Bangkok (AsiaNews) - The majority party in Thailand, the People's Power Party, has chosen Somchai Wongsawat as its candidate for prime minister, an office he has occupied on an interim basis since last week, following the resignation of Samak Shinawatra. Somchai, a brother-in-law of exiled former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, received the comprehensive support of his party (the PPP, in the majority in the country), but will have a hard time pacifying the mounting protests against former prime minister Samak. Samak has been accused of being a "puppet in the hands of Thaksin"; the candidate to succeed him, being a relative of the former prime minister in voluntary exile in London to avoid corruption charges, certainly cannot guarantee greater "independence and credibility" in the eyes of the opposition and of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD). The election of the new prime minister should take place by the end of this week.
In a shifting political context, the Buddhists of Thailand have taken a position for the first time. In the past, they had always maintained a position of detachment toward the country's institutions. But last week, representatives of the Dharma Forces, a religious group connected to the Santi-Asoak movement, joined the protests by the PAD. The group's leader explains the reasons for joining the popular protests: "The teachings of the Buddha call upon us to act for the good of our neighbor", says the hermit monk Phra Bhothirak, "and the same criterion is true in political life, which consists of working on behalf of the people. The value of democracy is close to our hearts, its power is entrusted to the people and exercised in its name, so there should be no astonishment over our decision", which has nothing to do with the separation between the religious sphere and political life. He emphasizes that their action is strictly connected to the values of "peace, of calm", and the role of the monks could become an essential component for bringing back harmony and "resolving the conflict". "The Santi-Asoak movement", the Buddhist leader says, "supports the claims of the PAD, and upholds its political action".
In order to dispel any doubt over possible secondary aims in the Buddhist movement's activism, Phra Bhothirak cites the sacred scriptures in which the Buddha calls upon his disciples to "lead a spiritual life, one detached from material goods", in order to put an end to "suffering" and reach enlightenment. He asks in this regard whether it is more just to "stay in the temples", or to come out into the open and "demand the ideal of justice and well-being for all citizens. This is not a question of winning or losing a political contest", the monk concludes, "but of giving a decisive impulse to the development of the nation".