Kampot villagers demand for intervention to preserve their pagoda

Saturday, April 26, 2008
By Sok Serey
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

About 200 villagers, monks and pagoda committee members of the Wat Bak Neum pagoda, located in Chres commune, Kampot province, had thumbprinted a petition to complain to the Ministry of Cult and Religion, and the Ministry of Defense, to demand for their intervention to preserve the pagoda.

The petition will be sent to the two ministries at the beginning of next week, to demand for their intervention to preserve the Wat Bak Neum pagoda so that the villagers can practice their religion. The Cambodian army division 11 plans to destroy the pagoda in order to confiscate the more than 1-hectare of land occupied by the pagoda in the near future.

Venerable In Sok, the Abbott of the Wat Bak Neum pagoda, told RFA that: “This is the government duty to help resolve this land dispute issue involving an army division and the Wat Bak Neum pagoda. We want to preserve this pagoda forever.”

The plan to send the petitions to the two ministries above came after a meeting was held on 24 April to find a resolution on the land dispute, but there is no agreement yet so far.

A source indicated that in the past meeting, the Chum Kiri district governor, the village chief, the villagers’ representatives, the pagoda committee, as well as representatives of the army division 11 participated in the meeting. The Bak Neum pagoda is located next to the base of the army division 11.

A soldier of the army division 11 told RFA that the pagoda land belonged to the army division in the past, and the army wants to get this land back: “This is an issue of the higher echelon, I don’t know anything about it.”

Regarding the land dispute problem between the army division 11 and the villagers and monks of Wat Bak Neum pagoda, Tep Vong, the supreme Buddhist patriarch, told RFA on Saturday that: “I don’t have any understanding about this pagoda, if they want to demolish the pagoda, it’s their affair, if they don’t want to demolish it, it’s also their affair.”

Ou Virak, President of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR), said: “First, the building of this pagoda, was it done with the participation of the villagers and this community? The land was it a public land or was it a private land where the pagoda was authorized to build on it? Secondly, if there is a dispute involving a pagoda, according to the law, if there are individuals of group protesting about the land use issue, only the tribunal can make the decision, no individual can use weapons to demolish the pagoda as they want.”

Based on the various documents RFA received, they indicated that the Ministry of Cult and Religion issued a letter dated 19 February 2008, signed by Khun Hang, the minister of Cult and Religion, who authorized the construction of the Wat Bak Neum pagoda.

In addition to the authorization above, the Kampot provincial department of Cult and Religion, also provided its authorization (on the building of the pagoda) in 2004, and this authorization was granted based on the request made by the pagoda committee to form a Vipassana meditation center there.

Oakland's Cambodian temple back to local control

Abbot, monks were locked out in 2004

12/21/2007
By Momo Chang, STAFF WRITER
The Oakland Tribune (California, USA)

OAKLAND — A California Superior Court ruled Tuesday that the Oakland Cambodian Buddhist Society Temple should never have merged with a corporate, centralized temple in Massachusetts.

"Finally, justice prevailed and we got our temple back," said Christina Fam, daughter-in-law of the temple's now-deceased abbot.

The temple's board of directors conducted a membership vote in June 2004 leading to the merger, but it never stated that the Massachusetts-based International Community Khmer Buddhist Monks Center would essentially take over the Oakland temple, according to the judge's ruling.

The abbot, Sam Son and three monks were locked out of their own temple in 2004. They started a new one — the Oakland Cambodian Buddhist Temple — across the street in the same East Oakland neighborhood, followed by many of their supporters.

"The abbot was told he could no longer be the abbot and he couldn't perform any ceremonies or do anything," Fam said about the temple coup. "This was to the abbot's surprise and the members' surprise."

Several board members allegedly had grudges against some of the elder monks and the abbot. They accused the monks of engaging in inappropriate activities, such as viewing pornography on the Internet and playing cards, allegations that Fam says were false, but were used as an excuse to bring on the merger.

The abbot, Son, passed away July 2005 in the midst of the internal disputes.

"Unfortunately, the abbot couldn't handle the stressful situation," Fam said in tears on the phone Thursday. "He was already frail and had a heart condition. He was in emotional distress."

The original temple was founded in 1983 by Son and incorporated as a nonprofit in 1986. Before the temple was transferred out of local control, it had a membership of 600 and was central to the Cambodian community in Oakland, many who are refugees.

The temple offered language and citizenship classes and workshops on immigration issues and cultural events, according to the plaintiff's lawyer, David Sternfeld.

"We're hoping to bring the temple back into the community and provide the services it had in the past," he said.

G. Robert Woodfin, lawyer to the defendants, said he is still reviewing the decision and declined to comment.