Misbehaving monks face censure after Thai religious authorities said they had launched a 24-hour hotline for the public to report unruly acts by Buddhist bad boys.
The move follows a cascade of high-profile scandals ranging from reports of monks taking drugs and drinking, to a case last month of five defrocked abbots charged with sexually abusing boys.
The National Office of Buddhism said the idea for a hotline emerged after Thailand’s coup-maker General Prayuth Chan-ocha expressed concern over the image of Buddhism, a religion that counts an estimated 95 per cent of its 67 million population as devotees.
“We have already set up a hotline to receive complaints from people if they see anything that endangers our religion,” the office’s Napparat Benjawattananant told AFP on Wednesday.
“People can file a complaint if they see monks are involved in irreligious things, for example, if they see fake monks collecting donations,” he added.
The office said there are around 270,000 monks across the country, which counts religion as one of its key pillars.
“We don’t have enough staff to check every monk so we need to mobilise the general public,” he said, adding officials will take action immediately after receiving complaints.
A slew of scandals involving monks has tarnished the clergy’s image in recent months.
Last September authorities seized nearly THB26 million in assets, including a Porsche and a Mercedes-Benz, from Wiraphon Sukphon, formerly known as “”Luang Pu Nen Kham,”
who was defrocked for a controversial trip in a private jet and who was also accused of fathering a child by an underage girl a decade earlier.
“There have been a lot of cases regarding bad behaviour related to monks, so we just want to fix this problem,” Thai junta spokesman Werachon Sukondhapatipak said.
The hotline is 02-441-6400.
Photo: Facebook photo for Wiraphon Sukphon, formerly known Luang Pu Nen Kham
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