Venerable Tim Sakhorn: “I don’t hate Venerable Long Kimleang because he is Khmer”

On June 19, 2010, about two hundred Khmer and Khmer-Krom around the world came to Wat Khemara Rangsey in San Jose to welcome Venerable Tim Sakhorn visiting San Jose. In the morning, the Buddhist ceremony was conducted by Sixteen Buddhist monks from Canada, Sweden, Massachusetts, Nevada, and Northern California.


After lunch, the representatives of the Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation, leading by KKF President, Mr. Thach Ngoc Thach, Venerable TT Dhammo, Venerable Tran Ky Chanhtha, gave their short speeches to explain about the reason why there was a meeting in San Jose to welcome Venerable Tim Sakhorn. The main reason was to give the Khmer and Khmer-Krom in the Bayarea an opportunity to hear the real story of how Venerable Tim Sakhorn was arrested and who involved arresting Venerable Tim Sakhorn.
Venerable Tim Sakhorn was introduced and gave a wonderful talk regarding to how he was arrested and deported from Cambodia by Cambodian monks and Cambodian Authorities to imprison him in Vietnam. He also talked about how he was forced to admit an alleged crime that he did not commit and how he was treated, injected unknown medication, and tortured in the Vietnam’s prison.


Venerable Tim Sakhorn clearly addressed that Venerable Long Kimleang who is currently staying at Wat Khmer San Jose (2751 Mervyn’s Way, San Jose, CA 95127) directly stripped off his frock when he was refused to be defrocked injustice.

Venerable Long Kimleang and the President of Wat Khmer San Jose were officially invited with the written invitation letter to attend the meeting, but they did not come. The Secretary of Wat Khmer San Jose who used to say that the story of Tim Sakhorn was the only one-side story also did not come to the meeting even he was invited on the Phone.

During the Q&A section, many people asked many questions to Venerable Tim Sakhorn. One question directly addressed to Venerable Long Kimleang that if Venerable Tim Sakhorn meets Venerable Long Kimleang, what would he say to Venerable Long Kimleang? Did he hate Venerable Long Kimleang?

It was amazing to see how Venerable Tim Sakhorn answered those questions. He said that he doesn’t hate Venerable Long Kimleang because Venerable Long Kimleang is KHMER. He wished that Venerable Long Kimleang would come to the meeting so he could ask him why Venerable Long Kimleang had to defrock him and sent him to imprison in Vietnam. If Venerable Long Kimleang just followed someone’s order, then he should come to tell who ordered him.

Because Venerable Long Kimleang, the President and Secretary of Wat San Jose did not come to the meeting to meet Venerable Tim Sakhorn, it raised many questions for people to think about. Moreover, there was a voting to determine if the committee members of Wat Khmer San Jose will allow Venerable Long Kimleang to stay at their temple or not because Venerable Long Kimleang was secretly sponsored by the President of Wat Khmer San Jose without the consent of the committee members or the Abbot of Wat Khmer San Jose. The final voting result as a resolution is to not accepting Venerable Long Kimleang to stay at Wat Khmer San Jose and send him back to Cambodia. The President and Secretary of Wat Khmer San Jose refused to implement that voting result.

These are the questions that people think after listening to Venerable Tim Sakhorn: If Venerable Long Kimleang just followed someone’s order, why didn’t he come to tell in front of Venerable Tim Sakhorn? Because he scared to confront the truth, does it mean that Venerable Long Kimleang comes to the US with another mission because he used to tell Venerable Tim Sakhorn that he would “destroy” all the Khmer-Krom monks? Those unanswered questions would never be answered if Venerable Long Kimleang still scares to say and confront the truth.