Seng Ratana, VOA Khmer Original report from Phnom Penh
19 July 2007
Family members and followers of the disappeared Khmer Kampuchea Krom monk, Tim Sokhorn, have asked that aid agencies help find him.
Tim Sokhorn has been missing for more than two weeks, and rights groups fear he was forcibly taken from his Takeo province pagoda and possibly expelled to Vietnam.
About 50 people gathered in Takeo on Thursday to travel to Phnom Penh and appeal to aid groups for help finding the monk, who was defrocked for allegedly fomenting unrest between Vietnam and Cambodia.
Tim Sokhorn's father, Tim Theang, said he was worried over whether his son was alive or dead.
"My son has been missing since [June 30]. I have not received any news about him," he said.
"Where did he go? Is he dead or alive? I would like to know," said follower Neath Pov, an elderly woman.
Venerable Chin Sinath, acting president of North Phnom Den temple, said Tim Sokhorn did not have affairs with women, as alleged by television and a government spokesman in the days following his disappearance.
Takeo province Adhoc investigator Ouch Leng said he was suspicious of local government and security forces after they told villagers to stay out of the affairs of the Khmer Krom, an ethnic minority group living along the Mekong River in Vietnam and Cambodia.
"Another reason is that the checkpoint police and the communal chief threatened the villagers not to get involved with the Khmer Kampuchea Krom movement," he said. "The temple committee and the villagers are afraid because of the checkpoint police threats."
Tim Sokhorn has been missing for more than two weeks, and rights groups fear he was forcibly taken from his Takeo province pagoda and possibly expelled to Vietnam.
About 50 people gathered in Takeo on Thursday to travel to Phnom Penh and appeal to aid groups for help finding the monk, who was defrocked for allegedly fomenting unrest between Vietnam and Cambodia.
Tim Sokhorn's father, Tim Theang, said he was worried over whether his son was alive or dead.
"My son has been missing since [June 30]. I have not received any news about him," he said.
"Where did he go? Is he dead or alive? I would like to know," said follower Neath Pov, an elderly woman.
Venerable Chin Sinath, acting president of North Phnom Den temple, said Tim Sokhorn did not have affairs with women, as alleged by television and a government spokesman in the days following his disappearance.
Takeo province Adhoc investigator Ouch Leng said he was suspicious of local government and security forces after they told villagers to stay out of the affairs of the Khmer Krom, an ethnic minority group living along the Mekong River in Vietnam and Cambodia.
"Another reason is that the checkpoint police and the communal chief threatened the villagers not to get involved with the Khmer Kampuchea Krom movement," he said. "The temple committee and the villagers are afraid because of the checkpoint police threats."
5 comments:
I'm so sick of the police taking on the villagers. I hope someday they will be fed up and chop those police. It's their job help out missing person. Here we haven't heard from the gov't that they are looking for him, or seem to care. I hope the people will rise up and fight against the police.
Sroksre; to chop police is not the right solution, the police and the villagers are brothers and sisters. The deep root cause of the dispute is the hun sen governemnt under viet governement influence. the hun sen governement can not do any thing even the viet kill khmer. I just tell you all police in pp cannot do any thing with viet people even they did crime like robber or steal goods, if the police arrest viet people the viet ambassador will arrrive soon and entervene.The eligal viet people in cambodia are power than khmer mchash srok. It is ripe time for all khmer to stand up otherwise khmer will die soon.
Khmer people need to rise up and make our voice heard in the international communitie.. Only public attention will bring resolution. Remember the killing in Dafur, in Africa. No one did anything until the americian actor " George Cloony " brought the info to television around the wordl.
It is now up to Cambodian people how to treat this criminal monk Tep Vong ang Nong Ngeth. They have committed a big crime against their own fellow citizen by sending their fellow citizen for jailing in foreign country. This crime is very serious and cannot be tolerated. Cambodian Governemnt must distinguish Rule of law and politic. These two monks have committed a real crime in daylight against our fello citizen. They should be defroked and sent to court for prosecution. They can committed other crimes by acting as spy of Vietnamese Government. Areak Prey
Why Uncle SAM is turning blind eye on such gross human right violation? Is this the war on terror or is this the war on Cambodian people? Let make a clear distinction right now before something very bad going to happen!
Cambodian people are not animal and deserve to be treated like human being! So all those mother fuckers who kidnapped him and better find him and bring him back because AH TEP VONG will face the same fate!
AH TEP VONG will soon disappear just Tim Sokhorn too!
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