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Thailand bans film over depictions of Buddhist monks

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Buddhist body says Arbat could destroy the religion with its intimate scenes and depiction of monk taking drugs.

Buddhist monks, traditionally revered in Thailand, have been rocked by a number of scandals [EPA]

Buddhist monks, traditionally revered in Thailand, have been rocked by a number of scandals [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

A Thai horror film about Buddhist monks has been banned over fears it could “destroy” the kingdom’s majority faith, authorities say.

The culture ministry on Tuesday objected to certain parts of the film Arbat, including a kissing scene and one where a monk is shown taking drugs.

The clergy have long been revered in overwhelmingly Buddhist Thailand but in recent years have been rocked by scandals, including gambling and prostitution, as well as corruption at the increasingly wealthy temples propped by donations from the faithful.

“The movie has some scenes that will destroy Buddhism. If it is shown, people’s faith in Buddhism will deteriorate,” Somchai Surachatri, spokesman for Thailand’s National Office of Buddhism, told AFP news agency.

His office sits on the censorship committee at the culture ministry.

On Tuesday the film’s producer Sahamongkol Film International said it was “preparing to adjust some parts of the movie” before resubmitting it for consideration.

“We will try to maintain the essence and plot of the story as far as we can,” it said in a Facebook post.

Arbat, which translates from Thai as “violations committed by monks”, was scheduled for nationwide release on Thursday.

Corruption scandal

Thailand’s monks have come under increasing fire for their embrace of commercialism in recent years.

In April the Dhammakaya temple, one of the richest in the kingdom, returned about $20m given by a company executive later accused of embezzling the cash.

Donations have long formed the bedrock of Thai Buddhism.

Every morning barefooted monks make alms rounds in their local neighbourhoods while many devotees “make merit” by gifting money to temples.

The case of notoriously flashy monk, Wiraphol Sukphol, taking selfies while flying in a private jet triggered particular outrage.

Other embarrassing incidents in recent months include a monk arrested for multiple sexual assaults, clergy dressed in civilian clothes drinking alcohol and crashing a car, and monks, who are expected to be celibate, having girlfriends.

Thai blast probe: 2 Indians picked up by police released

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blast Thailand

Bangkok: The two Indians picked up by Thai police were released today after authorities found everything in order following their interrogation in connection with the country’s deadliest blast at a temple that killed 20 people.

The two men, whose names were withheld, had valid work permits and were legal, sources told PTI.

“Everything was found in order by the authorities,” they said. The two men were taken into custody on Sunday night after they were seen on CCTV talking to a foreign suspect wanted in Thailand’s deadliest bombing at the Brahma shrine here which killed 20 people and injured more than 100 others.

The sources said that no charges were made against the two men who were picked up by police as part of due diligence for questioning as they lived in the room next to one where police had found bomb-making materials.

Indian security agencies had also checked the background of two men who belong to Jammu and Kashmir and Karnataka.

So far Bangkok police has issued arrest warrants have been issued for 12 suspects. Two have been arrested, both foreigners, one carrying a Chinese passport.

A combined force of police and army officers on Sunday raided several apartment buildings and rental houses in the Nimit Mai area of Min Buri district.

Col Wattana Yichin, deputy commander of the Metropolitan Police overseeing Minburi police station, said the raid was part of crime suppression measures as many foreigners rent apartments and houses in the area.

A suspect who was arrested near the Cambodia border identified as Yusufu Meralli told military interrogators he had assembled the bomb for the actual bomber, who is yet to be nabbed.

The first man arrested, Adem Karadak, also known as Bilal Mohammed, has been remanded from military custody to prison.

Meralli, 25, identified the mastermind of the attack only as Izaan. He said Izaan commanded the operation by using WhatsApp chat application.

Meralli testified that Izaan left Thailand via Suvarnabhumi International Airport on August 16, a day before the bombing, for China and then headed to Bangladesh.

(PTI)

Two Indians taken into custody in Thai bombing case

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blast Thailand

Bangkok: Two Indians have been taken into custody for questioning by Thai police after they were seen on CCTVs talking to a foreign suspect wanted in Thailand’s deadliest bombing at a Brahma temple here, a media report said today.

The two Indians have been taken to a military camp for questioning, Nation quoted police as saying.

“Nothing is really known so far about the Indians and it is not clear what the questioning is about,” sources told PTI.

The two Indians, whose names were withheld, were taken away for questioning after Assistant Police Commissioner General Prawut Thawornsiri led 20 police and troops to search the Maimuna Garden Home apartment in Minburi at 9 pm last night.

The two Indians were staying in the room next to the one where police found bomb making materials, Nation said.

A foreigner who lived at the room and a Thai woman who rented the room for him are now wanted in the case.

Thai police is closely combing areas in search of people behind the August 17 bomb blast at the popular Erawan Brahma Shrine which killed 20 people and injured more than 100 others.

A combined force of police and army officers yesterday raided several apartment buildings and rented houses in Min Buri district.

Coloner Wattana Yichin, deputy commander of the Metropolitan Police overseeing Min Buri police station, said the raid was part of crime suppression measures as many foreigners rent apartments and houses in the area.

Police so far have issued arrest warrants for ten suspects in connection with the case.

Two foreign suspects have been arrested. One of them was carrying a Chinese passport.

Meanwhile, a suspect who was arrested near the Cambodia border identified as Yusufu Meralli, told military interrogators he assembled the bomb for the actual bomber, who is yet to be nabbed.

The first man arrested, Adem Karadak, also known as Bilal Mohammed, has been shifted from military custody to prison.

Meralli admitted he assembled the bomb before handing it to a yellow-shirted suspect who was seen on CCTV at the shrine leaving behind a backpack which would have had the explosive device.

Mieraili had told the military that he was asked to assemble the bomb, he did not elaborate on who told him to make the explosive, Bangkok Post quoted police sources as saying.

Mieraili claimed he had never met the yellow-shirted suspect before.

Mieraili was carrying a Chinese passport which mentioned his place of birth as China’s western region of Xinjiang, but it is not known if it was forged.

(PTI)

Thailand: Main suspect arrested over deadly shrine bomb

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Thai prime minister says foreign man was arrested at checkpoint on Cambodian border in connection with Bangkok attack.

The blast at the Erawan shrine killed 20 people, mainly Chinese tourists [AP]

The blast at the Erawan shrine killed 20 people, mainly Chinese tourists [AP]

by Al Jazeera

Thailand’s prime minister has announced that a second foreign man has been arrested at a checkpoint on the Cambodian border on suspicion of involvement in last month’s deadly shrine bombing.

The announcement on Tuesday was the second confirmed arrest in connection with the August 17 blast that tore through a religious shrine in downtown Bangkok and killed 20 people.

The suspect is being flown back to Bangkok from the border by helicopter.

Prayuth Chan-ocha, who also heads the nation’s military government, was asked by reporters to comment on rumours a man had been arrested.

“He has been arrested at Sa Kaeo checkpoint,” Prayuth told reporters, referring to the Thai side of the border, adding: “He is a main suspect and a foreigner.”

The motive for the blast, Thailand’s worst single mass-casualty attack remains shrouded in mystery.

Alternating suspicion

Suspicion has alternated between Thailand’s bitter political rivals, organised criminal gangs, rebels in the kingdom’s strife-torn south and sympathisers of refugees from China’s Uighur minority.

In July, Thailand deported 109 Uighurs to China, enraging supporters of the minority who allege they face torture and repression back home.

Thai officials have also issued a warrant for a 26-year-old Thai Muslim woman called Wanna Suansan.

Those killed by the blast at the Erawan shrine were mainly ethnic-Chinese tourists from around the region.

Thai police: Bangkok bomber did not act alone

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Erawan shrine reopens as police release sketch of man suspected to be behind attack that left 20 people dead.

Bangkokbombing

by Al Jazeera

Thai police have released a sketch of the main suspect in a deadly bombing that killed at least 20 people in the capital Bangkok, as the national police chief said the attack was carried out by “a network”.

Police chief Somyot Poompanmoung said on Wednesday that the attacker did not carry out Monday’s attack by himself, without elaborating further.

He made the comment as he headed into a meeting of national police commanders, adding that he was carrying orders from the prime minister who “is worried about the security of people and tourists in Thailand”.

“He didn’t do it alone, for sure. It’s a network,” Poompanmoung told the Associated Press.

Police say two other suspects have been identified in CCTV footage of the blast site.

Officials various times said that they did not rule out any group, including elements opposed to the military government, though they said it did not match the tactics of Muslim fighters in the south or “red shirt” supporters of the previous administration.

Foreigners dead

The sketch released shows a fair-skinned man with thick, medium-length black hair, a wispy beard and black glasses. It is unclear whether the man was Thai or a foreigner.

The attack left at least 11 foreigners dead, with Chinese, Singaporeans, Indonesians and a family from Malaysia among the victims.

More than 100 other people were wounded by the blast that shredded bodies at one of the city’s busiest intersections.

On Tuesday, the police released grainy closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage of a young man wearing a yellow t-shirt.

Police say the sketch could help locate the yellow-shirted man seen in the CCTV footage. A 1 million baht ($28,000) reward has been offered to anyone who can give police information leading to his arrest.

Police also said they would take the sketch to a court and ask that an arrest warrant be issued for a man matching the description.

Shrine reopened

On Wednesday, Buddhist monks led prayers for the reopening of a Bangkok shrine located in busy Ratchaprasong commercial district.

A small explosion on Tuesday by a bridge at the city’s Chao Praya River has been tied to Monday’s bomb.

Colonel Kamthorn Ouicharoen, of the Thai bomb squad police, confirmed the bridge bomb was the same type as the one detonated at the Erawan shrine.

Thailand has experienced a near-decade long political crisis that has seen endless rounds of street violence, but never anything on the scale of Monday’s bomb.

Al Jazeera’s Scott Heidler, reporting from Bangkok, said the bombings came just as tourism is rebounding in Thailand.

“The arrival numbers of the all-important Chinese market doubled for the first half of this year compared to the same period last year,” he said.

About 10,000 additional security forces have been deployed in Bangkok after the bombing, reassuring some tourists.

“At first I was shocked to hear about the blast. After assessing the situation, I think Bangkok might be safer after the bomb,” one Chinese tourist told Al Jazeera.

Bangkok bomb: Deadly blast rocks Thailand capital

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blast Thailand

by BBC

Bangkok: A bomb has exploded close to a shrine in the centre of the Thai capital, Bangkok, police say.

Local reports suggest at least 12 people have died and at least 20 more have been injured.

The BBC’s Jonathan Head, who is at the scene, says there is a huge amount of chaos, with body parts scattered everywhere.
The attack took place close to the Erawan Shrine in the capital’s central Chidlom district.

The explosion occurred at about 19:00 local time (12:00 GMT), with police saying it may have been caused by a motorcycle bomb.

‘Burnt motorbikes’

Our correspondent says this a very well known shrine in the centre of Bangkok, next to a five-star hotel.

He says people around the shrine were hit by the full force of the blast.

There are burnt motorbikes on the main road, with paramedics and police trying to take the injured away, he says.

The shrine is to the Hindu god Brahma but is also visited by thousands of Buddhists each day.

National police spokesman Lt Gen Prawut Thavornsiri told Agence France-Presse news agency: “I can confirm it was a bomb, we can’t tell which kind yet, we are checking.”

The explosion was on the Ratchaprasong intersection, which has been the centre of political demonstrations in recent years.

Our correspondent says bomb attacks in Bangkok are extremely rare.

Hundreds of Rohingya refugees rescued off Indonesian coast

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About 400 refugees saved by fishermen as SE Asian nations agree to provide temporary shelter to thousands still at sea.

Witnesses in Aceh said that many of the rescued migrants were in tears when they made it to land [Reuters]

Witnesses in Aceh said that many of the rescued migrants were in tears when they made it to land [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

About 400 refugees have been rescued by local fishermen in the Strait of Malacca, off Indonesia’s Aceh province, after their stricken boat was reportedly turned away numerous times from the Thai and Malaysian coasts by authorities.

The rescue occurred hours before the governments of Malaysia and Indonesia issued a statement saying they would “continue to provide humanitarian assistance to those 7,000 irregular migrants still at sea” and offer them temporary shelter, provided they were resettled and repatriated within a year.

Khairul Nova, a search and rescue official, said the rescue took place at 2am local time on Wednesday (19:00 GMT Tuesday) and those saved included woman and children. Those rescued were taken to Simpang Tiga village, in East Aceh district, he said.

Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen reported that the rescued boat was the same one that made international headlines last week when it was found floating off Thailand’s coast, after its captain and crew had apparently fled.

Witnesses in Aceh said that many of the rescued migrants were in tears when they made it to land, with many very sick and weak.

Migrants told Al Jazeera they had been sent away by the Thai navy on three occasions and Malaysian authorities twice.

The second time they were rebuffed by Malaysian authorities, they say they were held at gunpoint and told that their ship would be bombed if they did not turn around.

About 1,500 Muslim Rohingya from Myanmar, fleeing persecution, and Bangladeshis, seeking to escape grinding poverty, have already arrived in Aceh in recent days after being abandoned by people smugglers.

They are among several thousands who have made it to land in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand after being dumped by smugglers following the disruption of long-established human-trafficking routes.

Malaysia’s foreign minister hosted his Indonesian and Thai counterparts on Wednesday for urgent talks on the refugee crisis, with pressure mounting on them to help thousands of starving refugees.

The three nations have sparked outrage by turning away vessels overloaded with migrants.

In the statement issued after the talks, the three government agreed to “continue to uphold their responsibilities and obligations under international law”.

The statement did not say that Thailand would join Malaysia and Indonesia in providing temporary shelter to the thousands of migrants still believed to be drifting on boats in the Strait of Malacca and nearby international waters.

“[We] call upon the international community to uphold their responsibility and urgently share the burden of providing the necessary support to Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand in addressing the problem,” the statement said.

The three countries requested financial support to provide shelter to the migrants and said “the international community will take responsibility for the repatriation of the irregular migrants to their countries of origin or resettlement to third countries within … one year”.

Myanmar said on Wednesday it was “ready to provide humanitarian assistance” to refugees, in its most conciliatory comments yet.

South east Asia’s migrant boat crisis is a global responsibility

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A Thai vessel provides supplies to Rohingya migrants on an abandoned boat. EPA/STR

A Thai vessel provides supplies to Rohingya migrants on an abandoned boat. EPA/STR

by Kirsten McConnachie, The Conversation

Thousands of Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants have been left stranded at sea, after a crackdown against people traffickers in Thailand prompted dozens of boat owners and crew to abandon their human cargo.

Those at sea have been left without food and water, and will certainly die if they are not rescued soon. Now that more than 2,000 people have been rescued or arrived at their shores, Indonesian, Malaysian and Thai authorities have united in refusing to rescue further boats and claiming that they will turn back any more arrivals.

Their refusal to accept Rohingya boats mirrors the early years of the Indochina refugee crisis, when Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand collectively refused to grant asylum to arrivals from Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. After thousands of people had been pushed back by land and sea, that situation was eventually resolved with an agreement for permanent resettlement of refugees to western nations, primarily the US.

But that was a very different time, shaped by Cold War politics that are now a distant memory. Today, with the European Union showing little sympathy for boat arrivals on its own shores, a coordinated international response seems highly improbable.

Wrong answer

Thailand’s crackdown on migrant traffickers followed the discovery of a mass grave in a suspected trafficking camp in southern Thailand. But while trafficking is undoubtedly a very real risk, Rohingya migration is not only or even primarily an issue of trafficking, and pushing back boats is not the answer.

Many of those now stranded at sea are not voluntary migrants but refugees who face persecution if returned to Myanmar. As in the Mediterranean, ending boat migration in south-east Asia will require shifting the focus from smugglers and traffickers to address the drivers of forced migration. For the Rohingya, that means tackling statelessness and human rights violationsinside Myanmar, and discrimination throughout south east Asia.

This is obviously easier said than done. The crisis facing the Rohingya in Myanmar is an entrenched, intractable problem with few avenues for positive reform. Rohingya communities have been denied citizenship for decades and face draconian restrictions on travel, movement and marriage. This has been compounded recently by the cancellation of all Temporary Registration Certificates, the only identity document that most Rohingya possess, and a document required to vote in the upcoming elections.

Myanmar’s Rohingya fear for their survival. Those who have fled to Bangladesh have fared little better, with little or no access to education and health services and very restricted access to the UN and other international agencies. These conditions have forced migration to other countries: to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia but also to India, Nepal and even Saudi Arabia.

What can ASEAN do?

To stop the immediate humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in the Andaman Sea and Malacca Strait, and to develop a lasting regional solution, member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) need to step in.

Until now, ASEAN’s policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of a member state has prevented regional discussion of Rohingya statelessness and discrimination. The current crisis clearly shows that this is not a matter of Myanmar’s internal affairs but is affecting many other countries in the region. ASEAN members have a stake in resolving this situation and must cooperate in doing so.

Rohingya migrants in East Aceh, Indonesia. EPA/Hotli Simanjuntak

A meeting has been arranged in Bangkok for May 29 2015, but those at sea will certainly die if no action is taken before then. There is an urgent need to stop boat pushbacks and begin emergency rescue of those stranded.

In the longer term, the focus must be on improving the treatment of Rohingya people inside Myanmar. Full citizenship for stateless Rohingya is difficult to envisage in Myanmar’s current political climate, but there are other possibilities. ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights have outlined a number of constructive suggestions, beginning with providing a mandate to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights to investigate the situation and officially monitor Myanmar’s response.

Practical action that should be taken by Myanmar includes improving basic living conditions of Rohingya communities in Myanmar by ensuring access to clean water, adequate nutrition and health care and appropriate shelter materials. Administrative and legal reforms should end discriminatory restrictions on Rohingya people (such as restrictions on movement and marriage) and reinstate the temporary registration cards that were recently withdrawn. Crimes of discrimination and hate speech should be prosecuted, not permitted to flourish as they have until now.

A global responsibility

ASEAN member states have a key role to play, but this is not solely an ASEAN responsibility. Many states have flocked to provide aid and assistance to Myanmar since a process of political reform began in 2011. Those states are now entitled to demand some return for their investment, in the shape of an improved protection environment for the Rohingya and for other ethnic groups inside Myanmar.

In the meantime, a massive humanitarian crisis is unfolding in south east Asia. Thousands of people remain stranded at sea, and they will certainly die if they are not rescued soon. But as in the Mediterranean, tragic suffering could still be averted if those with the power to act would only show some moral leadership and begin the required rescue.

Kirsten McConnachie is a Research Fellow in Refugee Studies at University of Oxford.

The Conversation

Philippines may open doors to Rohingya migrants

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Government indicates willingness to provide welfare for boat people, after other SE Asian nations reject new migrants.

Students in Indonesia have protested the government's policy to reject further Rohingya migrants [EPA]

Students in Indonesia have protested the government’s policy to reject further Rohingya migrants [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

Manila: The Philippine government has said it is willing to open the country’s doors to minority Rohingya migrants who have fled Myanmar and Bangladesh, saying that it is committed to the United Nations pledge to protect asylum seekers and refugees.

“Let us not fall short of providing humanitarian relief and assistance that is asked of us, as we pride ourselves to be a compassionate and hospitable people,” Senator Paolo Aquino said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

“We call on the proper international agencies to process the legal issues immediately for the welfare of the boat people,” said Aquino, a cousin and political ally of President Benigno Aquino.

The statement came after Philippine Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said on Monday that the country has an obligation to admit and protect asylum seekers, even when the refugees do not have documents to prove their status.

“If there are boat people who come to us seeking the protection of our government, there is a process, there are existing mechanisms on how to handle these refugees or asylum seekers,” de Lima said in a statement.

The Philippine justice secretary’s remarks came after a spokesman of the president was earlier quoted as saying that the refugees could be turned away because they do not have the necessary documents.

The statements were issued as other Southeast Asian nations continued to reject taking in more migrants stranded on boats off Southeast Asia’s shores, despite growing international pressure.

Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia have been in high-level talks in an attempt to solve the refugee crisis after boats holding more than 2,000 migrants, including many Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshis, landed in their countries in recent weeks.

UN agencies urged the three regional powers on Tuesday to step up their sea rescue operations and let desperate migrants reach land.

In a joint statement, joined by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the agencies called on the three countries to stop trying to push boats away from their territorial waters.

Authorities should “provide for effective, predictable disembarkation to a place of safety with adequate and humane reception conditions” and establish screening procedures to identify those in need of international protection as refugees, the statement added.

The Philippines has a long history of hosting refugees from other Asian countries, and as far as Europe.

During World War II, then Philippine President Manuel Quezon ordered the admission of 1,500 Jewish refugees fleeing from the Holocaust in Europe.

Following the war and the communist victory in the civil war in China, thousands of Chinese refugees also settled in the Philippines.

In the 1970s, as Vietnam was engaged in a civil war, the Philippines also provided sanctuary to Vietnamese “boat people” building a Vietnamese village in the western island of Palawan. Most of the refugees were eventually resettled in other countries, many of them in the US.

About 900 Rohingya Muslims land in Indonesia and Thailand

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Almost 800 found in the middle of sea near Aceh province of Indonesia as Thai navy saves 106 refugees on a small island.

In recent days, about 2,000 refugees landed in Malaysia and Indonesia [Geutanyue Foundation]

In recent days, about 2,000 refugees landed in Malaysia and Indonesia [Geutanyue Foundation]

by Al Jazeera

About 900 migrants have landed on the shores of Indonesia and Thailand after being adrift at sea for weeks, authorities said.

The migrants are among the few who have successfully sneaked past a wall of resistance mounted by Southeast Asian countries who are turning them away.

Several thousand refugees from Bangladesh and Myanmar – fleeing either poverty or persecution – are believed to be adrift on boats in the Andaman Sea in what has become a spiralling humanitarian crisis, reported the Associated Press news agency.

In recent days, about 2,000 landed in Malaysia and Indonesia, but both countries then said they could not accept any more.

“What do you expect us to do?” asked Malaysian Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Jafaar on Thursday. “We have been very nice to the people who broke into our border. We have treated them humanely, but they cannot be flooding our shores like this.”

“We have to send the right message that they are not welcome here.”

Fisherman towed two boats to Indonesia’s eastern Aceh province early on Friday – one with nearly 700 people and another carrying 47, police said.

A search-and-rescue official said hundreds were being housed in a warehouse.

“The latest information we have is about 794 people were found in the middle of the sea and brought ashore by fishermen at 5am,” Khairul Nova, the official in the town of Langsa in Aceh, told the Reuters news agency by telephone.

“They are now in a warehouse by the port as a temporary arrangement.”

Police sad the larger boat was on the verge of sinking when fishermen brought it to the fishing village of Lagsa.

“Some of the people told police they were abandoned at sea for days and Malaysian authorities had already turned their boat away,” said Lieutenant Colonel Sunarya, who like many Indonesians uses only one name.

He said everyone aboard was weak from hunger and dehydrated.

About 25km south of Langsa, fisherman rescued the smaller boat carrying 47 Rohingya migrants, also dehydrated and hungry, said Aceh Tamiang police chief Dicky Sandoni. They were brought to a beach at Kuala Seruway village in Aceh’s Tamiang district.

Rohingya migrants

Separately, the Thai Navy found a group of 106 people, mostly men but including 15 women and two children, on a small island off the coast of Phang Nga province, an area known for its world-class scuba diving.

“It’s not clear how they ended up on the island,” said Prayoon Rattanasenee, the Phang Nga provincial governor. The group said they were Rohingya migrants from Myanmar.

“We are in the process of identifying if they were victims of human trafficking.”

The plight of Myanmar’s 1.3 million Rohingya has worsened recently and in the last three years more than 120,000 members of the Muslim minority, who are intensely persecuted in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, have boarded ships to flee to other countries, paying huge sums to human traffickers.

But faced with a regional crackdown on human trafficking, some captains and smugglers have abandoned their ships, leaving an estimated 6,000 refugees to fend for themselves, according to aid workers and human rights groups.

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