State religion 'like suicide'
Making Buddhism the national religion in Thailand's new constitution would be like "committing a double suicide", well-known Indonesian journalist Goenawan Mohamed said in Bangkok yesterday.
"The state will become a machine for faith cleansing. Religion will become profane, a crime against the state will become a crime against God, and the state and God will become one," said Mohamed, founder and editor in chief of the famous Tempo news magazine in Jakarta. Mohamed was in town for a conference marking the 10th anniversary of the International Council on Human Rights Policy at Thammasat University. Mohamed, who calls himself "a Buddhist of Muslim variation", said having a national religion would have an impact on neighbouring countries such as Indonesia, where state and religion were separate despite a growing trend of religious fundamentalism.
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