Reference: The Hmong problem, Bangkok Post, September 25, 2007

The rationale given by Thai and Lao authorities to support their ill treatment of the Hmong in Thailand would have made some sense if they had been talking about cattle. If Lao cattle had strayed across the border and were found grazing on Thai pasture, then I suppose that Laos would have a legitimate claim on that cattle and Thailand would be expected to return the cattle to the rightful owners. The Hmong are not cattle, however. They are legitimate refugees. They are also Lao citizens and they are free to enter Thailand and to seek work here in accordance with a bilateral agreement between these nations. Yet, Thailand insists on treating these people like cattle for its own self interest with total disregard for international conventions on human rights and refugees as well as for basic Buddhist values. Thailand is paranoid to the point of mental illness that if the Hmong in Thailand are re-settled in the West it will encourage more Hmong to come to Thailand. There is also the matter of Thai investments in Laos and of future electricity imports from Lao hydro electricity projects. And so I suppose the Hmong must be sold down the river in this case just like so many cattle. History will not record this incident as one of which future Thai generations can be proud.

Cha-am Jamal
Thailand