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DE RUEHCHI #0152/01 2580429
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 150429Z SEP 06
FM AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0272
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK PRIORITY 0544
RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI PRIORITY 0308

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CHIANG MAI 000152 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  9/15/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM TH
SUBJECT: INVESTIGATION STALLED ONE YEAR AFTER MURDER OF ACTIVIST 
MONK 
 
REF: (05) CHIANG MAI 166  (MONK'S MURDER SEEN AS ATTEMPT TO SILENCE ACTIVISM) 
 
CHIANG MAI 00000152  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Beatrice Camp , Consul General, Consulate Chiang 
Mai, State. 
REASON: 1.4 (d) 
 
¶1.  (C)  Summary:   The 2005 murder of activist monk Phra Suphot 
Suwacho in Chiang Mai's Fang district remains unsolved, drawing 
comparisons with the fate of two other prominent Thai human 
rights activists.  The stalled investigation has raised doubts 
about the government's commitment to resolving the case and 
curbed some political and social action in northern Thailand. 
End summary 
 
¶2.  (U)    Phra Suphot Suwacho, a Buddhist monk whose activities 
put him in conflict with a variety of agri-business and Thai Rak 
Thai (TRT) party interests, was stabbed to death June 17, 2005 
in the woods surrounding Mettatham Buddhist Temple in Fang 
district, Chiang Mai province.   His colleague, Phra Kittisak 
Kitisophano, now leads the effort to push authorities to solve 
the murder, which he believes was politically motivated. 
Newspaper accounts have linked the lack of resolution in Phra 
Suphot's case to two other unsolved cases: the disappearance of 
Bangkok human rights attorney Somchai Nilapaichit and the 
assassination of Prachuap Khirikhan activist Charoen Wat-aksorn. 
 
 
DOUBTS OVER OFFICIAL HANDLING 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (C)  During a July visit by the Consul General to the 
Mettatham Buddhist Temple in Fang district, Phra Kittisak 
expressed his disappointment over the official handling of the 
case.  Transfer of the case in July 2005 from the local police 
to the Minister of Justice's Department of Special 
Investigations (DSI) initially sparked hope that arrests would 
result.   However, the subsequent failure of DSI to go beyond 
the initial police investigation led Phra Kittisak to doubt 
whether the authorities were truly interested in resolving the 
murder. 
 
 ¶4.  (C)    Unhappy over the slow pace of investigation, Phra 
Kittisak, together with representatives from the Lawyer's 
Council of Thailand, the National Human Rights Commission and 
Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Watch, in July 2006 asked 
that the DSI release its findings.   The DSI subsequently 
invited Phra Kittisak to two meetings in August in which he 
criticized the DSI's pursuit of a wide range of possible 
motives; he argued that the political role of the monks from 
Mettatham Temple and land encroachment by major agricultural 
interests are inter-connected and that the investigation should 
focus on finding "a ring" of those intent on intimidating the 
monks. 
 
¶5.  (C)    According to an account he gave Consulate staff about 
the meetings with DSI, Phra Kittisak insisted that the 
investigation should probe the possible involvement of Fang TRT 
MP Santi Tansuhat:   "While they seemed to admit that the 
assault on Phra Suphot could be premeditated, they did not want 
to talk about the mastermind of the plot. They have so far 
ignored my request that MP Santi be summoned for questioning." 
 
¶6.   (C)   Phra Kittisak, who was the most outspoken and 
politically controversial of the three monks at the temple, is 
convinced the case is linked to his own and his colleagues' 
activities at the national level.  In fact Phra Suphot may not 
have been the primary target of the murder; local intelligence 
contacts believe that the real aim was Phra Kittisak, as the 
leader of the temple. 
 
ANTI-THAKSIN ACTIVITIES 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (C)    The monks' activities included the use of the temple 
as a production house for the journal "Sekhiyatham" and a 
website, both frequently critical of Prime Minister Thaksin 
Shinawatra and TRT.   Phra Suphot was instrumental in using his 
computer expertise to disseminate the writings of a number of 
social and political critics, including that of Phra Kittisak. 
Reportedly MP Santi complained to the district chief about the 
presence of this group of anti-government monks in his 
constituency. 
 
¶8.   (U)    In addition to the monks' anti-Thaksin activities, 
the temple was known for its opposition to local land 
encroachment, part of a conflict that pits large-scale 
entrepreneurs against medium or small-scale farmers. In the last 
decade Fang has developed into a major tangerine-producing area 
using migrant labor and pesticide-heavy farming techniques. 
 
¶9.    (C)    According to Phra Kittisak, representatives from 
the National Human Rights Commission, the Lawyers' Council of 
 
CHIANG MAI 00000152  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
Thailand and the Metta Thammarak Foundation share his conviction 
that Phra Suphot's murder involved TRT politicians.    He cited 
an incident two years ago when provincial officials came to 
inquire about the work of the monks at Mettatham Temple in Fang 
after Phra Kittisak participated in a panel discussion at 
Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok opposing PM Thaksin's 
controversial plan to buy the Liverpool football club.  He also 
related a warning from a sympathetic police officer before Phra 
Suphot's death about a newly transferred police officer who was 
close to the Fang MP and could pose a threat to the monks at 
this temple. 
 
BUDDHIST ACTIVISM 
--------------------------- 
 
¶10.  (U)   The temple in Fang and its social activism are rooted 
in the Buddhist reform movement of Wat Suan Mok led by the late 
Buddhadas Bhikkhu.   The monks at Wat Mettatham carried this 
legacy north in the late 1990s and joined the Metta Thammarak 
Foundation in setting up the temple in Fang district. 
Established in 1999 by well-known social critic Dr. Prawese 
Wasi, the Metta Thammarak Foundation combines Buddhism with 
democracy and human rights promotion.  Social issues that the 
foundation has taken on include opposition to a Thai-Malaysian 
gas pipeline project in Songkhla, a power plant project in 
Prachuap Khirikhan, and dams on the Mekong.  The foundation, now 
based in Chiang Mai, also supports cross-border programs to 
assist internally displaced Burmese along the Thai-Burma border 
and played a role in acquiring property for Dr. Cynthia Maung's 
Mae Tao Clinic in Mae Sot.  More recently, the foundation began 
educating locals in Chiang Mai's northern Fang and Mae Ai 
districts about the plight of Burma's Shan State and the migrant 
Shan laborers in the district. 
 
¶11. (C)   Phra Suphot's death put a damper on the work of the 
temple and the foundation.  Publication of the Sekhiyatham 
journal ceased, along with the website.  Since the murder, 
villagers have stayed away from the temple and shown reluctance 
to participate in interviews about the case with attorneys from 
the Lawyer's Council of Thailand.  According to Phra Kittisak, 
those villagers who acceded to the interviews kept their 
comments superficial. 
 
 ¶12.  (C)   Comment:  Whether the murder of activist Buddhist 
monk Phra Suphot in June 2005 was tied in with national 
politics, local agricultural interests, or an unpremeditated act 
of violence, it has served to intimidate human rights and 
environmental activists.   The fact that no suspects have been 
brought forward more than a year after the murder fits a 
familiar pattern in which those in power are able to stall 
investigations until public interest tapers off. 
CAMP