Current news about the NHGDC
Norm Coleman meets with Grave Desecration
Committee
By Tom LaVenture, Asian American Press
ST. PAUL (November 9, 2007) – U.S.
Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) met with members
of the Minnesota Chapter of the National
Grave Desecration Committee, as well as about
30 family members that were directly impacted
by the grave desecrations in Wat Tham Krabok,
Thailand, during a Veterans Day meeting at
the Laos Family Community Center in St. Paul.
Read more ...
____________
Both grave delegations return with more questions
By Wameng Moua and Kathy Moua , Hmong Today
Describing their visit to the gravesite at
the Wat Thamkrabok in Thailand, Michael Yang’s
eyes open wide. "All day long, it had
been a sunny day with no cloud in sight,"
Yang recalls while excitedly raising his
arms above his head. "Suddenly, after
visiting the site where the graves had been
dug up, the sky opened up and we were hit
with typhoon like rain. In my mind, and consulting
with the elders, that was a clear sign that
the spirits were with us on our journey."
Read more Twin Cities Daily Planet ...
____________
Hmong seek solution to burial dispute
By Cheryl Sherry for The Northwestern
APPLETON (Oct. 27) — Nearly 100
Hmong leaders and concerned people from across
the country gathered Saturday for an all-day
conference to discuss steps the Hmong graves
desecrated at a Buddhist monastery in Thailand.
Read more...
Hmong Grave Delegation Returns with Some
Answers and Some Questions
Families Have a Chance to Give Input on Future
of Exhumed Bodies
By Sao Sue Jurewitsch of Hmong Times
(St. Paul)--In late 2005, when the first
videos of Hmong grave desecrations surfaced
in Minnesota, there was outrage, and many
questions about why and how this could happen.
To answer these questions, and find out what
can be done for the families, a group led
by Senator Mee Moua traveled to Thailand
and met with Thai officials and the two groups.
On Wednesday, October 11, more than a hundred
Hmong community members attended a meeting
at the Hmong American Partnership office
to learn about the delegation's findings.
Read more ...
COLEMAN SECURES COMMITMENT TO ADDRESS HMONG
GRAVE DESECRATION
June 5th, 2007 - ST. PAUL - Continuing his ongoing efforts
to address the issue of Hmong grave desecration
at Wat Tham Krabok in Thailand, Senator Norm
Coleman yesterday urged the U.S. Ambassador
to Thailand, Ralph “Skip” Boyce,
to find a solution that would allow the remaining
bodies to be recovered in an honorable and
timely fashion. Coleman, who initiated the
call to Ambassador Boyce, was pleased to
learn the Thai government’s deadline
to reclaim the bodies would be extended from
the original deadline of July 2007 to December
2007. Ambassador Boyce also assured Coleman
he is committed to working with the Hmong
community to find a solution for the remaining
bodies. Read more ...
211 Exhumed Bodies Remain: What's next?
Oct. 10, 2007- In a recent public press conference,
the Hmong Grave Desecration National Delegation
announced an agreement has been reached for
reburial of Hmong graves desecrated in Wat
Tham Krabok, Thailand.
Member of the delegation Michael Yang, who
went to Thailand in September, said they
had constructive conversations with all representatives
involved, including the Phothi Phaowana Songkhroa
Foundation and the Buddha Dhamma 31 Nakhon
Ratchasima Foundation that were responsible
for the exhumations of some 900 graves.
Yang said, "The Thais are in the same
direction of 'spirit of cooperation'
with us and we are very positive about our
meeting with the Foundations that has possession
of the 211 bodies."
The delegation, supported by Sen. Norm Coleman's
office, spent two weeks in Thailand to negotiate
with Thai and U.S. Embassy officials, the
Abbot of the Wat Tham Krabok Temple, and
chairmen from the two Chinese foundations
who excavated and cremated the Hmong graves.
During this trip, the 14-member delegation
from throughout the U.S. was taken to a site
of closed coffins, and they were told that
the remaining bodies were in those coffins.
Yang said, "We saw the remaining of
the 211 bones with our very own eyes."
After dialogues with the foundations that
performed the digging, the delegation said
that the foundations expressed they did not
have any malicious intent. In addition, they
explained that the actions were done with
respect for the deceased as related to their
religion.
Right now the delegation wants the cooperation
of the Hmong-American leaders, cultural experts
and families to come up with solutions for
the remaining bodies. With deadline so close,
a resolution must be sought immediately and
the delegation has drafted several possible
ways for protecting the bodies that remain.
After the report, a video from the trip was
showed. Then, family members and attendees
were given time to ask questions and suggest
solutions.
All those who attended the press conference
showed agreement that the delegation demand
a commitment from the Thai that this won't
reoccur and that remaining 211 bodies be
buried and be protected. Also, families are
demanding a formal apology regarding the
cremated bodies. The families are asking
for permission to the sites where the ashes
are buried. In addition, there was an agreement
to identity the remaining 211 bodies before
further actions.
The delegation also said that the Thai Highland
Foundation offered land for the delegation
to purchase and rebury the remaining bodies
there. However, the families would like to
see the Thai rebury the bodies at their own
expense.
The committee also reported on the 480 cremated
Hmong bodies that were taken from monastery
and were reburied at the Hulin Cemetery,
a Chinese gravesite. The bodies were identified
as 113 kids, 161 women and 206 men.
Yang remembers asking, "How would we
know that these 480 bodies are in here?"
Yang pointed to a photo with the Chinese
character for Hmong engraved onto the tombstone.
Yang said, "Here," while pointing
to the character. "They told us that
this character is Hmong. But we are still
unsure. We will get a Chinese expert to translate
this character if it's Hmong or not,"
Yang said.
An elder lady, Zoua Yang, was among the 250
people who attended the meeting. She viewed
some of the 500 photos of the Hmong graves
taken by the delegation; she stood in silent
tears.
"I can't locate my husband anymore,"
said Zoua Yang as she sobbed and scanned
each photo for signs of her deceased husband
who was among the bodies exhumed. "He's
gone."
Zoua Yang then covered her mouth, sickened
by the disturbing images of the corpses.
Her 4 ft. 8 in. body shuddered and she murmured:
"Where is he? Where is he?" She
continued to wipe her own watery eyes.
Another girl who stood next to her shook
her head in disbelief. "This is just
sad," she said.
In 2005, the Phothi Phaowana Songkhroa Foundation
and the Buddha Dhamma 31 Nakhon Ratchasima
Foundation began digging the graves. An approximate
total of 900 graves have been removed and
the bodies exhumed since then.
Seng, a former resident of the Wat Tham Krabok,
recalls that the Hmong community was informed
in 2001 that the graves would be removed.
"That was the last time we ever heard
of anything," he said. "The Thai
said they will follow the rule of law in
their land to leave the dead untouched."
However, in 2005, the foundations began digging
the graves without announcing any news to
us, Seng said.
Wat Tham Krabok became a refugee camp for
the Hmong who fled from Laos after the Vietnam
War in 1975. In 2004, about 5,000 of the
Hmong refugees immigrated to Minnesota. In
2005, after nearly all the Hmong refugees
have left, the abbot of Wat Tham Krabok called
for the removal of hundreds of Hmong graves
for what he has claimed as environmental
reasons.
Both foundations are organizations that seek
unclaimed graves for the purpose of exhuming,
cleansing and cremating the bones in a ceremonial
ritual they believe frees the souls allowing
passage into heaven. The Phothi Phaowana
Songkhroa Foundation said they were told
by the abbot that the 480 Hmong bodies they
cremated were unclaimed. The Buddha Dhamma
31 Nakhon Ratchasima Foundation was only
able to exhume an estimated 211 bodies and
have not yet cremated them.
