The United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) -- the red-shirt movement -- has until recently been keeping a safe distance from the controversies surrounding Phra Dhammachayo, the abbot of Wat Dhammakaya, who is under intense pressure by groups known to oppose former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to be defrocked.
On Saturday, however, Weng Tochirakarn, a core member of the UDD, broke the long silence of the red-shirt movement by jumping to the side of the embattled monk as well as defending the Sangha Supreme Council (SSC) headed by Somdet Phra Mahamangalacharn, or Somdet Chuang, the acting supreme patriarch and abbot of Wat Paknam Phasicharoen.
Dr Weng addressed those who are opposed to Phra Dhammachayo -- among them are activist monk Phra Buddha Isara, abbot of Wat Or Noi in Nakhon Pathom, and Paiboon Nititawan, a former member of the National Reform Council. He demanded they respect the SSC's latest ruling last week which said there was no legal ground to defrock the abbot of Wat Dhammakaya because the civil and criminal cases against him are concluded.
Dr Weng also suggested those opposed to Phra Dhammachayo, who is accused of distorting the Lord Buddha's teachings and is charged with embezzlement, should also take action against the Santi Asoke cult whose leader Phra Bhodirak was expelled and defrocked by order of the SSC.
The UDD core leader then turned his guns on Phra Buddha Isra, citing the activist monk's role in leading the seizure of the government complex at Chaeng Wattana during the anti-Yingluck government protests by the People's Democratic Reform Committee two years ago, and his role in sending paper flowers used in funeral rites to Somdet Chuang.
It should be noted that Dr Weng came to the defence of Wat Dhammakaya and its abbot in his Facebook page on Feb 25, 2014. He wrote at that time that Wat Dhammakaya was a key political supporter of the UDD and Thaksin.
But Dr Weng might not be quite on track in equating Santi Asoke with Wat Dhammakaya on the basis that both are accused of distorting the Lord Buddha's teachings.
The difference between Santi Asoke and Wat Dhammakaya is an ocean apart and they cannot be compared. Santi Asoke preaches and practices the principle of boonniyom -- humbleness, simplicity and the sufficiency economy, and non-profit trade practices. Conversely, Dhammakaya focuses on grandiosity, pomp and materialism, as is evident in its extraordinary mass ordinations, the huge flying saucer-shaped temple building, grand ceremonies and mass pilgrimages by several hundred monks walking on a red carpet covered with flower petals through busy streets causing kilometre-long traffic jams.
While Phra Bhodirak was accused of defying the SSC and not following monastic regulations, Phra Dhammachayo is charged with embezzling more than 900 million baht worth of land donated to the temple by faithful followers. He is now being investigated by the Department of Special Investigation for receiving hundreds of millions of baht in cheques from the Klongchan Credit Union Cooperative even though there is no debt obligation between the two.
Santi Asoke was a key supporter of the PDRC protests against the Yingluck government. Its followers supplied food for the protesters at the protest sites.
Given the aforementioned background and the involvement of several players of different political camps, Phra Dhammachayo's affairs are more than meets the eye, and they cannot be viewed in a singular dimension.
The situation can also be seen in the context of a persistent power struggle, with Phra Dhammachayo and perhaps Somdet Chuang as pawns caught in the middle of two political opposing forces for political and monastic dominance.
That is why the national reconciliation that we all cherish remains a distant dream.
Veera Prateepchaikul is a former editor, Bangkok Post.