sabaydi all,
This is how that Keo-Keehit with the help of the Commu-Kheekak took Lao Buddha's statue from What Ongtu. It's for their own benefit ($$$) and not for relegious purpose.
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Vietnamese Bank Official (Almost) Makes Off With Lao Buddha Statue
A Vietnamese bank executive managed to get his hands on a Buddhist
statue believed to be about 500 years old from a Lao Buddhist temple
in the capital Vientiane--but only for five hours.
It all started last year when Ha Bac Tran, chairman and general
director of the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and
Development of Vietnam (BIDV) headquartered in Hanoi, visited Ongtue
Wat in Mixay village near the Mekong River in the capital's
Chanthaburi district. He was accompanied by a deputy minister from
Vietnam's Ministry of National Defense.
BIDV, which provides banking products and services to individuals,
corporate customers and financial institutions in Vietnam, also has
business interests in Laos where it owns a joint venture--Laos-Viet
Bank (LVB)--with its partner Banque Pour Le Commerce Exterieur Lao,
according to the Vientiane Times. LVB is one of the large-scale
commercial banks operating in Laos.
The two banks have given millions of U.S. dollars to Laos for social
welfare activities, such as health care, education and poverty
reduction. Last October, they gave U.S. $300,000 to the Lao National
Assembly, or parliament to build clean water tankers and provide
medical equipment to ethnic minorities in Saysomboun province near
Vientiane, according to local reports.
It was during this initial visit to Ongtue Wat, which houses one of
the country's largest bronze Buddhas, that Tran is believed to have
expressed an interest in acquiring a particular 500-year-old Buddha
statue, according to Sayadej Vongsopha, a monk who teaches at Sangha
College in Vientiane, which plays a vital role in Buddhist education
in the country.
After Tran returned to Vietnam, he had his bank send an official
letter to the temple's abbot, requesting the statue.
The abbot agreed to give it to him, and Sayadej, who is also personal
secretary to the president of the Lao Buddhist Fellowship
Organization, notified the religious affairs department at the
Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism as well as the
high-ranking abbot of Wat Sisakhet, Vientiane's oldest surviving
monastery, about the deal.
The ministry's religious affairs department referred the matter to the
heritage department, which investigated the statue and found that it
had been registered for national heritage status, and therefore,
should not be taken out of the country.
Although Tran insisted that he should have the statue, the heritage
department disagreed, but indicated that it was willing to offer an
unregistered statue or make a new one for him, Sayadej told RFA's Lao
Service.
Religious pilgrimage
When the Lao Buddhist Lent period rolled around last July, Tran made a
religious pilgrimage to Ongtue Wat and donated U.S. $10,000 to the Lao
Buddhist Fellowship Organization.
Buddhist Lent Day, or Wan Khao Phansa, marks the start of a retreat
period where monks must stay in a particular temple for three lunar
months and refrain from eating meat, drinking alcohol and smoking
cigarettes.
The monks at Ongtue Wat saw Tran's donation as a sign of not-so-subtle
pressure to turn over the statue to him, said Sayadej, who was living
at the temple at the time.
When word got out, locals who live in the area were outraged at what
they saw as yet another ploy by the Vietnamese to come into the
country and take whatever they want.
The Lao people harbor some animosity towards their much larger
neighbor, the second-largest investor in the country after China. Lao
critics say the Vietnamese disregard their land rights, their
livelihoods and their religious beliefs while profiting at their
expense.
Vietnam Rubber Group, which operates rubber plantations in Laos, for
example, has come under fire from locals and rights groups for
grabbing land from communities with little or no compensation, taking
over burial grounds and sacred forests, and damaging the environment.
A collector?
On Jan. 9, some BIDV employees arrived at Ongtue Wat, took the statue,
loaded it into a vehicle, and drove away, offending locals even more
because the Buddha was removed without a proper and dignified
religious ceremony.
Boualone Dalavongsaen, Chanthabouly district governor, called a
meeting with the leaders of local villages and monks and religious
organizations about the Vietnamese bank employees removing the Buddha
statue, Mixay villagers told RFA.
One source familiar with the matter and the goings-on at Ongtue Wat,
but who declined to be named, told RFA that he believes Tran is a
collector and likely wanted the statue to sell rather than for
religious purposes.
"It is impossible that the statue was obtained for prayers and
religion because of the way that the Vietnamese people who came to
take it out of the temple showed that they do not respect the statue
as sacred the way that Lao people do," he said. "Without any rituals,
they carried the statue and put it into a truck and drove away."
He went on to say: "I am afraid that they [the Vietnamese] likely
collect ancient items for commercial purposes. It isn't necessary for
them to take Buddha statues from Laos because in Vietnam there are
many Buddha statues to pray to."
Local media in Laos told RFA they have not covered the event, because
they are controlled by the information ministry, and some news
agencies have ties to LVB.
But a source at the information ministry, who has knowledge of the
matter but declined to be named, told RFA that a high-ranking ministry
official had agreed to give the statue to Tran because his bank does
business in Laos and is a partner in the LVB joint venture.
Nevertheless, after news had gotten out among local residents, some of
whom saw the statue being taken away, the Lao information minister
ordered the Vietnamese bank employees to return it to Ongtue Wat five
hours after they had taken it.
Reported by Ounkeo Souksavanh of RFA's Lao Service. Translated by
Ounkeo Souksavanh. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/laos-ongtue-wat-buddha-01152015161736.html
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pizone
Post by l***@laoclub.zzn.comThis is not a thief, but robbed during the daylight with many worshippers witnessing the process. This had already been setup by the sold out commy government.This commie government will sale anything including its people. Listen to LaoOverseaTV there more debate and inside information to share!