The request came as police in the northeast detained a monk accused of using a
Web site to lure a woman to his temple and raping her.
"I call on Hi5 users to tell the monks to leave the site if they are found
using it," junior minister Jakrapob Penkair told reporters after a Buddhist
monitoring group said some monks were flirting on the Web site popular with
Thai users.
Reports of monks caught using or selling drugs or having consensual sex with
women are not uncommon in the Thai media, which reported on Tuesday a
23-year-old monk was caught raping a teenager he lured to his room through the
Web site.
A senior Culture Ministry official said monks should not be banned from the
cyberspace, but should turn this "crisis" into "opportunity" by bringing
Buddha's teaching to the young.
"Instead of using the Net to flirt with young girls, monks should find ways to
preach Dharma and lead them in the right direction," said Ladda Thangsupachai,
head of the Cultural Surveillance Centre.
