Biography of Achar Hem Chiev, a National Hero - ព្រះបាឡាត់ឃោសនាគ ហែមចៀវ វីរបុរសជាតិ

ឆ្នាំងបាយលោកសង្ឃ គឺនៅនឹងប្រជាជន បើប្រជាជនវេទនា អត់បាយ ប្រជាជនគ្មានសិទ្ធិសេរីភាព បើប្រជាជននៅក្នុងឋានៈ ជាខ្ញុំកញ្ជះគេ លោកសង្ឃក៏ទទួល អំណោយផលអាក្រក់ដែរ។ ដូច្នេះ លោកសង្ឃមានភារៈ ប្រោសសត្វលោក គឺត្រូវស្តីប្រដៅ ធ្វើឲ្យមនុស្សមានស៊ី មានស្លៀក មានសេរីភាព ក្នុងប្រទេសឯករាជ្យ និងសន្តិភាព ដ៏បរិបូណ៌។

ទឹកភ្នែកប្រជារាស្ត្រ គឺទឹកភ្នែកព្រះសង្ឃ

- ទឹកចិត្ត ព្រះអាចារ្យ ហែមចៀវ -
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The monks’ rice pot remains with the people, if the people are miserable, have nothing to eat, if they have no freedom, if they live as slave, monks will also feel the hardship pinch. Therefore, monks whose duty is to save the humans, must teach and encourage people to find food to eat, to find clothes to wear, to find freedom for their country, to find independence and total peace.

Tears of the people are those of monks.

- View by Preah Achar Hem Chiev -

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Biography of Achar Hem Chiev

 Posted originally by M. P.

Hem Chiev was born in 1898 to a modest farmer family in Oudong. At the age of 12, his father took him to study at Wat Ounalom under the guidance of Monk Chuon Nath who is one of his father’s friends. Young Hem Chiev studied well while serving monk Chuon Nath until the age of 16. Under his parents request, the young Hem Chiev decided to take the vow and became a monk at Wat Ounalom where he further expanded his knowledge of Buddhism under the guidance of monk Chuon Nath still.

At the age of 20, monk Hem Chiev was ordained as Bikkhu at Watt Langka. He then went on to pass the exam to enter the Buddhist Institute in Phnom Penh.

According to Martin Stuart-Fox (2006), “[t]he Buddhist Institute did encourage Buddhist studies, but it also stimulated wider studies into culture and history, folklore and language, which rekindled cultural pride that fed into the rising tide of nationalism. The failure of France to protect either Laos or Cambodia from losing territory to Thailand in 1940-41 had a similar effect. Monks took the lead in opposing clumsy French attempts to introduce romanised forms of Cambodian and Lao scripts. In Cambodia, the monk Hem Chieu, a leader in this opposition movement …”

Achar Hem Chiev encouraged his students to study hard to liberate themselves from the yoke of the French colonial rule. He also started the movement to preach Buddhism in Khmer rather than in Pali.

As a member of the French opposition, Achar Hem Chiev kep contact with other Khmer nationalists at the time, among them: Pach Chhoeun, Son Ngoc Thanh, Chum Moung, Nuon Duong, and Sim Var. They all worked to find ways to free Cambodia from the French rule.

Meanwhile, Achar Hem Chiev kept on his Buddhist preaching, among the most notable principles he preached are:

• Do not be a man of burden to the world (i.e. be useful in life).
• We must bring well-being to the present first because if we now have well-being, there will be well-being in the future as well.
• You must work, do not wait for fate.
• You can cross hardship only if you are determined.
• You can only depend on yourself (i.e. self-reliance).
• You must not frequent bad friends, you should not frequent friends with low life, you should frequent good friends, you should frequent people with high ideals.
• Unintelligent people will bring you actions that should not be brought up, they always bring you chores that are not of concern, they are people who are difficult to teach and bring back to the right path, when they are told about good behaviors, they become angry, they do not know about rules, if you do not meet them, or see them, it is best that way.
• You should not depend on someone else to feed you in life.

At a preaching session where he spoke about independence, one man told him: “We want independence from France also, but we don’t know what to do.” Monk Hem Chiev told him back: “It is easy, as Lord Buddha told us: ‘The union will bring well-being in everything’”.

On July 17, 1942, under the instigation of French spies, Achar Hem Chiev was arrested and unceremoniously defrocked. He was then thrown in jail by the French colonial regime working under the occupation of Japan.

On July 20, 1942, a demonstration asking for the release of Achar Hem Chiev was organized by Pach Chhoeun. He was joined by about 1,000 demonstrators including several monks. In the melee which ensued, Pach Chhoeun was pushed inside the perimeter of the French Resident compound. French agents took this opportunity to close the door behind Pach Chhoeun and arrested him on the spot. Seeing this arrest, the monks started to fight against French police agents and their Vietnamese agents using their umbrellas. Meanwhile, the civilians who were present at the demonstration started to throw rocks against the French. The demonstration idea originated from Son Ngoc Thanh who wanted to show the Japanese (who then occupied Cambodia) the displeasure of Cambodian people against the arrest of Achar Hem Chiev by the French agents of the fascist Vichy regime, he would then ask the Japanese troops for intervention and obtain the release of Achar Hem Chiev. However, the fight and the arrest of Pach Chhoeun changed all Son Ngoc Thanh’s plan. Following the demonstration, several important Cambodian nationalists were arrested by the French after the demonstration.

Accused of sedition (KI-Media Note: Villagers in Kratie who resisted forced evictions are currently charged of secession), Achar Hem Chiev and several other Khmer nationalists were sentenced to life in prison by the French colonial court, and sent to jail in Poulo Condor (Con Son Island) also known in Khmer as Koh Trolach jail. It was there that Achar Hem Chiev died. Rumors had it also that the French forced Achar Hem Chiev to sleep in lime which seriously affected his health (one of my uncle who then belonged to the nationalist movement told me about this rumor).

Before passing away, Achar Hem Chiev said: “The construction of the nation by one individual will never be successful. We must unite altogether, in great number, and we must keep on pursuing it! You must all continue the struggle for me. I cannot carry the country by myself… The country belongs to us all… I am not afraid of death but the only thing I regret, is not being able to see our Cambodia becoming independent. May you live in peace … If our country finds peace again, we must organize a republic, do not forget! I am leaving you…”

On July 4, 1972, the Khmer Republic regime repatriated the remains of Achar Hem Chiev from Poulo Condor back to Cambodia where he received his final proper religious rite. His remain was then kept at Wat Ounalom.

References

Preah Pothiveang So Hay, prepared by Kong Samphea. “Preah Balat Khosaneak Hem Chiev, a National Hero.” Historical document in Khmer. (see below in Khmer)

Acknowledgment

The following PDF edition of the biography of Ven. Hem Chiev was made available by Lok Ly Diep of Angkor Borei News.

https://www.box.com/s/3134e10f614b7e369ff4

Khmer Heroes’ sacrifice in the Dark World By Chandara Kin - វីរបុរសខ្មែរ ធ្វើពលិកម្ម ក្នុងពិភពអន្ធកាល

ភាគ ១ - Part 1

https://www.box.com/s/eb49e4df247a17243512

ភាគ ២ - Part 2

https://www.box.com/s/d7be6c83c7da4b388fbb

Venerable Hem Cheav - A National Hero

http://www.box.com/s/889d23df94232e3a82ce

A Current of Nationalism, Not Extremism: Researcher

Lao Monghay, a former researcher for the Asian Human Rights Commission, talks to VOA on “Hello VOA” Monday.

Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington, DC Wednesday,
02 March 2011

Cambodians are experiencing an upsurge in nationalism thanks to a continued border dispute with Thailand, but a researcher says it has not veered toward extremism.

Related Links

Lao Monghay, a former researcher for the Asian Human Rights Commission, told “Hello VOA” Monday that Cambodians are now cooperating in economy, trade and culture more closely.

However, he added, trade goods from neighboring countries like China, Thailand and Vietnam are still in high demand.

“In Cambodia, even though there is stronger nationalism, it has not been extreme,” he said. “We see that Cambodians don’t seem to discriminate or oppose the goods of their neighbors at all. Even Thai goods, there is no movement stirred up to boycott Thai goods.”

Border Dispute Seen Unifying Myriad Groups

Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
Washington, DC Thursday, 17 February 2011

“It is apparent that the voice of nationalism is very strong, because it comes from the heart of the people, and it is the policy of the government.”

Analysts say the northern border dispute has unified Cambodians under a potentially dangerous banner of nationalism, following recent clashes with Thailand.

Fighting earlier this month has drawn condemnation from ruling party members, the opposition, rights groups and others, who believe Thai forces crossed into Cambodia during fighting earlier this month.

“The language of the government has been parallel to the language of the people and the public,” Chea Vannath, an independent political analyst told VOA Khmer. “It is apparent that the voice of nationalism is very strong, because it comes from the heart of the people, and it is the policy of the government.”

Unity among the different groups has meant Cambodia has been able to protest Thailand’s actions, she said.

Cambodians have been gripped by the “sovereignty issue,” said Lao Monghay, a researcher for the Asian Human Righs Commission, especially because in recent history Cambodia has lost must of its land to both its western and eastern neighbors.

Cambodia's political problem is a social cancer - Opinion by Kuch Ly

Opinion by Kuch Ly
email: kuchlyydv@yahoo.com

"I’d rather live as a simple Cambodian citizen with freedom and true independence than being a king, or a government official or an oknha (rich businessman) living under Vietnamese colonialism."

Click on the article in Khmer to zoom in

THAILAND/CAMBODIA: Row Over Ancient Temple May Sour ASEAN Spirit

By Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Jul 18 (IPS) - Amornchai Sirisai has been a regular visitor to the Thai-Cambodian border close to where a 10th century Hindu temple sits atop a steep cliff. But it is not tourism that takes the Thai national to the ancient site.

He has been working for two non-governmental organisations (NGOs) engaged in clearing landmines on the Thai side of the border near the temple in the northern Cambodian province of Preah Vihear, where the Khmer Rouge made its last stand before surrendering in 1998.

The area is pockmarked by shell craters and land mines being cleared by the Japan Alliance for Humanitarian Demining Support (JAHDS) and the Mekong Organisation for Mankind (MOM) to make the temple, built by the Khmer kings who ruled Cambodia, more accessible to local and foreign visitors.

But these days it is not the fear of people stepping on landmines that worries the project manager of MOM. The temple has been at the centre of a bitter dispute after Cambodia won international approval this month to recognise Preah Vihear as a World Heritage site. The committee that gave Phnom Penh the nod to list the temple as its own is an affiliate of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

by Thursday with hundreds of troops ordered by both countries to maintain vigil near the border. Fuelling this tense environment were hundreds of Thais belonging to an anti-government group who rushed to the spot to chant nationalist slogans, Tension between the two South-east Asian neighbours reached a dangerous leveldeclaring that the Preah Vihear temple belonged to Thailand and had been ‘’stolen’’ by Cambodia.

‘’The situation here is getting bad. It has not been like this before,’’ Amornchai said during a telephone interview from Si Sa Ket, the Thai border province that faces the temple. ‘’Both countries have ordered soldiers near the border. They are facing each other.’’

The growing wave of strident Thai nationalism -- and anti-Cambodian slogans -- has already delivered a sharp blow to the government of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej.

Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama was forced to resign after he returned to Bangkok on Jul. 10 following the meeting of the World Heritage committee, which ruled 8-1 in favour of Cambodia getting the ancient temple, dedicated to the Hindu deity Shiva.

Across the border, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cambodian People's Party (CPP) has been using the UNESCO approval to list the temple as a World Heritage site to advantage in its campaign for parliamentary elections scheduled for Jul. 27, 2008.

Moderate Thais say nationalists are refusing to accept recent history and facts that strengthen Cambodia’s claims to the temple upheld in 1962 by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague. The Thai government, under a military dictatorship in 1963, accepted the verdict but claimed ownership of a small area of land between the temple and the Thai border which offers the main access route to the historic site.

‘’As a member of the U.N., Thailand had to accept the ruling and hand the temple over to Cambodia. In the decades since, there has been no legal bid to reclaim the site,’’ wrote Supalak Ganjanakhundee in a commentary in Thursday’s edition of ‘The Nation’ newspaper. ‘’In the language of the law, de facto and de jure, the Hindu temple of Preah Vihear belongs to Cambodia.’’

Yet the recent burst of tension at that particular point on the Thai-Cambodian border is not the first. In November 2004 Thai troops were ordered to patrol their side of the border over another disagreement regarding the sliver of no-man’s-land area. And there have been times over the past seven years when locals and foreigners seeking to enter the temple from the Thai side have been denied access by Cambodian officials.

The dispute is seen as a legacy of French colonisation of Indo-China when Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam were under the grip of Paris. Thailand, which was never colonised, remained a buffer between the French colonists, to its east, and the British, to its west and south. The current border that separates Thailand and its two eastern neighbours was drawn up by French officials.

Yet the border that separates Thailand from Cambodia and Laos is dotted with grey areas that have sparked disputes in the past. Towards the end of 1987, Thai and Laotian troops clashed over a territory that Laos claimed was part of its Xaignabouri province, while the Thais claimed the area belonged to its Phitsanulok province. By the time a ceasefire was declared in February 1988, over 1,000 soldiers were killed, most of them Thais.

The current dispute which threatens to sour Thai-Cambodian relations could not have come at a worse time for Bangkok. It is getting ready to take over as the head of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN), a 10-member regional bloc of which Thailand and Cambodia are members. The others are Brunei, Burma, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.

Last November, ASEAN leaders signed a charter for the regional body aimed at greater integration to create a unified community at the political, economic and social level by 2015. This legally binding document was an attempt to revamp the group’s relevance on the world stage.

ASEAN was created in 1967 to stall the spread of communism in the region and advance free-market policies. But its usefulness began to fade with the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s and the financial crash mid-way in that decade.

Now, a growing wave of nationalism is posing a further challenge to the new chapter on stronger regional unity that ASEAN wants to write. ‘’Bruised nationalism is stimulating feelings of hatred between Thais and Cambodian,’’ says Supalak. ‘’Anti-Cambodian sentiment is growing stronger as Thais -- who consider themselves superior to their south-eastern neighbours -- feel they have lost face (because of the temple).’’

Khmer Mchas Srok Movement of Minnesota holds its first conference

Mr. Sean Masavang and Dr. Chak Sakhon of the Khmer Mchas Srok Movement (Photo: KMSM Minnesota)
Audience participating in the conference (Photo: KMSM Minnesota)

Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Report by Khmer Quorum
Originally posted at http://khmerquorum.blogspot.com

On March 22, 2008 in Minnesota, although heavy snow and slippery roads, about 150 Cambodian Americans excitingly came to a conference to listen to a long but very important speech from Dr. Chak Sakhon, a General Representative of the world Khmer Mchas Srok Movement. The conference started from 1:00 PM to 6:10 PM, interrupting with applauses from the audiences and brief video shows.

After a brief welcome speech by Mr. Cheat Hungsa, a president of the KMSM of MN, Dr. Chak Sakhon and Mr. Sean Masavang deliver a key speech to the curious audiences outlining all significant issues that our nation is facing today. With enormous evidences from her studies and researches, Dr. Sakhon explains and convinces our Cambodian American audiences that our beloved nation is in a great danger of losing its independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national identity.

The great threat posed to our nation now is millions of illegal Vietnamese immigrants who have been granted full rights as Cambodian citizens to vote. Dr. Sakhon has projected that about 30 percent of registered voters would be Vietnamese in this 2008 election. Along with the rights to vote to decide the Khmer fade, those Vietnamese are free to form their associations in 19 provinces throughout the country. These Vietnamese associations are powerful and cannot be touched or monitored by the Khmer authority. In contrast to the illegal Vietnamese in Cambodia, our Khmer Krom people who have lived on their homeland for generations are not allowed to do the same thing as the Vietnamese in Cambodia.

Furthermore, Dr. Sakhon points out why too many illegal Vietnamese immigrants are in Cambodia. The answer is because Heng Somrin and Hun Sen had signed a number of illegal and unfair treaties with Vietnam--a 25 years Vietnam and Cambodia friendship treaty 1979, 1982 treaty that lost sea water and a number of islands including Kash Tral, 1982 Decree requiring Khmer authority to take care and support Vietnamese immigrants in the country, 1985 treaty that lost border land, and finally a 2005 additional border treaty that has legalized all previous treaties albeit the Paris Peace Accord required the Cambodian government to nullify all previous illegal treaties.

In addition to the unfair treaty with Vietnam, Dr. Sakhon raises another issue about the so-called Triangle Development Zone among the three countries in Indochina--Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Dr. Sakhon calls, “the first legal step toward Indochina Federation.” When they create this free economic zone, the Vietnamese are free to do businesses and settlement in our three provinces. And a combined population of Laos and Cambodia in a combined six provinces in this Free Economic Zone is less than half a million compared to the population of the three provinces in Vietnam in this zone by more than 6 million. For instance, when your family has only one child, and then you put all your property in common with the other family which has ten children. Who is the gainer and who is the loser? In this game, Khmer and Laos are clearly the losers.

Along with a fearful Vietnamese influence and trick on our nation, the natural resource destruction and negligence by the current government is another important key note in her speech-- deforestation, negligence of oil resource and islands in the Gulf of Thailand, and a lack of transparency in revenue collection from Angkor Wat and other tourist places. Dr. Sakhon emphasizes that if we manage our resources carefully and effectively, we can earn enough hard currency to sustain our economic growth and raise a living standard of our people without depending on foreign aids and loans. Currently, the government generates national debt more than $6 billion, and this enormous debt will create a big burden to our children for generations.

Another factor that creates poverty in our country is corruption. Cambodia is well- known as the most corrupt country in the world. Corruption has spread all over the country from the top to the bottom levels of government officials. Corruption costs hundred of million dollar a year for the state budget. Corruption has created more poverty--more than 5.5 million Khmer people live with less than $1 a day and the other 3 million live in extreme poverty with no land, proper shelters, clothing, and food. Also, corruption keeps the government from raising salaries to all civil servants to a livable level.

Finally, Dr. Chak Sakhon focuses on the KMSM’s major policies and goal. She explicitly declares that KMSM is not a political party but a political movement. The KMSM adheres to a principle of non-violence and a use of legal means. As a non-political party, the KMSM does not participate in an up-coming general election. However, the KMSM supports all political parties which have the same mission as KMSM’s. The KMSM encourages all Khmer people to vote for any political party which serves and defend our nation from foreign influence and promote human rights and a rule of law.

During her speech, Dr. Sakhon makes an analogy of the KMSM as a drop of water which dropped on a top of a mountain, but an ultimate place of this drop of water is an ocean. To reach an ocean, this drop of water will face with numerous obstacles such as rocks, stones, trees, and logs. However, those obstacles naturally cannot stop a drop of water from reaching an ocean but merely slowing it down. In the same way, nobody can stop the KMSM from reaching its goal -- independence and sovereign peace for our nation -- but only to slow it down.

After a long passionate speech, the conference moves into a question and answer session. A number of audiences including representatives from few political parties and Khmer Krom Federation raise many concerned questions related to the current situation in our country and the goal and policies of the KMSM. The conference is concluded at 6:10 PM following with food and beverage serving.

If I will be rewarded for my meritorious acts, I wish to be reborn in Kampuja [again]

Photo 1

Photo 2

By Ang Choulean
www.khmerenaissance.info
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

About 20 years ago, not too far from Nokoreach (currently occupied by Thailand), a complete stone inscription was discovered (see Photo 1). The inscription dated from the 11th century, under the reign of King Udayaditiyavarman II (Udaya Aditiya = the Rising Sun), and it was inscribed in two languages. The first 30 lines consist of a poem in Sanskrit, and the last 6 lines are in Khmer. Chirapat Prapandvidya, a professor of archeology at the Silpakorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, translated the inscription into English, and the content of the inscription was published in the Journal of the Siam Society, Vol.78, Part 2 (1990).

Those who would like to learn about the details of this inscription should refer to the published article above. My goal here is not to talk about the entire subject described by Prof. Chirapat Prapandvidya, but I just want to point out a short sentence in Sanskrit to show how much Khmer people from that era loved their Nation. Furthermore, it is not just me who was interested in this issue, I also heard the interest of Prof. Kangvol Khatshima (a Khmer language professor at the Silapakorn University) who discussed this issue during a lecture in Bangkok also. A sentence found on line 29 (see Photo 2) reads: “If I will be rewarded for my meritorious acts, I wish to be reborn in Kampuja [again]”.