Dozens Rally to Support Monk Threatened With Defrocking
Cambodia Daily | 7 December 2015
Dozens of activist monks rallied on Sunday at Wat Stung Meanchey to
protest the pagoda’s decision to defrock a fellow monk for allegedly
throwing Buddha statues into a dirty pond, claiming that he was framed
because he is Khmer Krom and is known for supporting land activists.
On Saturday, senior monks at the pagoda decided in a meeting to
defrock Kim Seila, 52, following accusations from other monks that he
had thrown about 10 Buddha statues and artifacts into a nearby
garbage-filled pond while cleaning his new monk house—a charge that he
denied on Sunday.
“Nuns and Buddhists came to complain, accusing the monk of taking the
Buddha statues to throw away in the pond,” he said, adding that he did
not witness Kim Seila discarding the artifacts.
“I called a meeting and decided there were two solutions for him if
he is found to be wrong. The first is firing him from the pagoda, and
the second is defrocking,” he said. “For monks to inflict harm on a
Buddha statue, relic, stupa or Bodhi tree is a mistake we cannot
forgive.”
Thai Bunthoeun added that the decision had not been finalized because
the monks still wanted to hear Kim Seila’s version of events. “We will
try to talk with him to continue to find a resolution,” he said.
However, on Saturday night, a mob of about 100 monks from the pagoda
surrounded Kim Seila’s old monk house, in which he was still staying,
demanding that he be defrocked.
On Sunday, a group of at least 50 mostly Khmer Krom monks arrived at
the pagoda at about 2 p.m. to show support for Kim Seila and to defend
him from the mob of angry monks. A shouting match between the two sides
ensued.
The Khmer Krom group then advised Kim Seila not to attend his
scheduled meeting with the acting monk chief unless rights groups and
the media were also allowed to attend, a request that the senior monks
denied.
Speaking at his house on Sunday, Kim Seila denied having thrown statues of Buddha into the pond.
“The accusation is not true. I think someone put the blame on me,” he said.
The monk, who has been staying at the pagoda for 15 years, said the
statues were thrown away after he had asked for help cleaning his new
house, which he had purchased from another monk on Friday, before moving
in.
“I was tired so I told [the old owner of the monk house] to ask the
students to clean it,” said Kim Seila, who was ill and hooked up to an
IV drip on Sunday.
He said that it was obvious that he was being framed because the statues were so easy to locate.
“If I did [throw them out], why were the statues found near land and
made easy for the man to find? I think someone planned that,” Kim Seila
said, going on to offer a variety of reasons as to why he might have
been targeted.
“The first is discrimination because I am a Khmer Krom person. Second
is my popularity as many people support me. Third, someone wants my new
monk house,” he said.
Yin Yat, a 27-year-old monk at the pagoda, defended Kim Seila,
claiming the accusation was due to the monk’s donations to people
protesting over land disputes.
“He supported land dispute activists by donating rice and clean water
when they join demonstrations,” he said. “I live here so I know he was
sick a few days ago, and also no one saw him do it.”
Thach Setha, president of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Community, who was
also at the pagoda on Sunday, said he thought the threat of defrocking
was down to discrimination.
“I request the Ministry of Cults and Religion to take action,” he
said. “Please stop [the discrimination] urgently because monks from
Khmer Krom just came to study Buddhism. We are all Khmer together and
follow the same Buddhist religion.”
Khim Sorn, chief of the Mohanikaya Buddhist sect in Phnom Penh, said
that while he was aware of the case, he could not comment because he had
not received an official report.
The municipal cults and religion department could not be reached for comment.
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