• The Selling of the Great Supreme Patriarch Tep Vong to Hun Sen

The Venerable Tep Vong's cellphone rings with a generic tone-almost retro. He has two sleek modern mobiles stacked at his right side, next to an ornate offering urn, a bright red lighter and a pipe. When the top phone rings in mid-sentence, the Supreme Patriarch of the Mohanikay Order of Cambodia flicks it off, distractedly.

Centered deep inside the austerity of Wat Ounalom, Tep Vong's carpeted and book-shelved greeting chamber is a museum-like array of ancient artifacts, Buddhist iconography and sepia-tinged photographs of monks and monarchs past. The room is an eclectic clutter of carvings, Chinese urns and candelabras. It's an odd menagerie where wooden water buffalo heads share shelf space with an enormous stuffed sea turtle and a collection of many colored coral. A meter-high bronze statue of a seated monk and a miniature Eiffel Tower sit before a wall of seventies-era travel posters and a vintage tourist map of Australia.

Vong was born in 1932 to a farming family in Trapeang Chak village, Siem Reap district, Siem Reap province. He spent his childhood working on the family farm. When he was 10, his mother sent him to stay at Reachbo Pagoda to study and learn discipline. When his father died in 1947 he became a monk.

Between 1970 and 1979, Vong meditated on the Dharma. During the Pol Pot regime, when monasticism was outlawed, Vong was detained and tortured for 85 days.

In 1979, Heng Samrin, Chea Sim and Hun Sen, the triumvirate newly installed by the Vietnamese to rule Cambodia, asked Vong to return to the monkhood and help with the restoration of Buddhism. In the 1981 National Assembly election Vong was elected as a deputy for Siem Reap. In July 1981, he became the vice president of the National Assembly and in 1988 became a Monk Superior. Vong became Supreme Patriarch of the Mohanikay Order in 1992 and a member of the Throne Council from September 1993.

Today, Vong sits on a raised pillow. He has an orange shawl embroidered with gold thread draped over his left shoulder. A grin exposes a silver front tooth, and an translucent tattoo is barely visible on his right shoulder. Both good humored and august, he spoke to Sam Rith and Charles McDermid on December 13 about politics, religion and the past.

Why did you decide to become a monk?

Referring to the Dharma, I wanted to have serenity for myself, and to have serenity I have to stay under the shade of Buddhism. And when I have this peace, I would like other people also to have it. It's the same for all human beings, I would like myself to have peace and when I have peace I would like other people have peace all together.

What is the role of the monks in the society?

Monks play very important roles in society.

Of first importance: when I become a monk I must achieve serenity that could make other people also have serenity.

Of second importance: monks have the role to preserve the Khmer spirit and to protect Buddhism forever. When Buddhism is protected, it can help other issues - economic, cultural, educational and so on.

So I prohibited politicians from being bad people. In the regime three years, eight months and 20 days of the Khmer Rouge, 21,568 monks were killed and many other Cambodian people were killed gradually, causing a serious loss of the Khmer spirit and identity at that time.

This year, the Royal Government and the King offered me a greater role as a Sangreacheathepatey [Great Supreme Patriarch] ... that means they gave me a wider role.

Not only the Royal Government and the King offered me the priority, but also the United Nations, which observed my activities curbing the war in Cambodia and motivating people from having nothing to having food to eat, houses for shelter, the freedom to walk...

Do the monks have right to vote according to Buddhism?

According to Buddhist law and democracy, monks have right to vote. But after the chaos in 1998, all monks agreed not to vote. On November 29, 2006, it was agreed and announced that all monks can vote as citizens so that the election goes as stated in the Constitution.

What do you think about political parties today?

Political parties are always divided into two parties: the older party or host party, and the younger party or guest party. The older party or host party is the Cambodian People's Party which was supported to rule the country. So other parties are just the guest parties or younger parties.

To guarantee for the country to have peace, Buddhism in Cambodia supports having multi-parties, but not multi-regimes. So I request younger parties or guest parties to limit their opposition - do not look down, insult and make disputes that could lead to war, losing the peace, ownership and the result of 7 January [1979].

What is your understanding about creating people power?

There are two kinds of people power: One kind of people power is to protect what we already have. For example, when we have peace, we require people power to preserve it.

But the other kind of people power includes making strikes, demonstrations and terrorism that destroys existing peace. For example, Lon Nol's people power destroyed the social order of the King [Norodom Sihanouk] who had been enforcing and enlarging culture, the economy and building a lot of schools to develop the country, and having peace a hundred percent.

So religion has to check and to consider by cooperating with the Royal Government to curb people power leading to strikes, demonstrations, terrorism and coups d'etat.

Have any top government officials such as Hun Sen come to ask advice from you?

Even though they do not come here, they get my best wishes at their workplaces.

As I have seen, it is only the host party [the CPP] that brought back and protected Buddhism, such as building pagodas. But the guest and younger parties think only of destroying the national identity.

I request [guest and younger party politicians] do not make themselves become like Pol Pot and [they should] turn to helping establish the economy and culture like the host party.

Phnom Penh Post, Issue 15 / 25, December 15 - 28, 2006
© Michael Hayes, 2006. All rights revert to authors and artists on publication.
For permission to publish any part of this publication, contact Michael Hayes, Editor-in-Chief

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• The comments by Lao Mong Hai on Tep Wong pro Hun Sen stand
• Equanimity would be supremely great in partisan Patriarch

Great Supreme Patriarch Tep Vong's views on political parties and people power in his interview published in the Post of December 15, 2006 did not reflect well on his erudition in and practice of Buddhism.

He was too much attached to and continued to defend the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) which he belonged to and served. He named this party "the older party or host party" and the other political parties "the younger or guest parties" and "requested" the latter parties "to limit their opposition." Furthermore, Tep Vong had a dislike for "people power" as it could lead to "strikes, demonstrations, terrorism and coups d'etat," and he would use religion to cooperate with the government to curb this power.

To Tep Vong, the older party or host party, the CPP, would rule Cambodia for ever. By entertaining this idea he ignored the law of impermanence (anatta), which is one of the key tenets of Buddhism. He was very much Buddhist when he disliked terrorism and coups d'etat as these acts entail the use of violence. But his dislike of strikes and demonstrations, when they were peaceful, had no Buddhist character at all.

Strikes and demonstrations are but assemblies of people to voice their opinions and concerns on issues affecting their groups or their nation as a whole. They are very much part of people's participation in the national affairs, participation that is the first two of Buddha's seven teachings in governance for the country's prosperity: "First, people should assemble often to discuss political affairs, and to provide for national defense. Second, the people of all social classes should meet together in unity to discuss their national affairs." (See Society for the Promotion of Buddhism, The Teaching of Buddha, Tokyo, 1966, page 456.) The Khmer version of this book is available at the Buddhist Institute's library and at Hun Sen Library, Phnom Penh).

Furthermore, people power already existed in Buddha's days and Buddha himself accepted it with grace when it affected him personally. As told in the book Moha Vesandor Cheadok, Book II: Kann Hemapean, Buddha, then King Preah Bat Srey Vesandor of Srey Pireast country gave as charity his elephant to the people of Kaloeung Reastr country. But his own people held the elephant to be their country's sacred animal of blessing that he should not have given away at all. They were very angry with him. They exercised their people power and went to protest en masse to King Father Preah Bat Srey Sanchey against Buddha's gift of the elephant to the people of Kaloeung Reastr country. They held that the gift was a crime and at first demanded death for Srey Vesandor for this crime. But after negotiations with Srey Sanchey they settled for Srey Vesandor's exile. Srey Vesandor, Buddha, willingly accepted his people's verdict and went into exile with all his family in the Hemapean Forests.

Considering his position and status, Great Supreme Patriarch Tep Vong could and should provide spiritual leadership and a leading source of morality in Cambodian society. Unfortunately, his leadership and authority are ineffective and are not much felt. Morality is very low in Cambodian society. This society has many political and social problems. It is consumed in materialism. Immoral and unethical means, including abuse of power and corruption, are used to acquire material gains. Tension between political parties, killing of political activists, strikes, demonstrations and protests, and violent crackdowns on these expressions of people power continue to occur.

It is highly probable that his closeness and attachment to and protection of his favorite political party, and his prejudice and bias against the younger or "guest" parties and people power is a major obstacle. He could and should, however, overcome this handicap.

To start with, he should show in words and deeds more of the four sublime states of minds or the four immeasurables or Prum Vihearth (in Khmer) or Brahma -vihãra (in Pali), that is, lovingkindness (mettã), compassion (karunã), sympathetic joy (muditã) and equanimity (upekkhã), as taught by Buddha and as Cambodia's greatest king, Jayavarman VII, a Buddhist, symbolized in the form of the four faces at the top of the many towers of his Bayon temple in Siem Reap.

At this particular juncture of Cambodian society, which is characterized by pluralism and conflicting demands, what would be most required from our Great Supreme Patriarch is his practice of equanimity, free of bias, attachment and anger, if he wishes, as he did in his interview, to use Buddhism to contribute to consolidating peace and stability in Cambodia.

Lao Mong Hay - Senior Researcher, Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong

Phnom Penh Post, Issue 15 / 26, December 29, 2006 - January 11, 2007
© Michael Hayes, 2006. All rights revert to authors and artists on publication.
For permission to publish any part of this publication, contact Michael Hayes, Editor-in-Chief

• Comment:

Good and bad news on Cambodian economy came in the same week; (1) bad news is on Vietnam's recent entry into WTO which may increase the level of competition from a more organized and industrious labor force of Vietnam; (2) good news about South Korea's investment in the production of ethanol in Cambodia. This FDI by Korea combined with the recent discovery of gas and petroleum along the Gulf of Thailand coasts, and around Tonle Sap, may signal a new direction for Cambodia to move ahead  from abject poverty, if, and it is a big "if" corruption which is endemic and pervasive, can be contained adequately and quickly.

• Vietnam’s entry into WTO is threat to Cambodia
• ASEAN Business # 8, December 10, 2006

Vietnam became the 150th member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) November 7 in an election held at the headquarters of the world body in Geneva, the entry makes Vietnam become a threatening opponent for Cambodia in the textile sector.

The agreement will be approved by the Vietnamese assembly on November 28 and they will officially join in December. Vietnam is a powerful nation in the textile sector, before its entry as into the WTO, it ranked second in importance only to kerosene with an income of approximately US$5 billion in 2005 whilst the Cambodian textile sector only reached a figure of US$2.1 billion.

Recently Vietnam has been enduring the effects of the end of the Worldwide Multi Fibre Agreement, which placed the country in direct competition with Chinese textile mills and garment factories, while Cambodia’s quota to export textile products has been protected by the WTO since late 2004.

Despite the obstacle, Vietnam still ranked twelfth among countries exporting garments in 2005. Vietnam’s entry as a member of the WTO means that it will not be restricted by any exports quota mechanism, and will protect the nation from any actions by other countries to block Vietnamese imports regarded as threatening to domestic producers. The future is worrying for people in the Cambodian textile sector.

Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (Gmac) Deputy President Pour Kong Sang said that Cambodia is unable to compete with the neighboring nation due to the high cost of transportation and utilities. He added that Vietnamese workers are more capable than Cambodian ones - 90 percent of Vietnamese can read whilst 63 of Cambodians are illiterate -– he also expressed regret regarding the growth of strikes in Cambodia as in Vietnam the labor force remains placid.

“We have to wait and see if America will shift tax exemption on the import of Vietnamese products before making an evaluation about the consequences of Vietnam’s entry as the member of the WTO,” said Former Technical Councilor of the

Ministry of Commerce David Van.

However, he has also voiced concern over the lack of competition between Cambodia and the neighboring country and over bad relations between garment factory owners and unions. “Cambodia focuses mainly on respecting the rights of workers. It is just a sweet word, but buyers care about price….strikes are happening often - the International Labor Organization (ILO) has provided a great deal of education regarding the rights of workers, but rarely provides education concerning clients’ demands.”

Economic expert Kong Chandararoth said that Cambodia has a strong new opponent and will find it very hard. “The entry of Vietnam as a member of the WTO will allow foreign investors to choose between the two nations,” he said, adding that perhaps they will prefer Vietnam.

Sok Hach, president of the Economic Institute of Cambodia (EIC), holds a less pessimistic view. “It is not definite that Cambodia will be the victim. The issue depends on whether we are in the same market segment as they are or not. Vietnam may concentrate its efforts on sectors that have received more additional value than the textile sector and then it is Thailand, which will be the victim of the competition,” he said.

(Cambodge Soir, November 8)

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 South Korean company to open ethanol factory

South Korean firm Muhak Alcohol declared on November 28 that it had established MH Bio Energy Group as a subsidiary in Cambodia last month in order to build a US$25 million ethanol factory in Kandal province, newspapers reported the following day.

MH Managing Director Choi Eun-jun said during a groundbreaking ceremony at the planned facility that the company will produce ethanol from cassava plantderived tapioca, wrote The Cambodia Daily.

People can use ethanol as an alternative to gasoline, and it is gaining global popularity as crude oil prices continue to rise, according to the newspaper.

According to Muhak Alcohol’s statistics, 2 billion tons of ethanol are used to blend with fuel worldwide, and that figure could increase by four times in 2012 due to a growing demand in the US, reported Cambodge Soir. Ethanol also reduces fossil fuel dependence and environmental pollution.

In its project statement, Muhak Alcohol said it has decided to engage i