‘Resolve Sangha issues first’

PRIME Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha said yesterday he would not nominate anyone for royal endorsement as the country’s 20th Supreme Patriarch until disputes over nomination are settled.

“I have already said that this issue should be resolved first, or else I wouldn’t be able to propose a name,” the premier commented briefly to reporters. 

Prayut’s remark followed the tabling of a petition early yesterday by Phra Buddha Issara, the abbot of Wat Or-noi in Nakhon Pathom province – reportedly backed by 300,000 signatures – to PM’s Office Minister ML Panadda Diskul at Government House.

The monk called for Prayut to apply “sovereign power” – to get a respectable candidate for the position. 

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said yesterday the nomination of a supreme patriarch was a sensitive matter and people should not do anything that could lead to a conflict.

While people had the right to voice objections, he urged individuals not to think about taking any action yet. He said the matter was still with the Sangha Council, and would then be referred to the government, which would clarify the situation before a name was proposed to the monarch. 

Wissanu also said that, if this issue remained unresolved, people would still get an answer – be it a nomination and appointment, or finding a way to have an acting supreme patriarch for an interim period. 

When he filed the petition, Phra Buddha Issara, objected to the nomination of Somdej Phra Maha Ratchamangalacharn (Somdet Chuang), the abbot of Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen in Samut Prakan. He claimed the abbot wasn’t qualified for the top position because he allegedly violated monastic rules and the law. He was also allegedly linked to Phra Dhammachayo, the controversial abbot of Pathum Thani’s Wat Dhammakaya, who was accused of malpractice and corruption. 

Phra Buddha Issara said he would also file complaints alleging violations of the criminal code and civil code in relation to this case at a later date.

The 90-year-old Somdej Chuang is the most senior of eight candidates in a position to succeed the late Supreme Patriarch, Somdej Phra Nyanasamvara, who died in October 2013. Somdej Chuang faces probes that include alleged involvement with a luxury car suspected to avoid full tax. 

The case stems from an incident in mid-2013 in which six luxury cars caught fire in Nakhon Ratchasima’s Klangdong district while being transported for registration in Si Sa Ket. The fire caused Tarit Pengdith, head of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) at the time, to order a probe into 6,575 luxury cars whose parts were imported and reassembled in Thailand. Among these was a Mercedes in Somdej Chuang’s name.

As of late yesterday, the DSI had not started to investigate Somdej Chuang’s car because the probe was still dealing with the first batch of 548 cars, each worth over Bt4 million, which await tax assessment by the Customs Department. Owners of these cars reportedly paid a 70-per-cent tax because they were registered as vehicles reassembled locally – compared to the 300-per-cent tax usually applied to imported |cars.

A nomination for a new Supreme Patriarch was not listed on the agenda of a meeting of the Sangha Council in Buddha Monthon in Nakhon Pathom |yesterday afternoon, National Office of Buddhism deputy spokesman Pradab Photikan-chanawat said.

He said nomination and appointment would be according to the Sangha Act’s Article 7, which stipulates that HM the King will appoint the Supreme Patriarch, as proposed by the prime minister. This would be done with the approval of the Sangha Council, which would nominate a candidate from the most senior monks.

Pradab admitted the council had a confidential meeting on January 5, but said no officials of the National Office of Buddhism were present. 

He could not say if the council had nominated Somdej Chuang for the top post, as the office |had been given no information either.

At 1pm yesterday, Association of Scholars for Buddhism (ASB) president Sathien Wipornmaha and allies submitted a letter to National Office of Buddhism director Phanom Sornsilp and |the council. It called on both parties to uphold the regulations according to the Sangha Act (amended edition 1992) in the nomination of a Supreme Patriarch to prevent chaos and disunity in society.