Thai authorities wary of third parties as search of Dhammakaya Temple continues

[webfact]

Authorities wary of third parties as search of Dhammakaya Temple continues

 

BANGKOK, 2 March 2017 (NNT) – Authorities undertaking the search of Dhammakaya Temple for its former abbot have let on they are taking precautions against third party instigators and will not yet allow followers of the temple to enter its grounds without inspection. 

Agents of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), joined by authorities from the National Buddhism Office and administrators of Pathumthani province have set up an inspection table for monks attempting to enter Dhammakaya Temple. They have now cordoned off Khlong Luang Central Market, where the monks and other followers were convening after being barred from the temple, and deemed it a forbidden zone. They are urging clergymen not to try to enter the temple and are turning back those arriving in the area. 

A representative of the DSI made known that despite calls for 14 Dhammakaya monks to report for questioning, so far only one has shown up. If the second call is ignored, the DSI has prepared to request arrest warrants for the monks. 

Deputy Prime Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwan has ordered the Ministry of Justice to coordinate with the DSI, police and soldiers to make sure their operation at Dhammakaya Temple is sensitive and legal. The National Security Council has said that the severance of communications between the temple and the outside world is part of efforts to protect against interlopers and third parties seeking to elevate the situation.

 

-- nnt 2017-03-02

[NCC1701A]

BANGKOK, 2 March 2020. "Keep looking, he has got to be here somewhere."

 

[Eric Loh]

23 minutes ago, webfact said:

third parties seeking to elevate the situation.

 

Don't need a third party to elevate the situation. The authority is doing a fine job elevating the situation with 2 deaths, siege, 44, disconnecting communication and reckless summoning of monks for questioning. This gone beyond pursuing one monk to the eradication of the temple and it just hardened the resolves of the monks and their followers to defend their faith and home with their lives. Not a pretty picture.  

[yellowboat]

While the Abbott remains at large, the government will remain to appear inept.  

[wirat69]

The Honourable Abbott must be low on supplies by now... Get Revlon to donate a box of lipsticks... leave them in an open area and snap him when he collects them... oops, forgot he is invisible...

[Stargeezr]

This former abbott is a criminal, and shame on those who still support him, and help him

in anyway. Keep the temple off limits, and question every monk that is from the temple.

Geezer

[silent]

5 hours ago, yellowboat said:

While the Abbott remains at large, the government will remain to appear inept.  

and then what?

 

[NCC1701A]

http://www.khaosodenglish.com/politics/2017/03/05/hm-king-strips-dhammachayo-royal-title/

[colinneil]

In the real world, you can get locked up for aiding a criminal.

Why not here? Start locking up people who are obstructing the police.

After a while others will get fed up and hopefully go home.

Where are the water cannons? Use them a few times that will clear the way.

[mtls2005]

Just look for people with three hands?

 

Men in black in orange.

[JAG]

In the real world, you can get locked up for aiding a criminal.

Why not here? Start locking up people who are obstructing the police.

After a while others will get fed up and hopefully go home.

Where are the water cannons? Use them a few times that will clear the way.

I'm no lawyer but don't you have to prove ( in the real world ) that someone is a criminal before you can lock up those who help him? This monk fellow may well be a criminal but I don't think it is proven yet. The motivation of many protesting what they see as state suppression of their sect is much more complex than merely aiding a criminal.

I agree with all you have said about the ineptness of the operation to collar the monk, which seems daily to reach new levels of buffoonery.

Water cannon, whilst effective in some circumstances and often entertaining - remember Jeremy Clarksons comments on the Oxford Street anti capitalist fracas a few years ago that there was nothing as funny as watching a couple of angry lesbians being hosed down on a cold day - but to use them on monks or their elderly supporters would be very counterproductive.

What this situation needs is tact, firmness and careful patient persuasion, allied to convincing argument to prove that the sect itself is not the target. However...

[The Old Bull]

On 3/2/2017 at 6:21 PM, Stargrazer9889 said:

This former abbott is a criminal, and shame on those who still support him, and help him

in anyway. Keep the temple off limits, and question every monk that is from the temple.

Geezer

The abbot is not a criminal he has been convicted of nothing. As for money laundering that's bullshit it's obvious the money has been ploughed back into the organisation.

[mtls2005]

What this situation needs is tact, firmness and careful patient persuasion, allied to convincing argument to prove that the sect itself is not the target. 

 

Any reasonably informed person knows what this is about, and it's not about what the junta is telling you it is about.

 

But the "government" can wait this out, even though it might look like they are losing face now. They're in it to win the "war", not a single battle. They can just keep piling on charges, arrest anyone they want, seize the temple and its assets and ban this sect; freedom of religion be damned.

 

For a different perspective have a look at  Jim Taylor's article "The perplexing case of Wat Dhammakaya" today on New Mandela.

 

Other wealthy temples, from the Maha Nikaya sect, will probably be targeted.

 

 

Edited March 6, 2017 by mtls2005

[colinneil]

1 minute ago, The Old Bull said:

The abbot is not a criminal he has been convicted of nothing. As for money laundering that's bullshit it's obvious the money has been ploughed back into the organisation.

 

If he is not a criminal, why hide?

The man is a serious criminal, now hiding living off his ill-gotten gains.

[The Old Bull]

3 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

What this situation needs is tact, firmness and careful patient persuasion, allied to convincing argument to prove that the sect itself is not the target. 

 

Any reasonably informed person knows what this is about, and it's not about what the junta is telling you it is about.

 

But the "government" can wait this out, even though it might look like they are losing face now. They're in it to win the "war", not a single battle. They can just keep piling on charges, arrest anyone they want, seize the temple and its assets and ban this sect; freedom of religion be damned.

 

 

I think this has really got the junta worried, if a few protesters come out on the streets they can shoot them but if millions come out they cannot. There would be a coup within a coup and a new lot will emerge more friendly to the monks and hopefully more friendly to the idea of a proper election.

[The Old Bull]

8 minutes ago, colinneil said:

If he is not a criminal, why hide?

The man is a serious criminal, now hiding living off his ill-gotten gains.

What ill gotten gains? All the money received by the temple has been ploughed back into running the organisation. Do you think he would get a fair shake from Phrayut? I doubt it.

[colinneil]

4 minutes ago, The Old Bull said:

What ill gotten gains? All the money received by the temple has been ploughed back into running the organisation. Do you think he would get a fair shake from Phrayut? I doubt it.

 

All the money has been ploughed back  

Wake up, this is the real world, not la -la land.

[dageurreotype]

Have to say, pretty smart move by this 'third party' (gosh, wonder who it could be). 'Army Attacks Buddhist Monks' headlines across international media. After all, given military might, counter insurgency pretty much out of the question, isn't it.

 

If anyone having been here for more than a week believes this is all about a corrupt monk, they are seriously deluded. Given most of the other shit having been allowed to have been turned a blind eye to for aeons.

 

[ddavidovsky]

1 hour ago, colinneil said:

If he is not a criminal, why hide?

Because the persecution is political?