Thailand's Buddhism chief removed after pressure from religious groups

Thailand's Buddhism chief removed after pressure from religious groups

Thailand’s junta has removed the head of the national Buddhism office, the prime minister said on Tuesday, after religious groups called on the government to sack him over his plans to clean up scandal-hit monasteries.

Pongporn Pramsaneh, who joined the National Office of Buddhism  in February, had vowed to reform Thailand’s more than 40,000 temples by forcing them to open their finances to the public. They take billions of dollars in donations every year.

 

The former policeman was appointed amid a standoff between security forces and the influential Dhammakaya temple in February. Authorities wanted to question the temple’s chief abbot on money-laundering charges.

 

Pongporn will now move to a lower profile post of inspector-general in Prayuth’s office.

Despite high-profile temple scandals over murder, drugs and sex as well as improper financial dealings, Pongporn’s call for change had jarred on some monks.

 

A group called the Thailand Buddhists Shirt Federation submitted a petition to the prime minister’s office this month, calling for Pongporn to be removed to “prevent further damage to monks”.

 

“He painted monks as villains in Thai people’s eyes,” the group’s secretary-general, Korn Meedee, said in a statement on Facebook.

 

In July, another Buddhist group had called for Pongporn’s removal, saying he had damaged the Buddhist institution.

 

 

Phra Buddha Issara, a firebrand monk who called for reform of Buddhism, said the junta gave in to pressure too easily given government promises to fight corruption.

 

“Are they still serious about tackling corruption or are they only moving against certain people and groups?” he said, adding that when it came to monks: “No one can touch them.”

Thai security forces besieged the Dhammakaya Temple in February to try to catch its former abbot, wanted for questioning on money laundering. But police failed to catch him and he is still on the run.

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