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Section 4 The President of the Constitution Drafting Subcommittee said: “This section reads ‘The Monarch must be a devotee of the Buddha and is the supreme patron of religions.’ There are two important parts in this section, that is, the Monarch must be a Buddha’s devotee, for the reason that he should profess Buddhism, and in respect of being a patron, it means he must provide patronage to all religions, not just Buddhism. That is to say, any religion which people profess would come under his patronage. Accordingly, he is called supreme patron of religions.”
Nai Direk Chaiyanam said: "As you said that he is supreme patron of religions, what religions would this include?"
The President of the Constitution Drafting Subcommittee said: “They are religions which people generally profess. For instance, Islamic mosques would be under his patronage, and Chinese monasteries and Annamese monasteries would as well be under his patronage, and the Roman Catholic Church would enjoy his support too. This is a royal tradition. For that reason, we did not add ‘patron of Buddhism’ there.”
Nai Direk Chaiyanam said: “The English version contains ‘The King shall profess the Buddhist religion and is the Upholder of the Faith’, which does not seem to be in harmony with the Thai version.”
Phraya Siwisanwacha said: “The English version is written mediocrely, which will be edited later. But this Thai version is the original version, which we must consider thoroughly.”
