Safety plan takes flak from monk

Published on Jul 09 , 2005

http://www.komchadluek.net/

The deputy abbot of Wat Chang Hai yesterday slammed a government proposal to issue Buddhist monks with bullet-proof vests, saying the money would be better spent on other programmes.

Phra Mahacharat Uchucharo said monks wearing flak jackets would not only send the wrong message about the state of the Buddhist community, but would also violate the principles of being a monk.

Senator Kamphol Phumani said one of the main reasons for entering the monkhood was to leave behind all worldly possessions and the comforts of ordinary life.

“A monk makes a concerted decision to walk away from the life we all know and prepare for whatever the future may bring, even if that means death,” the Prachin Buri senator said.

Senator Chumphol Silpa-archa blasted the government’s plan to arm teachers in the three southernmost provinces.

He said the measure was the wrong way to counter the ongoing spate of violence, which has claimed nearly 800 lives since January last year.

“This is like turning the clock back to a primitive time,” said the Bangkok senator and former education minister.

Despite growing objections to the idea of arming government employees in the restive south, the Interior Ministry has ordered 10,000 pistols to be issued to officials assigned to the three southernmost provinces.

A source at the ministry said the handguns would be issued to non-security officials in Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat provinces.

The 9mm, 6.35mm and .38 weapons will be sold to the civil servants at a discounted price, he said, but the ministry has not yet decided how much of a discount to give.

The authorities have blamed most of the killings on Islamic insurgents looking to carve out a separate homeland.

In a related development Deputy Prime Minister Chaturon Chaisaeng arrived in Pattani yesterday to distribute Bt12 million in education funds to 970 individuals who have lost family members in the violence.

Meanwhile attacks continue in the deep South.

Yesterday suspected insurgents shot at an official police residence in Narathiwat’s Bajo district, seriously injuring an officer and his wife.

Immediately after the attack a Marine outpost in a nearby village came under siege, reportedly by the same group.

The gunfight lasted for about five minutes. The insurgents escaped by back roads, officials said.

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