Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
give presents, they always get success,” he said, sitting on a soft carpet as birds fluttered
about the ceiling, circling the chandeliers. Inscribed on the wall were the names of the
VIPs who supported the hall's construction. Hun Sen's mother-in-law topped the list (she
allegedly gave $470,000), followed by a cascade of names trailing zeroes and dollar signs
down the wall. Elsewhere I learnt that the refurbishment of the main pagoda building,
completed in 1997, cost $590,000; a three-story dormitory for monks cost $492,524.
25
The chief monk, Om Lim Heng, is a hard man to pin down. Since taking over the
wat
in the mid-1990s, Lim Heng has established a lucrative line in made-to-order blessings
involving the sprinkling of holy water. A whiteboard in the reception hall testifies to the
high demand for his holy services. In a single week of June 2013 he was scheduled to
receive ceremonial candles from Chea Sim, pay a visit to the businesswoman Choeung
Sopheap (of Pheapimex fame), bless a new garment factory, preside at an elite wedding,
and attend the housewarming of the owner of an MSG factory. Another of his specialties
Sen, making regular house-calls over the river to Takhmao to perform private ceremon-
ies at his Tiger's Lair. “If Hun Sen feels depressed, or uneasy inside, he has the monk
give him a blessing. Then he feels better, relaxed,” said Ngin Sophearak, a stocky tat-
tooed soldier who has been driving Lim Heng to meetings with high-ranking people since
1999. In return Lim Heng has had official honors lavished upon him: photos in the dining
holy water and handing him royal decorations.
The Cambodian path to
nirvana
, it seems, now runs directly through the CPP. In 2006
Tep Vong was graced with the title of “Great Supreme Patriarch”—the first time in 150
afterwards Tep Vong revoked the voting ban on monks, but warned them against parti-
cipating in any mass political movement critical of the government. It was their duty, he
said, to show gratitude toward the ruling party and “live up to the January 7
dharma
.”
29
Around the same time the government appointed Hing Bun Heang, the commander of
Hun Sen's personal bodyguard unit and a figure with no known expertise in Buddhist
teachings, as head of a special “monk's congress” for resolving monastic disputes.
30
At a time of rising popular discontent linked to land and natural resource issues, the
government is particularly sensitive about any revival of religious activism. Not only does
it push back against official definitions of what it means to be “Khmer” or “Buddhist”; it
also raises the specter of a monk-led movement for social justice, articulated in a moral
language familiar to ordinary people. In May 2012 Loun Sovath was seized by police
during a protest and forced to sign an agreement promising to cease his political activit-
ies. He refused to give up his robes, but was cast out of the monkhood. No pagoda in the
