The Cabinet has approved that all types of civil servants may take leave to participate in an ordination project offered as a merit-making act to honor the Supreme Patriarch’s 99th birthday celebration on 26 June 2026, without this being counted as official leave days.
On 12 May 2026, Ms. Ploytale Laksamisaengchan, Deputy Spokesperson of the Prime Minister’s Office, revealed that the Cabinet approved allowing all types of civil servants, government employees, permanent and temporary staff of government agencies, state enterprise employees, and state officials to take leave to join the ordination project offered as a merit-making act for the 99th birthday celebration of Somdet Phra Ariyavongsagatayana, the Supreme Patriarch, on 26 June 2026. This leave will not be counted as official leave and covers the period from 13 to 29 June 2026 (a total of 17 days), as proposed by the Office of the Permanent Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office.
Somdet Phra Ariyavongsagatayana, the Supreme Patriarch, will celebrate his 99th birthday on 26 June 2026. To honor this occasion, the Office of the Permanent Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Transport, together with Wat Ratchabophit Sathit Mahasimaram in Bangkok, have launched the ordination project as a merit-making offering. The project aims to ordain 100 participants, including all types of civil servants, government employees, permanent and temporary staff from government agencies, state enterprises, state officials from relevant agencies, and members of the public. The project will take place from 13 to 29 June 2026 (17 days) at Wat Ratchabophit Sathit Mahasimaram in Bangkok and the Meditation Institute under the Supreme Patriarch's Patronage in Pathum Thani Province. The goal is to encourage public and private sector personnel and the public to celebrate and pay tribute to the Supreme Patriarch, study and learn Buddhist teachings, and promote the continuity of Buddhism in the land of its origin. The project’s budget of 3.5 million baht is provided by the Office of the Permanent Secretary of the Prime Minister’s Office.