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The eminent Martin Stuart-Fox’s illuminating ‘Family Problems‘ analysis (recently plugged on New Mandala) rightly concludes that in Laos, the spectre of corruption is at the crux of all-to often fallible plans for national development. Governments attaining national development objectives while participating in moderate levels of corruption is relatively commonplace in the Asia-Pacific. However, Laos is saturated with corruption to such a degree that it mostly inhibits development. Corruption permeates Laos irrespective of the painting provided by the World Bank of progress with a seven plus percent figure bandied about. Indeed, one must ask seven percent for whom? Through a critique of sparsely available information on recent shifts in the upper echelons of the Lao government, Stuart-Fox shows that the Prime Ministerial change from Bouasone to Thongsing is representative of how corruption emanates contagiously from the top. Indeed, Stuart-Fox offers a poignant conclusion that there is little room for change in a system constantly greased by under the table behaviour. While it was not within the scope of Stuart-Fox’s article to consider how such a system might be altered to allow for greater effectiveness of national development plans, it is within the purview of New Mandala.
As Laos becomes increasingly and unavoidably exposed to other states, it is increasingly and unavoidably exposed to economic competition and evolving political systems in states it has close relations with. It is political reform that I wish to focus on here. Though not all states surrounding Laos are overt examples of political reform with regards to Burma, Cambodia and Vietnam, two of its neighbours can be considered interesting models for political evolution. In China and Thailand, information is widely available about political leadership. Both China and Thailand are grappling with surges in the availability of information that state censorship apparatus are stretched to control. Both Thai and Chinese governments are at least concerned to be seen with dealing with corruption within institutions. Significantly for Laos, it is China and Thailand that now constitute its largest trade relationships. What sort of, if any, influence the China-Thailand dynamic could have over Laos in terms of limiting corruption is a vast ambiguous question. But perhaps in this context, it is worth considering the views of Lao youths growing up in the information age.
New media is everywhere in Laos, and aside from a doctoral thesis entitled Urban Cosmonauts: The Global Explorations of the New Generation from Post-Revolutionary Laos by Warren Mayes, consideration of its impact seems glaringly absent from the many analyses of Laos and its development. Of course, it is natural here to mention the next generation of Lao less haunted by the specter of corruption. Youths will see and read about the political chaos occurring in Thailand. Lao youths will see the ever expanding influence of ‘Made in China’. Lao youths will be aware they’re going to get a great new train service from Boten to Vientiane, but will be disappointed that they’ll be unable to afford a ticket. They’ll see tourists jumping aboard to head up to Xishuangbana and will feel strongly about why they can’t go too. Lao youths will be wondering about their own political system, and perhaps be angry enough to demand more from it and leadership. Lao youths will be inheriting Laos long after it flaps out of Least Developed Country status. Maybe I am expecting too much. But new media is not limited to Lao youths, and what sort of influence it has over the wider population that has influence at present doesn’t seem understood by us, out here, donating to what could derisively be labeled the corruption trough. Increasingly there is English language media covering the development of Laos. With English becoming more widely spoken in Laos, these articles are sure to have an impact on the self-awareness and identity of Lao citizens. So with this in mind, what would Lao youths with some command of English make of recent developments?
The New Year has started eventfully for Laos. On 6 January 2011, Vang Pao, leader of the Hmong guerilla forces throughout the Lao Civil War and in exile, passed on aged 81 in Fresno, California. Obituaries have tended to reflect superfluously on his numerous achievements interwoven with brief Cold War contextualisation. One mourner, the Mayor of Fresno, even commented that Vang Pao was “father of a nation.” Contrastingly, the present Lao leadership spawned from the recognised “father of the nation”, Kaysone Phomvihane, made no comment on Vang Pao’s death. How many Lao youths have heard of Vang Pao? My presumption is not many. The Economist vapidly asserted that leadership was busier with the Lao Stock Exchange that opened for trading on the auspicious 11/1/11. The Economist identified that it’s ironic that Vang Pao died a week before Laos affirmed itself as a subscriber to market-led growth. Unfortunately this irony would be lost on those youths who ought to have a broader understanding of their national history.
What are the views of Lao youth (at least, the few that care for such banality!) on their new stock exchange? How would they perceive this in relation to national development? There are, at present, only two companies listed on the stock exchange which are Banque Pour Le Commerce Extérieur Lao (BCEL – the national foreign exchange bank) and Electricite du Laos (EdL – the national energy company). Clifford McCoy reports in the Asia Times that
Twenty companies were initially shortlisted to be included on the LSX. Fifteen of these were state-owned and the rest were joint-ventures between state and private enterprises. To be listed, companies have to turn a profit for at least a year, demonstrate transparency and sound management, and have a sound business plan. It’s unclear which of those requirements the other 18 companies initially scheduled to list on the LSX failed to meet.
Of course, the very first two publicly listed companies reflect the natural resource export dependency of the Lao economy. Setting standards for listing like making an annual profit and the often heard hollow words of ‘demonstrating transparency’ and ‘sound management’ could give impetuous for consistent entry of companies into the Lao Stock Exchange, but what are the chances of ‘transparency’ and ‘sound management’ being given weight by the elites that straddle the thin line between private business and state operated enterprise? There needs, as McCoy concludes, to be political reform before the hope that the new stock exchange will have a significant impact on economic growth and trickle-down effects for the welfare of the greater Lao public. Political reform towards the World Bank’s ‘good governance’ definition is not a high priority for the current generation of Lao leadership as Stuart-Fox’s article demonstrates. However, this doesn’t mean the next generation will necessarily share the same prerogatives.
This is because preventing corruption through political reform in Laos will come through greater exposure for Lao to articles like the one Martin Stuart-Fox wrote and to articles about their evolving regional geopolitical situation. Consequently, the recent deluge of Lao related articles all over the Internet are the avenues, the clefts in those cliffs, for the present and future Lao public to take a greater participatory role in governance. Martin Stuart-Fox refers to corruption as a “leakage”, but couldn’t the leakage of media into Laos be similarly corrosive to the present governance apparatus? If only those articles could be translated into Lao…
There are a handful of Lao youths, every year, going abroad for education. Most do not make it outside of East and SE Asia. Possibly within the next 10 years, the Lao youths will make it to the States, Europe, or Australia.
The Lao youth’s self-image is heightened with recent events. The SEA games gave a huge boost in nationalism. the 450th anniversary of Vientiane with the inauguration of the humongous statute of Chao Anouvong sends messages of glory and recognition of the Lao past to be carried on in the future.
More and more, Laos develops economically, and I would suggest that this is the main concern for most Lao youths. I have uncle-inlaws, one works with the LSX, and one is goes to Chula in Bangkok for a Business degree, and most certainly their concern will not be corruption of the government, it will not be the concern of Bouasone’s power change, but their job opportunities in the future, the development of Laos overall to help, well, feed their families.
On the other hand, I have family in Pakse, living in villages, and waiting for each year’s rice harvest. Their concern will, again, not be corruption or power change, but whether or not there will be job’s for my other uncles in their various skills they’ve picked up over the years (motorcycle mechanic, one is also a construction manager, etc.).
It seems, to me, the only ones that care about the corruption, the power change, what goes on in the Politburo, is us in the west, veterans of the secret war, the Royal Family in France, and those who are disillusioned like my father. I hope that I am proved wrong.
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The longer I work in Southeast Asia, the more I believe in NGOs, multilaterals and bilaterals withdrawing aid funds until corruption is reduced.
Personally, corruption got so bad for me in Cambodia that it became just about impossible to work. Projects that might have saved whole industries had to be abandoned because I would not hand high officials part of the project funds in the form of ‘salaries’, ‘special payments’, etc.
Currently the abovementioned aid bodies contribute to vast fortunes made by elites unconcerned by the fate of their countrymen & women.
To retire this nation-sapping syndrome, I propose what I call the ‘transfer model’. The idea is to identify the handful of relatively uncorrupt developing world nations, & progressively transfer donor funds from Laos, Cambodia, et al to them – at a rate of, say, 15% per year – until governance improves.
Short-term pain for the poor, for sure – but medium-term gain is also likely. Moreover the latter would likely outweigh the former, as a lower quotient would go to corrupt ends.
Finally, funds so transferred would benefit the poor in the transferee nation – so there would not actually be a nett loss at any stage.
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This notions of corruption involved here reflect a very western/economics /values assumption that the system is being violated and that this is somehow aberrant.
Jeffrey Race’s examination of two cases here http://pws.prserv.net/studies/twocases.htm seems to provide a better working model of a working model. He argues the system is not broken, rather it is the system functioning as it is expected to function. The practice of gin meuang (eating the town/land) or living off an appointment (Confucian) has had a long tenure.
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@ JingJai..
I agree and disagree with your comments. You are absolutely right that the vast majority of Laotians are not at all concerned with corruption in the country, at all levels of the government. They are more concerned with how to provide the next meal to feed the family, where to fish, where to harvest crops or hunt for wild animals. This is overwhelmingly more important than worrying about government corruption. Why? Because there’s not a damn thing they can do about it! Best to just “play along” or risk being persecuted if not worse.
To your point, yes there’s a lot of the younger generation getting educated, local or foreign land. And these youths are concerned with employment opportunities when they graduate. Where are the jobs in Laos? In Laos alone every year there are hundreds graduating with bachelors to “MBA’s”. But where are they jobs? I was told by a close relative that many students, of wealthy background or otherwise, PAY companies to hire them! Can you believe that? These kids PAY to get hired! Ridiculous! Ordinary citizens turns a blind eye when it comes to corruption, bribery or blackmale. Why?
1 – they don’t dare challenge authority, afraid of persecution
2 – they themselves profit from it. Why would these people want change only to lose their “way of living?”
You would think and hope that these educated youths will understand discipline, principles, right vs wrong and that when they have the opportunity to make a difference and change a “custom” for the better.. THEY WILL DO THAT! Yet.. they too fall into corruption themselves..
Lastly – You state that the only western countries (governments) are concerned with corruption. That’s because they want TO END CORRUPTION! They want the people to have a voice and be heard! This beautiful thing is called FREEDOM!
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The author (Colum Graham) wrote:
“New media is everywhere in Laos…”
This is an absurd statement thus the “glaringly absent impact” in “the many analyses of Laos” is no surprise.
Even the quoted thesis by Warren Mayes is limited to Vientiane – with an estimated population of 1.5 Mio people in city and province in a country of 6.5 Million.
The Lao youths that actually have access to the internet, are interested in politics and know how to find access to relevant information (!) in a language they understand (!) is MINISCULE.
The few that do have the privilege of getting a look beyond their own noses often come from well-off families that are waist-deep in “the system”. You need to look no farther than Thailand – where you get not a hundred but thousands of foreign-educated MBAs each year – to realize that VERY few of these youths have an inclination to challenge or change “the system”.
Of course I hope that new media can do its magic in Laos, too, but I am afraid that by the time it actually reaches the people, the weak, corrupt system of today will have transformed into a strong, corrupt system.
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On another note, I find that this local form of thinking in this regard that many Laotians have that has largely not changed in hundreds of years needs to change quickly otherwise China and Thailand (and Vietnam) will change the lifestyles of many Laotians before they know it.
I have asked some Lao friends about what they think about the new railway being built between Kunming and Vientiane and eventually onto Laos and the fact that during the construction phase only Chinese workers will be employed to work on the railway, with not a single Laotian getting a job until the railway is completed. Not to mention the 5km “exclusive” economic corridor on both sides of the railway that the Chinese have negotiated from the Lao government. The response I got was that the people I queried were quite naive and just gave me this unanimous response: “this development is good for our country”. While I agree with that assessment, if the politians in Vientiane continue to give the Chinese everything they want, eventually the Laotians will feel like foreigners in their own country. Go up to the northern parts of Laos, for example Udomxai, Boten and parts of Phongsali and Luang Nam Tha provinces and see how much Chinese script and how little Lao you will see. Many Chinese people living in those provinces (often from Yunnan and relatively recent arrivals) speak only Chinese and act as if Laos were part of China (i.e. they generally operate businesses catering to Chinese people travelling through Laos, though foreigners and locals are usually welcome, with the exception of the border casinos where local Laotians are not welcome).
The corruption, short-sightedness and naivety of the Lao government will surely bite both the government and it’s people in the back if not addressed soon. Either Laos will become a Chinese economic colony of sorts (personally I think Thailand should play a greater role in the development of Laos, rather than continuing to see it as a backwater while China grabs all the opportunites it can get) and/or it will be exploited by its neighbors (particularly China) to the point that there is no turning back.
My opinions are based on a number of years of travel into Laos and I have seen both the advantages and disadvantages of development in Laos, as well as the effects of corruption on the poor infrastructure in many places, an observation that will likely not change anytime soon until corruption is tackled more. Also, I don’t believe that there is much media exposure in Laos..it’s invariably a case of the usual “show off the good things that happen in our country everyday” that they showcase and neglecting to show any negatives or have any debate on serious issues.
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I agree with much of the comments above, but think it na├пve to believe that the young people growing up now will be demanding transparency and lowered levels of corruption. I live in Laos, and young people are happy to get on the corruption gravy train at the earliest opportunity. One Lao friend in his late 20s got a job with the ministry of education through a high-up family member – he goes round inspecting schools, and takes sums of money from each headmaster to report that each school is meeting standards, even if the teachers are absent most days, playing cards and drinking laolao at home.
My neighbour is about 30 and works for the roads section of the Ministry of Works – he has 2 cars already, paid for with money he takes from roading contractors to sign off on poor works that do not meet the contract Specs. These are just 2 examples but it is rife amongst young people.
In a country where you have to pay thousands of dollars to get a job with the police, the chances of breaking the corruption cycle through educating youth are a way off yet.
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Nothing going to changed in Laos. Until communist government fall and push VC back and then the Chinese. Corruption will killed all government and it people period. Laotion have to come and work together oversea and in the country.
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