The Thai government last week handed out death sentences to five of the eight people imprisoned for the assassination of new Wat Wiwangkaram abbot, Reverend Jorndimar in Sanghklaburi last year. The remaining three were given life sentences, to be served in Thai prisons. News of the abbot's death had shocked the Mon community worldwide. The Wat Wiwangkaram Temple and Monastery are known as the 'Mon Cultural Village of Wangka' and is well known throughout the Mon community both in Thailand, Burma and globally.
The punishment was handed out on June 18, 2008 in the Law Courts in Thong Pha Phoom in Kanchanaburi province, after extensive investigations, which lasted over 12 months and ended after one of the men surrendered. A police officer from Kanchanaburi told Kaowao the convicted killers were sent to the Central Prison in Lopburi, and would get a chance to appeal in 45 days. All eight suspects were arrested within a month after the murder of the new abbot, who had succeeded Reverend Ajar Tala Uttama, the founder of the Wangka Mon village.
Late Reverend Jorndimar had been a follower of the late Reverend Uttama and was given charge of the temple when Uttama fell ill. Following his assassination at the temple by unidentified gunmen on December 29, 2006, and after 74 days of respectful mourning by Thai and Burmese devotees in a lavish service sponsored and observed by the Thai royal family, Jorndimar was given full charge of the temple.
The assassination of Reverend Jorndimar was planned by monk Eainda Kari and his followers, Nai Aung Nyein and Nai Nit, who then recruited Nai Wun Mon and Nai Parni to implement the murder with three other men, due to a dispute over administration finances. These recruits were found in Ye Township, Mon State and were hired as 'hit men'. They were to be paid three million Baht after the successful killing, however, when they received just 100,000 Baht Nai Wun Mon surrendered to the authorities.
Reverend Jorndimar's funeral was held on January 26, 2008 in Wangka village. He was a keen fundraiser for the Mon Buddhist Monks scholarship program to Sri Lanka and was originally from Taranar (Karee Nar) village in Kyait Mayaw Township in Mon state.
Reverend Uttama had escaped across the border at Three Pagodas Pass to Thailand from southern Burma in 1949, together with 60 Mon families, to avoid the violence of Burma's civil war. He then founded the original Wangka village, which has since been flooded due to dams and 23 years ago relocated to the new Wangka village, located near the longest Mon wooden bridge in Thailand.
