<div>While the junta thinks that Thai Buddhism will be purified by arresting the former abbot of Wat Dhammakaya, experts point out a lack of secularism and political tolerance is a real threat to the dominant religion.</div>
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<div>On 10 March 2016, Chiang Mai Univeristy’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology hosted a seminar “<a href="http://prachatai.org/journal/2017/03/70529">Dhammakaya Crisis, Social Crisis?</a>” The panel discussed the ongoing harassment of Wat Dhammakaya and tried to propose a proper solution for society.
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By Kornkritch Somjittranukit |
<div>Over the past three weeks, right-wing media have been demonising Wat Dhammakaya and justifying the junta’s crackdown by linking the sect to the red-shirt movement. An expert points out that the longer the process continues, the harder it will be to find a peaceful end. </div>
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<div>On 3 March 2016, True Vision, a local cable television provider, blocked the broadcast of an Al Jazeera report on the Thai junta’s harassment of the Dhammakaya sect.
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<div>Monks and worshippers of the Dhammakaya sect have staged a protest against orders for the arrest of their spiritual leader, after the authorities blocked them from entering the temple.</div>
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<div>On 22 February 2017, Ai Petthong, a representative of Dhammakaya followers, <a href="http://www.matichon.co.th/news/472942">told the media</a> that the authorities have prohibited over a thousand worshippers from entering Dhammakaya temple.
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By Harrison George |
<p>The many and various oversight mechanisms of the new constitution became ever more tangled over the last week with the revelation that the National Anti-Corruption Commission has initiated an investigation into alleged irregularities at the National Ethics Assembly after a petition by members of the Senate. In turn, the Senate announced it would pursue impeachment proceedings against the National Ethics Assembly in response to a report from the National Anti-Corruption Commission looking into unethical behaviour by the ethics watchdog.</p>