American Buddhist Net

Nopporn Wong-Anan , Reuters
Published: Tuesday, July 08, 2008

BANGKOK - Thailand's top court questioned on Tuesday the legality of Bangkok's support for a Cambodian bid to list a disputed Hindu temple as a World Heritage site, giving the opposition another weapon to attack the government.

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July 7, 2008

Leaders of the separatist insurgency in southern Thailand must end the targeting of civilians in their effort to establish an independent state, Human Rights Watch said today.

...On July 4, insurgents beheaded Khan Sangthong, a 55-year-old Buddhist, in Bannang Sta district, Yala province. He was shot, burned, had nails hammered through his hands, and was beheaded. His severed head was placed on a bridge about 60 meters from his body. Over the past four years, more than 20 Buddhist Thais have been beheaded by insurgents across the southern border provinces.

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July 7, 2008
By HANNAH BEECH

...Buddhist-majority Thailand displays what may be the world's most tolerant attitude toward what locals call kathoey, loosely translated as "ladyboys." The term, which does not have an exact counterpart in English, refers to people who are born male but, as one Thai saying goes, "have a female heart." Kathoeys include everyone from occasional cross-dressers to those who have completed gender-reassignment surgery.

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By ROBERT TURNBULL
Published: July 6, 2008

SIEM REAP, Cambodia — There is no question that Angkor and its famed temples are among the world’s archaeological treasures, providing a window into the Cambodian dynasty that flourished there from the ninth century to the 15th century. But tourists who flock to the site in northwestern Cambodia say something is missing; few artifacts remain to help them imagine the customs and rituals of the ancient empire.

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July 5, 2008

YALA - SEVEN people have been killed in four separate shooting incidents in Thailand's troubled southern states, police said on Saturday.

In a drive-by shooting early on Saturday, witnesses said at least five militants in a pick-up truck opened fire on a tea shop in Yala province's Raman district, killing four villagers and wounding four others.

Nearby, in the Bannang Sata district of Yala, a 56-year-old Thai Buddhist man was shot dead and beheaded before his body was set on fire Friday, while his 28-year-old son was seriously wounded.

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For Rosana Tositrakul, righting wrongs is part of being an engaged Buddhist

Sunday June 29, 2008
BY KARNJARIYA SUKRUNG

...For [Tositrakul], practising Buddhism is not only about talking philosophy or sofa meditation; it is acts of compassion, courage and understanding to help alleviate suffering.

"Engaged Buddhism is about getting your hands and feet in the mud, putting your practice into action," she said. "Whatever comes in life, I'll take them as lessons to help me practise the path."

This means keeping her mind calm, unshaken and compassionate, despite being criticised as a "backward" and "left-wing" thinker who would drag the country down the economic road to ruin, and despite having been taken to court in several lawsuits by high-ranking officials and politicians in power. Getting death threats or having a bomb explode near her office are also part of the deal.

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June 29, 2008

A Thai court has temporarily blocked the government from supporting Cambodia's bid to have an 11th century temple near the Thai border declared a world landmark.

It ordered Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's administration to halt support for Cambodia's application to Unesco for the Preah Vihear temple to be designated a World Heritage Site.

A small amount of territory adjacent to the temple remains in dispute, and critics claim co-operation with Cambodia over the site application would jeopardise Thai claims to it.

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June 24, 2008

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Cambodia shut a border gate leading from Thailand to an 11th-century temple claimed by both nations, an official said Tuesday, as Thai protesters gathered outside and opposition politicians in Thailand's Parliament accused the prime minister of yielding sovereignty over the site.

The closure of the border crossing at the Preah Vihear temple was the latest flare-up in a long-standing dispute between Cambodia and Thailand over ownership of the area.

Preah Vihear is located on the top of a cliff in the Dangrek Mountains, about 150 miles (245 kilometers) north of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. However, it is more easily accessible from Thailand than from Cambodia.

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Thailand handles protest right

6/26/2008

...When thousands of anti-government protesters converged on Government House in Bangkok the other day, the police, reversing course, allowed the demonstrators to occupy the streets outside the complex. Asked why the cops backed down, a police spokesman said, "No one got hurt."

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Sunday, June 22, 2008

Spirits and ghosts live almost everywhere in Thailand. Most large trees are said to have a ghost or spirit living inside of it and old trees are held in particular respect. The favourite place for female ghosts to live is in a banana grove. There are many species of banana plants in Thailand, but a 'tani' banana grove is the preferred haunting place.

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Christine Dell'Amore in Kanachanaburi Province, Thailand
National Geographic News
June 20, 2008

It's the hottest part of the day at a forest monastery in western Thailand, and tourists are led by the hand, one by one, into the beating sun to pet chained tigers and smile for the camera.

Every day at this unusual "Tiger Temple," as many as 800 tourists pay 300 Thai baht (9 U.S. dollars) each for their chance to interact with the endangered big cats.

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By Jane Rochstad Lim • June 18, 2008

A secondary school in north eastern Thailand has designed a new bathroom for its growing community of transvestites.

The "transvestite toilet", designated by a human figure split into half man in blue and half female in red, has since been used since class started last month.

"I am so happy about this," student Vichai Sangsakul told Thailand's PBS news channel on Tuesday.

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By Frank G. Anderson
Published: June 18, 2008

Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Throughout the world and through the annals of history, church-state marriages were made and broken as cultures expanded and individual liberty became the calling card for reform in society. Still, that did not keep the two institutions totally separate, even in the United States – so proud of its insistence on clear-cut separation.

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2008-06-16 15:16:35 -

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a firm believer in astrology, said Monday the realignment of stars in early July will help defuse political tension that has been building as anti-government protests enter a fourth week.

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Sirikul Bunnag

The good news is that more high school graduates are furthering their studies in universities. The bad news is that some are committing suicide because they lack the money to pay the fees.

The situation is "very unexpected", said secretary-general of the Office of the Higher Education Commission (OHEC), Sumeth Yamnoon.

One of the cases which highlighted the tragedy of student suicides happened in Sing Buri on May 17.

An 18-year-old girl and a prospective student at Silpakorn University, Sukchaya Kaewsomchart, hung herself at her house. She was supposed to report to the university that day, but decided not to go, simply because her family was poor and could not afford to pay the tuition fees.

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June 12, 2008

Seven Buddhist teachers in a public school in Banang Sata district have requested for transfer out of the restive region, citing security concern, their director said.

Director of the Ban Tharnthip School in Tambon Banang Sta, Abdulloh Ja-oh, said the June 11 shooting death of a fellow teacher, Harit Sa-I, have jolted all 27 teachers and added that seven Buddhist teachers have put in for transfer.

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11 June 2008
By Ron Corben

The stream running through the village near Klity Creek in northwestern Thailand hides a terrible legacy.

Nearly 20 years ago, lead waste dumped into the creek from a mine 20 kilometers upstream began polluting the creek.

The fish perished, the village cattle - a vital source of income - fell ill and died, wiping out the villagers' savings.

Worse, the villagers soon became victims of the water's invisible danger.

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June 10, 2008

Suspected separatist rebels shot dead a senior police officer in the Muslim-majority Thai south before burning his body in front of his frantic wife, police said.

A group of militants in a pick-up truck followed sub-lieutenant Somkid Taptimsri, a 44-year-old deputy investigator in Yala province, to his father-in-law's house and shot him on Monday evening (local time), local police said.

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Ian MacKinnon in Bangkok
Friday May 30 2008

Thailand's most senior military commander yesterday refused to rule out a fresh coup, five months after elections restored democracy. Fears of a new coup have reached a pitch not seen since September 2006, when the army left its barracks and took to the streets of Bangkok to grab power, deposing the then prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra.

Concern is growing that a mass anti-government demonstration planned for today could spiral out of control and turn deadly, giving the army an excuse to step in, after police failed to quell violence at another rally last weekend. But a police decision last night to formally charge a senior minister, Jakrapob Penkair, with lèse majesté for allegedly insulting Thailand's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej may calm the tense atmosphere.

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Thursday, 29 May, 2008

TAIPEI: Taiwan police are investigating the mysterious deaths of three Thai workers in their sleep but suspect they died from eating raw meat rather than being possessed by ghosts, as their fellow workers fear, a paper said yesterday.

The three male workers died in the past month, causing fear among their fellow 400 Thai workers in the Tong Yang Group in Tainan City in southern Taiwan, some of whom suspect the trio were possessed by ghosts, the United Daily News reported.

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May 27, 2008

BANGKOK - A RADICAL sect of Buddhist monks on Tuesday joined an anti-government protest, camping out in Bangkok's historic district in a scene reminiscent of demonstrations that led to a coup two years ago.

Hundreds of members of the so-called 'Dharma Army' set up camps along with protesters who began a demonstration late on Sunday, calling on Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej to drop his plans to amend a military-backed constitution.

The 10,000 members of the Santi Asoke sect live in self-sufficient communes based on strict monastic discipline, abstaining from sex and alcohol and eating just one vegetarian meal a day.

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Sunday, May 25, 2008

Nakhonratchasima, Thailand — Former American civil rights leader Martin Luther King said, “The Negro’s great stumbling block is not the White Citizen’s Councilor or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to “order” than to justice…who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom.”

Today, in 2008, Southeast Asia is witnessing another paternalistic determination of who gets what kind of freedom in the Burmese constitutional draft referendum, as well as with the accommodating Thai government next door. Thailand clearly wishes to please Burma more than it does to promote real democracy. There are several good reasons for doing so, but none of them is conducive to freedom -- and all that it entails -- in the region.

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A one-day workshop teaches how to make a Thai delicacy and cultivate mindfulness at the same time

May 24, 2008
VASANA CHINVARAKORN

For a moment, my heart raced with anxiety. This business of scraping coconut meat from its shell was not at all simple. The monk-teacher's demonstration seemed effortless; he held the half-cut coconut and rotated it gently around a metal blade attached to a wooden bench called kratai kood maprao (coconut scraper), and slowly but steadily, soft, whitish fibre dropped into a bowl underneath. To try to imitate him, though, was a different story. I found my hands refusing to coordinate. The scraped coconut looked pitifully rough and came out in big chunks. At one stage, I even almost fell off the so-called "scraper rabbit". Hmm ... that would have been laughable - to fail the class when it had barely begun.

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Saturday May 24, 2008

Every time there is a new minister of interior, prominent members of the cockfighting groups will deploy their political and financial influence to seek amendments to the laws for the benefit of their cause, with no regard to the damage inflicted on society.

It is a known fact that cockfights are directly linked to gambling and encourage criminal behaviour. These include violence between gamblers, illegal loan sharks, robbery, conspiracies and related crime syndicates. Thus cockfighting is considered a threat to the moral fibre of society.

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