If America had minded its own business, human trafficking would be worse
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Re: "Credit booms bust the poor", Letters, September 1.
Vint Chavala claims that Thailand has arrested roughly the same percentage of its human traffickers as Malaysia and Vietnam. Is that true? I don’t know.
In any case, I believe America had decided on Thailand’s Tier 3 rating for human trafficking before the arrests were made. Furthermore, Vint is always telling America to mind its own business. But isn’t it only because America “minded Thailand’s business” that Thailand has at least begun to address that issue?
Vint also denies that he looks down on Thais who disagree with him. But when he says “literate” and “educated” people agree with him, doesn’t he insinuate that those who think otherwise are illiterate and uneducated?
I regret that my disagreements with Messrs Vint and Songdej (the latter of whom sometimes seems to agree with me) have become personal. But they personally attacked me first, and on two occasions Songdej has even questioned my integrity. Hopefully, in the future we can respectfully agree to disagree.
Eric Bahrt
