The Bang Kholaem district office has rescinded its instruction asking Wat Sai on Rama III Road to lower the volume of its bell-ringing during the early morning hours following a complaint by a woman living in a condominium nearby.
The "tone it down" instruction was conveyed in a letter sent by the office on Tuesday. However, the office faced a public backlash after the order was shared on social media.
Monks at the 300-year-old Wat Sai were ordered to chime the bells more softly in the early morning to avoid disturbing the sleeping residents of a nearby, newly built, high-rise condominium.
Sipbavorn Kaew-ngam, secretariat office director for the Sangha Supreme Council (SSC), on Thursday went to the temple, located on Rama III Road, to talk to the abbot, Phra Preecha Punnasilo, about the problem.
He said he was told by the abbot that the district office's chief, Anan Kaipan, who visited him on Thursday morning, that the temple can ring the bells as loud as they have always done.
Representatives from the condominium's juristic office, who also came to talk with the abbot on Thursday morning, raised no objection to the practice. They said they would come up with noise-combating measures at the condominium.
"We have reached the conclusion that Wat Sai is still allowed to ring the bells as usual and there is no need to tone the volume down," said Mr Sipbavorn, adding the practice has been upheld for centuries.
The abbot of the temple was informed that people in the new condominium had complained about the bells ringing between 3am and 4am. The condominium, the Star View Rama 3, comprises two towers and looms over the temple.
Representatives of the temple, which dates from the Ayutthaya period, said the monks there traditionally sounded its bells, in bursts, from 4am, and again from 6pm, during the three-month Buddhist Lent period. This marked the times for monks' morning duties.
They had already lowered the volume after a nearby resident started to complain. Phra Somjitto was quoted as saying a woman had repeatedly complained.
He finally advised her to file her complaint with local police, as he could not reach a compromise with her.
The local police subsequently visited the temple and the monks followed the police's request to reduce the volume. The police visit preceded the letter from the Bang Kholaem district office.
The temple abbot, Pra Athikan Preecha Punnalo, was quoted as saying that the developer of the condominium complex had sought permission for its construction from a former abbot, who gave his permission for the sake of the future condominium dwellers.
Activist lawyer Srisuwan Janya said such the complaint could be viewed as disrespect of a religion under the Criminal Code's Section 206, an offence that carries a jail term of one to seven years and/or a fine of 2,000-14,000 baht.