17 Aug 1998

Helping others has its rewards, but it also has its opponents

The Saraburi monk has been accused of all manner of things over the decades, with the latest being that he is providing refuge to drug-dealing, illegal immigrants with violent anti-Vientiane sympathies.

Nauvarat Suksamran The Bangkok Post

Impressions can change overnight. The respected can become the detested with almost a simple snap of the fingers - or, more accurately, a few choice words in the ears of those who channel the "news" out into the greater world.

No better example of this truism involves Phra Chamroon Panchan and his Wat Tham Krabok in Saraburi.

For years this temple has been recognised internationally as a leader in the treatment of narcotics addiction and as a rehabilitation centre. Now it is gaining a reputation as a refuge for drug dealers and as a distribution point in the trafficking of drugs.

Certain newspapers have led the attacks on the temple by publishing allegations that it houses an unknown number of drug dealers, mostly Hmong hilltribesmen.

Phra Chamroon, who won the Magsaysay Award in the field of public service in 1975, said influential figures were trying to discredit the temple because of its efforts to fight drugs and the effect this was having on their interests.

He said these powerful groups hid amphetamines at Wat Tham Krabok and then pressed the police to search the grounds.

"This was like killing two birds with one stone," he said. "They could force the Hmong away from the temple and at the same time eliminate us monks."

Phra Chamroon said he was ready to provide the authorities with information on the sources of drug production, the trafficking routes and the networks employed by drug rackets, but warned that the details might prove "shocking" to some.

"Once I open my mouth, half the MPs might have to go," he said. "There is no way ordinary people can sell drugs if they do not have the backing of the big guns."

Phra Chamroon has pledged to open up every corner of Wat Tham Krabok to thorough checks by anti-drug forces.

The Interior Ministry, the National Security Council and the different drug suppression agencies have decided to expel all illegal Hmong immigrants from Laos now taking refuge at thr temple. Other hilltribe people resident there will be registered and then returned to their home provinces.

The attacks on Phra Chamroon are not new. He variously has been accused of being a communist and of backing the right-wing Laotian hardliners aligned to Gen Wang Pao in their efforts to topple the socialist leaders in Vientiane.

Phra Chamroon has turned Wat Tham Krabok in Saraburi's Phra Phutthabat district into a retreat where addicts can battle their dependency on drugs. Herbal medicines are used in the treatment and all patients are required to swear before Buddha statues that they will never again have any dealings with narcotics.

The centre has treated tens of thousands of addicts over the decades.

Phra Chamroon said the temple is soon to receive a major donation from a country which "hated illicit drugs so much".

The aid will allow the temple to increase its intake of addicts to about 30,000 a year. Wat Tham Krabok at present can accommodate about 500 patients at a time.

Phra Chamroon, 73, has been a diabetic for many years and appears fragile. But he continues to receive the many guests who come to him in their search for truth.

The monk laments the media's role in making Wat Tham Krabok "a hero turned villain".

"Why did they do that to me? All I do is try to change bad people into good men."

But he said he could forgive those who had "trespassed" against him.

Phra Chamroon is one of six children born to a Lop Buri municipal officer. A younger brother joined him in the monkhood. Phra Charoen Panchan now supervises construction at Wat Tham Krabok. Another brother, Manop Panchan, a layman, helps look after the Hmong community.

There have been reports Phra Chamroon was married at one time and has a son and a daughter. The daughter has been said to be living at Wat Tham Krabok. There appears to be no convincing evidence to prove the matter either way.

Before joining the monkhood, then Pol Sgt Chamroon Panchan was with the Special Branch Bureau when Pao Sriyanond was the director-general.

The abbot now says he was a driving force behind anti-terrorism efforts, the war on crime and the safeguarding of national leaders' security.

He also acted as a coordinator between the police and the military, but gave the position up after eight years because of the stress involved.

He left the police force at the same time as Pol Gen Pao.

It was not long before the future abbot was ordained at a temple in Bang Khae, where he was to establish ties with the Hmong people who were studying Buddhism there.

He then joined Sea Supply Co, on the surface of it a transnational corporation but actually a source of intelligence for Laotian right-wing forces.

When Laos fell to the communists in 1975, the future Phra Chamroon returned to Thailand and the monkhood, this time at Wat Tham Krabok. His brother, Phra Charoen, was at the temple and his sister was a nun there as well.

The monk's connections with the Hmong people were revived in 1987 when 10 families sought treatment for their drug addiction at Wat Tham Krabok.

Phra Chamroon said the hilltribe people left the temple, but had to return when they found their homes and fields had been razed in their absence.

These were to be the first of a major influx of Hmong people at Wat Tham Krabok. The Hmong population there now numbers about 20,000, with most refusing to go home. Hundreds of children are born at the temple every year.

Phra Chamroon said the temple only accepts Thai-born Hmong people. They are divided into four administrative groups with the temple issuing each resident his own identification card.

Wat Tham Krabok's assistance to the Hmong people goes beyond the temple compound. Tribesmen working in Saraburi and Lop Buri who have been arrested because they did not have proper identification said Phra Chamroon had helped with the bail.

Monks at Wat Tham Krabok said Phra Chamroon's assistance to the Hmong people, including his efforts to secure them an education, would benefit Thailand.

"At least they know the Thai language. At least they feel grateful to this country," said one.

Phra Chamroon himself said a lot of highlanders at Wat Tham Krabok were very well educated. Sixty-seven have completed doctorate studies, 500 have master's degrees and another 2,500 possess bachelor's degrees.

He said the state should pay more attention to the Hmong people by conducting a census on their actual number and by awarding them citizenship.

"That would be the best way to control them."

Phra Chamroon said he would continue the fight to save people from the danger of drugs no matter what people say against him.

-ooOoo-