Vietnam’s US-propped Catholic dictator-Ngo Diem’s Anti-Buddhist policies & lessons for Sri Lanka
Ngo Dinh Diem was President of South Vietnam from 1955 till he was assassinated in 1963. US chose a Roman Catholic to become President in a predominantly Buddhist nation to as a counter strategy to communism. Things did not go as planned & US eventually decided to eliminate the very person they had propped to power.
Ngo Diem’s rise to power was supported by CIA/US part of the strategy involved the overthrow of Bao Dai regime (former emperor of Vietnam). President Eisenhower’s administration provided Diem with substantial financial aid & military support as well as advisory services to enable him to claim to win the referendum in 1955. The Church was used to play a critical role in helping Diem come to power. The a handful of Catholic elites in Vietnam with ties to French colonial administration backed Diem. Though the Catholics were small they were richer, held powerful positions & were outspoken though many more Catholics sympathized with the fate of the Buddhists who were close friends of theirs. The French Catholic community too provided political & financial backing to Diem though France lost its colonial hold over Vietnam after First Indo-China War & Geneva Accords in 1954. Thus, the networking links were set up & ready. The military was infiltrated & backed ousting of Bao Dai & to install Diem as President.
No sooner he came to power, Diem began his anti-Buddhist agenda. He was biased towards Catholics & implemented policies favorable to Catholic minority & policies intentionally discriminating the Buddhist majority.
Appointments to government, military, police were only Catholics & appointees made to feel that being biased against Buddhists was part & parcel of their “duty”. As a result of heads of public sector being Catholic, economic support too naturally went to Catholic communities who received state benefits, land, financial support to build more churches while at the same time adopting policies that were biased against Buddhists. Catholic institutions were given state support, Catholic schools & churches were funded including special privileges to Catholic hospitals. State investment for Buddhists were virtually nil. Catholic missionaries were granted greater freedom to increase their flock while Buddhist temples & organizations were slapped with regulations & investigations.
It was natural that the majority Buddhist would slowly react against the repressions which came to a climax when dictator Diem banned hoisting of Buddhist flags during Vesak (Buddha’s birth/enlightenment & passing away) To the over 80% Buddhists in Vietnam the ban of flags for Vesak was the last straw. The ban came a week after the govt sponsored Papal flags by Diem’s elder brother who was the Catholic Archbishop.
Buddhists began to protest and these peaceful protestors were attacked with battery acid. Diem declared martial law, ordered Buddhist temples to be raided, over 1400 Buddhist theroes were arrested, some vanished. Pagodas were destroyed.
Has Sri Lanka witnessed similar actions? Has Sri Lanka had Buddhist theroes arrested & imprisoned without bail, character assassinated, has Sri Lanka’s Buddhist heritage sites been transferred to multicultural sites, has there been attempts to remove the Buddhist identity of Sri Lanka vis a vis Constitution change & legal provisions binding Govt to promote & foster Buddhism.
Diem planted the seeds to his downfall with the anti-Buddhist stand. Vesak has been celebrated as a UN holiday since 1999.
Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister of Sri Lanka on hearing the news of the ban on Buddhist flags on Vesak directed her envoy R S S Gunawardena in Geneva to make a statement of protest on behalf of the Buddhists at the UN which led to a fact-finding mission headed by envoy Gunawardena who arrived in Vietnam in October 1963. This was the key trigger that led to President Kennedy deciding to order the removal of Diem from power just days later. Diem was assassinated on 2 November 1963 in a military coup by non-Catholic officers.
The decision to depose Diem came following tremendous pressure upon the US by nations against Diems rule.
Leading up to Diems removal was the 11 June 1963 self-immolation of Buddhist theroe Thich Quang Duc in protest against the oppression the Buddhists were being systematically subject to including arrest of theroes & anyone speaking on behalf of Buddhists. The theroes last words were
“Before closing my eyes and moving towards the vision of the Buddha, I respectfully plead to President Ngo Dinh Diem to take a mind of compassion towards the people of the nation and implement religious equality to maintain the strength of the homeland eternally. I call the venerables, reverends, members of the Sangha and the lay Buddhists to organise in solidarity to make sacrifices to protect Buddhism.”
This finally united the Buddhists.
To the US, the situation and Diem became a liability. Washington informed its envoy Henry Cabot of change plans/policy & US secretly tasked several Army Generals to overthrow Diem. Both Diem & brother were captured & assassinated. Ironically, 3 weeks later John F Kennedy himself was assassinated.
Thus, 8 years of anti-Buddhist rule came to an end in 1963 with the assassination of Ngo Diem.
To showcase the extent of anti-Buddhist policies that prevailed, the appointments are evidence.
- Ngo Dinh Nhu (younger brother of Diem) – Head of Can Lao Party / Chief Advisor to Diem. He ran the secret police & intel services. Nhu also appointed Catholic officials & policies promoting Catholic interests. Nhu also influenced the military & police & ensure these appointments were also only to Catholics. Diems elder brother was the Catholic Archbishop.
- General Nguyen Van Don – Head of Vietnamese Army (Catholic) Close ally of Diem. He too appointed Catholics to key positions in the Vietnam Army.
- General Nguyen Khanh – Commander of the South Vietnamese Army was also a Catholic.
- Nguyen Thi Hieu – Minister of Defense (a Catholic)
- Nguy Ngoc Tho (Catholic) – Minister of Foreign Affairs – another example of foreign police internationally promoted. Former French-educated bureaucrat.
- Catholic appointments were also made to key administrative positions – Ministry of Interior / Ministry of Public Works / Ministry of Justice
- Catholics were also appointed to Military Police & Intelligence – tasked to suppress Buddhist protests / anti-govt dissidents
- Catholic Schools & Religious Institutions – Catholics were appointed to run Buddhist educational institutions
- Pro-Catholic family/land reforms – giving disproportionate benefits to Catholic families / land distributed to Catholic communities.
- Relocating 1million Catholics from North Vietnam to South Vietnam to change the demography & given land & housing with State patronage.
Sadly, Sri Lanka is seeing more enemies within Buddhists (those born Buddhist / pretending to be Buddhists) trying to destroy the Buddha Sasana & the Buddhist identity of Sri Lanka
US regime change comes after selecting those they consider easy pawns. They prop them to power & they remain in power only so long as orders are carried out. No one is given a carte blanche to do as they like. The moment they go out of line they are eliminated. This is how so many of US poodles & puppets have found themselves obliterated. US has no permanent friends, only permanent interests & so do all in the geopolitical game.
Shenali D Waduge
