Thai charter drafters reject Buddhism as national religion

Protesting Buddhist monks and civilians help push a giant urn to block the entrance to Thai parliament in Bangkok, Thailand on Friday. The constitution drafting assembly voted Friday 66 to 19 against recognizing Buddhism as the national religion. AP

BANGKOK, Saturday (AFP) -Thailand's constitution writers have rejected a plea to name Buddhism as the national religion, a drafter said today, despite protests and hunger strikes by campaigning monks. The Constitution Drafting Assembly (CDA), appointed by the junta that seized power last year, on Friday voted 66-19 not to include Buddhism in the new charter, which replaces a 1997 version torn up by the coup leaders.

“Religion is a very sensitive issue, which has never before been mentioned in the constitution, so we are afraid that it will be divisive,” said Wuthichart Kalayanamitra, a CDA member. About 95 percent of Thais are Buddhist, but critics of the proposal had warned that naming a national religion could inflame tensions in the Muslim-majority south, where a separatist insurgency has raged for three years.

Buddhist monks had campaigned fiercely for its inclusion, with 3,000 rallying outside the Thai parliament earlier this month. A similar protest in April saw the monks bring nine elephants marching through the streets of Bangkok. Five saffron-clad monks on hunger strike also spent more than a week in June lying in open coffins outside the national parliament building.

Buddhist activists reacted angrily to the CDA decision, with a group of monks on Friday tipping over a huge replica alms bowl outside parliament. Thongchai Kua-sakul, chairman of the Buddhist Network of Thailand, said that members had called off their protests, but warned that they would now campaign against the charter, which goes to a referendum on August 19.

He said Buddhist organisations would campaign at 30,000 temples throughout Thailand and urge people to vote 'no' in the kingdom's first ever referendum.“We will campaign vigorously,” he told AFP.