Featured Photo in Bangkok Post June 7, 2016

In a recently published article (7th June 2016) written about Wat Phra Dhammakaya and its Abbot, Most Venerable Dhammajayo, there were several inaccuracies that Bangkok Post tried to pass off as truths, but we will just focus on one obvious error: The photo caption

According to the Bangkok Post: “Temple leaders on Monday claimed followers of the Dhammakaya sect across the country raised money to fund purchase of rice and other food to send to the temple in Pathum Thani province in order ‘to encourage the clergy.’”

According to reality: 

Banner 1 as held up by supporters and between the two trucks reads:

The 2-Million Monks Nationwide Alms-offering 77 Provinces Throughout Thailand And the Dhammakaya Foundation, initiated by Phrathepyanmahamuni (Luang Por Dhammajayo) sends their moral support and dried food to offer to the courageous monks in the 4 southern most provinces of Thailand.

Banner 2 hung on one of the trucks:

Supporters of Luang Pu Chah Subaddho offer dried goods and necessities to the 353 Temples in the 4 southernmost provinces of Thailand, to preserve the life of Buddhism and to pay homage to the Buddha, on the occasion of Visakha Puja Day 2016 (2nd)

Banner 3 (right side):

Devotees from Pattani and Narathiwat would like to offer our sincere gratitude to Phrathepyanmahamuni (Luang Por Dhammajayo) for providing aid to us for over 10 years.

Additional photos verifying the alleged rice and other foods being sent to “the temple in Pathum Thani province in order ‘to encourage the clergy’” were actually sent to their intended destination: Narathiwat.

Accused truck arrives at intended location: Narathiwat Province. Not Wat Phra Dhammakaya, Pathum Thani, as accused.

As you can see, the truck with the license plate of ‘70-2389’ was filled with dry foods was parked in front of the Dhammakaya Foundation Headquarters. The adjacent photo shows the same truck en route to its destination as it approaches the 'Welcome to Narathiwat' sign.

Truck carrying dry foods arrives at its destination: Narathiwat Youth Training Center

Military personnel unloading dry foods at Narathiwat Youth Training Center.

Soldiers provide safety to those delivering and receiving the food that has been sent as aid for the Southern Thailand Region.

Armed military personnel, standing inside the tents filled with mounds of rice sacks and dry foods, are not there to guard the food but to ensure the safety of the people making the delivery from any dangers that may arise. The unrest in the southernmost provinces of Thailand has made it too dangerous for monks to perform the daily monastic duty of going out for their morning alms-round, or even to receive the delivery of these dry foods. To subsist, the monastic community in these regions are dependent on these dry foods. To ease their plight, the Most Venerable Dhammajayo has been sending food and requisites to this area continuously for over the past ten years.

If the article opens with a misleading photo caption, what can we say about the content in rest of the article? Should Bangkok Post post a warning in its articles to all its readers: “Please read with caution, information provided here may or may not be completely accurate”?

To the Bangkok Post: Phrathepyanmahamuni isn’t just “sick", his conditions are life threatening

Bangkok Post’s latest article about Phrathepyanmahamuni's (Most Venerable Dhammajayo) condition and request for Thailand’s Department of Special Investgation (DSI) to provide a hearing at Wat Phra Dhammakaya clearly reflect a deeply held bias they have against the 72-year old Buddhist monk and abbot.

On May 14th, 2016 at 2pm, Wat Phra Dhammakaya held a press conference led by the temple’s press team and MV Dhammajayo’s physicians. The press release regarding his condition and request to DSI can be found here.

Press conference at Wat Phra Dhammakaya on May 14th, 2016 led by the temple’s press team and MV Dhammajayo’s physicians. 

Bangkok Post’s article failed to include all pertinent facts, several of which would have been made known to them had they attended the press conference:

Medical Condition

• Let’s do a quick analysis of MV Dhammajayo’s condition: “...patient’s left lower extremity is now becoming more acutely ischemic and vascular surgeons have discussed the possibility of amputation.” What does this mean? He is at risk for LOSS of LIMB.

• His condition of, “acute deep vein thrombosis in the left lower extremity places patient at risk for an acute pulmonary embolism, which is fatal” means MV Dhammajayo is NOT just “sick” as the Bangkok Post writes, but his conditions are LIFE THREATENING. MV Dhammajayo has the right to preserve his basic human right to life.

Ven. Pasura rather than Ven. Sanitwong as incorrectly attributioned by the Bangkok Post, points to a photo of MV Dhammajayo's leg at the press conference.

• [Updated May 15, 2016] Bangkok Post writes, "Doctors who briefed the media at the temple displayed several pictures showing the symptoms affecting the monk's body, but none of them showed his face." The watermarked photo (above) taken from Bangkok Post's website clearly shows a photo displaying MV Dhammajayo's face in the top left corner of the photo display board. This is complete SLANDER and a complete disregard for the truth. 

Patient's Rights

• It is a patient’s right to elect his physician, and opt for a second opinion by a physician of his choosing. He also has the right to determine where this treatment takes place, whether in his own home or temple, or in a hospital. It is also not considered unusual for physicians to make house calls. Given the nature of MV Dhammajayo’s conditions, it is unsurprising that medical examinations took place at the temple.

• It is also a patient’s medical right to privacy to request that no photos be taken. This right is well known in the international community. And given the Bangkok Post is an English language newspaper, they should be aware of this. If DSI wants to ensure the photos and x-rays of MV Dhammajayo’s extremities do indeed belong to him, they should send their own team of medical experts. The temple already extended an invitation for DSI to bring their own team of physicians to conduct their own examination.

• DSI seemed to be aware of patient’s rights back in 2015 when they examined MV Dhammajayo at the temple. Have they forgotten? Why aren’t they able to do so this time and why hasn’t Bangkok Post questioned their refusal to do so?

• The temple offered to provide transportation to DSI officials to conduct their investigation and medical examination of MV Dhammajayo at the temple. This is a fairly generous offer. If I were Bangkok Post, I would question DSI’s motive if they were to refuse.

Physician performs medical examination of MV Dhammajayo on May 14, 2016

Abuse of Power

• Bangkok Post fails to mention that the DSI charges being brought against Ven. Dhammajayo reflect an abuse of power. The “evidence” and “charges” presented by DSI were taken from a previously opened case already under investigation. This is ILLEGAL under Civil Procedure Code Section 173(1) and Criminal Procedure Code Section 15. Why hasn’t Bangkok Post investigated this? 

• As part of the Ministry of Justice, DSI must abide by a code of ethics - which has been nearly absent from its handling of this case. They’ve bypassed all protocol unjustly and unethically, determined to bring Ven. Dhammajayo to court, including failing to send their own medical team, retracting an initial postponement allowance on April 25, and serving a third summons by posting it to the temple’s “doors”, without ensuring it reaches the hands of Ven. Dhammajayo’s representatives.

• And most importantly, the charges being brought against MV Dhammajayo are groundless. MV Dhammajayo is being accused of laundering money and receiving stolen property. The premise for money laundering, however, requires an absence of a clear money trail. This is not the case here. All funds donated to the temple were with checks, not cash, in front of a crowd of thousands and broadcast on satellite TV - all of which have already been allocated towards social works projects and construction of religious facilities. MV Dhammajayo does not handle the funds himself - the temple’s chief financial officer is fully responsible for it. And although it was not required, MV Dhammajayo’s supporters raised ~600 mil baht in an act of goodwill to help the KCUC get back on its feet - the only organization under investigation to do so. So, why is DSI continuing to target only MV Dhammajayo? And why hasn’t Bangkok Post written about this?

Responsible Journalism

• [Update as of May 15, 2016]: Bangkok Post's latest headline in the Sunday print edition (at bottom) misleads the public into believing MV Dhammajayo has "snubbed" DSI, which is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "rebuff, ignore, or spurn disdainfully." This is far from the truth as stated above, and is simply a way to prioritize sensationalization of news over facts.

• Jitchareoenkul and Laochong, authors of the article's print version write, "The monk did not say whether DSI authorities would be allowed to meet with Phra Dhammajayo directly." The temple's press team had stated at the press conference that they welcomed DSI-appointed physicians to examine MV Dhammajayo, which would certainly imply that DSI would be "allowed" to meet with the abbot in person.

• Bangkok Post’s position as a top media outlet in Thailand should be questioned. Their failure to adhere to codes for responsible journalism indicates this bias - including why Bangkok Post chose to exclude pertinent information, and why it has not investigated the practices of DSI itself. I urge readers and reporters from international outlets to exercise caution when using Bangkok Post as a source for news or your own reporting.

MV Dhammajayo has dedicated nearly 50 years to Buddhism, social works, and other projects for world peace. Full facts about the case can be found here. 

Bangkok Post [Print Edition] May 15, 2016

ABC News Slams Somdej Chuang with Bad Journalism

On March 29th 2016, ABC News published an article titled “Thailand's head monk to be summoned by police over luxury Mercedes-Benz”. Despite the fact that ABC News has a reputation of credibility, the article contains lots of inaccurate information that must be fixed before it can rightfully belong in the news section.

The journalist, Liam Cochrane, had already corrected one of the mistakes five hours after posting the article. The mistake was replacing the title “Somdej” with “Mr.,” a big no-no in the Thai and Buddhist culture. Thus, it would not be new if all the other mistakes should be corrected also.

The article lacks both the full facts and justness. This response is aimed to shed light to all this misinformation, so ABC News and Mr. Cochrane may have all the correct facts to enhance the credibility of their article.

By law, monks cannot be ‘summoned’

From the very first few paragraphs, the article has already picked a side: against Somdej Chuang. The article presents observations from only one side of the case without fully addressing the full rights and privileges of Somdej Chuang.

Let’s first discuss the rights. The article failed to mention that Somdej Chuang is a witness in this DSI case, NOT a suspect. He must be treated accordingly, not as a criminal. His decision to not speak about the subject without the presence of a lawyer is his full rights, and should be respected. It is only the DSI that “prefers” to have the witness testimonials in speech. They do not have the authority to force Somdej Chuang to give any testimony. Though, Somdej Chuang did volunteer to cooperate, but in writing through the facilitation of proper lawyers, which is easy to keep record of for both parties and is a lawful decision.

Let’s now discuss the privileges. By Thailand’s civil procedure code, monks cannot be summoned as a witness. DSI must request for affidavit. It is the Thai law that 3 types of people may not be summoned as witnesses. These people have been granted special privileges that states they may only be invited in the circumstance that they are only witness to a case:

1. Royalty

2. Monks

3. Diplomats

The act of “summoning” Somdej Chuang is both undiplomatic and against the law. General Paiboon’s statement quoted in the article that “we have to issue the arrest warrant,” is based on his own ignorance of this lawful privilege. DSI’s gift of candles and incense to Somdej Chuang does not give them the free ticket to show that kind of disrespect.

Mr. Sulak and Mr. Mano have no facts, only opinions

On the topic of the article’s attempt to jump on to the train of defaming the Dhammakaya Temple, the following must be presented.

The Dhammakaya’s embezzlement case in 1999 has been settled long ago. The abbot was found innocent. To bring up this settled case is not only unethical, but very unprofessional. The case is way too old for a throwback. #tbt? Maybe it belongs on Twitter or Instagram instead.

Even an older throwback is to give credibility to Mr. Mano, who had been removed from the temple in the 80’s.

Both Sulak and Mano as cited in this piece have never presented any evidence in their allegations against either Dhammakaya temple or any people. They made oral and unsubstantial claims toward many people but none of those statements can be supported. It must be a mistake in the ABC’s source checking system, because such a credible news channel cannot possibly consciously choose them.

Mr. Sulak’s quote, "[It's] teaching people that to be powerful is good, to have money is good, the more you spend money on the Dhammakaya you can even see the Buddha — and you can even live forever," carries absolutely no weight. The temple has never taught such ridiculous teachings. The quote was a blatant lie from Mr. Sulak. Just by making this one absolutely slandering and defaming statement is enough to complete discredit Sulak’s opinions about the temple, or even about Buddhism. How could someone comment on anything Buddhist, if he couldn’t even keep the five precepts?

*For anyone caring to know, the five precepts are the basic guidelines for all Buddhist to live by. One of them is to not tell a lie.

No proper reference to the scripture saying which teachings were wrong

The article also accuses the Dhammakaya temple for wrong teaching, while they have never attended any of the teaching sessions, but only offers a one sentence quote of the teachings.

The temple teaches the teachings of the Lord Buddha. The Tripitaka scripture has 84,000 entrances. Anyone can attend any of the teaching sessions and compare them to the entrances. However, to make such a claim that the teachings have been changed from the scripture, it requires reference to scripture. No such proper references have been made in the article by any of the “credible” people interviewed.

Political ties? Really?

Lastly, to make a link between the temple and a single political figure or party is quite weak. The temple has no political ties to Mr. Thaksin, or any political figures in Thailand. However, the temple is quite big, a fact that everyone knows. There is no denying that there are people from every walk of life attending the temple. Common sense says that some of them may be Yellow shirts, some Red shirts, some undecided; it is each person’s freedom. What ever political groups they identify with, when they are inside the temple’s premises, they are White shirts.

As juicy as the article was, ABC News and Mr. Cochrane must correct all these fallacies or move the article to the opinion section of the website. Failing to do so will only make ABC News and Mr. Cochrane less respectable.

For more information regarding this case, see "The Guardian Presents Incomplete Story Regarding Somdej Chuang."

The Guardian Presents Incomplete Story Regarding Somdej Chuang

By Patrick Chan

The Guardian posted an article “Top Thai Buddhist monk investigated over vintage Mercedes-Benz”. The majority of the article was actually quite correct. However, some of the “facts” need to be corrected, and some of the statements need to be explained more fully, incorporating the whole situation. These little errors lead the article to appear very misleading.

In Thailand, respect is a very important part of the culture. In the same way that a soldier must salute the rank, anyone who wants to address a monk with proper respect must address his monkhood and title correctly. The journalist, Oliver Holmes, did not take this in consideration and addressed the high monk as “Chuang” when it should have been “Somdej Chuang.”

General Paiboon illegally ‘summoned’ Somdej Chuang

The article quoted Paiboon Kumchaya, a justice minister who does not know the civil procedure code. His quote, “If [Somdej Chuang] doesn’t respond to the summons, we will seek an arrest warrant,” was voiced without considering the proper laws in place.

By Thailand’s civil procedure code, monks cannot be summoned as witnesses. DSI must request for affidavit. Thai law states that three types of people may not be summoned, unless they are actual suspects. These people have been granted special privileges that states they may only be invited:

1. Royalty

2. Monks

3. Diplomats

The act of “summoning” Somdej Chuang is both undiplomatic and against the law. General Paiboon’s statement quoted in the article that “[he] will seek an arrest warrant” is based on his own ignorance of this lawful privilege.

Somdej Chuang is a witness, NOT a suspect of the case

Based on this law that Somdej Chuang cannot legally be “summoned,” he does not have an obligation to comply with the invitation. General Paiboon has absolutely no reason to make the misleading and false statement that he can seek an arrest warrant. Somdej Chuang cannot legally be arrested for not responding to an illegal summons. It is also important to note that Somdej Chuang is not the suspect of the case, but only a witness.

There are over 6,000 cases of alleged illegal cars in Thailand, so why is Somdej Chuang the main target?

Somdej Chuang’s case is not the only one in Thailand. DSI has ‘exposed’ tax evasions of over 6,000 imported luxurious cars. Police Major Woranat Srilum, the director of DSI said Somdej’s gift car actually belongs in the second category of luxurious cars under 4 million baht, which has 5,000 other ars sharing the category.

To target only Somdej Chuang and allow all the category 1 cars to go uninvestigated is discrimination. It is simply his alleged ties with an unpopular sect that is leading the DSI to target him, while not spending nearly the same investigative capacity on the other cases. It raises the question: does the conflict of interest lie in the nomination of the Supreme Patriarch?

DSI carried the case in an unprofessional fashion

It isn't to say that the case should be dropped, but this is how it should have been carried:

Somdej Chuang should have been asked for a witness statement at his own convenience without being illegally summoned. If he decided to have a spokesperson, that would be his legal choice. This can all be politely and privately executed. There is no need for publicity and bigotry from both the public and the press.

According to the Customs Act section 27 bis., there must be clear evidence that tax was not paid on the car and that the owner is fully aware of it, before the owner can be brought into litigation.

The imported car was given to Somdej Chuang in Thailand. The car was already assembled by the time he received it. At no point was he in contact with the tax evasion process of the car in question, so he is innocent. He was at the end of the whole process, not the one importing the car. After receiving it, it was parked in a museum, not driven by him even once.

Meanwhile, many of the other 6,000 cars that await investigation are being driven around the streets of Thailand. It is clear that the people in charge of the investigations are definitely bigots, choosing only cases that would cause the most havoc in the society.

There are no political ties between the temple and Thaksin Shinawatra

Somdej Chuang ordained the abbot of the Dhammakaya temple - along with hundreds of other monks. Perhaps it can be said that Somdej Chuang has ties to several temples in Thailand. However, the Dhammakaya temple has no political ties to Mr. Thaksin, or any political figures in Thailand. To make such a groundless statement is a stunt to try and make a dull article juicier.

Let’s repeat this statement from another article:

“The temple is quite big, a fact that everyone knows. There is no denying that there are people from every walk of life attending the temple. Common sense says that some of them may be Yellow shirts, some Red shirts, some undecided; it is each person’s freedom. What ever political groups they identify with, when they are inside the temple’s premises, they are White shirts.”