The 07 Makara (07 January) Hochimonks

Hochimonk Long Kim Leang at Wat Khmer in San Jose, California

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"Who is Long Kim Leang?" - by Love Khmer

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Cambodians in San Jose reject the stay of Hochimonk Long Kim Leang at Wat San Jose Pagoda

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Tim Sakhorn: From a Khmer Krom rights activist to a historical hero

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The Prey Nokor News
On the web at http://preynokornews.blogspot.com
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Then-Venerable Tim Sakhorn before he was defrocked

Tim Sakhorn is a native of Kampuchea Krom (South Vietnam) from Motr Choukr province, located next to Takeo province in Cambodia.

During his childhood, he lived under constant clashes between the Khmer Rouge soldiers and the Vietnamese (Yuon) army when Cambodia was then known as Democratic Kampuchea (DK) and Kampuchea Krom was and is under the colonialist boot of the Vietnamese Communist Party. Tim Sakhorn’s life was filled with threats, evacuations, housing and land confiscations from both the Khmer Rouge and the Vietnamese armies along the border. He was also a victim of the Khmer Rouge who evacuated him from Motr Chrouk and brought over to Phnom Den village, Takeo province. Later on, while living in Phnom Den, he took the vow and became a Buddhist monk. He always helped and provided refuge to Khmer Krom people who fled their arrest in Kampuchea Krom to come to live in Cambodia. Later on, then-Venerable Tim Sakhorn was defrocked by a group of monk and government officials, and he was sent to be jailed in Kampuchea Krom after he was charged with undermining the friendship between Vietnam and Cambodia.

Tim Sakhorn talking with a RFA reporter after he was released from the Yuon jail

Following his one year jail term, and one year of house arrest, the Yuon authority allowed him to come and visit his family who lives in Phnom Den village, Takeo province, Cambodia. In his village in Cambodia, the Cambodian authority refused to provide him with a Cambodian identity card, and he de-facto lost all his rights as a Cambodian citizen. He subsequently fled to Thailand where he requested asylum from the UNHCR. Following a two-month residence in Thailand, a third country accepted to provide him asylum and he is now living there.

Biography

Mr. Tim Sakhorn (aka TimKhorn, Chau Khorn and Nom Sokhoeun) was born in 1968 in Andong Tor village (An Binh in Vietnamese), Po commune (Ba Truc in Vietnamese), Svay Tong district, Motr Chrouk province.

Evacuation from Motr Chrouk to Takeo province

In 1978, Khmer Rouge soldiers of the DK regime attacked Svay Tong district, Motr Choruk province with the aim of liberating Kampuchea Krom lands.

The war that broke up between the KR soldiers and the communist Vietnamese army along the border in Motr Chrouk and Takeo provinces led to many deaths among Khmer Krom people. During that war, a number of Khmer Krom families which the KR considered as being Cambodians were evacuated to live in Kirivong district, Takeo province. Tim Sakhorn’s family was among those Khmer Krom victim families who were evacuated by the KR.

Following the end of the war, the Vietnamese government displayed the heads of Khmer Krom people who were killed in Svay Tong district(1) in a museum, and they told the Vietnamese people and the international community that these were in fact heads of Vietnamese killed by the KR soldiers.

Religious vow in Motr Chrouk province

In 1990, he returned back to Kampuchea Krom and he took the Buddhist religion vow to become a monk in Wat Phnom Pi Pagoda, Svay Tong district, Motr Choruk province. By the end of 1990, he took residence at Wat Phnom Den North Pagoda, Kiriving district, Takeo province, Cambodia.

Abbot of the Wat Phnom Den North Pagoda

In 1993, after a 3-year of residence in Wat Phnom Den North Pagoda, then-Venerable Tim Sakhorn was nominated by the pagoda members and Tep Vong, the Cambodian Buddhis patriarch, as the abbot of that pagoda. He occupied this position until the day he was forced to defrock.

Force-defrocked for undermining the friendship between Cambodia and Vietnam

On 30 June 2007, the Cambodian Buddhist clergy led by Tep Vong, Long Kim Leang, Noy Chreuk, Am Lim Heng and Sao Chanthol, in cooperation with Chies Om, the abbot of Wat Seihak Ratanaram and Buddhist monk chief for the province of Takeo province, forced then-Venerable Tim Sakhorn to defrock and they sent him over to Vietnam to be jailed in Motr Chrouk province after accusing him of undermining the friendship between Cambodia and Vietnam.

Hochimonks (from left to right): Tep Vong, Long Kim Leang and Sao Chanthol

Prior to his defrocking, Buddhist patriarch Non Nget of Cambodia issued a letter both in Vietnamese and in Khmer dated 16 June 2007, asking Tep Vong to arrest then-Venerable Tim Sakhorn and force-defrock him. In this letter, Non Nget accused then-Venerable Tim Sakhorn of “not abiding Buddhist rules, of undermining the national-international solidarity – in particular that between Cambodia and Vietnam – of using the pagoda to serve as a headquarter for propaganda movement, and these actions affected the rule and the decency of Buddhism(2).” After reviewing this letter, Tep Vong of Cambodia agreed to these statements and signed it on 17 June 2007.

After the letter was stamped by the two Cambodian patriarchs above, the Vietnamese government took this letter to announce in public to the Khmer Krom people living in Motr Chrouk province, letting them know in advance about the upcoming event and also to threaten and discourage Khmer Krom people, as well as then-Venerable Tim Sakhorn about their plan to defrock the latter.

3-month-8-day disappearance; Reappearance in the Vietnamese court dock

On 08 November 2007, the Vietnamese people’s court sentenced Tim Sakhorn to 12-month of jail term. He was charged with undermining the Yuon-Khmer friendship, following his force-defrocking in Wat Seihak Ratanaram Pagoda, located in Takeo province, by Cambodian authorities and monk officials. He was subsequently sent to be jailed in the Yuon prison, and he disappeared for 3-month-8-day. During his absence, nobody knew if he was dead or alive.

Former monk Tim Sakhorn during his court hearing in Motr Chrouk province

On 30 June 2008, the Yuon authority in Motr Chrouk province issued Tim Sakhorn a Vietnamese identification card, and they provided him with a Vietnamese-sounding name of Tim Sà Khon, born in 1968 in An Bình village, Ba Chùc commune, Svay Tong (Tri Tôn) district, Motr Chrouk province, a follower of Buddhism of Khmer origin.

On 31 June 2008, he was released from the Vietnamese jail but he was placed under house arrest.

On 31 March 2009, the Yuon authority issued Tim Sakhorn a border crossing pass.

On 04 April 2009, the Cambodian border gate in Takeo province granted Tim Sakhorn a 15-day visa to cross over to Cambodia – between 04 and 17 April – so that he can participate in the religious funeral ceremony for his mother who died in 2001.

On 14 April 2009, Tim Sakhorn fled to Thailand where he requested political asylum from the UNHCR in Bangkok. He was forced to flee Cambodia also because the Cambodian government refused to provide him a Cambodian identification card.

Travel to a third country

After receiving the refugee status from the UNHCR in Bangkok, Thailand, on 04 July 2009, Tim Sakhorn was safely sent by the UNHCR to live in Sweden.

“I now live in safety in Sweden because of the help and interventions provided national and international organizations all over the world, in particular, the Khmer Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF) allowed me to have a second life. I was subjected to hardship, I was arrested and there was no hope for me to stay alive back then. I believe that my fate would not be different from that of Venerable Eang Sok Thoeun. I would be killed in extreme atrocity [like Eang Sok Thoeun],” Tim Sakhorn said form Sweden.
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Notes:

(1) Svay Tong in Motr Chrouk province is a district where numerous Khmer Krom people live. That was why during the clashes between the KR and Yuon army, the majority of the people killed were Khmer Krom people.
(2) Tim Sakhorn’s defrocking request letter by patriarch Non Nget.

KKF's Appeal to Stop Sponsoring and Issuing Visas for the Monks Who Violate Human Rights and Buddhism’s Principles

Cambodia's Eminences Grises from left to right: Tep Vong, Non Nget, Long Kim Leang and Sao Chanthol
(An éminence grise (French for "grey eminence") is a powerful advisor or decision-maker who operates secretly or unofficially - Wikipedia)

KHMERS KAMPUCHEA-KROM FEDERATION
Asia – Australia – Europe – North America
A member of UNPO - IDBF
KKF P.O. Box 0193 • Pennsauken • NJ 08110 • Tel: (856) 655-2117 • Fax: (856) 583-1503
http://www.khmerkrom.org • Email: thach.thach@khmerkrom.org

Office of the President
No: 314 /KKF/N/2009

Open Letter: Appeal to Stop Sponsoring and Issuing Visas for the Monks Who Violate Human Rights and Buddhism’s Principles

Dear Immigrant Officers of Foreign Embassies in Cambodia and Cambodian Community Leaders Abroad: A high profile Khmer-Krom activist, Tim Sakhorn, reported about how he was dramatically arrested, deported from Cambodia to be imprisoned in Vietnam by the monks in Cambodia.

On June 30, 2007, Venerable Cheas Om, who was a high-ranking Buddhist monk in Takeo province in Seyha Rattana Ram Temple, called Venerable Tim Sakhorn to visit him. When Venerable Tim Sakhorn arrived at his temple, Venerable Tim Sakhorn saw other Buddhist monks from Phnom Penh waiting for him there. Venerable Sao Chanthol took a defrocking ordered letter, which was signed and stamped by the Supreme Patriarch Tep Vong and Non Nget, and read it to accuse Venerable Tim Sakhorn for using his temple to undermine the relationship between Cambodia and Vietnam.

Venerable Tim Sakhorn denied the accusation and refused to be defrocked because he did not committed the crime as they accused him and he did not violate any Buddhism’s principles in order to be defrocked. Venerable Long Kim Leang directly stripped off Venerable Tim Sakhorn’s frock in front of everyone and threw him clothes that they already brought with them from Phnom Penh, dragged him to a car that was already parked outside of the room where they met, and pushed him into the car to deport him to Vietnam in the same day. Consequently, Tim Sakhorn, a Cambodian citizen, was thrown in Vietnamese prison for a year before being granted asylum to live in Sweden.

These are the monks who involved with defrocking Venerable Tim Sakhorn:

Name and Current Address

• Tep Vong at Wat Ona-Lom, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
• Non Nget at Wat Bo-Tum, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
• Om Lam Heng at Wat Champu Ka-Ek, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
• Long Kim Leang at Wat Khmer San Jose, California, USA
• Sao Chanthol at Wat Langka, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
• Noi Chruek at Wat Chan Bori Vong, Preuk Phnom Commune, Ponhea Leu District, Kandal
• Province, Cambodia
• Cheas Om at Wat Seyha Rattana Ram, Takeo city, Takeo Province, Cambodia

Venerable Tim Sakhorn was a well respected Abbott of Northern Phnom Denh Pagoda in Takeo province (Cambodia) and he was wrongly accused of undermining the friendship between Cambodia and Vietnam. Tep Vong, Non Nget, Om Lam Heng, Sao Chanthol, Long Kim Leang, Noi Chruek, and Cheas Om who involved with defrocking Venerable Tim Sakhorn are in fact the human rights abusers who serve the interest of the Vietnamese government.

In this regards, I would like to:

• Urge the immigrant officers of foreign embassies in Cambodia to stop issuing Visa for these monks to travel to your countries because they violated Mr. Tim Sakhorn’s right to be a Buddhist monk, especially to send him from Cambodia to imprison injustice in Vietnam.
• Urge the Cambodian community leaders abroad to stop sponsoring these monks to visit your community or as religious workers because these monks violated the Buddhism’s principles and do not qualify to work as religious workers to educate our Cambodians about Buddhism.

If you have any questions or concerns about how these monks involved with defrocking Venerable Tim Sakhorn, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Respectfully Yours,

Thach Ngoc Thach
President of the Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation

The Destiny of the Indigenous Khmer-Krom People

The Destiny of the Indigenous Khmer-Krom People

By Preynokor News Team
On the web at http://www.preynokornews.blogspot.com

The Khmer-Krom people living abroad, especially in the United States, have their own reason to celebrate both the Fourth of July 2009—the American National Independence Day—and the Freedom Day of Tim Sakhorn. By the way, who is he?

Venerable Tim Sakhorn, prior to his capture by the Vietnamese Government in June 2007, was “Nobody”—an ordinary local Buddhist monk, not well known at all, at his temple in North Phnom Denh Village, Kirivong District, Takeo Province, Cambodia. During the past two years of his survival through extremely severe hardship in the Vietnamese prison, including physical and mental tortures, as well as his dangerous journey to escape from Vietnam to Cambodia and Thailand before being accepted for a special resettlement in Sweden under the political asylum program, Tim Sakhorn has become “Somebody”—the kind of “Khmer-Krom’s Dalai Lama” who is symbolizing as one of our Khmer-Krom’s national heroes in this modern time.

His name has been recognized in the international spotlights, from the Internet search engine websites, such as the Google.com and Yahoo.com, to the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Congress, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), the European Parliament, and the Transnational Radical Party (TRP) in Italy.

The international press/news media, and other major radio broadcasting programs have been constantly keeping the world informed about the current situation of Tim Sakhorn during his hardship, among them the Radio Free Asia/Khmer Services (RFA), Voice of America/Khmer Program (VOA), the Voice of Khmer-Krom (VOKK), the Radio France International (RFI), the radio broadcasting service in Australia, the Beehive Radio Program of Mr. Mam Sonando, and the Asia Times Magazine. The documentary film produced by Ms. Rebecca Sommer, entitled “Eliminated Without Bleeding”, was clearly illustrated about the atrocity committed by the Vietnamese Communist Government against the Khmer-Krom people.

The Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) which advocate for the respects for human rights and religious freedom have also been very helpful to the Khmer-Krom’s causes, among them the Human Rights Watch (HRW)--a well-admired Non-Governmental Organization (NGO)—which recently published a book about Khmer-Kroms entitled “Vietnam on the Margins: Rights Abuses of Ethnic Khmer in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta”.

Two other important individuals who are in charge of the Cambodian NGOs in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, who have been working tirelessly to advocate the human rights for the Khmer-Kroms are greatly appreciated. They are Dr. Kek Galabru who is the president of the Cambodia League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO) and Mr. Ang Chanrith, presently serving as the executive director of the Khmer Kampuchea-Krom Human Rights Defense Association. Why Venerable Tim Sakhorn has gained a lot of sympathy from the world community?

It was the Vietnamese government’s secret services agents with a full collaboration from a small group of top ranking Cambodian Buddhist monks under an order from the Hanoi-backed Great Patriarch Tep Vong to arrest Venerable Tim Sakhorn, defrocked him, and deported him to imprison in Vietnam.

One of Tep Vong’s top monk cadres, who engineered this arrest, was Venerable Long Kim Leang. According to Tim Sakhorn who already arrived at Sweden on July 4th 2009, Long Kim Leang was the one who directly stripped off his frock when he refused to be defrocked injustice. Tep Vong and his band accused Venerable Tim Sakhorn of undermining to the Cambodia-Vietnam’s relations. The Vietnamese judge, on the other hand, sentenced Tim Sakhorn for one year of imprisonment. Both of Tep Vong and the Vietnamese Communist government were lying to their teeth regarding Venerable Tim Sakhorn’s matter.

As a matter of fact, Abbot Tim Sakhorn was just a Good Samaritan with a true compassion to help the poor and needy Khmer-Krom refugees who escaped from the Communist repressions in Vietnam. As an Abbot of his temple, Venerable Tim Sakhorn provided his pagoda as a sanctuary place for these refugees to stay temporarily and gave them foods as well as other necessary assistance before these people could find other means to live on their own.

His monastery is located just less than a few miles from the border of Vietnam at the province of An Giang and this monk had never crossed the boundary into that country at all. Tim Sakhorn is a former Khmer-Krom refugee who fled to Takeo Province, Cambodia in 1978 from the Vietnamese government’s oppression in his hometown in Svay Tong District (Huyen Tri Ton), Mot Chrouk Province (used to be Chau Doc and is presently changed to An Giang Province in Vietnamese). Who are these Khmer-Krom people?

Khmer-Krom people are the Indigenous Peoples who have been living on their ancestral lands in Kampuchea-Krom which is now known as southern Vietnam for thousands of years. Presently, this most fertile region is the major rice basket of Vietnam, making this country to become the second biggest rice exporter in the world, next to Thailand.

During nearly a century of occupation in Indochina from 1863 to 1954, the French colonial power ceded Kampuchea-Krom to Vietnam on the 4th of June 1949 without any prior consultation with the Cambodian government or a permission from the Khmer-Krom populations at all. There were countless atrocities committed by the Vietnamese governments of all regimes through their secret ethnic cleansing policies against the Khmer-Krom.

Map of Kampuchea-Krom

During the American involvement in the Vietnam War, so many Khmer-Krom people were severely suffered by the atrocity and ethnic cleansing policy committed against them by the Vietnamese Communist insurgency and the Ngo Dinh Diem regime as well as other subsequent Saigon Governments. Being caught between the rocks and the hard places, so many Khmer-Krom people voluntarily served in the U.S. Army Special Forces to fight against the Communist Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Armies (VC/NVA).

Like the Montagnard Hill Tribes in Vietnam’s Central Highlands and the Hmong Hill Tribes in Laos, significant numbers of Khmer-Krom people were specially selected to operate in top secret missions behind the enemy’s lines along the infamous Ho-Chi-Minh Trails in Laos, Cambodia, and North Vietnam. These Khmer-Krom people fought bravely, courageously, daringly, and loyally side by side with their American commanding officers of the elite U.S. Green Berets against the out-numbered, out-gunned, and well-trained VC/NVA in the most inhospitable environment in the triple canopy jungles of those Ho-Chi-Minh Trails.

After the complete withdrawal of the American troops from South Vietnam and the subsequent fall of that country into the Communist occupation in April 1975, the situation regarding the Khmer-Krom holocaust became worst. The Hanoi regime began to intensify their oppression to eliminate the Khmer-Krom race, especially to seek revenges against these poor indigenous populations for their collaborations and loyalties with the U.S. Special Forces during the war.

At the present time, even after nearly two decades of U.S.-Vietnam normalized relationship, Hanoi still continues to oppress the Khmer-Krom through their tremendous human rights violations, religious persecutions, confiscations of their ancestral lands, and other socio-economic deprivations. The Khmer-Krom indigenous peoples are not allowed to learn their own language and history in public schools or to freely practice their Theravada Buddhism without the interference and strict control of the Vietnamese government.

When Khmer-Krom people stood up for their rights, the Vietnamese Communist authorities arrested these poor people, imprisoned, tortured, and executed them. Many tactics and strategies employed by the Hanoi government through their ethnic cleansing policies against the Khmer-Krom.

The UNHCR should do more to protect the Khmer-Krom refugees in Bangkok from being arrested and deported back to Cambodia by the Thai government. What was the major reason of the Khmer-Krom’s recent escape to Thailand?

On 8 February 2007, approximately two hundred Khmer-Krom Buddhist monks in Soc Trang province of Vietnam organized a peaceful demonstration to demand religious freedom. Instead of solving this problem non-violently, the Vietnamese government cracked down on these Khmer-Krom protesters. The police arrested, defrocked, and imprisoned some of the monks whom they considered of leading this peaceful demonstration. Other Khmer-Krom Buddhist monks who were fearful for their safety regarding this repression escaped to Cambodia.

Unfortunately, there is a double discrepancy in Cambodia by the Ministry of Interior regarding their handling of the Khmer-Krom refugee situation. First, the UNHCR refused to grant the refugee status for these Khmer-Krom people, claiming that according to the Cambodian constitution, any Khmer-Krom who escaped from Vietnam to Cambodia will be automatically given the full Cambodian citizenship. So, the UNHCR could not accept the Khmer refugees in their Cambodian homeland.

But the Cambodian Ministry of Interior which oversees many important aspects of the Cambodian domestic affairs including the immigration, local administration, and internal securities has never issued the official document recognizing the legitimacy of these Khmer-Krom people as the Cambodian citizenship, such as the birth certificate, national identification card, the rights to attend public school, to work and to vote. As a result these Khmer-Krom people became illegal aliens in Cambodia resulting in their inability to find employment, enrolling in schools, have the rights to vote, or to obtain the Cambodian passport. In contrast, the same Cambodian Ministry of Interior secretly granted the full Cambodian citizenship to almost all of the Vietnamese who are able to migrate freely into Cambodia by issuing them the above mentioned government document to legitimize their status.

Subsequently, to express their support and sympathy for the Khmer-Krom Buddhist monks who were arrested and imprisoned in Vietnam, the Khmer-Krom Buddhist monks in Cambodia organized a peaceful protest in front of the Vietnamese Embassy in Phnom Penh to demand the release their fellow Buddhist monks. Unfortunately, the Cambodian Ministry of Interior ordered the Police and even the Cambodian Buddhist monks to violently attack these peaceful protesters. Again, Venerable Long Kim Leang, was among the Cambodian high ranking Buddhist monks receiving order from the Hanoi puppet monk—the Great Patriarch Tep Vong-- who ordered other monks under his command to crack down on these Khmer-Krom monks, making this violent chaos look like the fighting between the monks and the monks.

Left image: Cambodia police chased Khmer-Krom Buddhist monks
Right image: Long Kim Leang was leading his “pro-Communist Vietnamese” monks to oppress the Khmer-Krom Buddhist monks

On May 30, 2009, Mr. Huynh Ba who is a Khmer-Krom activist for the land rights was also arrested by the Vietnamese authority. Since then, the Vietnamese government has rejected the request of Mr. Huynh Ba’s family to visit him inside a prison as well as not to give him a fair trial. His family, from the day of his arrest until the present time, has been kept in the dark by the Vietnamese Communist authority from learning about the health condition and the well being of Mr. Huynh Ba.

By stealing the ancestral lands of the Indigenous Khmer-Krom Peoples in Kampuchea-Krom, which is Vietnam’s main rice basket, making this country to become the world’s second biggest rice exporter, millions of our populations are starving and are living in poverty. Besides that, while Vietnam is receiving billions of dollars from digging crude oils on the Khmer-Krom’s ancestral sea near O-Cap (Vung Tau) province, the Indigenous Khmer-Krom Peoples are getting nothing from that benefit.


Since the Khmer Kampuchea-Krom Federation (KKF), which represents the voice of our Khmer-Krom people in the international arena, became an official member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) in 2001, this KKF organization has organized our people to actively participate in the global diplomatic mainstream through the peaceful human rights movement based on the international laws. When the Indigenous Khmer-Krom Peoples know their rights, they would stand up for these rights, especially the rights for self-determination so that they could live freely on their ancestral land. By realizing this dream, they would not need to flee their beloved homeland any more in order to seek refuge in another country. “When There is a Will, There will be a Way”.

7th January Monks, Tep Vong, Long Kim Leang, and Sao Chanthol Defrocked Venerable Tim Sakhorn

7th January Hochimonks, from left to right: Comrade Tep Vong, Comrade Long Kim Leang and Comrade Sao Chanthol

13 July 2009
By PrenokorNews Team

"At this time, Long Kim Leang, a 7th January monk, is currently staying at a Khmer temple in San Jose, California because he was sponsored to live in the US at that temple. Tim Sakhorn is already invited to come to San Jose for the year end meeting of the Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation in December 2009. Let’s see if Long Kim Leang still has power to arrest Tim Sakhorn and deport him again to Vietnam."

After arriving at the third country, a Former Buddhist monk and also an Abbot of the northern Phnom Den pagoda, Kiri Vong district, Takeo province, Tim Sakhorn confirmed that the 7the January Buddhist clergies Tep Vong ordered Long Kim Leang, and Sao Chanthol to strip of his monk’s robe, placed in a car and sent him to imprison in Vietnam.

Tim Sakhorn is a well-known Khmer Krom human rights activist. After being granted a political asylum safely in the third country, he told a PreynokorNew’s Journalist about how he was defrocked and arrested in Takeo province. He confirmed that Long Kim Leang and Sao Chanthol directly defrocked him at Seyha Rattana Ram pagoda in Takeo provincial on 30th June 2007, pushed him into a car, deported to Vietnam to be imprisoned in An Giang province.

The following were the interview between Preynokor News’ Journalist and Tim Sakhorn on Wednesday 8th July 2009:

Preynokor News: When you were in Kampuchea, did you decide to leave from monk hood or you were defrocked?
Tim Sakhorn: When I was in Kampuchea, (the top Buddhist clergies Tep Vong, including Long Kim Leang, Sao Chanthol, and Chea Om…) After I had lunch, Cheas Om phoned me.

Preynokor News: Who was Cheas Om?
Tim Sakhorn: Cheas Om was a high-ranking Buddhist monk in Takeo province in Seyha Rattana Ram pagoda.

Preynorkor News: Why did he call you? What did he say?
Tim Sakhorn: He called me in order to cheat me by saying that just asking me to visit him. In contrast, they planned to meet me, then the Buddhist clergies including Sao Chanthol took the defrocking order letter which already distributed to every pagodas in Kampuchea Krom saying that I undermined the relationship between Cambodia and Vietnam which were signed and stamped by top Buddhist clergy Non Nget and Tep Vong. They defrocked me and forced me to get into a car and sent to the Vietnamese authorities in An Giang province.

7th January Monk, Sao Chanthol was answering the interview while he was conducting his 7th January monks to oppress Khmer Krom Buddhist monks who were protesting to demand releasing Khmer Krom Buddhist monks in Vietnam.

Preynorkor News: They accused you of self-repatriation, in this case, they had a letter and signed by you too, is it true?
Tim Sakhorn: In this case, they forced me to do like that. I’ve never wanted to leave far away from my family, parent, and siblings that all live in Phnom Den district because I used to live there since 1979.

Preynorkor News: What kind of police that sent you to prison in An Giang province?
Tim Sakhorn: This based on high-ranking police cooperated with top Buddhist clergies could send me. Just their car entered Cheas Om’s doorway at Seyha Rattana Ram pagoda, waited for me to leave the building, they pushed me into the car. The four police officers in civilian uniform drove me across the Phnom Den border checkpoint to An Giang province.

Tim Sakhorn – a former defrocked Khmer-Krom Buddhist by 7th January monks in Cambodia

Preynorkor News: Did you remember one of the police that arrest you?
Tim Sakhorn: No, they cooperated with the Khmer Buddhist monks.

Preynorkor News: What was the name of Buddhist clergies who defrocked you?
Tim Sakhorn: At that time I saw Cheas Om, Sao Chanthol and other monks from Tep Vong’s group consisted of six monks led by Long Kim Leang at Unnalom pagoda representative Tep Vong and nearly twenty pagoda boys along with them.

Long Kim Leang, 7th January Monk

Preynorkor News: When they sent you to the border in An Giang province, did anyone come to take you?
Tim Sakhorn: They sent me to Vietnam directly until reaching to Tinh Bien district. After Arriving at police office, they gave me to Vietnam authorities, then the Khmer polices drove back to Cambodia left me to Vietnamese polices.

Before defrocking Tim Sakhorn, Khmer Krom Buddhist monks protested in front of the Vietnamese Embassy in Cambodia to demand for respecting Khmer Krom Human Rights in Kampuchea Krom because Vietnam authorities defrocked many Khmer Krom Buddhist monks after the demonstration on 8 February 2007 at Pali school in Khleang province.

Long Kim Leang and Sao Chanthol sent his 7th January monks to attack Khmer Krom monks

The non-violence demonstration of Khmer Krom Buddhist monks in Cambodia to demand Vietnamese government to respect Khmer Krom Rights was crack downed by the Cambodian official monks who served Vietnamese political agenda, such as Long Kim Leang the chief of monks that had Khmer body but Vietnamese head. The public opinion called him as the 7th January Buddhist monk. His monks and Hoc Lundy’s polices hit a Khmer Krom monk in his head and caused bleeding seriously and many others wounded.

Long Kim Leang was leading his 7th January monks to oppress Khmer Krom monks

To confirm that Long Kim Leang in Cambodia stayed at Unnalom pagoda along with the top Buddhist monk, “7th January” Tep Vong, has position as deputy high-ranking monk in Don Penh district and Sao Chanthol the abbot of Lankar pagoda. After arrested venerable Tim Sakhorn and defrocked him and also accomplished their tasks from cracked-down on Khmer Krom monks who protested in front of Vietnamese embassy for many times, Long Kim Leang was appointed by Hun Sen government as Preah Putha Khosachar and Sao Chanthol as Preah Arya Vong.

Cambodian polices attacked Khmer Krom Buddhist monks

In 2007, Long Kim Leang went to USA in an attempt to join seima festival at Munisota Ram pagoda located in Minnesota state. There were many Khmers and Khmer Krom living there planed to demonstrate against Long Kim Leang at that time. He heard that so he dared to participate in this festival and hided himself silently in California.

7th January monks

In 2008, Long Kim Leang went to USA for the second time. He stayed at Angkor Borey pagoda, Modesto, California for a short time because lay people did not support him and they knew that he was a monk from the top of Buddhist clergies, Tep Vong, so they did not believe and went back to Cambodia.

Long Kim Leang was answering questions for reporters regarding his 7th January monks cracked down the peaceful protest of Khmer Krom Buddhist monks

At this time, a 7th January monk, Long Kim Leang, is currently staying at a Khmer temple in San Jose, California because he was sponsored to live in the US at that temple. Tim Sakhorn is already invited to come to San Jose for the year end meeting of the Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation in December 2009. Let’s see if Long Kim Leang still has power to arrest Tim Sakhorn and deport him again to Vietnam.

To read this news in Khmer, please visit: http://preynokornews.blogspot.com