LETTERS TO THE TIMES -- BUDDHISTS IN VIETNAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000400130026-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 13, 2000
• Sequence Number: 26
• Publication Date: September 22, 1963
• Content Type: NSPR

sEP 2 2 1.9
Approved F& Release Release 2000/09/14: CIA-RDP75-00149:
SIAUNIL - r.
Letters to The Times
Buddhists in Vietnam
Regime's Denial of Their Civil and
Personal Rights Protested
The writer of the followi,iq was
for some 14 years a merler of the
C.I.A., working chiefly in the Far
East. Ile screed under General Mac-
Arthur during flln first'thrce years
of the occupation of Japou.
east Asia.
band and President Diem to the con- .tests the repeated failure of our
trary notwithstanding, the Buddhists Government to recognize that the
are In the right. dominant c.u!tural and social pattern
What isinvolved here is the social in Southeast Asia Is Buddhist.
dynamic of Buddhism-its long fight .i We failed to support Tibet in her
against "a Catholic -domtnated oil? hour of need; we have been luke-
garchy. warm in Burma and Ceylon. We
The Buddhists have been disprivi seen, to p,cfer to support repressive
leged from almost every point of minority oligarchies, city-based and
view, but most Importantly with \', extern colonial-oriented.
respect to their schools, which have If any office or segment of the,
been the foundation of social and'..! United States government. is advis-1
To THd ,:bran, Or Tur New Y(,RK Tl \1gs ;
One of the most disturbing fea-
tures of the current crisis with South
Vietnam is the apparent failure of
both the United States Governnucnt
to understand the real basis for the
internal turmoil in South Vietnam
and that of the American press to
report the facts to our people.
To me, with some knowledge of
the culture and history of Southeast
Asia, the current crisis in South
Vietnam bears a striking resem-
I blance to what happened in Burma
between 1907 and 1948 and what has
more recently happened in Ceylon.
Madame Nhu (who reminds one of
Madame Chiang Kai-shek), her hus-
Approv
no h
n g in common with the men and i
women who live and work within the
framework of a village agrlculturai
and wealthy-an oligarchy having east Asia is the answer,
I
i
The Buddhist way of life is the es-
sence of social organization and reg-
ulatinn throughout Southeast Asia
Ii outside of the cities. They, the Bud-
dhists, are in the right because they
are of and for the people. The
Anglican-Catholic ruling oligarchies
have been discredited elsewhere, In
South Vietnam they are still trying
to maintain privilege and position
despite the wishes and desires of thej
people themselves. Anti-Communist
1 they may be-one would expect them
to be so. But this Is hardly a basis
f
h
or t
eir current condut
c.
Persecution Not Protested
United States failure to condemn
-clearly and plainly-repression and
persecution of the Buddhists, and
United States condonation of the use
of American weapons anti American-
traln,d military personnel for such
purposes is intolerable.
One pretests not only the flagrant
violation of civil and personal rights,
by a regime that professes support,
fur anti-Contmunism while still deny-
l,,,c{ the right of the Buddhist to ex-.
ercirr, li;s ancient and social duty
to edulat.e his young, one also pro
Vietnnm groups engaged in defend.
ing that country against military
They have been denied Govern. 1 they should he clearly instructed as
ment aid and support by a regime.! to the difference between infiltra-
which has Insisted that public Lion or subversion and rightful pop-
moneys go to educate and support 1I ular protest. Perhaps a short course
an oligarchy thatia essentially urban, in the hi: tory and culture of South-
society. The city in Southeast Asia
Is, generally speaking, an alien im-
position.
In Burma, from the first decade
of the 20th century, the Buddhists
fought not only for political recog-
nition but also for public support
for their dr~ooools--p
!&FA~cl lsr WQ 1
general election turned `on this.
ALILUb ROLMAN I{USSET,
Commander, U.S.N., Ret,
\\'estpott, Cc,ut., Sept. 13, 1963.
4: CIA-RDP75-00149RQG4OOt3Q.O26-9