Thailand’s monks run amok, but will junta’s crackdown answer its prayers?

The military government, under pressure to hold elections and seeking a popular move, has launched a campaign to clean up the monkhood. But in stoking Buddhist nationalism, it is playing with fire

Reading Time:6 minutes

Buddhist monks at an alms offering at Wat Phra Dhammakaya in Pathum Thani, Thailand. Photo: Reuters

Published: 1:02pm, 24 Jun 2018Updated: 1:02pm, 24 Jun 2018

In Thailand, it is often said that Buddhist monks should not get involved in politics. However, today they are front and centre as the junta launches a campaign to clean the monkhood’s tarnished image following years of scandals involving corruption, drugs, sex and even murder.

But far from an altruistic effort, the junta’s campaign is seen as a political strategy to win hearts and minds amid mounting pressure to hold elections after four years of military rule.

Looking within: what’s behind Thailand’s Buddhist-Muslim divide?

“[The junta] don’t have popular legitimacy or democratic legitimacy and they need to rely on more primitive kinds of legitimacy,” said Khemthong Tonsakulrungruang, a researcher on the influence of Buddhism in Thailand’s legal system at the University of Bristol. Protests have been on the rise in recent months, fuelled by civil rights issues and controversial government-led development projects.

Phra Buddha Issara, an activist monk, was among the prominent monks arrested by the Thai junta in May. Photo: Reuters

In late May the junta raided four temples and arrested several prominent monks, including the popular Phra Buddha Issara and Wat Saket’s ex-abbot, Phra Phrom Sitthi. Phra Phrom Methee, another of the monks wanted by the police, fled to Germany and sought asylum after he was arrested at Frankfurt airport.

Demonstrators outside Thammasat University in Bangkok at a protest to mark four years of junta rule. Photo: AFP