Sua Yinh Siong of Lau Chai village, in Sapa district in the Northwest Mountainous Region, had long been a desperate opium addict, leading to destitution for him and his family. In 2004, after becoming a Christian, Christian news agency Compass Direct News said,
Siong broke from his addiction and his animistic past, taking down paraphernalia for ancestor worship and other spirit-related articles and burning them. His joy over his liberation soon spread to others, and eventually more than 200 families also decided to follow Christ, the news agency claimed.
GOVERNMENT "HARASSMENT"
Earlier this month, Siong reportedly told other Christian leaders that government harassment had reached a crisis point. In April local and provincial officials confiscated his land, citing "illegal religious activities," Christians said. In the first few days of this month, Siong said, officials evicted him from his home and threatened to destroy it.
Degar-Montagnard Christians in Vietnam’s Central Highlands have reported similar incidents. Communist authorities have bene trying to force locals to attend government-approves churches, but many have refused saying they want to worship Christ outside Communist-control, the advoacy group Montagnard Foundation Incorporated (MFI) told BosNewsLife earlier.
Catholic Christians have also hold protests, demanding the return of church properties.
