense persecution of Christian minority groups in both areas.
I later learned that the official who personally oversaw my arrest and supervised the police response was an official from the government’s Department of Religion. So fearful was the communist government of any contact between Christian minority groups and the outside world that they had ordered police to spy on me throughout my stay in Quang Ngai, and orders were sent to follow and apprehend me as soon as I left town and ventured near ethnic minority areas.
Many of the communities west of Quang Nhai City, as well as those located in the surrounding provinces of Kon Tum, Gia Lai and Dak Lak, are indeed protestant Christians.
I learned that the official who oversaw my arrest was charged with rooting out these protestant minority groups. Locals claimed that he interrogates Christians personally, and that he tried to force them to sign documents renouncing their Christian faith and promising to cease attending church meetings.
He and other government officials accuse villagers of ‘following America’ when they attended church. Police tell villagers that Christianity is the ‘religion of America.’ Residents said they were told by police that ‘Vietnam only has one religion: the Religion of Ho Chi Minh.’
Some residents also accuse the local government of misappropriating foreign aid on these grounds.
“Christian families never receive any government aid. They are so poor.” One man told me.
“The government takes aid from foreign organizations and they always give it first to the villages that were loyal during the war… the villages with Viet Cong who died or Viet Cong that killed American soldiers,” complained another resident.
I visited this minority village in 2008 as part of my research for Insight Guide Vietnam 2009. Pictured here is a simple church where the village worshipped.
Here the government brings in heavy machinery to destroy the church. The crime? It was a church.
More destruction of the church by the government.
The spot where the church used to be.
Cold, wet, hungry, impoverished, and now these Christian minority children have no church.
Sources have identified several of the police officers who were sent to arrest me, as men who previously burned the houses and churches of Christian villagers living in Quang Ngai. Along with destruction of property, residents claim that the police killed many families’ farm animals.
“Many Christians have been imprisoned and repeatedly beaten for refusing to renounce their faith or give up church attendance,” one man lamented.
It is important to note that in my many visits to Quang Ngai over the years, I have never observed any indication of political disobedience among the local villagers, whether they be Christian, Buddhist, Animist or Atheist. Across the board, their interests have always appeared purely religious. The government feels threatened by protestants because it perceives Christianity as relic of ‘American Imperialism’ and as such a de-legitimization of their absolute authority of the hearts and minds of the local people. The communist government doesn’t know how to differentiate between politics and religion.
Conclusion
I believe that the government arrested me for two reasons. The first is that they feared the consequences of the alleged ‘Muong Nhe Massacre’ and worried that I might be coming into a Christian minority area to incite a similar incident. The government has long alleged ‘foreign influences’ in uprising among minority groups—and it was an American, Howard Camping, who gave the Hmong the idea about the end of the world, after all.
Secondly, the government, unaware of my many previous visits, finally noticed me and was afraid of what they thought I might discover: the communist government’s on-going policy of oppression of minority groups--particularly Christian minorities.
Taken together, I believe that the government’s behaviour casts serious doubt on its claims that ‘nothing happened’ in Muong Nhe. If nothing really happened that week, then why treat me like royalty one moment, then send up to 40 police to arrest me and seal off an entire province district—just because it is also inhabited by other Christian minority groups?
I should note that at every step of my arrest, detainment and interrogation, the officials stopped and called superiors for instructions and authorization. It is my understanding that the order to detain me—and also the orders to torment local Christian and minority villagers—came from top provincial officials. In fact, given the events that would follow, it was apparent that these orders originated from Hanoi.
Adam Bray is a freelance writer and photographer for guidebooks published by: Insight Guides, DK Eyewitness, Berlitz, Thomas Cook, Time Out, AA, ThingsAsian, Footprint, and more. He has contributed to nearly 25 books on travel in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. He has also contributed a variety of articles, interviews, photos and other content to BBC, National Geographic, CNN International and CNNGo.com.
Inquiries from media and publishers are welcome. Please email: “info AT muinebeach DOT net” (all one word, AT = @, DOT = .).
