The Impersonator: The government-created “1997 Sect”
By a directive of the Vietnamese Communist Party, in 1997 the Government created a new sect that was different from the Cao Dai Religion in name, in legal status, in organizational structure and in doctrines. The Government transferred possession of the “Holy See” of Cao Dai Religion seated in Tay Ninh Province to the new sect. In 2007, this sect gradually changed its name to become almost identical to that of the Cao Dai Religion and has since presented itself as the Cao Dai Religion.
As part of its impersonating scheme, in 2011 the 1997 Sect established its overseas presence by:
– Appointing Mr. Canh Quang Tran, who was with the Cao Dai Religion’s Cao Dai Overseas Missionary, to be the 1997 Sect’s overseas representative; he later established “Caodai Overseas Missionary” to impersonate his former employer;
– In 2014, Caodai Overseas Missionary registered as trademark the official name of the Cao Dai Religion: “Dai Dao Tam Ky Pho Do”.
Instrument of religious repression and deception
Meanwhile, in Vietnam the 1997 Sect has proceeded to seize the vast majority of Cao Dai temples and force Cao Dai followers to submit themselves to the sect. Sect clergy members and followers have committed gross violations of human rights against Cao Daiists who resisted, resorting to beatings and torture, destroying property and religious icons, interrupting religious ceremonies, trespassing private homes, desecrating tombs, blocking processions… They receive the backing of local police and government authorities. A report and several documentary videos have been produced by BPSOS, an international human rights organization, on the 1997 Sect’s true nature: an instrument to control Cao Dai followers and suppress those who resist government control. The Sect also serves as a decoy to make the international community believe that the Cao Dai Religion is thriving in communist Vietnam.
The government has shielded its creation, the 1997 Sect, from justice. Lawsuits and requests for criminal investigation filed by Cao Dai followers against Sect members and leaders have been blocked or ignored by both law enforcement and the judiciary. A few cases in point:
(1) On 18 June, 2020, Mr. Trần Ngọc Sương, who resides in Gò Công Town, Tiền Giang Province, filed a defamation lawsuit against the 1997 Sect and its head, Mr. Nguyễn Thành Tám, for issuing an order to expel Mr. Sương from the Cao Dai Religion even though he had joined the Cao Dai Religion more than three decades before the creation of the 1997 Sect. The People’s Court of Hoa Thanh Town, the Chief Justice of the People’s Court of Tây Ninh Province, and the Chief Justice of the People’s Supreme Court have all skirted this lawsuit. On 11 December, 2020, the People’s Court of Hoa Thanh Town notified him that it lacked jurisdiction without specifying which other court has jurisdiction. Meanwhile, Mr. Sương was placed under a travel ban by Vietnam’s Ministry of Public Security.
(2) July 20, 2020, Mr. Nguyễn Văn Thiệt, a Cao Dai follower in Thuận An Town, Bình Dương Province, filed a defamation lawsuit with the People’s Court of Hoa Thanh Town, Tay Ninh Province against Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tam and the 1997 Sect for issuing an Order to expel Mr. Thiệt from the Cao Dai religion even though the two parties are of different religions. On October 20, 2020, the People’s Court of Hoa Thanh Town notified Mr. Thiet that his lawsuit was rejected for lack of jurisdiction. On October 29, 2020, Mr. Thiệt filed a complaint against that decision. On December 05, 2020, Mr. Thiet submitted a request with the Chief Justice of the People’s Court of Hoa Thanh Town, and the Chief Justice of the People’s Supreme Court of Tay Ninh Province to resolve the issue but has thus far not received any response.
(3) Founded in 1970, the Cao Dai Temple in Dinh Quan District, Dong Nai Province served some 500 local Cao Dai followers. On November 19, 2008, the 1997 Sect sent its members to take over the temple; they were met with strong resistance by Cao Dai followers. On Sunday December 27, 2009, escorted by government officials, sect members attacked Cao Dai followers at the temple but failed to take over the temple. The following day, escorted by a large contingent of thugs, public security agents, military personnel, and local government officials, Sect members succeeded in taking over the temple using force and violence. On December 30, 2009, Cao Dai followers filed a report with the police and requested investigation, which were completely ignored by the police. In 2017, the 1997 Sect demolished the Dinh Quan Cao Dai Temple to build its own new temple. On May 18, 2020, with the help of a lawyer, the victims filed a complaint with the district government for its failure to initiate an investigation into the 2009 violent incident. The district government met with the plaintiffs and advised them to drop the case.
(4) Phù Mỹ Cao Dai Temple: At 8 am on September 16, 2012, the Day of Worshipping God in Heaven according to Cao Dai traditions, ten Cao Dai followers were conducting an outdoor religious ceremony when a mob of some 30 individuals surrounded their temple in Phù Mỹ District, Bình Định Province. Local government officials were seen commanding the public security police, thugs, and members of the 1997 Sect. The attackers broke the lock, threw open the gate, and invaded the temple. The Cao Dai followers ran into the temple but were pursued by the raucous mob. The intruders beat up all those in their sight. Deputy Administrator Nguyễn Công Trứ, already seriously injured, was caught by Mr. Truong Tu, leader of the 1997 Sect mob. He poured petroleum over Trứ’s body and was about to set him on fire when other members of the 1997 Sect interceded. Chief Administrator Nguyễn Hữu Khanh, Trư’s father, and Nguyễn Nhơn, a Cao Dai follower, suffered severe injuries caused by beatings. On September 25, 2012, the victims filed requests for criminal investigation of the attackers with the court, procuracy and police. On February 12, 2020, the procuracy announced its decision: no prosecution.
(5) On March 14, 2009, a number of Cao Dai followers filed a lawsuit with the People’s Court of Tay Ninh Province challenging the 1997 Sect’s use of the Cao Dai Religion’s name and identity and its occupation of the Cao Dai Religion’s Tay Ninh Holy See. This lawsuit aimed to expose the 1997 Sect’s true nature as an impostor whose mission was to impersonate the Cao Dai Church. The court took no action and did not respond to the plaintiffs’ multiple queries. Instead, on August 28, 2009, the Public Security of Hoa Thanh District, Tay Ninh Province issued an arrest and search warrant against Mr. Dương Xuân Lương, a Cao Dai follower suspected of being the mastermind behind the lawsuit, on the charge of “abusing freedom and democratic rights to infringe on national interests and the legal rights and interests of organizations [and] citizens.”
Foiling the impersonating plot
On May 18, 2018, the Cao Dai temple in Mountain View (Dallas, Texas) filed a petition to cancel the trademark registration that the USPTO had granted the 1997 Sect’s Caodai Overseas Missionary. On July 25, 2019, the trademark registration was cancelled. Essentially, by this cancellation the US Department of Commerce reckoned that the 1997 Sect is not the Cao Dai Religion that it claimed to be.
Thanks to the submission of three dozen reports of gross human rights violations committed by the 1997 Sect, the international community has become increasingly aware that this creation of the Vietnamese Communist Party is not the Cao Dai Religion but an instrument of the communist regime to eliminate the Cao Dai Religion. On August 16, 2023, the Texas Court in Dallas County ruled that the 1997 Sect and its leader, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tam, engaged in activities which affect interstate or foreign commerce, and directly conducted such enterprise’s affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c), the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, which targets mafia-like organizations. The court ordered defendants to compensate plaintiffs the total of $200,000 plus postjudgment interest at the rate of 6% per annum.
“Of the more than 300 Cao Dai temples in Vietnam, all but approximately 15 have been seized by the government-sponsored 1997 Sect during the previous two decades. In November, authorities in Long An Province allegedly set fire to a storeroom on a farm owned by Sub-dignitary Hua Phi, which he believed was an act of retaliation for meeting with U.S. diplomats in Ho Chi Minh City. Between April 20 and June 30, the 1997 Sect demolished at least 15 graves at Cuc Lac Thai Binh Cemetery belonging to independent Cao Dai followers whose families refused to join the 1997 Sect.” US Commission on International Religious Freedom’s report for the year 2018
“On September 11 and 13, for example, members of the recognized Cao Dai Sect (Cao Dai 1997) disrupted the rite of unregistered Cao Dai members (Cao Dai 1926) at a private residence in Ben Cau District, Tay Ninh Province.” US State Department’s 2020 International Religious Freedom Report
Following the said ruling by the Texas court, the Vietnamese Communist Party, which ordered the creation of the 1997 Sect, had to acknowledge that its creation is not the same as the original Cao Dai Religion that was established in 1926:
“… the incident ‘1997 Cao Dai versus Traditional 1926 Cao Dai‘ that Nguyen Dinh Thang (the leader of BPSOS) repeatedly shared on social networks recently, is actually a conflict between the two. Cao Dai religious organizations in the United States.
However, BPSOS slandered the Vietnamese State when it said that the 1997 Cao Dai sect (a branch of the Tay Ninh Holy See Cao Dai Church in the United States) was ‘established by the Vietnamese state’ to ‘exterminate the Cao Dai religion in Vietnam’ and ‘attack’ those who defend the traditional 1926 Cao Dai religion in the United States.”
Cao Dai followers in Vietnam and among the diaspora call on the international community to support their quest to regain access to their Tay Ninh Holy See and hundreds of local Cao Dai temples being occupied by the 1997 Sect, a criminal enterprise per definition of the U.S. RICO law.
1997 Sect’s overseas network
Church property consfiscated, destroyed or transferred
CAO DAI TEMPLE AND BUDDHA MOTHER SHRINE AND LAND IN PHU MY, BINH DINH PROVINCE
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