CPP Monks

As the political battle for the 2008 elections begins to loom in Cambodia, a few religious news stories are making minor waves as well. Monks are allowed to vote, according to the Cambodian constitution, though both the current Buddhist Patriarch (Ven. Tep Vong, staunch ally of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, or CPP) has inveighed against it, and it must be admitted that most of the population is as uncomfortable with the idea of monks voting as they are desirous of the electoral result the monks would choose. However, monks have nevertheless been prevented from voting in previous Cambodian elections, and physical confrontations have occasionally resulted.

It appears that monks will be permitted to vote in the 2008 election, however. Both Tep Vong and Ngun Ngeth seem to have reconciled themselves to this idea, and it is difficult at the moment to hear serious opposition to it, though it may be simmering just under the surface, biding its time. They have been prevented from seeking office.

It’s not as if the temple-dwelling populations in Cambodia are entirely opposed, after all. Much of the current hierarchy was actually installed by the CPP or its institutional progenitors, and the most famous of Cambodia’s paramilitary organizations, the Pagoda Children, Intelligentsia and Student Association, or Pagoda Boys, is directly supported by factions within the CPP. (n.b., these Pagoda Boys live in the same situation as these Pagoda Boys, for the most part, but not all of the latter belong to the former organization). They have been used to destroy demonstrations and legal strikes by unions and political opposition groups, and have even been linked several political assasinations in the country, including potentially the murder of Chea Vichea. Still, the Pagoda Boys can vote unchallenged, for the most part, since they are not monks, but merely live on temples, usually to attend nearby schools.

So perhaps this is what explains the ordination, at the end of May, of a number of CPP officials as monks. If the monks are going to be allowed to vote, we should be the monks. Or maybe even, just be in a better position to monitor and report on the activities of activist monks who may try to influence the votes of other monks. That’s exactly what happened in Koh Kong province, bordering Thailand, when the governor of the province and over 30 other senior officials ordained. Thanks to both Patrice Ladwig, Jinja, and Mick Powell for all sending me this story.