Political divisions and allegations of corruption are fuelling an unholy battle for the leadership of Thai Buddhism.
Religion is becoming a proxy war for the color-coded politics that Thailand's junta has quashed since taking power in 2014 in a bid to end a decade of political violence.
The frontrunner for Supreme Patriarch, head of the country's 300,000 monks, is a 90-year-old abbot who is under investigation for a tax scam involving luxury cars.
He has ties with the wealthy Dhammakaya Temple, which is dogged by a scandal of its own and which some devotees claim is a power base for ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his red-shirted supporters.
Leading the campaign against him is a firebrand monk best known for his part in street protests backed by the royalist military elite who revile Thaksin and helped usher in the junta. Full story...
Related posts:
Religion is becoming a proxy war for the color-coded politics that Thailand's junta has quashed since taking power in 2014 in a bid to end a decade of political violence.
The frontrunner for Supreme Patriarch, head of the country's 300,000 monks, is a 90-year-old abbot who is under investigation for a tax scam involving luxury cars.
He has ties with the wealthy Dhammakaya Temple, which is dogged by a scandal of its own and which some devotees claim is a power base for ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his red-shirted supporters.
Leading the campaign against him is a firebrand monk best known for his part in street protests backed by the royalist military elite who revile Thaksin and helped usher in the junta. Full story...
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