AP – His Holiness Somdet Phra Akha Maha Sangharajathibodi Thep Wong, Supreme Patriarch of the Kingdom of Cambodia. who is the leader of the country’s Buddhist community and was instrumental in rebuilding the country after the Khmer Rouge genocide in the late 1970s. He died on Monday at the age of 92.
Cambodia’s Ministry of Culture and Religion stated that Supreme Patriarch Thep Wong died on Monday (26) after a long illness.
He was consecrated as Somdej Phra Sangharaja in 2006, making him the head of both the Maha Nikaya and Thammayut Sangha. of Theravada Buddhism in Cambodia, with approximately 97% of Cambodia’s 17 million people being Buddhists.
He is close to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) and its leader Hun Sen, who served as prime minister for 38 years before stepping down last year.
Supreme Patriarch Thep Wong was key to the revival of Buddhism in Cambodia. After the Khmer Rouge, who ruled the country from 1975-1979, tried to eradicate all religions. Their extreme policies have been blamed for the deaths of up to 1.7 million people through starvation, disease and executions.
After the Vietnamese invasion that drove the Khmer Rouge from power in January 1979, the Supreme Patriarch was one of a core group of seven monks who were reordained under Vietnamese support. To re-establish Buddhist faith in the country.
His Majesty was born on January 12, 1932 in Siem Reap Province, in the northeast of the country. and was first ordained as a monk in his hometown in 1952 until he was forced to retire when the Khmer Rouge took power.
The body of the Supreme Patriarch will be enshrined at Wat Ounalom, Phnom Penh, where people are allowed to join in offering condolences. Before holding the royal cremation ceremony, the schedule of which will be announced later.
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2024-02-27 08:44:00