Not anti-Thailand, just pro-human rights
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Re: "Best friends should be true and tell you of your faults", Letters, September 28.
Burin Kantabutra is right that it’s absurd for Vint Chavala to say America is not a good friend of Thailand because it criticises the junta. Even Songdej Praditsmanont noted in a recent letter that America deserves credit for the fact that Thailand is finally addressing the human-trafficking problem.
Unfortunately that is only one of many grave rights problems in Thailand, and if America might be able to help other oppressed Thais by speaking out, why should Vint object?
It’s not about being “pro-Thailand” or “pro-America”. It’s about being pro-human rights. Anyone who has read my letters knows I frequently attack American policy when I think it’s wrong – read, for instance, my recent letter about Noam Chomsky. And I’m an American! Why should Thailand or any other country in the world get a free pass?
Eric Bahrt
