PHATTALUNG: Wat Na Tom temple, hitherto a landmark of the faithful in Phattalung’s Muang District, final week spawned one of those scandals which, after hitting newsstands, has elicited sighs and maybe uncharitable tittering. In this case, possibility of the latter is high: some 70 full-color photographs assist allegations by unidentified native folks that the abbot of Wat Na Tom not only engaged frequently in fornication, however had as lovers two canine and three ladies. Senior monks from the provincial Buddhist Governing Board, its Muang district counterpart, and Phattalung’s Office of the Buddhist Religion, after inspecting the photographs, announced they had been real and enjoined the press to “beware of publishing them and casting Buddhism in a bad light,” which is a legal matter underneath Thai legislation. Discount of Thailand’s Mental Health Department additionally warned towards publication of the photographs, saying they have been evidence of psychological sickness and could have evil effects on youngsters incapable of deciphering them correctly. The admonitions came too late, however, as two of the photographs had already been printed in a mass-circulation daily. The whereabouts of Wat Na Tom’s abbot weren’t reported; senior clergy urged him to resign immediately from the monkhood. The erring abbot was apparently caught fully unawares by villagers who climbed as a lot as the roof to spy on him and photograph his lurid activities. The story surfaced on the morning of June 21, when unidentified local individuals contacted reporters with pictures exhibiting one of many province’s greatest recognized and most respected monks in flagrante delicto. “People living around the temple have been aware of his activities for months,” reporters learned, “but they lacked evidence with which to eliminate his poisonous influence…Two or three women were sneaking in at evening to sleep with him, prompting local folks to climb up and spy via a crack. “They found that on nights when no women got here to sleep with him, he had sex with the canine.” “Were the images unclear or concocted, proof can be insufficient for an arrest,” Deputy Provincial Chief Abbot Pra Kru Methi Ratanakorn was quoted as saying. “But right here they are unmistakable.” “It is certainly him,” mentioned provincial Buddhist Office Director Koonapoongs Taharn-Thai. “He is quite well-known; villagers within the space have always accorded him a excessive degree of respect. We’ve long had dealings regularly; but I by no means might have guessed such evil would possibly affect a Phattalung monk!” Provincial Deputy Police Commander Pol Col Torsak Chukam Thursday ordered detectives to trace down and arrest the abbot, recognized as Phra Kru Sopit Tamapimol (phra kru denotes a senior instructing monk; the rest of the identify means “Beautiful Enlightenment comes undefiled”). The suspect is described as aged about sixty one years, having joined the monkhood in 1957. He turned abbot in 1994, and was commissioned phra kru in 2005; until fleeing he also operated a faculty instructing Buddhism on Sundays. One “fluffy-haired” white canine, and one black canine, both females, have been discovered loc