Formosa protests in Nghe An: Degenerate priests and misguided sheep

16/2/17

While people are hurriedly preparing for a new year season of fishing, some priests led by Nguyễn Đình Thục – priest of Song Ngọc parish in Quỳnh Ngọc commune, Quỳnh Lưu district in Nghe An province, have incited Christian followers at local areas to rally to Ky Anh district of Ha Tinh province to file a lawsuit againts Formosa company which caused an environmental severe disaster along four coastal provinces as Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue in 2016.
In the morning of 14th February, a beautiful day’s morning for lovers, Nguyen Dinh Thuc called all followers to gather on the National Road 1A and rally to Ha Tinh province asking for compensation. On the way, these protest crowds have caused traffic insecurity and chaos, threatening the local order and interrupting the local people’s life. Some aggressive individuals even threw stones and hit the police and authority officials, some officers were injured during protecting situation.
Before, in September 2016 some Christian practitioners of parishes like Phú Yên in An Hòa commune; Mành Sơn in Tiến Thủy commune; Song Ngọc in Quỳnh Ngọc commune, etc, came to the People Court of Ky Anh distric to file a lawsuit against Formosa, but the court rejected the case because their documents gave no evidence or any clue to prove their losses.
In June, 2016 the Taiwan-owned Formosa Plastics Group acknowledged it was responsible for the release of toxic chemicals from its massive steel plant located at the deep-water port in Ha Tinh province's Ky Anh district.
The April spill killed an estimated 115 tons of fish and left fishermen and tourism industry workers jobless in four central provinces. Vietnam's government said in a report to the National Assembly in July that the disaster had harmed the livelihoods of more than 200,000 people, including 41,000 fishermen.
The company pledged $500 million to clean up and compensate people affected by the spill. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc had ordered compensation for the affected people by the end of 2016, and as to earlier 2017 most have received their compensation. Formosa also promised to work with local authorities to help affected people and clean the pollution, and now they have been operating under the government’s supervision. If this steel plant still violates the Vietnam’s rule of protecting environment, the government will have more strict measures to deal with, even shutting it down.
But, under incitements of some extreme Catholic dignitaries like priests Trần Đình Lai, Đặng Hữu Nam and Nguyễn Đình Thục, several demonstrations broke out calling for local conglomerate Formosa to leave the country after the environmental disaster. Authorities have warned reactionary groups, typically Viet Tan - terrorist groups, of trying to exploit the disaster and stir up anger with the aim of causing turbulence and instabilities to undermine the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam.
And, as usual, in protests before and the on-going ones they have always criticized the police for beating and arresting some of the protesters without any credible evidence. In these demonstrations, police have had to stop some the protesters' vehicles and extreme individuals but just due to security concerns, they have not blocked the people’s rights of protest.
But, to the Christian followers who took part into these protests, they should carefully consider the case and reasons for the rallies. Do not let themselves be tricked and exploited by hostile elements, even these elements include their parish priests who are self-claimed as their “fathers”. Although they are Christian, they are Vietnamese at first. And as Vietnamese, they should place the country’s interests ahead. They must know their activities would harm the country’s image, especially in collecting foreign investment. Yes, we can not deny their damage in the catastrophe, and no one would want that. But people in the four provinces above are major victims who bear much more losses. With a limited resources from Formosa’s offsetting fortune and the state budget, the government could not make up for all people at once, regardless of its wishes. People should understand that and stand with the state in improving the situation. They should be aware of bad elements and do not participate into any illegal activities that these bad individuals hold, especially under the name of God.
To those priests who stand behind these rallies, it must be a shame for the Catholic community in general and Jesus himself in particular that those priests have led their followers to a wrong way not for religious purposes but for their own calculations and benefits. It’s not clear if there are hostile forces abroad which conspired and backed these demonstrations or not, but it’s clear that these demonstrations have had more risks and negative impacts than brought any good things. Let see who the protesters are. They are mostly women, children even disable ones who are the most vulnerable people. And, they would face many dangerous accidents on the road and in aggressive chaos. Unfortunately, they do not know that they are violating laws, they have just done what these priest fathers told them. What kind of the fathers would let their followers into dangers? They must be punished and dismissed from the jobs of leading Catholic followers, which they do not deserve to take any more./.
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All comments [ 12 ]


John Smith 16/2/17 18:50

People should be vigilant on these reactionary priests to not follow their activities and fall into their wecked scheme.

LawrenceSamuels 16/2/17 18:53

Those men like Nguyen Dinh Thuc, Dang Huu Nam, Tran Dinh Lai and even Nguyen Thai Hop are not priests, not Jesus's servers at all, they are religious oppotunists.

yobro yobro 16/2/17 18:54

So naive these followers!

Socialist Society 16/2/17 19:44

The government need to trictly punish these degenerate priests and propagandize for those Catholic followers to know about the policy of handling Formosa case.

Me Too! 16/2/17 19:46

I have heard about this protest, and I worry for those followers. There are so many dangers on the road like traffic accidents, especially for women and children.

Voice of people 16/2/17 20:00

I think there hostile forces behind these incidents, and it must be sure that have Viet Tan's hands.

Vietnam Love 16/2/17 22:03

Vietnam's government has issued many policies to enhance religious freedom, but religions like Catholicism or Christianity have been abused to oppose the government.

yobro yobro 16/2/17 22:05

Press, media need to let people know the truth to understand the government's policies about this issue.

For A Peace World 16/2/17 22:07

The Party and State of Vietnam have done many every things to protect the environment after the disaster that we all do not want, so people should let the authorities do their jobs.

Red Star 16/2/17 22:09

People just don't know the real situation, they should consider carefully about what we could lose if expel Formosa.

Gentle Moon 16/2/17 22:12

Yes, the government must care more about the economy, these protests have just caused bad image for our country. These extreme activities should stop now!

Vietnam Love 16/2/17 22:14

These people just caused losses for themselves when they left their jobs to rally like this, or they were received fee for these protests.

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