NO POLITICS FOR BUDDHIST MONKS

2014-02-26 Executive Sangha Council of the Amarapura Sirisaddhammawansa Maha Nikaya has decided to ban all monks belonging to the Chapter from engaging in any kind of active politics or election related matters. he decision was taken at a council meeting held last evening !"#$ in %alapitiya under the patronge of the Maha Nayaka thero of the chapter. Accordingly& member monks of the Chapter will be compelled to refrain from attending political rallies& taking part in protests& sathyagrahas or other demonstrations& and any other activity that would lead to clashes with the police& without obtaining prior approval from the Chapter. 'etails

In Cambodia, monks get political after unpopular elections

A leading monk says rippling discontent about allegedly corrupt elections means "both the monks and the people are waking up now."

October 8, 2013 08 2! PHNOM PENH, Cambodia During Pchum Ben, a Cambodian religious
ENLARGE Seim Sovanny addresses supporters of the Cambodia National Rescue Party in Freedom Park on October 6, 2013 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Cambodian Opposition party supporters gathered to petition the United Nations to intervene following disputed Cambodian elections in September that lead to days of protests. (Nicolas Axelrod/Getty Images)

holiday that came to a close last week, enerable !eo "omaly got u# be$ore dawn% By & a%m% each day, the '()year)old monk was dressed in his sa$$ron robe and chanting #rayers% Not long a$ter, with the sun still hanging low in the sky, he was ready to talk #olitics% "omaly is #art o$ a growing but di$$icult to *uanti$y network o$ monks who are #ublicly showing their discontent with the results o$ +uly,s national elections, which many Cambodians see as dee#ly $lawed, as -oiced during an o##osition #arty congress attended by thousands here this weekend% .s someone who recei-es alms and donations, "omaly sees this dissent as his duty, e-en i$ the to#)ranking monks see it the other way around% (/e,-e been eating our #eo#le,s $ood, and now our #eo#le, our nation, is e0#eriencing in1ustice, so we can stand and hel# them,2 he said, sitting on a couch inside a #agoda near the Council o$ Ministers in Phnom Penh% (Both the monks and the #eo#le are waking u# now,2 he said% "omaly, who wears glasses and is -irtually attached to his smart#hone, detailed some o$ his recent e0#loits% 3n "e#tember, he and do4ens o$ monks showed u# outside the 5oyal Palace to #etition !ing Norodom "ihamoni to delay the o#ening o$ #arliament% He has ca1oled others to 1oin rallies -ia 6acebook, and attended, by his count, 78 #olitically oriented demonstrations% One o$ his most im#ortant roles, howe-er, has been as a sort o$ mediator $or clergy who run a$oul o$ religious and local authorities% 3n a recent case, he said, he success$ully reconciled two monks who came to blows o-er #olitics% "omaly #uts the numbers o$ like)minded monks at 7,888 in Phnom Penh, and 9,888

across the country, with networks in $our #ro-inces% Monks a$$iliated with "omaly, monks with other grou#s or acting on their own are de$ying orders $rom the u##er echelon to stay away $rom #rotests, bra-ing security $orces and risking retaliation% .mid a #olitical crisis, they are choosing sides% Buddhism in the background /hile most Cambodians $ollow :hera-ada Buddhism, and the religion has been a source o$ guidance and national identity, #olitical engagement has taken on di$$erent $orms throughout the country,s troubled history% During the 6rench #rotectorate, which lasted $rom the mid)7;th century until Cambodian inde#endence in 7;&', Buddhism and anti)colonial mo-ements in Cambodia weren,t as closely linked as in Burma and "ri <anka, according to +ohn Marston, a #ro$essor at the Center $or .sian and .$rican "tudies o$ El Colegio de M=0ico in Me0ico City% (>enerally, 3 would say, monks themsel-es were not so in-ol-ed in the ?#olitical, side o$ things2 Marston said in an email% :he e0ce#tion was the so)called @Ambrella /ar2 demonstration in the early 7;98s, when monks o#enly o##osed 6rench colonial authorities during the +a#anese occu#ation o$ the country% (O$ course,2 he added, @there is always going to be a certain im#licit connection between religion and #olitics%2 6rom 7;B& to 7;B;, under the communist !hmer 5ouge, monks were de$rocked, targeted and killed% 5eligion had no use in an agrarian state re-ol-ing around rice #roduction% :em#les were turned into utilitarian storage s#aces or #risons, and the head o$ the Buddhist community was e0ecuted% .$ter the !hmer 5ouge $ell in 7;B;, the ietnamese)backed regime that installed Hun "en as #rime minister si0 years later controlled and then culti-ated the @sangha,2 or Buddhist community% .round the time the ietnamese were #re#aring to withdrawal

in the late 7;C8s, Buddhism was made Cambodia,s o$$icial state religion% Hun "en stuck around $or a while% <ast month, his enduring, (C)year reign li-ed to see another $i-e)year term when election o$$icials $ormally announced that the Cambodian Peo#le,s Party had won DC out o$ the 7(' seats in the National .ssembly% /ith the remaining && #ositions, or almost double what it had be$ore, the newly $ormed Cambodia National 5escue Party should ha-e been celebrating% But the results didn,t di$$er $rom #reliminary numbers that trickled out on +uly (C, election nightE numbers that the CN5P had already dismissed based on allegations o$ ghost -oting, document $udging, and -oter disen$ranchisement% "ince the election, the CN5P has held a series o$ mass demonstrations% Meanwhile, negotiations with the ruling CPP #arty ha-e yielded little% On "e#tember (', the o##osition boycotted the o#ening session o$ #arliament and held their own ceremony at the 7(th)century .ngkor /at tem#le on the other side o$ the country% Monks obser-ing the im#asse had a decision to makeF take #art or stay out% 6ew would critici4e them $or remaining neutral and abo-e the #etty $ray o$ #olitics% :he to# religious leaders in the country endorsed this stance in a statement last month that $orbade attendance at demonstrations% :he message was backed by, among others, >reat "u#reme Patriarch :e# ong, who has been aligned with members o$ the ruling #arty since the early 7;C8s% Monks with o##osition leanings -iew the religious leader as little more than an e0tension o$ those in #ower% :he statement seemed to #romote a kind o$ Orwellian situation within #agodas, encouraging in$orming on others and sti#ulating that, inside #agodas, #eo#le @must coo#erate with monk o$$icers to sto# any acti-ities that are against the religious and state laws% /hen ha-ing enough e-idence o$ any uno$$icial acti-ities and cases GtheyH

must re#ort immediately to the nearest #olice o$$icers and authorities%2 Monks listened closely, but not all toed the line% (3 ha-e ne-er been #hysically attacked, but the statement or announcement $rom the #atriarch is one that threatens the monks% 3t banned the monks $rom s#eaking u# to $ind 1ustice and #eace $or the nation,2 said enerable !hoem "o#hea, ''% @.$ter that, the chie$ o$ each monastery con-enes to tell his $ollowers not to attend any rallies% 3t is a kind o$ #utting #ressure on monks% Howe-er, we still attend the demonstration because we want 1ustice, although we $eel a$raid and worried about our security%2 Engaged Buddhism, 3an Harris, a historian o$ Cambodian Buddhism, wrote in a (887 #a#er that as the ietnamese #re##ed to de#art Cambodia in 7;C;, @Hun "en a#ologi4ed $or earlier ?mistakes, in the treatment o$ Buddhism and cons#icuous acts o$ Buddhist #iety by #arty dignitaries started to be widely re#orted%2 3t was around this time that one o$ Cambodia,s most $amous #ro#onents o$ @engaged Buddhism,2 Maha >hosananda, who died in (88B, began to lead annual #eace marches across the country% Dubbed @Cambodia,s >andhi2 by the media and @Buddha o$ the Battle$ields2 in a biogra#hy, >hosananda walked against war, landmines and other scourges% He was nominated $or the Nobel Peace Pri4e $or his work% But historians say that the AN)backed elections in 7;;', when monks were granted the -ote $or the $irst time, created a new sort o$ #olitici4ation% <ike many noble ideas outlined in the AN blue#rint $or Cambodia, su$$rage $or monks didn,t work out as #lanned, and the #roblem $lared u# e-ery $i-e years when national elections rolled around% Not long a$ter the 7;;C #oll, security $orces brutally cracked down on a demonstration

o$ monks%3n the ne0t election year, (88', "am Bunthoeun, a well)known Buddhist $igure, was gunned down outside /at <angka in Phnom Penh% :he case is still unsol-ed% +ust be$ore the (88' elections, the religious authorities stri##ed monks o$ their -oting rights% But ahead o$ the (88C #oll, they withdrew the order% :his $li#)$lo##ing caused some con$usion% ("trangely, we are allowed to -ote, but banned $rom e-en attending the non)-iolent rallies,2 said enerable Iuth :hearin, (&% :his year,s election wasn,t a smooth one $or :hearin% He says he was blocked $rom -oting on election day because o$ a bureaucratic screw)u# in which his gender was listed on o$$icial #olling station $orms as @$emale%2 :hearin also claims that, in +uly, when the chie$ monk at his #agoda on the outskirts o$ Phnom Penh learned o$ his su##ort $or the o##osition #arty, he kicked him out% (3 am -ery u#set and $urious% Pagodas are built $or monks to stay regardless o$ #olitical tendency% 3 was $orced to lea-e at night, but 3 locked my room and stayed inside and 3 le$t the ne0t morning, otherwise my chie$ monk would call the #olice to arrest me,2 said :hearin, who was cooling down with $amily o-er the Pchum Ben holiday% (6or the ne0t election, we will attend any demonstrations or rallies i$ there are irregularities like this time again,2 he said% .t least one monk has gone to e0tremes to send a message% :owards the end o$ a three) day, o##osition #arty demonstration in mid)"e#tember, a man identi$ied as enerable "ok "yna took the stage and attem#ted to light himsel$ on $ire, but was thwarted by security and other monks in the -icinity, according to re#orts%

.cts like these stand out% But it,s di$$icult to say how much in$luence they,ll ha-e on the bigger #icture% Nearly hal$ o$ Cambodia,s National .ssembly is still re$using to be #art o$ the go-ernment% 3n any e-ent, the monks are causing a stir within the sangha, and re-i-ing the debate about how large a role they should #lay in #olitics% 6or "omaly, who on /ednesday morning was about to lea-e his #agoda to hel# settle yet another #olitical dis#ute, the *uestion is an easy one% (3t is not ?should%, Monks ?must, be in #olitics% Buddha was the $ather o$ democracy,2 he said% @/hy shouldn,t monks, Buddha,s $ollowers, 1oin inJ2