The Importance of Freedom and Right to Protest

Ven. Loun Sovath being unceremoniously outnumbered in his recent bout with authorities.

One of the Hochimonks being interrogated by Ven. Loun Sovath, or is it the other way around?

School of Vice's note: Soft-spoken, serene, incessantly smiling especially when brought face to face with his ubiquitous adversaries and tormentors, his every word uttered with deliberate emphasis but with easing deliberation conveys an aura of universal truthfulness and relevance meant to instruct and induct his audience, but never to patronise or to scold them, you could count him as your typical Khmer monk, except that he is anything but, even less anybody's fool. Fully aware of all the attendant risks and measures that could at anytime be meted out against him or his person; he refuses to allow these dark undercurrents to cloud or impair his judgement, nor to mediate his core beliefs and convictions. Wherever, the Venerable goes one can be sure that those stern, unsmiling "Hochi-monks" are never far off. In fact, they must be so enamoured with him that they refuse to let him escape their glare and notice. One would not be surprised to learn that the Cambodian authorities are devoting a whole division of agents and enforcers, some of whom are saffron-robed whilst others are in plain clothes, but all are deadly determined to keep their man under strict surveillance at any cost!  How many times had we seen him being unceremoniously manhandled and bundled into a van; how many times had we seen him physically wrestled with his opposite numbers in the regime-issued clergy who would storm at him as if they were still re-enacting their roles in one of those Bruce Lee movies before he could fight his way through to the Big Boss! Their muscular physiques alone suggest they would have undergone full programmes of martial-military training of some sort, where days would be spent honing the use of small arms weapons from throwing knives to strangling would-be targets with razor-sharp, near invisible strings, and mind you they had practiced this art on a number of Khmer monks already. So what chance does our serene, non-violent Bhikku stand against this formidable opposition? Not a great deal, you might think, and yes ultimately [touch wood] your sentiment is as sound as mine. Yet no one could ever fault him for not making use of whatever resources at his disposal. Dubbed "the multi-media monk" the Venerable never seems to venture anywhere without a cam-corder, a cell-phone [a modern cell phone does just about every job a news reporter on field assignments would expect it to, but our Bhikku could still find use for and insists on being armed with all of these techno-gadgets] and Buddha knows what other devices! Now that he dons those thick, dark frame designer glasses he can at least project an extra intimidating psychological factor back into his opponents. Of course, they will discover soon enough that he's neither Mike Tyson in disguise on his way to Siem Reap, nor a would-be Khmer Olympic hopeful for the up-coming Sumo-wrestling event at London 2012! But in all seriousness if this tragi-comic side of his public personae alone fails to secure him the Nobel Prize for Peace in the near future I would not be baffled in the least, for what does the struggle that a lone monk such as himself wages on behalf of the downtrodden multitudes of a country like his mean to the great and the good of the world who would rather keep on rubbing shoulders with their own kind? After all why should they want to embarrass the very people they had over the years granted red-carpet treatment to?

Ref. Trumped charges against Ven. Loun Sovath and the ridiculous promise he was forced to sign

Opinion by True Khmer

The tide of democracy, of freedom and the quest for justice is an unstoppable force. They are humanity's Soul. Being free [having freedom] and being human are like yin and yang. You can't separate the one from the other. Some might say that freedom is like the pair of our eyes without which the universe would be meaningless.

By now Hun Sen and his cronies should be feeling like kids who are doing the impossible thing as they are dreaming of steering Cambodia back into the old antiquated world of absolute monarchy or cold war era wherein human lives, public freedom and nation are beneath their feet.

Those worlds of dark ages are now withering away or disappearing rapidly, as can be seen from the Spring Revolution already underway or sweeping across the Middle East. One should know that every human being is an image of God, and God Himself is the judge and Lord of justice.

If they try to assassinate or imprison Ven. Loun Sovath, they are simply only pushing themselves closer to their grave yards. They should realize by now, they are adding petrol to the burning fire of people who seek justice. Any decent politician would not want to do so, because it is like one is swimming against the strong currents of the river.

Acts of humans towards humans or humans towards nature can be compared to an act of throwing a ball onto a wall. If you throw the ball hard, the ball will bounce back hard against you. For example, the wise say if you abuse your body you abuse your mind; if you abuse your people, you abuse yourself and your family. Like it or not this is a law of nature.

We as a nation certainly share our happiness, our joy, our sorrow with one another. If someone is being raped in front of our eyes, we just can't turn a blind eye and walk on as we are human, and that is what Ven. Loun Sovath is being confronted with. He is a monk that just can't stand to see this despicable injustice being inflicted by his government against its own people. He is doing his basic humanity towards other humans in ways that most other men might not dare stand up to injustices being committed against innocent people in broad daylight.

There is nothing wrong in doing what he has done, although he is a monk. In reality, the essence or concept of any religion or even within the heart and mind of God, if we all could feel it, it is all about justice.

Ven. Loun Sovath is harmless, he and many others as humans should have their full rights and liberty by which to protest against injustices. They are not planning a war or any act of terror to harm society by means of aggression. He should not have been forced into signing an agreement to cease his activities in this respect, or be subjected to the threat of being removed from his monkshood.

You can't build your wealth out of people’s tears and sufferings. Their cry is our cry, their sorrow is our sorrow. The Nation is Family; that is how Ven. Loun Sovath feels. He is more than a monk, and we look up to him as our guiding star in a world where darkness is temporarily reigning.

If you don't have peace of mind, you have nothing.

True Khmer