The Thai government's recent deportation of a group of 160 Hmong refugees on June 9, 2007 was referred to by a UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson as being "highly regrettable", as the group was never given the opportunity to declare refugee status before being deported to Laos. This all occurred quietly during the weekend while the foreign diplomatic community and the UNHCR were on holiday. Under the Thai government's new policy established with Laos on May 18, all new arrivals of Hmong refugees fleeing Laos would now be classified as "illegal migrants" and be quickly deported.

What the Thai government fails to acknowledge in its eagerness to deport these "illegal migrants" is the fact that some 45 years ago it was the Thai military and the Central Intelligence Agency who approached these uneducated Hmong farmers and asked them for help to fight the communists. They recruited and trained these Hmong to fight against the communist Pathet Lao so that communism would not spread to Thailand or the rest of the free world.

In 1975, when the Americans and Thais pulled out of Laos, the communist Pathet Lao took control of the new government. While many Hmong were able to flee to Thailand and eventually resettle in third countries like the United States, many had no other choice but to flee to the jungles where they have continued to live a meagre existence for some 30 years now. All of this time, they have continued to be hunted down by the Lao military due to the fact that they had helped the Americans and Thais support the former Royal Lao Government.

Many of these Lao Hmong who continue to escape to Thailand are genuine refugees and have been persecuted by the communist Lao government to this day due to their past allegiance with the United States and the Thai government. The Lao government continues to deny the fact that they persecute these Hmong and deny that there is any fighting going on in these remote jungle areas.

Yesterday, I happened to talk with one UNHCR-recognised Hmong refugee who had escaped from a lifetime in the jungles. Distraught, and crying to me, because no one else would listen to him about the Hmong suffering, he had this to say regarding the current Thai regime's treatment of Hmong refugees seeking asylum in Thailand: "The Thais (government) have sent 191 Hmong refugees back to Laos now (31 deported on May 25 and another 160 deported on June 9). These Hmong refugees were afraid to return to Laos so refused to get on the deportation vehicles. The Thai police beat them and used electricity on them like they were animals. We are human beings, aren't we? Why should we be treated like this?"

Can one human being help but hear their cry. I hope that the Thai and American people can hear their cry before it's too late.

A Concerned American

Chicago, Illinois

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Net-unfriendly ICT chief gives Kingdom a black eye

Those who are afraid that people arriving at Suvarnabhumi Airport will perceive that Thailand is a banana republic should fear no more. A front-page article in the International Herald Tribune entitled "The telecom minister who doesn't use e-mail" and featuring our very own Information and Communications Technology Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom as a gun toting, euthanasia advocating, non-Internet using loose-cannon surely will alert tourists to that fact long before their planes touch down on our cracked runways.

"YouTube is not a very essential website, is it?" he was quoted as asking. Not essential? Well, perhaps to a man who rarely uses the Internet, I suppose. Obviously he did not read that Google paid over one billion dollars for this little non-essential Website. To him, most websites are probably useless except for PGA.com, which he might browse occasionally to check on Tiger Woods' scorecards.

To the junta, his performance might be adequate, but in the IT world, technological adequacy will only leave you lagging behind. A year without constantly improving on communication infrastructure is like a year of not building any roads when the number of car users has increased exponentially. Sitthichai has to understand that his job is about more than censoring websites and it is his responsibility to make an effort to know the Internet, especially if he is virtually illiterate on that front. He should treat his job more like he is holding the transport minister's post. Had he spent a few minutes on YouTube, he might have enjoyed many video clips of his favourite golfer's miracle shots and decided that the website is essential after all. If we could only pry him from his 200 plus gun collection long enough that is.

Salin Pinkayan

Bangkok

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AEC's asset-freeze the only just solution

Three chai-yos to the Assets Examination Committee for its decision to freeze Thaksin's assets. King Solomon couldn't have done it better. Thaksin's fans should accept the decision as it came from the most impartial committee the junta could find.

But the result didn't surprise anyone; the only surprise was why it took so long to deliver. After all, what do you expect as an outcome when a pack of wolves and a lamb discuss what to have for dinner?

Meechai Burapa

Chiang Mai

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Delays on airport transit links occur everywhere

Re: "Airport train running late", News, June 10.

One of my Bangkok friends sent me your article on the proposed rail link between Suvarnabhumi and downtown Bangkok, which I read with great interest. Unfortunately, this situation is not unusual. Nearly all airport-city train systems, including the one to Incheon, which was cited in your article, have opened after the airport did. Here in the Washington, DC area an extension of the Metro system to Dulles International is still just in the talking stage, 45 years after the airport opened.

Part of the problem is that, for an international airport, very few passengers will use the train because of the difficulty of moving a large amount of luggage, so it's airport staff members who mainly use it. Politicians don't recognise that getting these airport workers off the roads and the airport parking lots is a big step in controlling ground congestion. Until road traffic gets really bad, they don't take alternate transportation seriously.

Bangkok is ahead of most other places trying to build an airport train, because you already have the right-of-way, and part of the actual construction is done. Technical experts working on the project realise that it is unlikely to be profitable for at least 10 years, as they told me earlier this year when I was in Bangkok working on an article for Air Transport World. I hope the situation concerning the rail link can be resolved so all this good work isn't wasted.

Adele C Schwartz

Airports Editor, Air Transport World Magazine

Silver Spring, Maryland

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Western bias coloured report on child labour

When I was a kid in the late sixties, I got a summer job hand painting plastic Chinese lanterns in a Hong Kong factory. There was no minimum wage then. I was very happy though as even a few dollars meant a lot, especially when father's business had turned sour.

I had mixed feelings about a BBC report on Tuesday that alleged that there was hard evidence to show that some 20 young kids worked during their holidays in a Chinese factory manufacturing Olympic accessories. The reporter might be acting out of good intentions, but the report seemed to pass a guilty verdict without disclosing any hard evidence. China's Olympic name has none the less been tarnished. The reputation of the BBC, which always says that impartiality comes first, would also suffer if this were its intent.

Before the BBC reporters made this judgement, have they asked the following questions: What if the young kids wanted to earn some pocket money? What if they wanted to help their parents who are poor? Would working in a factory during these 20 odd days during their holiday have such a significant impact on human rights?

In many poor countries, sometimes some factory work is taken hope and the children help out to improve the family's standard of living. In other cases when there are many mouths to feed ending up on a factory floor is better than in a brothel.

Many Western crusaders simply do not understand that there is a path to social progress and prosperity. A lot of them are born with the belief that upholding democracy and eating hamburgers are written in the human constitution.

The BBC should, in its reports on other countries, take into consideration the culture, feelings and standard of living of that country.

Yingwai Suchaovanich

Bangkok