Showing 1 - 10 of 11
Real barriers to temple reform
Editorial, Published on 01/02/2026
» After a year of temple scandals, Thailand's top monks have promised a great clean-up. The orders sound bold. The question is whether a feudal system built on censorship, obedience and patronage can truly reform itself.
Power with no sensitivity
Oped, Editorial, Published on 26/12/2025
» The border may be contested, but the message sent by bulldozing a Hindu god was unmistakable -- and damaging.
Temple row stirs rivalry
Oped, Editorial, Published on 22/02/2025
» A fresh dispute over an ancient temple on the Thai-Cambodian border in Surin requires all those involved to keep cool heads.
Reform, or repeat monk scandals
Editorial, Published on 27/10/2024
» A senior monk promoting what is alleged to be a pyramid scheme disguised as an online direct sales company reveals just how far the clergy has strayed from Buddha's teachings.
Bdap's arrest a litmus test
Oped, Editorial, Published on 15/06/2024
» As Thailand vies for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) for the 2025-2027 term -- something the previous Prayut government failed to do -- the arrest of Y Quynh Bdap, a Vietnamese political activist with UN refugee status, will serve as a litmus test for Thailand's human rights standards.
Saffron swindlers
Oped, Editorial, Published on 22/03/2024
» The news of the Central Criminal Court for Corruption and Misconduct this week handing a 480-year-plus jail term to a former abbot for embezzling temple donations is shocking enough. But the story gets even more convoluted.
School feuds flare
News, Editorial, Published on 16/11/2023
» The senseless death of a schoolteacher killed by a stray bullet fired by a suspect believed to be involved in rivalry between vocational students highlights an urgent need to address the toxic enmity between such vocational institutes.
Nix naga, add values
Oped, Editorial, Published on 18/06/2022
» If the Department of Cultural Promotion has its way, Thailand will have the naga, a mythical snake, as a national symbol.
Don't limit monks
Oped, Editorial, Published on 16/10/2021
» A recent order by the Supreme Sangha Council prohibiting Buddhist monks and novices from studying non-dhamma subjects is a step backwards in the development of clerical society.
Don't politicise the Hagia Sophia
News, Editorial, Published on 19/07/2020
» After it was designated as a museum in 1936 by the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Hagia Sophia took on a different meaning. It wasn't just a place of worship as it had been under the Byzantines and the Ottomans. It became a meeting place for people of different faiths but held by no religion in particular. It was a place where laymen, leaders, popes and presidents met to marvel at the grandeur of its domed roof, which has seen empires come and go over its long history.