Fearful Monk Seeks Refuge in Thailand

Tim Sakhorn (L) during his questioning by Vietnamese police

By Taing Sarada, VOA Khmer
Original report from Washington
22 April 2009

Click here to listen to the audio program in Khmer

[Editor’s note: Tim Sakhorn, a former monk of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom ethnic group of southern Vietnam, who ran a pagoda in Takeo province, is now in Thailand, seeking political asylum from persecution in Vietnam. He was defrocked in Cambodia in 2007 and allegedly forcibly turned over to Vietnamese authorities, who put him in prison for a year. Allowed to visit Cambodia earlier this month, to attend a funeral ceremony for his mother, he fled the country. He spoke to VOA Khmer by phone from Thailand.]

Q. What was the reason you made your escape from Cambodia to Thailand?

A. I was very afraid the Cambodian government would send me back to Vietnam.

Q. What is your present situation in Thailand?

A. I’m still really scared.

Q. Because you’ve seen someone following you, or intimidating you, or what?

A. I haven’t seen anyone following me yet, but I have to be careful with my personal security.

Q. Who protects you in Thailand?

A. I don’t have anyone protecting me yet.

Q. Where is your final destination?

A. My plan is to go the United States of America.

Q. What were your conditions in jail?

A. The situation in Vietnam’s jail was like hell, very difficult.

Q. What kind of difficulties? Could you give a specific example?

A. I don’t want to describe it right now. As you know, I’m still scared about my personal security.

Q. Did you see any political prisoners being tortured?

A. I still don’t want to talk about it yet, because I’m still scared.

Q. Are there any Kampuchea Krom monks or Khmer Kampuchea Krom people being detained over there?

A. When I was there, I would see them come and go, some people who were charged with illegal border crossing or some other offenses. It is beyond my knowledge whether those prisoners are still detained or released. I don’t really know in detail about that.

Q. Trinh Ba Cam, the Vietnamese embassy spokesman in Phnom Penh, has said the human rights situation in Vietnam is progressing along a good path. He said there are no political prisoners in Vietnam. What do you think about his comment?

A. Peace and freedom in Vietnam are not full yet. A lot of people demanding freedom have been arrested and were threatened by Vietnamese authorities.

Q. I was told that there are five Kampuchea Krom monks being detained. Is that right?

A. This is true, as in my situation, for example. I was strictly surveilled by the Vietnamese authorities after I was released from prison. I had to ask a lot of permissions from a lot of different authorities to come to my mother’s funeral ceremony. They restricted me, not allowing me to stay in Cambodia for so long, and they did not allow me to contact any civil society groups or political parties critical of the Vietnamese government. I don’t think those five monks will be released soon.

Q. What is the charge against those five monks?

A. They are all involved with freedom demonstrations, like my issue, same thing.

Q. Regarding accusations against you from Supreme Patriarch Tep Vong, of undermining solidarity between Cambodia and Vietnam, do you have any comment?

A. The Khmer Kampuchea Krom people in Vietnam do not have any problem with Cambodia at all. We are the same, Khmer. Our Khmer Kampuchea Krom people only need real freedom. We really don’t have issues with our Khmer people in Cambodia at all.

Q. After the Vietnamese authorities freed you from detention, did you have real freedom?

A. I doubt that I had real freedom. I still felt so scared, even when I arrived in Cambodia, so I needed to leave Cambodia for a third country.

Q. I heard that you were under house arrest and under strict surveillance by the Vietnamese authorities. Is that true?

A. That was true. The Vietnamese authorities are not careless about this issue. Whenever I wanted to go visit my relatives, a Vietnamese secret agent would go with me. They wore plain clothes and followed me every minute.

Q. Who else was involved in your defrocking? Was there any violence then?

A. They said if I didn’t agree to be defrocked, they would use military force. I didn’t agree at that time, but they forcibly defrocked me, they took away my monk’s robe, then they forced me to wear plain clothes, and after that they pushed me into the car.

Monk gets relief during wait on asylum bid

Wednesday, 22 April 2009
Written by Meas Sokchea
The Phnom Penh Post

KHMER Krom activist Tim Sakhorn met Tuesday with representatives of a relief organisation in Bangkok, a day after he met with UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) officials to apply for refugee status in the United States.

The 41-year-old said the relief group promised to provide him food and financial support for three months as he awaits a decision from UNHCR on the status of his refugee application, expected on June 20.

"[The organisation] will provide me with finances and some food ... until I can seek refugee status in another country," he said, adding that he was moving locations in Bangkok regularly out of fears for his security.

"I am scared of the Vietnamese, even in Cambodia and Thailand. In Thailand I am less scared, but I still have to be careful," he added.

Tim Sakhorn spent two years in Vietnam in jail and under house arrest on charges of subverting the country's friendship with Cambodia. On April 11, he fled to Thailand after he was was allowed to visit family in Takeo province.

A representative from the refugee-support group confirmed by phone from Bangkok that it was providing Tim Sakhorn with finances, food and hygiene supplies, but said they did not want the organisation's name mentioned in this report.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SEBASTIAN STRANGIO

Tim Sakhorn to seek asylum in America

Monday, 20 April 2009
Written by Meas Sokchea
The Phnom Penh Post

"His comments were made just in order to leave for a third country. No one is bothering him ... More than 13 million people can live in Cambodia, so why can't he live here?" - Khieu Sopheak, the mouthpiece of the Ministry of Interior which did nothing when Tim Sakhorn was illegally deported to Vietnam

TROUBLED MINORITY
In a 2009 report, Human Rights Watch documented Vietnam’s “ongoing violations” of the rights of the country’s Khmer minority – commonly known as Khmer Krom – citing ethnic-based grievances and demands for religious freedom as particular concerns.

Khmer Krom activist says he will seek refugee status following his flight to Thailand

KHMER Krom activist Tim Sakhorn, who has fled Cambodia claiming he was forced to live in a stateless limbo without identity documents, is to seek refugee status in the United States, he told the Post Sunday.

"I will go to meet the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Bangkok [Monday] to have them help me seek refugee status," he said. "I escaped from a lot of fear when I arrived in Thailand."

Before he fled to Thailand last week, local authorities were keeping a close watch over his house - an activity he saw as a threat to his family, he said.

"I miss my homeland. I wanted to be a monk in our homeland, but Cambodia did not issue an identity card to acknowledge me," he said, referring to what he called bureaucratic discrimination against Khmer Krom citizens of Cambodia.

Without an identity card, it is more difficult to prove Cambodian citizenship and obtain access to services - or safety from arbitrary deportation, he said.

"The [Cambodian government] pushed me to Vietnam and Vietnam pushed me back," he said, adding he was fearful of this happening again unless he was given documents and legal status as a Cambodian citizen.

The former monk, who was arrested and defrocked in Cambodia in June 2007 before being deported and jailed for a year in Vietnam on charges of undermining its national unity, returned to his native Takeo province to visit family on April 4. He then fled to Thailand after being reordained.

The 41-year-old told the Post that his stay in Thailand was only temporary and that he was planning to seek permanent refugee status in America.

Ang Chanrith, executive director of the Khmer Krom Human Rights Organisation, said Sunday that local human rights groups were encouraging UNHCR's Bangkok office to help him secure refugee status.

"I am optimistic that Tim Sakhorn will receive refugee status because the world is watching," he said, adding that the monk had been defrocked illegally.

A UNHCR official based in Phnom Penh, who declined to be named, said he did not know of the Bangkok office's intentions, but confirmed that local rights groups were advocating on behalf of Tim Sakhorn.

The official added that before Khmer New Year the UN had gone to Takeo province to encourage authorities to issue Tim Sakhorn an identity card, but that they said the request would be granted only after the holiday period.

Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said that there was no threat to Tim Sakhorn in Cambodia.

"His comments were made just in order to leave for a third country. No one is bothering him," he said. "More than 13 million people can live in Cambodia, so why can't he live here?" Vietnamese embassy officials could not be reached for comment Sunday.

Human Rigts group helps Tim Skahorn seek refugee status in Thailand

18 April 2009
By Mondulkeo
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
Click here to read the article in Khmer

Officials of a human rights group in Cambodia said that they are legally providing help so that Venerable Tim Sakhorn receives temporary refugee status in Thailand.

On 18 April, Ang Chanrith, the executive director of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Human Rights Organization (KKHRO), claimed that his group is legally providing help so that Ven. Tim Sokhorn, the former abbot of the Phnom Den North pagoda, receives his temporary refugee status in Thailand.

Ang Chanrith said: “We who are living in Cambodia, we will not stop it, i.e. we continue to push so that he (Tim Sakhorn) receives the refugee status by the UNHCR in Bangkok. We are working with other human rights organizations, such as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Cambodia, and we are also working with Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International to have them help push this issue with the UNHCR in Bangkok so that he (Tom Sakhorn) can receive the refugee status.”

Following his one-year jailing in Vietnam, on 04 April 2009, the Viet authority allowed Ven. Tim Sakhorn, the former abbot of the Phnom Den North pagoda, to return to Cambodia to commemorate for his departed mother. However, the Viet authority set 17 April 2009 as his return date to Vietnam.

After he arrived in Cambodia, this former monk was re-ordained again, and he fled Cambodia to seek refugee status in Thailand.

Khieu Sopheak, spokesman of the Ministry of Interior, said that Ven. Tim Sakhorn has all the necessary rights like all other Cambodian citizens, so there is no need for him to fear anything. Khieu Sopheak added: “He has other goal, so he takes this opportunity to ask for refugee status. This is not a new affair, there are several others who are like him.”

Trinh Ba Cam, Hanoi’s mouthpiece in Cambodia, said that he does not pay attention to this issue. He added that Mr. Tim Sakhorn is merely a simple citizen. Trinh Ba Cam said: “We are not preventing him from going anywhere, he asked for the legal authorization, then it is legal, but when he fled, that is illegal.”

Ven. Tim Sakhorn fled to Thailand on 11 April because he fears for his personal safety. He is currently asking for refugee status from the UNHCR in Thailand.