02 April 2008, WednesdaySyed Nazakat
Merinews (India)Laos, better known for it’s tragic history, is now reeling under abject poverty, as two out of three people living under poverty line. People in extreme poverty without electricity or access to basic facilities of life like clean drinking water.
LAOS REMAINS one of the poorest countries in Asia, where two out of three people live in abject poverty. Now the country is opening up to the outside world, after years of political seclusion – but is the government ready to uplift its poor people?
Lao farmers like Pheng Tanisay are struggling to make a living
It was still mid-morning in Vientiane when we arrived at a small village, Dongsavath, just about half an hour drive outside the city. We came over dusty and pot-holed roads, passing women and children walking barefoot with water jugs. In this rice-growing region of a poor, landlocked country in Laos, families cling to life on an unforgiving terrain. This year has been a lot more difficult than usual because the rains have failed.
One man we met at the front of his hut had nine children. His small farm plot, not quite half a hectare in all, would be too small to feed his family even if the rains had been plentiful. This year, because of the little rain, he would get almost nothing. But Pheng Tanisay, 62, is not an ordinary man. He is the village president of the Lao Front for National Construction (LFNC), a mass organisation, which oversees religious policy and helps in the developmental work in Laos. I asked him about how he was doing. He said when he looked around, he felt happy and satisfied. “At least I am earning something. There are people out here who have nothing,” said Tanisay.
He crouched on a stool, close to the small fire being tended by his wife. She reached into her apron and pulls out a handful of semi-rotten millets, which was the basis for the gruel that she prepared for the meal that evening. It was one of the meals children had that day.
Like its neighbour, Cambodia, Laos is known for its tragic past. During the Vietnam War in 1975, it became the most bombed country in history and that has left a legacy of poverty and underdevelopment. Even though Laos has been a one-party state since 1975, but the Lao people have not flourished. The plight of Laos has been rightly described by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in its latest report, which says that nearly six million people in Laos, two out of three live in abject poverty, living on less than two dollars a day. Laos remains a country with a primitive infrastructure. It has no railroads, a rudimentary road system, and limited telecommunications, though the government is sponsoring major improvements in the road system with possible support from Japan. Outside the capital, many people live without electricity or access to basic facilities of life like clean drinking water. Agriculture, dominated by rice, accounts for about half of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provides 80 per cent of total employment.
On the streets of what remains is one of Asia’s sleepiest capitals, it’s hard to detect immediate pressure for change. But long-time Laos observer, senior Thai journalist, Kavi Chongkittavorn said that the Lao government was beginning to open up and trying to work closely with ASEAN countries. “The Lao has ended its isolation when it joined the alliance of Southeast countries, ASEAN and now the biggest challenge for the Lao government is to work more closely and openly with the rest of region and world,” said Chongkittavorn while adding that the Lao government had benefited from regional cooperation.
In some respects, that seems true. At UNDP Human Development Index (HDI), Lao has shown consistent improvement being ranked 141 out of 173 in 1993 and climbing to 133 by 2007. And the World Bank in its Global Economic Prospects 2008 estimated that Laos’ gross domestic product (GDP) was expected to see growth of 7.9 per cent in the year 2008, which was higher than Indonesia (6.3 per cent) and Philippines (6.2 per cent). National Socio-Economic Development Plan (NSEDP) predicts that the country could achieve the MDG target of reducing the proportion of people living below the poverty line by 2015.
According to the Ministry of Planning and Foreign Investment of Laos, the foreign investments in the country has now passed six billion dollar mark, with Thailand leading the way by investing more than 1,355 million dollars in 169 projects, followed by China with 1,138 million dollars in 237 projects and Vietnam with 535 million dollars in 120 projects. However, China is expected to surpass Thailand in 2008, becoming number one investor in Laos.
Savankhone Razmountry is the editor-in-chief of Vientiane Times, a government owned newspaper. He said, “Despite the government’s efforts and commitment to the development of the country and social upliftment of its people, the foreign media is still giving negative coverage to Lao, which is unfortunate.”
“It is not good that we should criticise all the time. Rather, we should encourage change and try to help each other onto the ladder of development,” Razmountry further added.
Today Laos is banking on the rich natural resource like water to boost its economy and infrastructure. Already under construction, the Nam Theun 2 dam is one of the biggest projects in the region. Located in the central Lao provinces of Khammuane and Bolikhamzy, the $1.45 billion project will get completed at the end of 2009. The World Bank sees this as a model project, and it said that the money earned from this dam would help Lao to alleviate poverty. Thailand alone plans to import more than 90 per cent of the power from the dam, earning the Lao government about 1.9 billion dollars over the next 25 years.
“For Laos, hydro-electric power is a highly lucrative venture. It is going to bring lot of development and prosperity in our country. The money generated from this could be used to alleviate poverty,” said Razmountry.
But there are serious questions as to whether hydroelectric power projects will truly benefit the locals, or simply help make their government richer. For decades, the Lao government with socialist ideology threw money on poverty - only to find that much of it was wasted through corruption and mismanagement. A foreign businessman in Vientiane put it like this: “The problem in Laos is not lack of money and foreign investment, but mismanagement and corruption.”
Many local entrepreneurs are not satisfied with the government. Taikeo Sayavongkeokhamdy, who owns Taikeo Textiles Gallery in Vientiane, spoke with dignity and elegance about her predicament. “I want to spread my business outside Lao and involve more people into it. There is a good market for our handcrafts. But we need more help and support from the government,” she said without criticising the government.
We left the Textiles Gallery and proceeded through the city. The streets are abuzz with people, energy and bad driving. There is a new openness to life, as the government is bringing much-needed revenue into the country’s fledgling economy, after years of political seclusion. Now, the challenge before the government is that it has to make sure that the common people of Laos are not left behind in the development. If the country’s leaders can’t provide prosperity, then people like Pheng Tanisay, know better than to complain.
“We want our country to develop like Thailand and our other neighbours,” Pheng said as he rose from his knees. “I don’t want my children or grandchildren to face the same hardships and difficulties, which I faced in my life. They should have good career and life,” he added.
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