Thailand will repatriate thousands of ethnic Hmong to Laos, officials said Thursday, despite concerns that the asylum seekers will face political persecution. The first group of 350 will be repatriated Thursday, said Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongpakee.

He said they would go voluntarily, but a Hmong advocate disputed that claim.

Your comments:

I will personally do my part to make sure my family, friends and local government representatives do not visit or pour US dollars into Thailand. Let the government rot and the country remain a third world nation!

Susan

The Thai government is showing all once again the level of racism that is rampant among policy makers. Tourist should be extra cautious when going there. Who knows, they may take a dislike to your ethnic origins.

Gary Davis

Nothing wrong with Buddha Bar -- March 27, p. 9

In an amicable mood, Jakarta officials and councilors had lunch Wednesday at the Buddha Bar in Teuku Umar, Central Jakarta, with representatives from the Buddhist community and the restaurant's management. The lunch marked an end to the debate about the name of the bar and questions over its permits as both officials and councilors had agreed that nothing was wrong with the bar.

Your comments:

So the whole point of this exercise was for what? An excuse for the Buddhists to get a new temple somewhere or a group trip to some holy site? Personally, I couldn't care less about the name, but certain people were offended by it and I understood their concerns. Yet now it's all okay.

Isn't there anyone who understands the concept of utilizing government funds to purchase and renovate the place?

The first order would have been to have the Buddha Bar management pay back all those funds to the government, then pay rent on top of that.

Increase the public access accessibility. In truth, if I were to randomly choose people off the streets, such as food vendors, beggars, bajaj (three-wheeled taxi) drivers, Kopaja minibus operators, would they allow us in? Even if I paid for the drinks and meals for these individuals? I doubt it.

The attitude of the city government officials and Buddhist representatives disgust me. In regard to the Buddhist representatives, it's the fact that you were all offended in the beginning, then, probably after certain promises were made, you were okay with everything. Where is your pride?

To the government officials, their blatant cronyism and spending of government funds to allow a member of the elite to do what she wants, where she wants on the government's dime, which could be used for other things such as feeding the poor, increasing agricultural projects in underdeveloped provinces, sending underprivileged kids to school or other worthwhile projects.

No, they spend it to buy a building, renovate it and then hand it over to certain people to open a bar.

David K

Jakarta

Once again, Indonesia shows its true identity: a self-proclaimed democratic state insensitive and disregard to other religions. Buddhism is the second oldest religion of the world, only after Hinduism and is revered as religion of peace.

As a Buddhist living in Indonesia, I find "double standard" in the attitude of Muslims appalling and in cases like this "using the name of Lord Buddha as the name of a restaurant" very repulsive.

We are taught by Lord Buddha to tolerate but our tolerance has limits. During Ramadhan, newspapers are full of opinions by Muslims, reminding other religions to "respect them and their religions". If they so want their religion, they should respect other religions too.

Although it is against Buddhism practice, I fervently wish that a strip joint by the name of "Allah" be opened in the red-light area of Bangkok.

That will teach Muslims a lesson on how to respect other religions much older than theirs.

Irene Kapoor

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