by kinard » Sat Oct 18, 2014 7:48 am
Lucky Lucan wrote:Besides all this conjecture about this woman's nationality, I'd be interested to learn why she actually did this. Was it because she opposed this silly idolatry, or was it just because she was pissed-drunk or tripping and just managed to break some repro "Buddhist" statue? If it was deliberate it's out of order, but it might have been just an accident...
All of the above...she seems to change her story by small degrees; the latest version...
The Kiwi woman who broke a Buddha statue in Cambodia says she did so because it was inside a temple dedicated to another deity.
Willemijn Vermaat, 40, who moved to Wellington from Holland eight years ago, had been on a four-week holiday to Laos and Cambodia when she entered the 12th century Bayon temple late on her final night.
Later she would be questioned by the Apsara Authority about pushing over a Buddhist statue and it smashing into four pieces but she said it was out of her control.
There had been a lot of rain about but it relented late on the second day so she decided to head out outside of the permitted viewing times.
After arriving quite late at the temple, she felt compelled to clean it up.
"I was in the entrance way and I was drawn to go into the inner sanctuary where the Buddha statue was."
In the middle of cleaning Vermaat, who has a PhD in linguistics, was discovered by three monks, who allowed her to walk away even though she had been in there after the 6.30pm cut off time for visitors.
The monks then alerted the Apsara Authority who started searching for her.
She hid nearby for a while before returning to the temple.
"There were kind of pipes that went up into the open air which let light in and shined on the [Buddha] statue.
She pushed the statue, and "that must have been when I broke it."
Breaking it was not intentional but it was quite heavy and hard to move, she said.
It did not look like an old statue, rather one that had been put there for decorative purposes, she said.
The Cambodian Daily reported that it dated from the reign of Jayavarman VII in the late 12th century and had already been broken into several pieces when it was originally discovered, but was restored in 1988 so that it could be put on display at Bayon.
But other Cambodian media said it was a replica piece made in 1988.
Vermaat said she felt bad about breaking it but it should not have been in there as it was not a Buddha temple and did not look anything like the many other Buddhist temples she had seen in Asia, she said.
She had spent so long in the temple she had missed her evening flight to Bangkok but flew out the next day.
Patrick Morgan, a friend of Vermaat's for the past four years, said her behaviour was a concern to those who knew her.
"This is totally out of character. She's an awesome woman."
Morgan said not yet spoken with Vermaat to figure out why she acted the way she did. But it appeared she had some personal issues would need dealing with, he said.
"It's important that she gets the help she needs to put this behind her."
Morgan described Vermaat as a passionate contributor to the Wellington community who had advocated on behalf of cyclists and pedestrians in the past.
She once campaigned for safer driving speeds through the suburb of Berhampore.
She had been in the Netherlands for most of the year visiting family and was doing some traveling before returning to New Zealand, Morgan said.
- © Fairfax NZ News
[quote="Lucky Lucan"]Besides all this conjecture about this woman's nationality, I'd be interested to learn why she actually did this. Was it because she opposed this silly idolatry, or was it just because she was pissed-drunk or tripping and just managed to break some repro "Buddhist" statue? If it was deliberate it's out of order, but it might have been just an accident...[/quote]
All of the above...she seems to change her story by small degrees; the latest version...
[i]The Kiwi woman who broke a Buddha statue in Cambodia says she did so because it was inside a temple dedicated to another deity.
Willemijn Vermaat, 40, who moved to Wellington from Holland eight years ago, had been on a four-week holiday to Laos and Cambodia when she entered the 12th century Bayon temple late on her final night.
Later she would be questioned by the Apsara Authority about pushing over a Buddhist statue and it smashing into four pieces but she said it was out of her control.
There had been a lot of rain about but it relented late on the second day so she decided to head out outside of the permitted viewing times.
After arriving quite late at the temple,[i] she felt compelled to clean it up.[/i]
"I was in the entrance way and I was drawn to go into the inner sanctuary where the Buddha statue was."
In the middle of cleaning Vermaat, who has a PhD in linguistics, was discovered by three monks, who allowed her to walk away even though she had been in there after the 6.30pm cut off time for visitors.
The monks then alerted the Apsara Authority who started searching for her.
She hid nearby for a while before returning to the temple.
"There were kind of pipes that went up into the open air which let light in and shined on the [Buddha] statue.
She pushed the statue, and "that must have been when I broke it."
Breaking it was [b]not intentional but it was quite heavy and hard to move[/b], she said.
It did not look like an old statue, rather one that had been put there for decorative purposes, she said.
The Cambodian Daily reported that it dated from the reign of Jayavarman VII in the late 12th century and had already been broken into several pieces when it was originally discovered, but was restored in 1988 so that it could be put on display at Bayon.
But other Cambodian media said it was a replica piece made in 1988.
Vermaat said she felt bad about breaking it but it should not have been in there as it was not a Buddha temple and did not look anything like the many other Buddhist temples she had seen in Asia, she said.
She had spent so long in the temple she had missed her evening flight to Bangkok but flew out the next day.
Patrick Morgan, a friend of Vermaat's for the past four years, said her behaviour was a concern to those who knew her.
"This is totally out of character. She's an awesome woman."
Morgan said not yet spoken with Vermaat to figure out why she acted the way she did. But it appeared she had some personal issues would need dealing with, he said.
"It's important that she gets the help she needs to put this behind her."
Morgan described Vermaat as a passionate contributor to the Wellington community who had advocated on behalf of cyclists and pedestrians in the past.
She once campaigned for safer driving speeds through the suburb of Berhampore.
She had been in the Netherlands for most of the year visiting family and was doing some traveling before returning to New Zealand, Morgan said.[/i]
- © Fairfax NZ News