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Formosa protests in Nghe An: Degenerate priests and misguided sheep
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 ]
People should be vigilant on these reactionary priests to not follow their activities and fall into their wecked scheme.
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.
So naive these followers!
The government need to trictly punish these degenerate priests and propagandize for those Catholic followers to know about the policy of handling Formosa case.
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.
I think there hostile forces behind these incidents, and it must be sure that have Viet Tan's hands.
Vietnam's government has issued many policies to enhance religious freedom, but religions like Catholicism or Christianity have been abused to oppose the government.
Press, media need to let people know the truth to understand the government's policies about this issue.
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.
People just don't know the real situation, they should consider carefully about what we could lose if expel Formosa.
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!
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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