(AKI) - Hundreds of Buddhist monks in Thailand have been staging a sit-in outside the Thai parliament since Wednesday, with the aim of convincing the authorities to declare Buddhism the national religion in the country's new constitution, which is currently being drafted. The demand by the Buddhist monks was officially handed to the Thai prime minister, Surayud Chulanont, on Thursday.
This sit-in by the monks is the latest in a series of protests which began a few weeks ago and coincides with the writing of the first draft of the new constitution, which was deemed necessary following the coup last September in Thailand and the repeal of the 1997 constitution. Potential ammendments to the constitution have to be presented by 10 June and the Thai people will be called upon to vote for the final version in a referendum in September.
Thailand became a constitutional monarchy in 1932. Since that time, none of the 17 constitutions that followed recognised Buddhism as the official state religion, although 95 percent of the 66 million Thais are Buddhists. 'Radical' Buddhists have tried to push Thailand to be an official Buddhist state at various times, the last of which was in 1997. This call has always been rejected by the 'liberal' Buddhists and especially by the minority Muslim population that fears institutionalised discrimination. |