Mahidol University has condemned its human rights institute for demanding the junta cease its use of Article 44. The demand came after a worshipper of the Dhammakaya sect committed suicide to protest the junta’s ongoing harassment of the temple.
On 25 February, Mahidol University's Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies (IHRP) published a statement in response to the suicide of Anawat Thanacharoennat, a Dhammakaya worshipper who hung himself to death to protest the junta’s use of Article 44 to besiege Wat Dhammakaya.
The statement urges the junta to immediately abolish the use of Article 44, the article in Thailand’s interim constitution that grants the junta absolute power.
The IHRP states that the junta has used its absolute power in an arbitrary manner, ranging from dismissing government officials, controlling local administration, to seizing Wat Dhammakaya. The institute sees such usage of Article 44 as the junta’s attempt to violate the rule of law.
“The use of Article 44 of the 2014 Interim Charter...is an authoritarian power and a violation of the rule of law. Although the use of the Article is constitutional, it lacks checks and balances and legal legitimacy,” read the statement.
The day after however, Mahidol University (MU) published a statement denying involvement with the IHRP.
The statement condemns the institute for using its academic freedom to defame the university. MU urges the IHRP to cease their campaign and also confirmed it will appoint a committee to investigate whether the IHRP statement violates the university’s disciplinary regulations.
Since 15 February the junta, by invoking Article 44, has declared Dhammakaya temple a “controlled zone”, granting security officers the authority to search buildings, make arrests and cut off water or electricity supplies as they see fit.
The order facilitates an attempt to arrest Dhammachayo, the spiritual leader of the Dhammakaya sect. He is alleged to have accepted more than a billion baht in donations from the president of a credit union who is now in prison for embezzlement.
Dhammakaya monks and worshipers pray for Anawat Thanacharoennat. The banner reads “he dies because Article 44 harasses Buddhism. The NCPO must be responsible. Pray for the Buddhist martyr.” (Photo from Khaosod English)