Hmong Thamkrabok
By MaiSee Yang, Publish 2/24/2004

I have only heard other people talked about Thamkrabok until my first visit of the Wat last year in September. From where the bus had dropped me off at the main road, I entered and walked a short distance before I reached the front gate guarded by the Thai military with guns. After taking down my passport information, I was told that I’ll be able to enter if I have relatives inside who would be willing to sign me and will be restricted to stay in a certain area only. As I was escorted into Thamkrabok by a Thai guard on the back of his motorbike into the main military check-in building, an unforeseen feeling of fury, and melancholy begun to build up seeing the poor conditions that these Hmongs have to live with. At the same time, the experience was inviting and it felt like I was coming home. I observed everything in silence and restrained from showing any emotions but the agony that I concealed away feels like an illness that never have recovered for years.
I'm grateful that the U.S State Department has decided to open a resettlement program for Lao Hmong refugees living at Thamkrabok, Thailand, but at the same time, as a former refugee myself, I'm very concerned. Since September on, I visited the temple at least once a month and spend eight days there during New Year in December. I interviewed people and many of these individuals have shared with me some of their questions and concerns.
At this moment, there are Hmongs living at Thamkrabok who have been excluded from the program because they weren't registered as of August 2003. The Thai authorities didn’t register these Hmongs because they were suspected of buying Thai citizenship. With the U.S. policy to accept individuals that were registered as of 2003 living in the temple only, should this group of Hmongs be excluded from the program? I feel that the Thai authorities were not informational about the registering process. First, they didn’t informed residents of the date. For many Hmongs that have traveled to Northern Thailand, they were left out although family members at the time have informed the military of the situation. Others fear and left Thamkrabok since the military refused to provide any reasons for registering. Even as refugees, should these individuals have the right to know what they are subject to and why according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People?
( can take out if article is to long) Many of these Hmongs still remember what happened in Ban Vinai Camp in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s before the camp closed. Heads of household were given documents to sign without any knowledge of what they were agreeing to, while others who questioned the document were informed that it was a continuation application that they must agree to in order to remain in the camp. But the document was actually an agreement written by a Lao-French stating that these individuals and their families had agreed on a voluntary basis to return to Laos, which was one of the initials steps in the UNHCR’s repatriation program. I feel that the U.S., UNHCR, and Thailand have always regarded Hmong refugees as little children. It’s the NGO’s and other organizations that are making the ‘right’ decisions to solve the Hmong refugee problem and whether or not it actually represents the interest of these individuals is not much of a concern.
I have been informed by the Hmong leader at Thamkrabok and by many other individuals that the Thai authorities have refused to let some individuals back into Thamkrabok although they were registered as of August 2003. These people had left the temple for various reasons, but people are allowed to go in and out if they register at the entrance gate before they leave. A similar case, during one of the visits by the U.S Embassy or the UNHCR, a Hmong woman asked the visitors whether or not she will be eligible to resettle in the U.S since she has a Thai I.D card, and she’s also registered as of August 2003. After the visitors left, the Thai military forced her out of Thamkrabok. People inside Thamkrabok are aware of what have happened but her family didn’t report this incident to the U.S. Embassy or I.O.M because of fear. This situation caused many to be alarmed and they are not going to ask questions or open up if there’s a continual presence of the military to provide security and protection during the screening process. Hmongs that can’t return to the temple have no choice but to hang around Phaputhabu, while their families are inside Thamkrabok. However, the Thai authorities have informed these individuals that they will be excluded from the resettlement program because they left.
Due to U.S. health screening requirements, many Lao Hmong individuals would not be eligible for the resettlement program. For example, elderly males who are opium addicts would not be eligible, but it's this group of individuals that the U.S should help first. Over the years, these people have become opium addicts from using the drug as a form of pain reliever for the treatment of wounds received from fighting for the C.I.A. Shouldn’t the U.S. government held responsible for this group of individuals to an extent? After all, these men were recruited to fight for the interests of the United States. Because of this problem, there are families who will be forced to stay behind although there’s no future for them and their children. Others will resettle in the States but the fathers will stay behind. Opium addiction is one reason many families in the camps couldn’t resettle in a third country. But the Hmong people are collectivist and family members function as one. This belief in the importance of family cohesion is a reason why many people chose to stay behind even though they did have the opportunity to resettle in a third country during the 1980s and early 1990s while residing in refugee camps under UNHCR protection. In addition, as in many cultures, Hmong men practice polygamy and girls marry at a very young age. Cultural differences like these are subject to U.S laws. Will families in this situation who are registered with the Thai authorities as of August 2003, be denied the opportunity to resettle in the U.S?
Outside of Thamkrabok, there are at least 50,000 Lao Hmong refugees excluded from this U.S. State Department’s resettlement program. But a large percentage of this group did live at Thamkrabok until 1997 or 98 and was considered Hmong of Thai nationality under the protection of the Abbot of the Temple. However, in 1997-1998 the Thai authorities labeled them Lao Hmong refugees and threatened to send them back to Laos. Many families feared for their lives and fled to northern Thailand. Some families decided to leave the Wat and bought Thai citizenships; therefore, their children have the right to attend school, while others, without financial support from relatives in the U.S., left to find means to survive. Also, before August of last year, numerous individuals were arrested for drug charges and beaten by the military regardless if the charges were true or not as part of Taksin’s policy to clean up Thailand’s drug problems. The military have beaten an innocent man to death and have tried to cover it. The arrests and violence created fear among many families and they left.
A portion of this 50,000 population includes Hmongs who escaped from Laos as a result of the UNHCR’s repatriation program. When the UNHCR closed its office in Vientiane although the U.S. government had agreed to finance its operation, what did it mean? Problem solved? Success? If so, why are so many of these Hmongs in the program fleeing back to Thailand? (can take out if article is to long) [Is it the same scenario as when the U.S pulled out of Laos and called it a peaceful solution? According to history, the Vietnam War ended in 1973, but 28 years later, there are still Hmong people stuck in the jungles of Laos, being hunted down by the Communist party, starving to death, with nothing to live for except the hope that their U.S allegiance would rescue them. Times have changed, the world has changed, U.S policy toward Southeast Asia has changed, and people have forgotten, but for Hmong refugees in Thailand and those dying in Laos, it’s the only world they know, it’s the world they were born into. They’re still fighting the same war, they are still CIA Secret Soldiers, and they are still enemies of the Pathet Lao regime. It’s ironic when President Nixon described the Paris Peace Agreement with words such as truth, dignity, and honor when the U.S simple washes its hands and abandoned Southeast Asia, when the U.S enter a war to end the war for it’s own prisoners of war (POW).]
During the 1987-1989 Thai-Lao border conflict, Hmongs were recruited from Ban Vinai Camp to fight for Thailand against the Pathet Lao government and were used to convince Hmongs of Thai nationality to stop their insurgent activities against the Thai government. Information on whether or not the UNHCR and the State Department knows about this situation has not been released. But a large percentage of the remaining Hmongs in Thailand outside of Thamkrabok belong to this group. The border conflict was never resolved, and the military officials continued to use these individuals into the mid 1990s, up until the death of Pa Kau Her, the Hmong leader of this group. By the early to mid 1990’s, when many realized that there was no future for them in Thailand, it was too late because the camps were closing. These individuals and their families left the group, while others continued to work for the Thai military. And those that were injured while fighting were not allowed back into the camps by the military. Since 1989, certain Thai military officials have promised this group Thai citizenship for their efforts and loyalty to Thailand, but many have become disillusioned over the years. The current leader stated recently that the Thai government has confirmed to him that Thai citizenship would be issued to the 1600 remaining Hmongs in his group within the next four months. But the majority of Hmongs that left the group are spread out in northern Thailand, while others are at Thamkrabok. Research into the Thai-Lao border conflict reveals the existence of a Hmong village in the nearby area. Laos declared that the village was of Lao Hmongs, and its existence was a national security threat to the Pathet Lao government. Thailand denied the allegations and replied that the people in the village were Hmong of Thai Nationality. But no one mentioned that Thailand recruited Lao Hmong refugees to fight against Laos and that this silence about the recruited refugees is very important for the future of Thai-Lao relations.
(can take out if article is to long) During the Vietnam War, Thailand co-operated very closely with the C.I.A by recruiting and training Hmongs. Also, Thailand sent PARU teams and volunteers paid by the State Department to fight the war next door for it’s own national security reasons: fear that the Domino Theory was correct and the border conflict; but, starting with General Vang Pao in the 1970’s, Thailand never welcomed Lao Hmong refugees. According to a Thai newspaper article in 2003, the Thai government used the Thai word that translates “trash society” when referring to Lao Hmongs. At the moment, while seeking to establish a better relationship and trying to counter balance Thai influence against China and Vietnam in Laos, the Taksin government wants to get rid of all Lao Hmong refugees.
There’s the fallacy that all Lao Hmongs had been given the opportunity to resettle in a third country and many refused to. But this was only true for a very small proportion of these remaining Hmong refugees in Thailand. Based on my research, interviews, and experience as a former Lao Hmong refugee living in the Ban Vinai Camp until 1991, many people weren't given the opportunity to resettle in a third country. Not everybody in the camps was granted refugee status, and only those with refugee status were eligible to resettle in a third country. Many of these Lao Hmong refugees without official refugee status granted by the UNHCR were forced to go back to Laos during the repatriation program, while others left the camp and become displaced people in Thailand. Also, a large number of Hmongs came after the UNHCR’s cut-off date in the 1980's, and their cases weren’t even reviewed by the UNHCR to see whether or not they would be granted refugee status. It’s unfortunate that these Hmongs are not educated about the process and made aware that they can apply and the UNHCR can’t turn them away without reviewing their cases. ( can take out if article is to long) [After escaping from the Laotian policy to terminate ethnic Hmongs in Laos, and despite their collaboration with the CIA to save the lives of American pilots in Laos and American troops in South Vietnam, these factors weren’t worthy enough to obtain refugee status.] And it is very misleading to conclude that with this U.S. State Department program, Hmong refugees are being given a second chance to resettle in the U.S when many never had a first chance. It is especially misleading to the Hmong community in the U.S who don’t know much about the situations of the past.
Shouldn’t the State Department extend the program to include Hmong refugees outside of Thamkrabok who were registered under the UNHCR program before the cut off date in the 1980’s? What about those who arrived after the cut off date, or those who weren’t granted refugee status by the UNHCR? And those that are kept out of Thamkrabok, those that aren’t registered but currently lives at Thamkrabok, those that left the temple because of fear, those that left during 1997-1998, and the individuals that are opium addicts? When the U.S government was recruiting Hmongs to fight in Laos, they didn’t target a specific group; it didn’t matter if the individual was an opium addict or not, and it didn’t matter if the individual had more than one wife or was married to an underage wife. After recruiting able men, the C.I.A. moved on to old men and thirteen- and fourteen-year-old boys for a salary of one dollar per month. If the U.S. will not take in Hmongs outside of Thamkrabok, I strongly support the idea that it should work with both Hmong leaders from the U.S. and Thailand and the Thai government to ensure a positive solution for the future of Lao Hmong refugees within the people’s interest.
After I signed out at the main gate during my first visit, I made my way slowly towards the main road to catch a bus back to Bangkok. I thought about Ban Vinai and many memories flash back. Thamkrabok isn’t Ban Vinai or any other refugee camp, and it’s been 14 years since I left Thailand, but nothing much have change for Hmong refugees. People are fence in by bare wires and Thai guards walk around with guns on their backs. People live today hoping that there’ll still be a future tomorrow. During my visits, there is always a sense of belonging and sympathy. I share a common history and similar experience as a refugee like all these Hmongs at Thamkrabok but I was lucky and fortunate to have the opportunity to resettle in the U.S.