[Buddha-l] Concern over making Buddhism state religion

[Wong Weng Fai]

May 14, 2007

Concern over making Buddhism state religion
By Leslie Lopez, South-east Asia Correspondent

The Straits Times

THAILAND'S normally reserved and highly respected Buddhist clergy are 
pushing for a bigger say in politics. And that has got many Thais worried.

Two weeks ago, about 4,000 saffron-robed monks from rural provinces 
marched alongside elephants to Parliament, demanding that Buddhism be 
enshrined in the Constitution as Thailand's official religion.

'Buddhism and the Thai people are under attack by subversive forces,' said 
one of the country's pre-eminent monks, Phra Rajyanvisith, who is in the 
frontlines of the clergy's political campaign. 'Buddhists must respond.'

It is an obvious reference to the alleged persecution of monks by 
suspected Muslim radicals in Thailand's troubled southern provinces.

Over the past three years, dozens of monks have been beheaded, forcing 
Buddhist groups to form their own armed protection squads.

The push to mesh religion with nationalism in a country where roughly 94 
per cent of the 65 million people are Buddhists is being viewed with 
concern in some quarters.

Many ordinary Thais feel that the effort to make Buddhism the official 
religion could destroy the country's tolerant secular tradition.

'This plan is being pushed by ultra right-wing elements and is extremely 
dangerous. It has to be opposed because it will only create more problems 
for Thailand,' said prominent political commentator with Chulalongkorn 
University Giles Ungpakorn.

More worrisome is the impact an official religion could have on the 
problems in the violent south, where insurgency has left more than 2,400 
people dead since 2004.

A South-east Asian diplomat based in Bangkok said: 'The problems in the 
south are largely because Muslims there feel like they are second-class 
citizens. Making Buddhism the official religion will only cement that view 
and fuel the violence.'

Some fear that should Bangkok move to make Buddhism the national religion, 
Thailand's problems in the south could go the way of Sri Lanka, where 
minority Tamils have waged a decades-long civil war against the mainly 
Buddhist Sinhalese majority.

The debate over Buddhism's role in Thailand comes at a time when the 
military-installed government is seeking to garner support for a draft 
Constitution to replace the previous charter that was shredded last 
September, in the coup which removed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

But religion is not the only bugbear in the draft Constitution, which 
would be Thailand's 18th since the scrapping of absolute monarchy 75 years 
ago.

The draft, drawn up by a 35-member committee and now being presented at 
public forums before a referendum scheduled for September - has been 
described as not democratic enough by non-government groups and political 
analysts.

For example, candidates from Thailand's Senate, who were previously 
elected, would be hand-picked by top bureaucrats and judges.

The move to transfer power from the electorate to unelected civil servants 
and the judiciary is designed to limit the prospect of a single political 
party emerging with an overwhelming control over Parliament, as Mr 
Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party did.

But several analysts warn that the flip side could be weak coalition 
governments that will struggle to push ahead with tough policies.

Still, it is the campaign by Thailand's Buddhist leaders to have a bigger 
say in politics that is worrying observers inside and outside the country.

They fear that a slide to religious nationalism could push the country 
into a prolonged period of instability.

Sri Lanka's decades-old civil war has left 70,000 dead and millions 
injured or displaced since the 1980s.

The powerful lobby of the Sri Lankan Buddhist monks was instrumental in 
bulldozing through provisions in the 1972 Constitution that alienated the 
Hindu Tamil minority.

Sri Lanka's religious nationalism sowed the seeds for the rise of the 
Tamil Tigers terrorist organisation that is waging a war for an 
independent state.

There are also troubling examples closer to home.

In Malaysia, where Islam is enshrined as the official religion, the mix of 
religion in politics has often led to strained relations within its 
multiracial, multi-religious population.

More recently, Kuala Lumpur has had to grapple with the issue of Muslims, 
including converts, wanting to leave the faith. That in turn has sparked a 
constitutional debate between secularists, who insist on the right of 
religious freedom enshrined in the Malaysian Constitution, and the 
politically powerful Muslim lobby which maintains that Islam forbids 
apostasy.

Many analysts in Bangkok believe that Thailand, like Indonesia and the 
Philippines, which have predominantly Muslim and Christian populations 
respectively, should stick with secularism.

Buddhist monk Phra Rajyanvisith, a key player in the campaign to enshrine 
Buddhism in the Constitution, acknowledges that the deepening problems in 
Thailand's south have contributed to the more vocal campaign by the clergy 
in politics.

'The escalating problems in the south are the most dramatic indicator of 
the threat to Buddhism and other Thai institutions,' he said in an 
interview at the Luang Phor Sodh monastery, about 110km outside Bangkok.

But he conceded that the monks' campaign carried risks.

'The Buddhists will be happy. Contented Muslims will also be happy. 
Discontented Muslims may remain neutral, but the radical fringe, of 
course, will be very actively against it and may use it as an excuse for 
some more terrorist acts,' he said.

Thai monks have campaigned unsuccessfully since the 1930s for Buddhism to 
be included in the Constitution.

This time, however, some analysts say their chances of success are 
brighter, partly because of the divided political landscape.

Soon after the recent protest by monks outside Parliament House, coup 
leader Sonthi Boonyaratglin, a Muslim, said that he had no objections to 
the plan to make Buddhism the state religion.

That position was shared by the military-appointed government headed by 
Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont.

Chulalongkorn University's Mr Giles argues that General Sonthi and Mr 
Surayud had little choice but to support the campaign because leaders of 
Mr Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai political party were throwing their support 
behind the plan to enshrine Buddhism in the Constitution.

Mr Giles noted: 'The show of support was clearly meant to take the take 
the steam out of the campaign. But they are all playing with fire.'

ljlopez at sph.com.sg