In the highly-charged and politicized environment in Indonesia (and I don’t mean specifically under President Jokowi), reconciliation is extremely unlikely. Nursing real or imagined wounds serves many “useful” purposes for Indonesians; on the contrary, evasion and dissembling are a more likely outcome, as they have a long local precedent.
I whole heartedly agree with Eric C. ‘s comments, which is “right on target.” A day of reckoning will soon arrive and Thailand will moan the loss of tourists, who will no longer venture to come to Thailand due to the myriad problems tourists now face–be it crime, theft, murder, robberies, blackmail, fights that are set up to extort money from innocent tourists and a lack of protection from the corrupt Thai police.
Just last week, a video clip was circulated on social media and online news sites, how 4 Thai thugs, brutally beat up a Scottish family, a father and mother and their son, who were visiting Thailand for the very first time. This recent incident took place during the Songkran festival in Hua Hin, a popular tourist destination several hours from Bangkok. I was appalled to see the video clip and was deeply saddened at how low these Thais have become. There were plenty of bystanders who out of fear, did absolutely nothing to stop those 4 thugs in the marketplace.
It took place a few weeks ago and the police tried to keep it low key. They did not comment on the brutal beatings until someone anonymously posted the video clip on social media. The police are now trying to find out, search for the person who posted it online, to charge him with trying to destroy Thailand’s image. The truth cannot be hidden, as the Thais are so adept at doing. It is being exposed, and in this day and age, with social media access and availability, people all over the world are becoming more and more aware of what’s going on. It will hurt Thailand in the long run and Thailand will suffer for it. Why would someone want to visit Thailand, when foreigners are not protected, don’t fee safe, cannot rely or depend on the Thai police to help them. It is a losing proposition in every way. There are literally thousands of other places to visit and enjoy a vacation.
I lived in Thailand for two decades before leaving to attend university in the States and have been back to visit family several times. Each time I see the character, mentality, outlook of many Thais going down the tubes and have to shake my head wondering how bad it has become. It is all about the ALMIGHTY DOLLAR, materialistic, greedy, taking advantage of foreigners with a fake smile. It’s no longer the Land of Smiles. That was a nice , clever PR tourist campaign promotion that seemed to work for some time.
Not a month goes by, when we don’t hear of some foreign tourist being stabbed, killed, murdered, pushed off the balcony in cities, resorts, towns, where many tourists visit, and cheated, swindled, taken advantage of, etc. etc.
The Thais are shooting themselves in both feet and will wake up one day and wonder “where have all the tourists gone?” It will hurt their economy, businesses that is solely dependent on tourism.
The robe itself is the sacred object. Which is why one has to make sure that any accusations against a monk or nun who wears the robe are supported by evidence.
The article that you quote by Mano Laohanovich and the essay on which it is based ‘Esoteric Teaching of Wat Phra Dhammakaya’ are simply hearsay. ‘When I was an insider I heard a story…’ does not count as supporting evidence. His references consist of a single article which does not support his conclusions, a general reference book, a chanting book and a fundamentalist Christian polemic.
In the past, Ven. Dhammachaiyo has been charged with a variety of legal and monastic crimes, and on each occasion the charges have been dropped. Laohanovich suggests, without any evidence, that the Dhammakaya Temple bribed the authorities, but the other explanation is that all the charges were bogus in the first place.
On one occasion investigators discovered some land title deeds which had been donated to Ven. Dhammachaiyo and which were still in his name. These were subsequently transfered to his monastery and all charges were dropped. The question is what use would parcels of land be to a monk who has no personal belongings? Thai mainstream media would have you believe that it was to build casinos and houses of ill repute, but it is rather more likely that these land grants were for building more Dhammakaya Temples.
With the benefit of hindsight it is clear that the Dhammakaya Temple should not have endorsed Supachai Srisupa-aksorn or accepted personal donations from him. When his ‘Buddhist Bank’ was exposed as a fraud all funds donated by him were immediately returned to the authorities. Thai mainstream media would have you believe that the Dhammakaya Temple colluded with the Klongchan Credit Union to swindle its depositors out of their savings. The question is why would the Dhammakaya Temple swindle the depositors, who were mostly temple supporters, out of a few hundred million, when these individuals have already freely donated billions? One explanation is that these monks are incompetent criminals, the other explanation is that they are over-trusting and useless at forensic accounting.
The only connection between Wat Phra Dhammakaya and Taksin Shinawatra is that both are perceived as enemies by Thailand’s elite.
As Prayut is to stupid to understand the problem within Thai society I will point out that this is really a classic form of “Class Warfare’.
Every country will/have gone through a period in their history when feudalism is defeated.
As Prayut doesn’t believe in constitutions the proposed Charter is just window dressing.
All future military constitutions should be printed in chocolate and written on rice paper. Then at least we can enjoy it.
Just because a criminally minded, a serial pervert, a kleptomaniac, or a paedophile had donned a yellow robe immediately transforms that monster into a man to be worshipped John Smith.
Phra Dhammajayo is a dishonest criminal monk and he knowingly accepted hundreds of millions of ‘donations’ (a large slice of which ended up in his personal pockets) from the billions scammed from Khlongchan Credit Union Cooperative, the focus of the DSI investigation. Title deeds to land meant for the temple ended up in this monk’s name.
The Phra Dhammajayo and Thaksin Shinawatra share a common streak of honest mistakes left and right as their sticky Hans could not resist the lucre while in positions of near absolute authority.
This piece is, I think, a better than competent representation of what the junta would say of its goals and intentions, rendered even with some of the chip-on-the-shoulder nastiness of its leading general. Maybe we need that. The piece is definitively not insightful about what sits behind those goals and intentions, but … the junta does not allow for the possibility of non-confirming insight.
Your use of such pejorative language says more about you than it does about this monk. In Buddhism it is not correct to slander those who wear the robes of a monk, the ‘arahantaketu’ (Banner of the Arahants). The correct approach is to present the facts as you understand them, in a balanced and open way.
Great article and Michael Nelson’s intervention is also welcomed. My question for them is this: there is now a move, apparently by the junta, to suggest that if people oppose the draft “too much”, they will scrap the referendum. What is going on here? Is it a threat to try and get a Yes vote? Or is it a real possibility? Or is it something else?
[…] critics suggest that the ethnicity is only a recent invention, records show that Prime Minister U Nu, who led Burma for several years when it was a parliamentary democracy between 1948 and 1962, […]
I think the “elitist” aproach to this matter(the properly democratic education of the citizen)is a wrong one,because it’s just the elites who are the first who need to undergo a strong lesson of what is and what is not democracy.You only need to look to this mess of “new” constitucion,its the perfect example of an antidemocratic and autoritharian path of thinking.
Nobody is fully informed. In general, people vote for what they believe is in their best interest. It seems to me that this is exactly what the rural mass does. And why would they vote for a party who believe that they are too stupid to vote anyway?
The problem with the Thai elite is that they believe there is one truth, one reality, and one interest only. If there are people disagreeing, it must mean that they have not understood.
The Dhammakaya Temple head monk is the spiritual equivalent of Thaksin Shinawatra whose ethical demeanors both reek with septic corruption. And both believe in their aura of invincibility because of their millions of followers that their sticky kleptomania and criminal self-seeking bent go on a rampage.
And do explain k. Nitty a why a monk, a head monk even, should be above the law? Phra Dhammajayo of Dhammakaya temple is a black hearted leech who had caused his naive donors dry, spent out, and bankrupt.
Good and bad is totally subjective, if you want to totally deconstruct the argument. The charter is overly draconian to be sure, the alternative in the Thaksin era is eventual parliamentary hegemony, there is some truth that the rural masses probably don’t make their vote with a fully informed opinion but in a democracy that’s besides the point. Only thing to do is let the ‘people’s choice win (and let’s be honest Puea Thai have never got a majority mandate as a singular party, in straight numbers) and to ensure their power is restraint to governance administration, and not political domination. The devil is in the details but the charter writers are too lazy and law enforcement too lax to achieve it. There’s also the ‘elephant in the room’ which means there can be no complete release from the uber-power for the next 5 years, you all know what I mean.
[…] critics suggest that the ethnicity is only a recent invention, records show that Prime Minister U Nu, who led Burma for several years when it was a parliamentary democracy between 1948 and 1962, […]
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Massacre, memory and the wounds of 1965
In the highly-charged and politicized environment in Indonesia (and I don’t mean specifically under President Jokowi), reconciliation is extremely unlikely. Nursing real or imagined wounds serves many “useful” purposes for Indonesians; on the contrary, evasion and dissembling are a more likely outcome, as they have a long local precedent.
New Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge across the Mekong
Well good to hear that this brige is on now as travelers in India will love to travel by rod from India – Burms – Thailand and Loas
Horror headlines, tourism and the Thai junta
I whole heartedly agree with Eric C. ‘s comments, which is “right on target.” A day of reckoning will soon arrive and Thailand will moan the loss of tourists, who will no longer venture to come to Thailand due to the myriad problems tourists now face–be it crime, theft, murder, robberies, blackmail, fights that are set up to extort money from innocent tourists and a lack of protection from the corrupt Thai police.
Just last week, a video clip was circulated on social media and online news sites, how 4 Thai thugs, brutally beat up a Scottish family, a father and mother and their son, who were visiting Thailand for the very first time. This recent incident took place during the Songkran festival in Hua Hin, a popular tourist destination several hours from Bangkok. I was appalled to see the video clip and was deeply saddened at how low these Thais have become. There were plenty of bystanders who out of fear, did absolutely nothing to stop those 4 thugs in the marketplace.
It took place a few weeks ago and the police tried to keep it low key. They did not comment on the brutal beatings until someone anonymously posted the video clip on social media. The police are now trying to find out, search for the person who posted it online, to charge him with trying to destroy Thailand’s image. The truth cannot be hidden, as the Thais are so adept at doing. It is being exposed, and in this day and age, with social media access and availability, people all over the world are becoming more and more aware of what’s going on. It will hurt Thailand in the long run and Thailand will suffer for it. Why would someone want to visit Thailand, when foreigners are not protected, don’t fee safe, cannot rely or depend on the Thai police to help them. It is a losing proposition in every way. There are literally thousands of other places to visit and enjoy a vacation.
I lived in Thailand for two decades before leaving to attend university in the States and have been back to visit family several times. Each time I see the character, mentality, outlook of many Thais going down the tubes and have to shake my head wondering how bad it has become. It is all about the ALMIGHTY DOLLAR, materialistic, greedy, taking advantage of foreigners with a fake smile. It’s no longer the Land of Smiles. That was a nice , clever PR tourist campaign promotion that seemed to work for some time.
Not a month goes by, when we don’t hear of some foreign tourist being stabbed, killed, murdered, pushed off the balcony in cities, resorts, towns, where many tourists visit, and cheated, swindled, taken advantage of, etc. etc.
The Thais are shooting themselves in both feet and will wake up one day and wonder “where have all the tourists gone?” It will hurt their economy, businesses that is solely dependent on tourism.
Buddhist politics and Thailand’s dangerous path
The robe itself is the sacred object. Which is why one has to make sure that any accusations against a monk or nun who wears the robe are supported by evidence.
The article that you quote by Mano Laohanovich and the essay on which it is based ‘Esoteric Teaching of Wat Phra Dhammakaya’ are simply hearsay. ‘When I was an insider I heard a story…’ does not count as supporting evidence. His references consist of a single article which does not support his conclusions, a general reference book, a chanting book and a fundamentalist Christian polemic.
In the past, Ven. Dhammachaiyo has been charged with a variety of legal and monastic crimes, and on each occasion the charges have been dropped. Laohanovich suggests, without any evidence, that the Dhammakaya Temple bribed the authorities, but the other explanation is that all the charges were bogus in the first place.
On one occasion investigators discovered some land title deeds which had been donated to Ven. Dhammachaiyo and which were still in his name. These were subsequently transfered to his monastery and all charges were dropped. The question is what use would parcels of land be to a monk who has no personal belongings? Thai mainstream media would have you believe that it was to build casinos and houses of ill repute, but it is rather more likely that these land grants were for building more Dhammakaya Temples.
With the benefit of hindsight it is clear that the Dhammakaya Temple should not have endorsed Supachai Srisupa-aksorn or accepted personal donations from him. When his ‘Buddhist Bank’ was exposed as a fraud all funds donated by him were immediately returned to the authorities. Thai mainstream media would have you believe that the Dhammakaya Temple colluded with the Klongchan Credit Union to swindle its depositors out of their savings. The question is why would the Dhammakaya Temple swindle the depositors, who were mostly temple supporters, out of a few hundred million, when these individuals have already freely donated billions? One explanation is that these monks are incompetent criminals, the other explanation is that they are over-trusting and useless at forensic accounting.
The only connection between Wat Phra Dhammakaya and Taksin Shinawatra is that both are perceived as enemies by Thailand’s elite.
The neo-authoritarian threat in the Philippines
He bears an uncanny resemblance to Jabba the Hutt.
Millennia-long histories and Burmese migrations into Thailand
[…] ├Йdith Disdet Source : T F Rhoden*/New Mandala Millennia-long histories and Burmese migrations into Thailand Photo : Solidarity […]
Thailand’s containment constitution
As Prayut is to stupid to understand the problem within Thai society I will point out that this is really a classic form of “Class Warfare’.
Every country will/have gone through a period in their history when feudalism is defeated.
As Prayut doesn’t believe in constitutions the proposed Charter is just window dressing.
All future military constitutions should be printed in chocolate and written on rice paper. Then at least we can enjoy it.
Buddhist politics and Thailand’s dangerous path
Just because a criminally minded, a serial pervert, a kleptomaniac, or a paedophile had donned a yellow robe immediately transforms that monster into a man to be worshipped John Smith.
Phra Dhammajayo is a dishonest criminal monk and he knowingly accepted hundreds of millions of ‘donations’ (a large slice of which ended up in his personal pockets) from the billions scammed from Khlongchan Credit Union Cooperative, the focus of the DSI investigation. Title deeds to land meant for the temple ended up in this monk’s name.
The Phra Dhammajayo and Thaksin Shinawatra share a common streak of honest mistakes left and right as their sticky Hans could not resist the lucre while in positions of near absolute authority.
Pejorative? Sue me!
Thailand’s containment constitution
This piece is, I think, a better than competent representation of what the junta would say of its goals and intentions, rendered even with some of the chip-on-the-shoulder nastiness of its leading general. Maybe we need that. The piece is definitively not insightful about what sits behind those goals and intentions, but … the junta does not allow for the possibility of non-confirming insight.
Buddhist politics and Thailand’s dangerous path
Your use of such pejorative language says more about you than it does about this monk. In Buddhism it is not correct to slander those who wear the robes of a monk, the ‘arahantaketu’ (Banner of the Arahants). The correct approach is to present the facts as you understand them, in a balanced and open way.
Thailand’s containment constitution
Great article and Michael Nelson’s intervention is also welcomed. My question for them is this: there is now a move, apparently by the junta, to suggest that if people oppose the draft “too much”, they will scrap the referendum. What is going on here? Is it a threat to try and get a Yes vote? Or is it a real possibility? Or is it something else?
Thailand’s containment constitution
Does anyone seriously believe this attempt at YET ANOTHER Constitution will not be part of the build up to YET ANOTHER coup ?
Thailand’s containment constitution
Exactly…
Making Rohingya statelessness
[…] critics suggest that the ethnicity is only a recent invention, records show that Prime Minister U Nu, who led Burma for several years when it was a parliamentary democracy between 1948 and 1962, […]
Thailand’s containment constitution
I think the “elitist” aproach to this matter(the properly democratic education of the citizen)is a wrong one,because it’s just the elites who are the first who need to undergo a strong lesson of what is and what is not democracy.You only need to look to this mess of “new” constitucion,its the perfect example of an antidemocratic and autoritharian path of thinking.
Thailand’s containment constitution
Nobody is fully informed. In general, people vote for what they believe is in their best interest. It seems to me that this is exactly what the rural mass does. And why would they vote for a party who believe that they are too stupid to vote anyway?
The problem with the Thai elite is that they believe there is one truth, one reality, and one interest only. If there are people disagreeing, it must mean that they have not understood.
Buddhist politics and Thailand’s dangerous path
The Dhammakaya Temple head monk is the spiritual equivalent of Thaksin Shinawatra whose ethical demeanors both reek with septic corruption. And both believe in their aura of invincibility because of their millions of followers that their sticky kleptomania and criminal self-seeking bent go on a rampage.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/09/27/opinion/opinion_30014752.php
And do explain k. Nitty a why a monk, a head monk even, should be above the law? Phra Dhammajayo of Dhammakaya temple is a black hearted leech who had caused his naive donors dry, spent out, and bankrupt.
Thailand’s containment constitution
Good and bad is totally subjective, if you want to totally deconstruct the argument. The charter is overly draconian to be sure, the alternative in the Thaksin era is eventual parliamentary hegemony, there is some truth that the rural masses probably don’t make their vote with a fully informed opinion but in a democracy that’s besides the point. Only thing to do is let the ‘people’s choice win (and let’s be honest Puea Thai have never got a majority mandate as a singular party, in straight numbers) and to ensure their power is restraint to governance administration, and not political domination. The devil is in the details but the charter writers are too lazy and law enforcement too lax to achieve it. There’s also the ‘elephant in the room’ which means there can be no complete release from the uber-power for the next 5 years, you all know what I mean.
The neo-authoritarian threat in the Philippines
1. “…serious crisis of Philippine democracy since ‘people power’ overthrew the Marcos dictatorship 30 years ago”
Was Philippine democracy in crisis, or was it the Philippine political situation that was in crisis 30 years ago?
2. “Now it is the Philippines turn to have a major neo-authoritarian presidential candidate.”
I don’t see what is particularly new about these authoritarians. So can the authors explain what is neo about them? Authoritarianism isn’t new.
3. Why can’t authoritarianism be populist re your sub-heading? That’s a false “from, to”.
Making Rohingya statelessness
[…] critics suggest that the ethnicity is only a recent invention, records show that Prime Minister U Nu, who led Burma for several years when it was a parliamentary democracy between 1948 and 1962, […]