Tep Vong: No more defrocking of Khmer Krom monks (… until next defrocking)

04 July 2007
By Kim Pov Sottan
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Click here to listen to the rude words used by Hochimonk Tep Vong during his interview with RFA

Supreme patriarch Tep Vong said on Wednesday that there will not be anymore defrocking of Khmer Krom monks, following the defrocking of one Khmer Krom monks in Phnom Den pagoda, Takeo province.

Tep Vong claimed that the defrocking was done to this Khmer Krom monk because he created difficulties for him (Tep Vong), and that the Khmer Krom monk asked to be defrocked himself. Tep Vong said that there is no reason to defrock other Khmer Krom monks.

Tep Vong said: “If it’s true, I would do it already, but if it’s not true … I won’t do it, that’s why I said that we should end this mayhem with this guy (Tep Vong used the derogatory calling of “Ah Niss” to designate another monk), because he persecuted me. His group beat up other monks until their heads and faces were gashed.” RFA: “So there will not be any more defrocking?” Tep Vong: “No more … I don’t know, I did not defrock him, I was asked to give the permission for the defrocking, so I authorized the defrocking.”

Tep Vong made this remark after he received numerous criticisms for the defrocking of a Khmer Krom monk in Phnom Den. Tep Vong’s critics accused him of discouraging Khmer Krom monks from demanding the respect of Buddhism in Kampuchea Krom (South Vietnam).

Monk Yoeung Sin, the abbot of the Samaky Raingsey pagoda, said that Khmer Krom monks, in particular the 20 monks who just fled from Kampuchea Krom recently, are very concerned after they learned that Tep Vong had ordered the defrocking of another 11 Khmer Krom monks.

Monk Yoeung Sin added that up to now, some of the monks fled from their pagodas, while others no longer dare go out to beg for their alms as they usually do. “Now, there are other monks who fled, they are quite numerous, they are no longer staying in one place. They are now concerned, furthermore, some no longer dare going out to beg for their alms because they are afraid that they will be arrested, therefore, even to go beg for their alms, they don’t even dare do it. They are concerned that the Viet group arrest them and prevent them from going to beg for their alms … now they are scared, when they get into the water they face the crocodiles, but when they get back up on lands they face the tigers, they don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do,” Monk Yoeung Sin said.

Monk Tim Sakhorn, the abbot of the Phnom Den pagoda was defrocked by the Cambodian authority last Saturday. He was accused of violating the Buddhist rule by undermining the national and international unity, in particular, he is accused of undermining the relationship between Cambodia and Vietnam by using the pagoda as a propaganda headquarters.

Adhoc investigators confirmed that Monk Tim Sakhorn was issued warnings in the past because he allowed Khmer Krom people to become monks without asking the authorization from the patriarch. Following his defrocking, Monk Tim Sakhorn’s whereabouts is unknown, even though the Cambodian authority claimed that he volunteered to return back to Vietnam.

Currently, numerous civil society organizations are holding meetings to find refuge and safety shelters for concerned monks who are native from Kampuchea Krom.

Khmer Krom Monks Fearful After Defrocking, Expulsion of Pagoda Leader

Bikkhu Tim Sakhorn who was defrocked by force by puppet Hochimonks Non Nget and Tep Vong. He was subsequently deported back to Vietnam by the puppet regime in Phnom Penh.

Mony, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
03/07/2007

Monks within the Khmer Kampuchea Krom community said Tuesday many in their ranks were considering fleeing Cambodia, or already had, following the defrocking and subsequent expulsion to Vietnam of one of their own.

Tim Sakhorn, chief of Phnom Den pagoda in Takeo province, was defrocked last week for allegedly seeking to undermine Cambodia's relationship with Vietnam. Authorities said he was sheltering Khmer Krom monks who had fled Vietnam and was organizing them in an unlawful manner.

The Khmer Kampuchea Krom are a minority group living in the Mekong Delta regions of Vietnam and Cambodia. Many Cambodians identify with their cause and believe the Delta region was taken from Cambodia.

Officials say they expelled him according to the law, returning him to his hometown, but human rights officials are afraid he was sent forcibly to a country that has come under fire this year for rights abuses against Khmer Krom monks.

Khmer Krom monks told VOA Khmer they feared Vietnam was too dangerous for them, and some had left the country.

Monk Chey Samnang, vice president of a Khmer Krom monk organization, told VOA Khmer by phone from Australia that the arrest of Tim Sakhorn and the defrocking of 11 other Khmer Krom monks recently was against Cambodia's law.

"The honorable Tim Sakhorn did not commit any offense," Chey Samnang said. "He was called for a meeting [and then] he was defrocked. It was not a summons for an arrest, and it was actually an act of putting pressure on him."

Chey Samnang appealed to human rights organizations to find the monk, whose exact whereabouts are unknown, and to help reinstate him as the head of his pagoda.

Buddhist Supreme Patriarch Tep Vong, the only Buddhist monk in the world driven by revenge and vindictiveness

Tep Vong orders the defrocking of of 11 other Khmer Krom monks whom he accused of beating up "his group of monks"

Tuesday, July 03, 2007
KI-Media News Brief

Today’s edition of the Sralanh Khmer newspaper reported that supreme patriarch Tep Vong said on Sunday that he had accused Khmer Krom Monk Tim Sakhorn for the latter’s persistence in destroying of the achievements of the 07 January 1979 (celebration date of the invasion of Cambodia by Vietnam). During that period, comrade Tep Vong was a member of the communist politburo and vice-president of the Assembly of the People’s Republic of Kampuchea, the communist regime installed by the invading army in 1979. Tep Vong also told The Cambodia Daily, on Sunday, that he ordered the defrocking of 11 other Khmer Krom monks and their deportation back to Vietnam. Tep Vong claimed that the 11 monks beat up his group of monks (during the April 20 clash between Khmer Krom monks and a group of agent provocateur monks sent over by Tep Vong as he now admits) and accused him of being a puppet monk and a monk sold out to the authority. Tep Vong said that these accusations were baseless.