32 SOCIAL SCIENTIST associations, a public administration system for religious affairs was also set up. Several lay organizations supported U Nu's policy which was hailed as anti-communist. Among them was the YMBA, which was receiving financial support from the Asia Foundation based in the USA. In 1961 U Nu proclaimed Buddhism as the state religion of Burma calling a synod for the reform of the sasana and declaring public religious holidays, but without denying religious liberty to non-Buddhists. Freedom of religion provoked a strong reaction from the most traditionalist Buddhist monks. U Nu proposed the construction of 60,000 pagodas all over the country. It was reminiscent of the reign of Asoka, the archetype of a Buddhist ruler. U Nu went one step further, by declaring himself a bodi'saliva or a future Buddha.86 It was too much for a section of the public and many politicians in particular to swallow. In the coup d^etat of March 1963 Ne Win turned the country back to secularism. In the Kingdoms In Cambodia the post-1946 constitution stipulated Buddhism as official state religion. The chief monks of the nikayas were to be appointed by the king. Sihanouk who had been a monk in the Dhammayuttika nikaya reinforced the links between Buddhism and the crown. He was the temporal head of the sangha which accorded him religious legitimacy.®7 He led a religious renewal, helped to build the Wat Preah temple,, integrated the two nikayas and appointed two sangharajas. When, as chief of government, Sihanouk launched Khmcr Socialism, he declared that it was to apply ^the principles of Buddhism55.88 The union between religion and state ended with Sihanouk's abdication as head of state. In Laos the picture was similar. In 1945 Buddhism was once again officially declared to be under the protection of the king. In 1951 new regulations were promulgated for the reorganization of the sangha under which education and ordination of the monks came 10 be supervised by the Ministry of Religion. The sangharaja was to be elected by the chiefs of the monasteries of the various provinces from a list drawn up by the Ministry, the director of which kept a close watch on the affairs of the sangha.89 In 1959 fresh regulations came into force for the organization of the sangha in the provinces. During the difficult political situation of the 1960s, Buddhism continued to play its part, although passively, because the three political forces (pro-communist, rightist and neutralist) were trying to maintain good relations with the sangha. Under the coalition governments, the Ministry of Religion was in the hands of the neutralist prince, Souvanna Phouma. However the Pathet Lao, which declared that it was not against religion, enlisted the sympathy of the younger monks. Prince