Showing 1 - 10 of 30
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.
PC Plod visits female monks
Oped, Editorial, Published on 30/11/2025
» Barely a week after the Anutin government issued its new ministerial regulations to "protect" Buddhism, police last week showed up at a Bhikkhuni monastery in Songkhla.
Honest monks hung out to dry
Editorial, Published on 28/09/2025
» A series of monk scandals and temple corruption cases in recent months has prompted the Ecclesiastical Council to order all temples to make their accounts transparent. But good intentions are not enough. Without systemic support, the order may prove hollow.
Pheu Thai must move on
Oped, Editorial, Published on 25/09/2025
» Weeks have passed since the People's Party (PP) threw its support behind Bhumjaithai leader Anutin Charnvirakul's premiership bid.
Pheu Thai must pivot
Oped, Editorial, Published on 16/09/2025
» The Pheu Thai Party, once a titan in Thai politics, has no time to waste in regathering its bearings. As its ministers and administrative staff collect their belongings at Government House, the party must reflect on its short-lived, arguably ineffective tenure and urgently transform itself into a viable choice for voters.
Patients lost in temple scandal
Editorial, Published on 14/09/2025
» For the patients at Wat Phra Bat Namphu, the scandal around its former abbot has revived an old fear: being abandoned all over again.
Jail stay could be short
Oped, Editorial, Published on 11/09/2025
» As the public welcomed the Supreme Court ruling against Thaksin Shinawatra on Tuesday for violating the terms of his incarceration, the question remains as to whether the spiritual leader of the ruling Pheu Thai Party would benefit from a home detention programme that could see his one-year prison term cut short.
People's Party's big test
Oped, Editorial, Published on 01/09/2025
» The People's Party has emerged as a potential game changer in a political landscape upended by the Constitutional Court's ruling to remove prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and her cabinet from office.
Reform clergy with your wallet
Editorial, Published on 03/08/2025
» The recent sex scandal involving high-ranking monks has shaken public faith to the core. But the responses from the clergy, the state, and the public all miss the point. This crisis in Thai Buddhism is not about monks and sex -- it's about monks and money. Address the problem incorrectly, and the sex scandals and temple corruption will never end.
Clergy in need of control, not reform
Editorial, Published on 20/07/2025
» After a long silence during Thailand's biggest sex scandal in the clergy, the Ecclesiastical Council and the National Office of Buddhism (NOB) have finally spoken out. Their big idea? A new law to imprison the offending monks and women involved in the scandal.