On the recordDecember 15, 2010
In this recent trip to Vietnam that I made with Chairman Faleomavaega, I happened to visit my sister in the outskirts of Saigon. I was there for about 15 minutes. As soon as I left, guess who showed up? The police. The police showed up and interrogated my brother-in-law. They asked him why we were there, how many people were there, what did we talk about. Now, if they were to do that to a family member of a U.S. Congressman, what would they do to the normal Vietnamese citizen in Vietnam? There are no protections whatsoever. There is a difference between practicing your religion and practicing your faith. In practicing religion, you can go in there and pray, which is good; but practicing faith is when you have to advocate for people's rights to worship, for people's rights to defend their families, to defend their property, and to defend their faiths and their views. In that regard, the Vietnamese Government has been lacking in every aspect.
