Parties silent on temple corruption

The monk scandals that shocked Thailand in 2025 are not the result of moral lapses among clerics.

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They are the outcome of decades of governance failure. Addressing them requires political solutions. As the country prepares to form a new government in the coming months, there is hope for policy, not religious excuses.Last year will not be fondly remembered by Buddhists. From the “femme fatale” blackmail case that led to mass defrockings, to the Wat Rai Khing embezzlement scandal involving hundreds of millions of baht, to the fall of the once-revered abbot of the Wat Phra Bat Nampu hospice, the pattern is clear. These were not isolated lapses of personal morality. They were failures of governance.

The problem is not monks and women. It is monks and money. Under the current Sangha law, abbots hold near-absolute control over temple finances and assets. Donations flow in with little — if any — scrutiny.

Temples are not small charities. Fifteen years ago, annual donations were already estimated at more than 100 billion baht. That figure is almost certainly higher today. Yet transparency remains optional, and accountability rare. When scandals erupt, the public is told to see them as personal failings. That explanation no longer convinces.

As the Feb 8 election nears, political silence on temple corruption is striking. Parties offer detailed plans to clean up corruption in government bureaucracy and the business sector. On temples, they say nothing at all.