HOA HAO BUDDHIST CONGREGATION

Mrs VLAHOS (Taylor) (15:36): I rise today to speak about a recent festival and vegetarian feast I had the good fortune to attend in the seat of Taylor when I represented the Minister for Multicultural Affairs. On 27 June, along with the Lieutenant Governor and Chair of the Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs Commission, Hieu Van Le; the mayor of Playford, Martin Lindsell; councillor Tung Ngo, the member for Croydon; and Mr Phung Phuong Duy of the Hoa Hao Buddhist Congregation of Australia, I attended the 71st celebration festival at the congregation's temple at Virginia.

This festival takes place each year and is staged to commemorate the life and the good work of Huynh Phu So, whom I will speak about later. He is a highly esteemed Vietnamese prophet from whom this group takes great faith. The Hoa Hao congregation was incorporated in late 1991 and aims to propagate the teachings of Hoa Hao Buddhism, to encourage charitable deeds and to practise the mottos of 'serving one's faith while awaiting the Master's return' and the 'all the way' principle. It is considered to be a better life to pray with a pure heart before a modest family altar than to perform gaudy ceremonies in a pagoda.

The story of Hoa Hao Buddhism is characterised by struggle and action, and by admirable refusal to buckle under the will of oppressors. Its adherents have their own flag—maroon in colour—and their own holidays. The Hoa Hao, along with the Cao Dai sect, was one of the first groups to initiate armed hostilities with the French and then Japanese colonialists. It is based around the prosperous Mekong River delta area and its adherents were, at first, mostly peasants and rural workers. After the war it continued to play an important and independent role in Vietnamese politics. This role continues today, with some of its followers facing persecution from the current Vietnamese government.

According to the 2006 census, around 100,000 South Australians were born in Vietnam and around 11,000 South Australians claim Vietnamese ancestry. The role of the Vietnamese community in our state's economy and culture is important, with over 861 of these people sharing their life in the electorate of Taylor. Their contribution to our state is particularly evident in the northern suburbs of Adelaide. Employing energy and industry, the Vietnamese refugees of 30 years ago quickly settled into our community, raised families and achieved enormous success. A capacity for hard work, a strong belief in education and a strong sense of family and faith have been vital to this success.

Huynh Phu So, who lived between 1919 and 1947, was a Vietnamese philosopher, a Buddhist reformer, and an anti-French and anti-communist military and political activist. Frail and sick in his youth, Huynh was educated by a Buddhist monk and, at the age of 20, was miraculously cured. He then set about preaching Buddhist reform, advocating a return to the way of the elders as opposed to the then popular view of Mahayna (the Greater Vehicle form) which was prevalent in Vietnam at the time.

Huynh Phu So travelled throughout Vietnam, practising herbal healing and acupuncture. He was an orator who exerted a great, almost hypnotic, influence over his audience and became known as the Doa Khung (Mad Monk). He predicted with accuracy the fall of France in World War II, the Japanese invasion of Indochina and the intervention, eventually, of the United States of America.

His success as a prophet led to his followers calling him Phat Song, or 'Living Buddha'. As Huynh's fame and adherence grew, his inflammatory speeches brought him to the attention of the French colonial authorities. Exiled from one Vietnamese province to another, he continued to draw disciples. Finally, he was committed to a mental institution where he converted his doctor in charge to his philosophy. In desperation, the French tried to exile him to Laos, but he was kidnapped by the Japanese agents in 1942 and held prisoner in Saigon (present day Ho Chi Minh City).

After the war, disagreement—first with the French and then with the communist Viet Minh—made the Hoa Hao sect active in its nation's political struggles. In 1947 Huynh Phu So was abducted while travelling to a meeting, essentially to reconcile differences between the Hoa Hao and the Viet Minh, and he was executed after trial. Many of his followers predict his return in a time of crisis, and their celebration each year of his beliefs and practices are important to the people in Taylor.

In conclusion, I would like to thank the Hoa Hao Buddhist congregation for allowing me to witness this important religious celebration. I look forward to strongly supporting them over the years to come with their good deeds in the community.