Published on November 14, 2005

Saraburi’s Tham Krabok temple is continuing to clear the graves of Hmong refugees despite a wave of protests from Hmong living in the United States, a senior monk said yesterday.

After the departure of 15,000 Hmong refugees for settlement in the US in the middle of this year, the temple commissioned the Chinese foundation Bhoti Pavana to clear about 500

graves from a hill as residents and monks living below it have complained of contaminated water.

A group of Hmong living in St Paul in the US state of Minnesota lodged a petition with the Thai Embassy in Washington last week urging Thai authorities to stop the grave clearing.

The Hmong said the action went against their beliefs and violated the United Nations’ charter of culture and human rights.

Phra Vijit, a Buddhist monk at the temple who is oversee-

ing the grave clearing, said

digging is continuing but the temple would not move the graves of those whose relatives strongly opposed the move and had promised to do it by themselves.

Tham Krabok temple has long been in conflict over the graves with Hmong refugees who sought shelter there after the fall of Vientiane in 1975. A plot of 10 rai was allocated as a graveyard by the temple but filled up a long time ago. Many Hmong then buried the bodies of their relatives and ancestors on the hill without permission from the temple.

Previously the Hmong had rejected a proposal to cremate the corpses in accordance with Buddhist Thai tradition saying it was against Hmong cultural norms, the monk said.

“What we need to do is clear the graves on the higher land, which involves about 500 bodies, to prevent water contamination and then we will leave the remaining majority, perhaps thousands, in the graveyard in peace forever,” Phra Vijit said by phone from Saraburi.

Though there are only 500 graves, the Bhoti Pavana Chinese foundation might not be able to move all of them as the contract expires on Friday, according to foundation chairman Pornchai Pithakwong.

Since the work began on November 5, only about 200 bodies had been removed, he said.

Supalak Ganjanakhundee

The Nation

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