Interview with Tim Sakhorn

Tim Sakhorn being sentenced in a Vietnamese court.

By Mr. Mundol Keo
To listen to audio, click Radio Free Asia
10th April, 2009
Translated by Khmerization

Tim Sakhorn is an ex-abbot of Phnom Den North Pagoda in Takeo province. He was arrested by the Cambodian authority in June 2007, handed to Vietnamese authority and was jailed for one year in Vietnam on charges of involving in subversive activities against Vietnam. The Vietnamese authority released him on the conditions that he will not return to live permanently in Cambodia. On 4th of April he was given permission to visit relatives in Cambodia for the Khmer New Year festivities for 14 days. He has escaped to Thailand since 10th April, 2009. During his stay in Cambodia, he agrees to talk to Mr. Mondul Keo of RFA as follow:
Tim Sakhorn giving an interview to RFA on 10th April.

Mundol Keo: Hello Mr. Tim Sakhorn. Do you intend to reside permanently in Cambodia?

Tim Sakhorn: I only got permission to come to visit Cambodia only. If I asked them to live here permanently they will not let me come.

MK: Do you have a house of your own in Vietnam?

TS: No, I haven’t got my own house yet. I live with relatives. It is very difficult to live in someone’s house, it is not the same as living in our own home.

MK: Up until today, they have not allowed you to come to live with your parents and siblings in Cambodia?

TS: No, not yet. They just give permission for me to visit them for 14 days only.

MK: Did they give any reasons why they didn’t let you come to live permanently in Cambodia?

TS: They gave the reasons that it is because I am a Vietnamese citizen.

MK: Could you tell us, on what reasons and charges did they arrest you for?

TS: Thank you for asking me this question. I would like to say that I was an abbot of Phnom Den North Pagoda. They charged that I was involved in political activities to destroy the Khmer-Vietnamese solidarity.

MK: Did they accused you of anything else?

TS: No, only that charge. That’s all. At that time Chea Orm telephoned to ask me to go to Takeo town and told me that I was involved in political activities that is destroying the Khmer-Vietnamese solidarity. That was one month before they arrested me. One month later, the security forces came to the temple with a letter signed by (Patriarch) Tep Vong and (Patriarch) Nuon Ngeth. The details of the letter state: “Tim Sakhorn, the abbot of Phnom Den North Pagoda, has engaged in improper activities by using the pagoda to conduct political activities for the purpose of destroying the Khmer-Vietnam solidarity and must be punished by laws, stamped and signed by Tep Vong and Nuon Ngeth.”

And after they finished reading the letter, they started to defrock me and arrested me on the spot.

MK: The policemen who arrested you, were they Cambodian or Vietnamese police?

TS: On that question I don’t know because they dressed in civilian clothes, but after I was defrocked the policemen drove the car to the gate of the pagoda. There were four policemen who were waiting for me. The car door was already open and they pushed me into the car with two policemen sitting in front of me and two sitting behind me and then drove away. They drove me along National Route Two toward the Vietnamese borders and they handed me over to the Vietnamese authority on the borders in An Giang province of Vietnam.

MK: When you got to Vietnam, did they interrogate you on anything?

TS: Yes, they asked me a lot of things and I admitted my guilt. The accusations were that, firstly, I distributed the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Federation’s bulletins to the people because when Khmer Krom people came to visit me I lent those bulletins/magazines to them to read. Secondly, they charged that I was inciting the Khmer Krom living in Vietnam to demand the returns of their lands confiscated by the Vietnamese authority without any compensation. They charged me on this issue as well. Thirdly, they accused me of inciting and instigating the Khmer Krom people to protest to demand for the returns of their rice fields and farmlands.

MK: Did they give you an opportunity to explain to them?

TS: Yes, but I told them that I did it because you (Vietnamese authority) did confiscate the lands from the Khmer Krom and even I myself lost of lots of lands through confiscations of these kinds. I told them ‘if you didn’t confiscate their lands, I won’t do like that’. I fled Vietnam to Cambodia because of wars, during the Pol Pot-Vietnamese wars. I have lands more than 10 (hectares?) and they all have been confiscated.

MK: When they arrested and detained you, did they torture you or anything?

TS: No, they didn’t torture or mistreat me, but other young prisoners did mistreat me in the prison. But you know, living in jail is not the same as living outside of jail.

MK: Did you remember how many months you stay in jail in Vietnam?

TS: Yes I remember. I stayed in jail for 12 months.

MK: When you asked permission to come to Cambodia, on what grounds did you asked them?

TS: They gave permission for me to come to hold a religious ceremony and they forbid me to from getting involved in any political activities. But since you asked I will answer you, but I just tell the truth only. They did not allow me to criticise anyone and if I criticised someone I will be accountable before the laws. That’s what they said to me.

MK: Did they give you a dateline of when you have to return back to Vietnam?

TS: Yes, they stated in my travel documents that I can only stay in Cambodia from 4th to 17th.

MK: Of April?

TS: Yes.

MK: You said that you are afraid and are concerned, what are you afraid and concerned of?

TS: Regarding my fears and my concerns, I am more feared and more concerned about my security in Cambodia than when I live in Vietnam. I fear for my personal safety.

MK: Can you elaborate more?

TS: About my personal safety means that I want to be safe and I don’t want to be free from danger to my life.

MK: Did the local Cambodian authority know that you are here in Cambodia?

TS: Yes, I assume they know because a lot of people come to visit me and they spread the news everywhere, even people in Phnom Penh they know about my coming. The people in here knew, so I assumed the authority knew as well.

MK: I want to ask about your feeling, did you ever wanted to come and live in Cambodia at all?

TS: I really wanted to come and live in Cambodia. I asked them to let me come to live in Cambodia since I was released from Hanoi jail, not just now. But they refused and they told me to get documents to live in Vietnam permanently. This does not mean that I wanted to live in Vietnam, but I agreed to live there because I wanted to save my life and live in peace, because life in prison is very difficult. I never wanted to live apart from my parents and my siblings because I don’t have any close relatives in Vietnam whom I can depend. I was able to survive because in the past the Vietnamese authority gave me a little pension, some money. But in the last few months, they stopped giving me any money. My father had to send rice and my brothers and sisters had to bring rice and money to me from Cambodia so I can buy food, because I don’t know how to do any business. They (Vietnamese authority) provided me with some lands but I don’t know how to farm because I never farmed before.

MK: Where did they give you the lands?

TS: In Dong Tor village, Bu Chuc commune in Sre Tong district of An Giang province.

MK: It looked like they forced you to live in Vietnam, did you ever think of what kind of business you will do to feed yourself?

TS: I don’t know how to do any business, I don’t know how I will feed myself because our Khmer Krom people in Vietnam normally work as coolies for the Vietnamese people and normally they only earn 40,000 dongs which is equivalent to 10,000 Riels ($2.50) per day. It is not enough and they work so hard. So, if I live there I have to work as a coolie for the Vietnamese, but I never worked as a coolie before and I will not agree to work as a coolie.

MK: Do you want to appeal to the government to help you in anything?

TS: Yes, I would like to appeal to the government and King Sihamoni and all international organisations around the world to do whatever they can so I can return to live in my Cambodian motherland in peace and in safety. Thanks.

MK: Lastly, do you like to add anything?

TS: Lastly, I hope that what I have just appealed will be successful. I would also like to thank all the Radio Free Asia staff as well as Khmers living in Cambodia and around the world who have participated in helping to relieve my sufferings (help in my release).

MK: Thank you for the interview with Radio Free Asia. Goodbye.