By San Jose Mercury News November 24, 1998
BY EDWIN
GARCIA
Mercury News Staff Writer
Dozens of Vietnamese émigrés entered their fifth day of protest Monday against the executive director of a San Jose refugee resettlement agency whom they accuse of spreading pro-Communist messages -- a charge he denies.
The protesters, including eight who are on a hunger strike, vowed to continue their 24-hour vigil in front of the Indochinese Resettlement and Cultural Center at 399 W. San Carlos St. until Vu Van Loc resigns.
They allege Loc has used his position at the non-profit agency to influence newcomers of his political views, berate Vietnamese heroes and persuade a local radio station to censor its coverage of the protest.
In a written statement released to local Vietnamese-language media over the weekend, Loc called the charges ``totally untrue and baseless.'' He since has been unavailable for comment, an agency spokesman said.
Loc has been a fixture in the Vietnamese émigré community and is active in several community events, including organizing the yearly Tet festival at the Santa Clara County fairgrounds.
The protest, which began Thursday, has attracted as many as 200 participants at once, according to police. The protesters, who carry signs demanding Loc's ouster and flags of the old South Vietnam republic, claim as many as 1,000 have joined their cause at the corner of West San Carlos and Delmas Avenue.
Five hunger strikers were briefly hospitalized after fainting over the weekend, including an elderly man and a pregnant woman, said Diep Anh-Dang, one of about 75 people protesting under a light rain Monday afternoon.
``This is a big issue,'' said Thomas Nguyen, another protester.
Part of the reason for the demonstration is based on the account of one man, Thien Thanh, who said Loc was trying to influence students at the agency with Communist propaganda. ``He brainwashes the people who are against communism,'' Thanh said Monday through an interpreter, as he sat under an umbrella with the other hunger strikers.
Thanh, who said he is a student at the agency where English classes are given, contends that Loc discouraged him from attending an anti-Communist protest in San Francisco recently. Thanh also said Loc has insulted Vietnamese heroes.
Minh Le, a spokesman for Loc, said Thanh was a familiar face at the agency but is not officially enrolled there. Le, Loc's son-in-law, said neither Thanh nor anybody anyone else was discouraged from attending the protest.
``Most of these anti-Communist heroes are (Loc's) friends and these are people he has supported over the years,'' Le said.
The protesters -- without substantiating their claim -- also accused Loc of shutting down KVVN radio over the weekend, a local Vietnamese-language station. A station spokesman was not available for comment Monday.
Le said the station was off the air Friday, Saturday and Sunday
for ``technical or policy reasons.''
Published Tuesday, December 8, 1998, in the San Jose Mercury News
Protesters deliver demands to county
Vietnamese group calls for director's ouster BY EDWIN GARCIA
Mercury News Staff Writer
A raucous group of Vietnamese emigres demanding the resignation of a refugee resettlement agency director took its ongoing protest Monday to the Santa Clara County Government Center. Yelling into bullhorns and marching with cardboard signs outside the West Hedding Street plaza, about 125 protesters urged the county to discontinue funding of the Indochinese Resettlement and Cultural Center, a non-profit agency headed by longtime executive director Vu Van Loc. They allege that Loc, himself a refugee, is a communist who misuses agency funds. Loc has denied the allegations since they first surfaced in Bay Area Vietnamese-language newspapers two months ago.
A county official said a thorough review in the past two weeks of the agency's operations could find no evidence of financial wrongdoing. Alette Lundeberg, who directs the county's disbursement of federal money for refugee programs, said the review by the Department of Social Services included interviews with agency clients and staff members.
It also included a detailed study of the agency's financial records, she said. That report was forwarded to the county board of supervisors late Monday, she said. The protesters, some of whom staged a hunger strike in front of the agency's office on West San Carlos Street two weeks ago, shouted and chanted in English and Vietnamese the same messages carried on some of their signs: ``No more tax money to IRCC, no involvement of IRCC administrators in politics, we need justice, give us liberty or death.'' About 25 percent of the agency's funding comes from the county. The money goes toward job placement programs and English classes, an agency spokesman said.
The two-hour protest ended when county Supervisor Pete McHugh addressed the crowd and accepted the protesters' ``petition for a full investigation,'' a packet signed by more than 4,000 members of a group called the Vietnamese American Community of Northern California. The petition letter includes seven allegations, centered on the alleged abuse of agency funds, against Loc and his family, but it offers no examples to support those accusations. Protest leaders refused to be interviewed by the Mercury News. In accepting the petition on behalf of the board of supervisors, McHugh told the crowd he was saddened that the protesters were dividing the Vietnamese-American community -- many of whom either support Loc and the agency or remain neutral.
The protesters, meanwhile, agreed to halt their protest for one week, until the board has had time to review the allegations.