Buddhist monks face censure after Thai religious authorities said they had launched a 24-hour hotline for the public to report unruly acts.
The move follows a cascade of high-profile scandals ranging from monks reportedly taking drugs and drinking to a case in May of five defrocked abbots charged with sexually abusing boys.
The National Office of Buddhism (NOB) said the idea for a hotline had emerged after Thailand’s General Prayuth Chan-ocha expressed concern about the image of Buddhism, of which an estimated 95% of Thailand’s 67 million population are devotees.
The Office also received complaints about monks driving cars, drinking, smoking, shopping, scams and false claims of black magic.
“We have already set up a hotline to receive complaints from people if they see anything that endangers our religion,” the office’s Napparat Benjawattananant said on Wednesday.
The office said there were about 270,000 monks across the country.
Last September, authorities seized nearly £470,000 of assets, including a Porsche and a Mercedes-Benz, from a monk who was defrocked for a controversial trip in a private jet and who was also accused of fathering a child by an underage girl a decade earlier.
According to the teachings of Buddhism, monks are supposed to abstain from all forms of intoxicants, including alcohol, drugs, and cigarettes.