Original file : http://www.orphanmissions.com/documents/cambodia.pdf.

This is an extract from :

The Religious Situation in Cambodia in the 1990s

NADEZI-IDA BEKTIMIROVA

Religion, State & Society, Vol. 30, No. 1, 2002 Carfax Publishing

DOI: 10.1080/09637490220127639

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The Khmer Sangha is thus actively seeking a place of its own in the new society and ways of adapting to new conditions. This ‘aggiornamento’ has been prompted not only by the consequences of social and economic modernisation, but also by important new phenomena in the religious life of the country. For the ﬁrst time in the postcolonial period the Khmer Sangha has come up against competition from other religious confessions. In the 1990s Cambodia became the object of increased attention on the part of various missionary organisations and schools of preaching.

This was facilitated by the tolerance of Buddhism towards other religions, by the lack of a legal framework in the country to regulate the activity of religious groups and cults, and also by the policy of the Cambodian authorities who in their growing concern to attract foreign investment to the country tend to welcome any kind of activity, including that of religious organisations, which promises to provide ﬁnancial aid of one kind or another.

One organisation working in Cambodia which has great ﬁnancial potential and a large number of members is the ‘Suma Ching Hai’ association, which has its head- quarters in Taiwan. The sect’s founder Ching Hai has stated openly that Cambodia is ‘an ideal place’ in which to spread her teaching. (31) Setting itself the goal of penetrating into Cambodia, the sect initiated various humanitarian and charitable activities in l994—95, giving financial aid to build schools and hospitals and organising educational programmes; it gave large sums of money to support the charitable activities of the wives of high-ranking officials. (32)

As a result the sect received substantial reductions on the price of large plots of land in Cambodia, especially in Kompong Speu province, where it set up its Centre of Spiritual Renaissance, to the great displeasure of the local population. The conﬂict caused by the sect’s activity became even more serious when it became apparent that a significant number of its members had entered Cambodia illegally and had circum- vented the legislation in force when they acquired Cambodian passports. Another noticeable feature is that most of the followers of the teaching are people of Chinese origin. There are several reasons for this, but it is clearly part of the process of the revival of the Chinese community and the restoration of its members to their previous positions in the Cambodian economy. This process began in the 1990s and is stimulated by energetic lobbying on behalf of the interests of the Chinese community in government and political circles. In order to solve the various problems and to prevent such conﬂicts in the future a special committee has been set up to investigate the activities of the Ching Hai association and to register its members. The results of its investigations have been considered by the govemment, which has adopted a resolution stipulating drastic measures to control the activity of the sect and to provide security in the region where the religious community is located. The Ministry of Cults and Religious Affairs has been ordered to exercise guidance over the activities of the Centre of Spiritual Renaissance. Given the fact that laws on religiori in Cambodia are in an underdeveloped state this is a ﬁrst and very signiﬁcant step towards the regulation of the activity of religious groups in Cambodia.

Just as active are the Japanese sects and Christian missions which combine preaching with generous charitable activity. Khmer peasants who come to their places of worship are given bicycles, motorcycles, agricultural equipment and ﬁnancial help. (33) The standard of living in Khmer villages is extremely low and the peasants need all the material help they can get, so some of them, for purely prag- matic reasons, agree to accept another faith, though they continue to go to Buddhist temples as well.

More than 700 Protestant organisations and hundreds of missionaries are hard at work all over Cambodia building churches, supplying aid to needy communities and seeking converts among the traditionally Buddhist population. According to Article 43 of the law regulating religion any religious organisation is forbidden to ‘buy’ converts. However, the government is too poor to provide adequately for the needs of the population, and people tend to give their allegiance to those who help them materially. Missionary organisations explain that offering physical help in the form of clothes and rice to people in need is an expression of God’s love. The head of the Department of Foreign Relations at the Ministry of Cults and Religious Affairs, You Davann, says that her department is pitifully understaffed and underfunded and unable to monitor what she calls the ‘growing trend’ for Buddhist Cambodians to convert to Christianity. (34)

Without doubt ‘modernisation’ — the economic and socio-cultural changes which have taken place in Cambodia - has presented the Khmer Sangha with serious problems and the process of its adaptation to the new situation will be complex, even ambiguous. The relationship between the process of transformation of Buddhism and the dynamics of the modernisation of society will depend on many factors and, indeed, not so much on the Buddhist community itself as on the degree of interest in its activity shown by different political forces in the country. At present Cambodian politicians are fully aware of the importance of this question for the future of the country; they understand completely that there are limits to the process of transforming Buddhism, and that the religious consciousness of the Khmer is not able to adapt to all the consequences of modernisation.

Notes and References

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The Phnom Penh Post, 9 January 1997.
Kambodya thaems, 13 July 1996.
Rosmey Kampuchea, 12 July 1994; 13 August 1994.
The Phnom Penh Post, 7 July 2000.

(Translated from the Russian by Lorna Howard)