All Comments for Lao Villagers Face Eviction From Dam Sites After Refusing ‘Unfair’ Compensation

There are all kinds of corruptions in these big projects, especially dams. Lao leaders are squirreling away their ill-gotten gains in foreign banks. Go down the list of Govt officials associated with these projects and look at their families' houses, bank accounts, cars, land holdings, etc. These are the beneficiaries of the projects. Ordinary Lao people are just their slaves and indentured servants. Yes this is why we no longer have Sombat helping us.

Apr 20, 2017 09:11 AM

I am a Lao-indian living in Xekong province for 39 years. What I have seen in the southern of Laos is very terrible when it comes to the land concession or the relocation plan of Lao government. People in the south are simply considered animals, who can be forced to move from their own houses and villages like we do with the dogs. What a sad moment in life under this communique regime!

Mar 31, 2017 10:46 AM

Foreign aids to this barbaric system needed to be stopped. Don't listen to the communist rhetorics, they are just lies and lies...they must be accountable for their stupidity.

Mar 31, 2017 12:46 AM

The few remaining people in the country who simply wanted socio-agricultural and economic reforms to slowly evolute the Lao society in a natural way are often persecuted, this is exactly what happened to Sompawn Khantisouk and Sombath Somphone (particularly the latter), both of which disappeared and never to be seen again and enforced disappearances is the biggest social problem that is challenging Laos.

If Laos wanted to be good it should seriously take serious reforms in every aspects; communism is not compatible in a society involving tribal cultures living individually with their own customs and it's not working in Laos apart from making some progresses if we compare from say 90s to right now.

To turn Laos into a good country it must have the following, due to historical legacy even:
-a multi-party democracy
-a parliamentary political system with ceremonial head of state. It is possible for it to further cut off corruption.
-an economy that needs to be taken care of, not just obsessing over economic growth.
-a respect for all ethnic groups and let them do whatever they want
-alleviating poverty through use of Sombath-style socio-agricultural reform techniques.
-upgrade all forms of existing infrastructure. Constructing new things should be second priority.
-foreign aid should be limited to at least half even though the country itself is underdeveloped
-denouncement of a Lao-Vietnamese Special Treaty of 1977 a forgery
-preservation of neutral policy due to historical reasons.
-respect for all religions and make Buddhism a state religion again due to historical reasons.
-remove communism from premises since the way it is applied in the country is not very well done, let alone properly.
-a free media with creation of independent outlets even though private media exists.

That's what I got in mind. There's plenty of other things I'm going to say but those I write above are very important.

Mar 30, 2017 03:52 PM

To MisaoFan.
Sir, I like reading your comments about what happened in Laos. I think you can also go to the Lao section as there are more news and leave your comments. But if you'd rather stay on the English section it's fine. No sweat Sir.

Mar 31, 2017 07:27 AM

People are becoming poorer and poorer, but the investor are getting richer and richer. What a sad story in modern Laos

Mar 30, 2017 10:53 AM

To MisaoFan.
I love your comment which is adequate. To me .1% of Lao population- Lao communist party and Lao leaders - should earn more 99.9% all combined. This is a sad reality of Laos today. Since the party/state never feels guilt or shame they will go on exploiting not only the country but Lao population as well.

Mar 29, 2017 06:51 PM

For me, constructing lots of dams is not a good excuse to alleviate poverty in Laos, it would just create even more poverty and its Gini coefficient is sadly increasing, with inequality between the rich and poor growing at a slowly alarming rate.

This article doesn't surprise me since land grabbing is one of the many common issues the country is facing. Hell they were even using it to humiliate indigeneous minorities as a pretext for poverty alleviation and simply let them adopt the same customs as the Lao people, which is ironic because Laos has the largest amount of ethnic groups in Southeast Asia (only 49 of them are recognized though). Contrary to the constitution and written principles, ethnic minorities are given short end of the stick when it comes to even basic rights.

As if it wasn't bad enough, the government doesn't care about its people at all but rather soulless sheeps who are still believing the lies of the government. The one advantage however is that the Lao people are not trusting leadership of the party-state and government.

The government of Laos is the stupidest in the region and its human rights abuses are the worst right now. Debt crisis, not paying salaries on time and relying too much on foreign aid does not make it a government good at all.

Mar 29, 2017 03:56 PM