The aura of invincibility of Thailand’s National Council for Peace and Order, a euphemism for what is in fact a junta, was somewhat shattered on May 24 when a firebrand monk, Phra Buddha Issara, the junta’s close ally, was arrested belatedly by police commandos from the Crime Suppression Division in the wee hours of the morning of May 24 and was subsequently defrocked.
This is a country where arrests of friends can have an ominous meaning. The monk is known for his notoriety in terrorizing and ‘shutting down’ Bangkok during 2013-2014 as a prelude to the military coup that brought down the Yingluck Shinawatra government and ushered in the current Prayuth model.
During Buddha Issara’s reign of terror, the Thai public was greeted by images and news coverage on television screens depicting the activist monk commanding a gun-wielding mob on a rampage in Bangkok, closing main highways, extorting money, torturing undercover police, obstructing elections and harassing government officials and the people who stood on his way.
Not surprisingly, the charges leveled against the monk are open-ended, some of which are extortion of money, stealing firearms and counterfeiting a royal emblem, which can carry a jail term of 20 years.
Continue reading: Asia Sentinel
Zashnain Zainal 