Efforts to mobilize people in the Ky Son border area not to follow 'strange religions'

New sabotage tricks

The mountainous commune of Huoi Tu (Ky Son) has 97% of the Mong ethnic group. According to statistics, in 2020, the whole commune had up to 32 people illegally preaching and following strange religions. They are willing to abandon Mong customs such as weddings, funerals, ancestor worship, etc. to listen to the instigation of bad people.

Information obtained in Ky Son district, in the first 6 months of 2022, there were 5 households/34 people and a number of individuals residing in Na Ngoi, Huoi Tu, Ta Ca communes (Mong ethnic group) who were lured and enticed by a number of organizations and individuals outside the area to follow evil religions.(Mong language calls it Theo Vang Chu)That is against the traditional customs of the Mong people and clans, and violates the conventions and village covenants.

The above subjects declared that they did not need the management of the commune government, the village management board, did not need any help from the people in the village, and were willing to abandon their families, brothers, and relatives. Among them were Vu Ba M, Xong Ba T, and Vu Ba S, residing in Na Ngoi commune. These subjects also had activities of connecting with outside subjects, filming, taking photos, and sharing false information on social networking sites such as Facebook and YouTube, defaming the Party Committee, the government, and the customs and practices of the Mong people.

The authorities and functional forces in Ky Son have grasped the information that the above-mentioned religious followers regularly connect with Ly A Cha, born in 1992, hometown Tan Xuan commune, Van Ho district, Son La province; permanent residence in Muong Ly commune (Muong Lat district, Thanh Hoa province), currently temporarily residing in Co Cham village, Long Luong commune (Van Ho district, Son La province). This subject uses a Facebook account with the nickname "LY A Cha (Xaiv Cia Lis)" to record video clips and post them on social networks to defame the Ky Son district government, defame and slander the government for religious repression.

Some subjects also took advantage of natural disasters and floods to sabotage. The flash flood that occurred in early October 2022 caused enormous damage to this border district. While socio-political organizations, philanthropists and people across the country were turning to Ky Son, some subjects took advantage of the relief work to post on social networking sites to slander and defame the Party's leadership and the district government's management.

On October 5, 2022, after 3 days of flash floods in Ta Ca commune and Muong Xen town, a Facebook account named "Hoai Thach Son" posted 2 articles with the content "KY SON RELIEF: not everyone can enter the village and directly talk to the people!"; "KY SON RELIEF: People need money, dry food, bottled clean water! Bring rice, instant noodles: officials put them in the warehouse". Those articles have sensitive content and are untrue.

Comrade Lu Quang Hung - Head of the Propaganda Department of the Ky Son District Party Committee added: In the new situation, the sabotage activities of hostile forces on cyberspace in Ky Son district are becoming more and more complicated. Some people who lack knowledge and do not know the cause of the incident are ready to "like and share" the posts of bad elements, thereby unwittingly helping the hostile forces.

Diversify methods and forms of struggle

Faced with the sabotage of hostile forces in cyberspace, implementing Resolution No. 35-NQ/TW dated October 22, 2018 of the Politburo "on strengthening the protection of the Party's ideological foundation, fighting against erroneous and hostile views in the new situation", Ky Son District Party Committee quickly established Steering Committee 35 including all members and collaborators of socio-political organizations from the district to grassroots levels.

Through many conferences, the Steering Committee has directed members and collaborators to closely monitor cyberspace to directly propose methods and forms of struggle appropriate to the characteristics of the local situation, thereby refuting erroneous viewpoints and correctly orienting public opinion.

In Huoi Tu commune, the Party Committee, the government and the commune's organizations closely coordinated with clan leaders and prestigious village elders in the villages to strengthen propaganda and mobilize people to properly implement the Party's policies and the State's laws, and not listen to bad people's instigation.

“They are people with a voice in the Mong community, so when they stood up to persuade and mobilize, the results were very great. After a period of perseverance, those who followed strange religions and illegally preached returned to the identity of their people. Up to now, Huoi Tu commune has basically no more people following religions and illegally preaching,” said Secretary of the Party Committee of Huoi Tu commune, Denh Ba Long.

To refute the views of hostile forces, comrade Denh Ba Long directed organizations and unions to go to the homes of people following strange religions to learn, and coordinate with prestigious people in the villages to carry out propaganda work. From there, use websites to post articles and clips to expose each argument of hostile forces. "When posting articles and clips, we have to direct writing and speaking in two languages: Mong and Vietnamese. Thanks to the local insiders refuting the distorted words of their children, the power of persuasion is even greater. At the same time, commune cadres must build ethics, style, lifestyle, scientific and standard working methods, from which people will have more confidence in the Party Committee, government, and unions, not follow strange religions and not believe in the instigation of reactionary subjects" - Secretary of the Party Committee of Huoi Tu commune - Denh Ba Long shared.

As a locality with 11 border communes, the work of propagandizing and mobilizing people to believe in the leadership of the Party and authorities at all levels in Ky Son district is unique. Mr. Vi Nhu Cuong, a member of the mobile propaganda team of Ta Ca commune, said that the commune has many ethnic minority people such as Thai, Mong, and Kho Mu, so they find it difficult to understand when listening to loudspeakers broadcasting propaganda in the common language. Therefore, the team must assign people who are knowledgeable about the culture and language of each ethnic group to explain to the people...

“The special thing is that in the work of organizing mobile propaganda in the people's language, the propaganda teams record the voices of village elders, village chiefs, clan leaders, and prestigious people of the ethnic groups, so the information is very effective. Thereby, doing a good job of ideological orientation, actively contributing to protecting the ideological foundation, viewpoints, and guidelines of the Party, policies and laws of the State; preventing and refuting fake news and distorted information of hostile forces" - Comrade Lu Quang Hung - Head of the Propaganda Department of Ky Son district added.

Ky Son district also strengthens the grasp and orientation of information through social networks such as Zalo, Facebook... Create groups on social networks to grasp, provide orientation information and official information quickly, promptly and effectively. Thereby, contributing to political stability, ensuring security and order, creating consensus in society, building a strong national solidarity bloc, promoting local socio-economic development.

Comrade Ly Ba Thai - Standing Deputy Secretary of Ky Son District Party Committee said: Thanks to good propaganda work and timely combat against wrong and hostile viewpoints, Ky Son district has significantly reduced the number of followers of heretical religions and limited the sabotage of hostile forces. These are the clearest evidences demonstrating the decisive and effective leadership and direction of Ky Son District Party Committee in mobilizing the entire political system, organizations and prestigious people in villages to participate in the struggle to protect the Party's ideological foundation.