KI-Media News brief
Following his comments given to The Cambodia Daily yesterday, saying that the accusation against Khmer Krom Tim Sakhorn by patriarch Non Nget is not ground for Monk Tim Sakhorn’s defrocking, Khieu Kanharith, government spokesman and minister of information, ordered the broadcasting on the state-run TVK station, a news report about an alleged lover of Monk Tim Sakhorn. Khieu Kanarith told The Cambodia Daily that: “I ordered the broadcast because people are blaming the government for defrocking the monk.” The unknown woman TVK claimed is Tim Sakhorn’s lover, did not say or admit anything on camera, and only the program commentator can be heard on this new charge leveled against Monk Tim Sakhorn. The Koh Santepheap newspaper reported on Wednesday that police search of Monk Tim Sakhorn’s unearthed two “sex” video disks. The timing of these revelations become even more puzzling as they only came out several days after the defrocking of Monk Tim Sakhorn, and after numerous criticisms voiced out the lack of due process against Monk Tim Sakhorn. Furthermore, several critics said that according to Buddhist rules, there is no ground to defrock Monk Tim Sakhorn based on Non Nget’s accusation of “undermining diplomatic ties between Vietnam and Cambodia.” This situation led several sources to wonder whether Cambodia’s notorious corrupt and subservient police force did not plant and fabricated the evidence in order to bring more charges against Monk Tim Sakhorn. Thach Setha, executive director of the Khmer Kampuchea-Krom Community, was quoted by The Cambodia as saying about the perpetrated against Khmer Krom monk Tim Sakhorn: “Kafkaesque situationIt was just theater. It’s very funny.”
