Birds forsaking their nests

7th January Hochimonks, from left to right: Comrade Tep Vong, Comrade Long Kim Leang and Comrade Sao Chanthol

Beaten up Khmer Krom monk
Former abbot Tim Sakhorn during his sham trial in Vietnam

24 August 2009
By Thach Chantrea
Prey Nokor News Editorial
Vol. 2, No. 86
Click here to read the article in Khmer
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

In the struggle for life, everybody in the world strives to obtain peace and happiness in their family and society at all time. In particular, we all wish for a refuge or a nice home to live in comfort and we struggle to fight any obstacle in order to defend and preserve our homes and belongings, and preventing them from being destroyed.

Human wishes are boundless, but we should not allow our greed to take the better of ourselves. Lord Buddha taught us that, individuals who are filled with unfortunate karma – greed, hatred and violence – in their heart, they tend to have an agitated mindset, and they lose their consciousness and their moral conduct – the most important factors protecting our dignity and the honor of our family, society and humanity. Such individuals only think about their personal interest rather than that of the entire society, and they are willing to forsake everything in exchange for fortune and titles. Some are even willing to destroy their own nation, their own culture, their own customs, their national literature, and in particular, they are willing to betray their own heritage by selling out their lands, their cultural artifacts and their conscience to foreigners.

Such was the case of Phuchhuoy (Governor) Kong who betrayed his own nation to serve the Yuon interest, at the end, this man faced his own death under the hands of the Yuon’s army chief. King Chey Chetha II was attracted to the beauty of a Yuon woman and he forgot all his royal duties, his action led to the suffering of our entire nation. Yuons from all eras never have good intentions toward our Khmer people, they tend to poison our political goals throughout history. The cases of genocide perpetrated by the colonialist Yuon regime on the indigenous Khmer Krom people living in Kampuchea Krom are innumerable: the Yuons arrested Khmer Krom people and sent them to jail before killing them, they confiscated Khmer Krom lands to distribute to their people, etc…

Lessons from the tyranny and the territorial aggressions on Khmer lands perpetrated by the Yuons never preoccupied some of the Khmer leaders who are too busy with power, fortune and the unconscious killing of their own people. These are indeed the cases of a group of Khmer officials by the names of Tep Vong, Long Kim Leang, Noy Chreuk, Am Lim Heng and Sao Chan Thol. Using tactics of a wolf disguised under the cover of a sheep skin, these individuals sold themselves to the Yuons, they destroy Buddhism, they trample our national culture, they beat up Khmer Krom monks, they force-defrocked Venerable Tim Sakhorn, the former abbot of the Phnom Den North pagoda. They sent him to their masters to be jailed in Motr Chrouk province by accusing the abbot of disrupting the tens of thousands years old friendship between Cambodia and Vietnam, in full violation of national and international laws. This is the vile tactics used by those who are greedy with power and who forsake their own people. How we wish these birds still remember how to protect and preserve their nest!

A peaceful society that is poisoned by traitors tends to disappear, therefore, we must think and find all means to remain alert and to stop the tricks brought in by these leeches with the intention of undermining our society and destroying Buddhism.

National union and lack of greed temptation for power and titles granted by the foreigners are our most efficient weapons to protect our nation, our honor and our perpetual progress, just as Buddha taught us: “Union brings in peace and happiness.”