Stop attacks on
bhikkhuni
Bangkok Post editorial
19 Apr 2016
It is disappointing that police are dragging
their feet over the investigation of arson at the monastery in
Rayong's Muang district where female Buddhist monks live. Police
and other authorities cannot allow this horrendous crime to go
unpunished. This is not a case of culture, and does not in any way
involve religion. Suspects already have been identified. Any
further dragging of feet by security officials would be a clear
case of malfeasance.
The background of the crime is also clear.
Female monks at the International Women's Meditation Centre have
been harassed for some time. In addition to teaching meditation and
dhamma, it ordains female monks. This has angered some people.
Ignoring the Buddha's teaching of moderation and cool temper, they
have sought to arouse hatred in the surrounding community, and have
intimidated the women at the centre.
More than two weeks ago, on April 3, one or
more people jumped over the centre's fence and set fire to a
dormitory. The afternoon blaze spread quickly and burnt everything
inside -- beds, furniture, personal belongings and more. For two
weeks, police did nothing, despite clear testimony by the centre's
residents.
The abbess at the centre is a US national,
Bhikkhuni Lee. She has told police, and now this newspaper, what
she believes happened, and why. The violence began on March 9, when
a group of seven men, possibly drunk, stood outside the centre's
gates and yelled threats. They said that because the centre was
ordaining women as monks, they intended to burn down the temple in
the compound.
Four days later, Bhikkhuni Lee received two
consecutive death threats from an anonymous user who connected to
her Line account. At night, women in the compound saw men with guns
on the roof of the centre's buildings. The next day they found the
CCTV equipment was destroyed.
On
April 2, a group of 50 Thai women including female monks left for
Taiwan. Bhikkhuni Lee arranged the trip as part of awards for those
the centre called Outstanding Women in Buddhism. With the main
group gone, the US monk believes, men opposed to the centre got
enough false courage to invade and set it alight. She calls the men
"mafia" and says they have made it clear they intend to harass the
centre because of the female ordinations.
The violence at the Rayong centre raises two
unacceptable issues. The first is that police did nothing to
protect the centre during the sustained campaign of threats and
intimidation by known and unknown men. The second is the
lackadaisical response to the arson attack. It takes effort for a
provincial police force to be as unresponsive as the Rayong
authorities have been since March 9, when the possibly drunken men
first assaulted the monks and others.
Superior authorities must step in and respond
to this violence quickly, professionally and responsibly. As
Bhikkhuni Lee said to a reporter last week, this is not just a
Rayong problem. It is a national one. Certain male monks have
attacked the concept of female ordination, attempting -- too often
with success -- to whip up anti-female feelings over the claim that
women who seek change and reform must be met with
violence.
For police and other security officials
including the country's top law enforcement general, no religious
test applies. Violence by anyone, for any reason, is illegal and
must be prevented, punished or both. Police and all decent citizens
must recognise there is no religious justification for these
actions. Those stirring up hatred and suggesting or calling for
violence against women must be exposed and properly dealt
with.