Statement of Rong Nay, Member
Montagnard Human Rights Committee, Raleigh, North Carolina

Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Trade
of the House Committee on Ways and Means

Hearing on U.S.-Vietnam Trade Relations

June 18, 1998

Ladies and Gentlemen: My name is Rong Nay and I am a member of the Human Rights Committee of the Montagnard People. I represent the Montagnard people living both in the United States and in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. I would like to thank Congressman Crane for the opportunity to share our feelings about the plight of the Montagnard people.

I want to thank the members of the Trade Subcommittee for their interest and full consideration of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, free emigration and trade with Vietnam.

Today we are honored to have our voice heard. In Vietnam, please understand that the Montagnard/DEGA indigenous people have no voice to be heard. No true voice. We cannot get our loved ones out of Vietnam. We cannot worship our Christian faith freely. We cannot receive humanitarian aid. We cannot have the same opportunities in education and development as Vietnamese people.

Ambassador Peterson knows clearly about this, as does the U.S. State Department.

So we are honored to have our voice heard here today. We pray that the government of Hanoi will also hear our voice today. We ask only to be treated as human beings. We love our families and our children just the way Vietnamese people do. Why can't we be reunited with our loved ones who still remain in Vietnam and who cannot receive their exit visas? Why does the Vietnamese government continue to punish our people because we are an indigenous tribal people and because we fought and died with Americans?

The intention of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment is to promote free emigration, but in the last three months of the 121 names presented by the Vietnamese government to U.S. officials, less than ten have been cleared for interview. Lists of Montagnards unable to receive exit visas have been given to Ambassador Le Bang, to our Ambassador Peterson and to our State Department months, even years ago. These same people cannot get their exit visas even though the purpose of Jackson Vanik is to promote free emigration from Vietnam. Our Montagnard people continue to suffer separated from loved ones.

We are so sad that in Vietnam, we are forced to substitute Vietnamese people into our family units just so that half of our family can receive an exit visa to leave Vietnam. Please believe us. This is a fact. We are eligible to emigrate,yet the Vietnamese goverment forces our people to pay huge sums of money to obtain an exit visa or we are told we must substitute a relative of a police official so that their child can have an opportunity to study in the U.S. This is against the law and policy of the United States. Our tribal people have been cheated and discriminated against for years in Vietnam, but now we are being told we must bribe, cheat and split up our families so that some of us will have a chance for freedom in America. Can you possibly understand how sad, how desperate we feel? With respect to all members of Congress, Ambassador Peterson and others here today, you live with your families. Hundreds and hundreds of our Montagnard people have been living for years and years without their wives or husbands, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters because the Vietnamese government is punishing our people.

Why do they punish us? Because we stood by the side of the American government in the Vietnam War. We were recruited and trained by the U.S. government. We were told the United States would help the Montagnard highlander people in our struggle for freedom and development. During the U.S. backing of South Vietnam in the Vietnam War from 1962 to 1972, American Special Forces recruited and trained thousands of Montagnard troops to fight alongside Americans with loyalty, bravery and friendship. Montagnards bonded to American soldiers as their only true allies during the war. During the Vietnam War more than a million Montagnard people were killed and 85 percent of Montagnard villages were destroyed or abandoned.

Please do not turn your back on us now. We need your help.

We have no hatred towards Vietnam or Vietnamese people. We respect Vietnam's great culture and her struggle for sovereignty against China and other countries. Yet, we Montagnards, too, want our people to survive and develop.

The Montagnards are the indigenous people of Malayo-Polynesian heritage. We have been living for over 2,000 years in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. We have over 40 tribal groups with rich cultures and traditions of peace. Now is a time of peace. Families should be together.

The Vietnamese government writes FULRO Anti-Revolutionary on the paperwork of our people. This technique is a way of stopping our relatives to emigrate to the U.S. FULRO was the Montagnard Resistance Movement. It no longer exits. Although we had support from the U.S. military in the past, we want to emphasize we now struggle peacefully. The days of freedom and independence are gone. We are a broken people, but we can still stand up with hope and dignity.

I am a very lucky person. On January 16, 1976, I was one of the first prisoners to escape into the jungle and join the Montagnard Resistance Force. At this same time thousands of people fled into the jungle. We fought for freedom and independence against Hanoi's violations, assimilation and extermination of Montagnard people. We finally realized it was impossible for us to survive. After 11 years in 1986, we received refugee status in the United States. I am one of the few FULRO members who has been able to get my family out of Vietnam. My wife and four children had their permission withheld for five years. My wife had to pay the immigration police $2,000 to get her exit visa. The Hanoi government demanded that I return and face trial before considering exit permission for my family. It is only because of Senator Helms, other members of Congress and the U.S. State Department that my family was released on January 14, 1994. What of the hundreds and hundreds of other Montagnards who are waiting with hope? The United States government is their only hope to get their family members out of Vietnam.

Since 1986, the Montagnard Community in the United States found freedom and a new life. It is a great gift from America just to be able to survive. We will give back to America our lives as proud citizens of the U.S. The re-settlement of our Montagnard people is known nationally to be a model of refugee resettlement We don't use welfare. We are a quiet people. We love our families and our Christian faith. The U.S. government knows we are a family oriented, stable, non-violent, and self-sufficient people.

Please help us to get our families out of Vietnam and help our Montagnard people who remain there to have opportunities to develop. The Jackson-Vanik waiver should not be renewed until: l) All ROVR cases are cleared 2) All Montagnard cases, ODP and HO cases are cleared 3) The same procedures used for ROVR processing are used for Montagnards and HO cases. That is, we need Montagnard translators from the U.S. to translate in the interviews Thank you so much for the privilege to testify today. I am proud to be a citizen in this free and wonderful country.