Cambodia’s Monks Join Battle Over Raising Minimum Wage

But Buntenh, a 34-year-old Cambodian monk, is in hiding. Since last week’s crackdown on striking garment workers and supporters of the opposition political party in Phnom Penh, he’s been sleeping in the spare rooms of like-minded non-governmental organizations. He was briefly detained by police and then released on Jan. 2. Now he keeps on the move. The organization he founded—the Independent Monk Network for Social Justice (IMNSJ)—doesn’t have a fixed office anyway.

But was born in the jungle not far from Angkor Wat, one of 12 children in a poor family. After studying in India, he returned to Cambodia to become a teacher, but quit to devote himself full-time to the country’s burgeoning social justice movement. Over the past five years, rampant land-grabbing has eroded the ruling Cambodian People’s Party’s support in many rural areas, formerly the party’s stronghold. Although the CPP claimed victory in the national election last July, many independent observers, including But, believe the election was rigged.