For those who do not know the history... I thought I would add this to educate myself and others:
Hmong and Laos were fighting over territory and the US supported the Hmong. Hmong lost the war with Laos and US / Thailand took in the Hmongs after the war.
One of the refuge camps were located near a Thai temple. The Thai temple provided 10 rais or acres of land for the Hmong refugees to use to bury their loved ones among other things. After using the allocated area, several bodies were burried on a hillside that was not to be used for burials.
Water was being contaminated by the dead bodies by the residents below. So the Thai temple allowed a group of Chinese buddhist to help resolve the problem with the contamination. I'm assuming they were the ones complaining as well about the water problem because they did the dirty work. So don't misconstrue the Chinese hates the Hmongs.
No one wants to pick dead people out of the ground just to spite the Hmong community.
The uproar was because the Hmong community was furious that the property owners could be so disrespectful to the dead and exhume their bodies. Some of the bodies were not moved by the group of Chinese buddhist, as there were Hmong's who stated they would exhume their own loved ones.
THe problem was those who refused to move the bodies on the belief that it was holy and sacred ritual and should not be moved.
There's more to make you upset... the military was supposedly there to support the exhumation and the Hmongs felt helpless to men with weapons. Again... no one was shot or killed. The soldiers were doing their jobs.
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So if this is what your parents are discussing... I wonder what you would do? It's kind of interesting since I can understand both sides of the story. But there really isn't a need to call all THAI PEOPLE killers and haters of Hmongs.
Thai people do not like to exhume dead people from their graves... in fact, they only did it where the bodies were on the hill and affecting the water. Thais usually burn their dead. So maybe they were insensitive, but hmm... water affecting living people... you hav eto wonder.
They stated the stench and smell of the exhumation was awful as well. So I doubt the property owners enjoyed or wanted to do so, which already was on top of dis-respecting the dead.
So let's say your neighbors dead grandparents are lying on your water pipe and you are getting contaminated water from it. What would you want the government to do? What if you were the government?
The property owner stated that they restricted that area and the Hmong community in that area ignored them. And the bodies exhumed were only those affecting the water supply.
Would you want something done or let the water pipes continue to have contamination because you would be cold hearted for even thinking the bodies of your neighbors be raised from the dead?
And what is the best way to get people supportive and riled up? Tell everyone that it's all their relatives that are being scooped up. Fact or fiction, when it hits close to home, you would get upset and emotionally attached.
So that's what I got from my research. It's interesting to hear the Hmong side and the graphic details of it...
I should be better with my references, but too late... didn't record them... there is nation thai newspaper and here's one to give you foundation.
The quote is graphical so please, if you have a weak stomach don't read it and continue on. You'll get the gist anyways without it.
[hide]Reference:
http://www.hmongtoday.com/displaynews.asp?ID=2083
“They chop the head off and throw it in the boiling water,” Khang described. “And as for internal organs, they simply dig that from the corpse and leave it where ever it is convenient, often right on the ground where it is some times picked up by a dog and brought back to the camp.”[/hide]
Hmm... I don't know whether to call this bias or just plain sick. Thailand is a third world country and I'm not sure what the point of describing details of how the bodies were brought up will do, but to upset people and further disrespect and hurt the families who actually have bodies that are being pulled. It's like the writer of the article is antagonizing the situation. "some times picked up by dogs" You might have seen it happened and thought that some good stuff to put in to upset people... geez.... totally unnecessary
I'll give you a better context of what I'm upset about...
What do you prefer to hear? If I was your doctor and you needed a rectal exam.
"Mr./Ms. Blah Bah... I need to examine your anus, please remove your pants. I will try to make this as fast and as quick as possible, but I need to determine if there is any bleeding, please try to relax as much as possible".
Or
"Mr./Ms. Blah Blah... I need to examine your anus... I will stick my hand in a rubber latex glove, apply lubrication, and slowly and gently, enter your anus with my index finger and gently rotate in a clock-wise manner feeling and looking for any bleeding and polyps that may lead to colon cancer which can kill you. If I find bleeding, it most likely means you have some type of diverticular disorder and may require surgery to operate and remove".
After comletion of the exam: okay... thank you I found nothing. Which patient would be more scared? The first or the second?
Did you need the details? Doctors are taught to provide what is happening, but to explain minute details only alarms and scares people when in fact you look, but does not mean you'll find. I'm probably not explaining this right, but hopefully you catch my drift.
Just trying to give an analogy.
Back to studies.
