Or, why the world wants to see more of this Arcadia
Rivers have a strange majesty. Upstream they're haughty, unreachable and remotely beautiful. But downstream they're like the languid, voluptuous Rubinesque ladies. The Ganga in Bihar or the Padma in Bangladesh is a vast, lazy muddy river curving sinuously. An equally overblown, generous river is the Mekong. I went to Laos to see it.
Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) is a small country, sparsely populated (a national aim is to double the population by 2020) and poor. The Mekong separates this country from Thailand on the one side and acts as a common strand through Vietnam and Cambodia. Vientiane, the capital of Laos, sits on the banks of the Mekong. At night, sitting in the relatively rustic and peaceful surroundings of Vientiane, you can see the twinkling lights of UdonThani and Nong Kai (Thailand) where, no doubt, people are spending their money crazily in 24-hour hypermarkets, speciality restaurants, massage parlours and upmarket bars in an orgy of decadence that Laotians both envy and despise about the Thais.
Laos's feelings about its other neighbour, Vietnam, are much warmer and deeper. Laos has the distinction of being the world's most bombed country - during the Vietnam war, when US warplanes used to reconnoitre the landscape for the VietCong, they would empty their spare ordnance routinely and casually over Laos. This little country got drawn into a war for no fault of its own and it is deeply conscious of the fact that Vietnam never let it down, not once. When China attacked Vietnam in 1979, Laos withdrew its envoy from Beijing to show its anger at the attack and its solidarity with Vietnam. It was an act of great valour in the geopolitical climate of the day.
Although Laos is culturally more akin to Thailand, it is a little afraid of it, for precisely this reason. While I was there, Vientiane Times, the only English paper which comes out once a week, reported how the Laotian Ambassador based in Bangkok socked it to the Thais. In a Letter to the Editor to the Bangkok Post, the Ambassador rebutted an editorial about the depiction of Thao Suranaree, a historical figure about whose role in Thai-Lao history, there is still a dispute. Charges of cultural imperialism ? The Laos are familiar with the phrases. It is a Communist country.
Communist, did I say ? Asian Communists have puzzled and strained the understanding of European Marxists. Take Laos. It is run by the Army because the Army 'enjoys the people's mandate'(several members of the Politburo and many ministers are serving Army officers). Yet ministers take off on long retreats in Buddhist monastries (the newspaper said the Law minister had just then returned from one such). The monks stay out of politics, unlike the Buddhist clergy in Sri Lanka or Thailand. There are obviously no curbs on religion in a country where 60 per cent of the population follows Therawada Buddhism.
Why is the Army a legitimate entity in politics ? Because the fiercely patriotic Pathet Lao movement against the Americans, was led by the Army. Those opposing the Army were the Hmongs, an ethnic group in the south, who were seen as creatures of the US. It would not be wrong to say that the US (open itals) installed (close itals) the Army in Laos. And it would be equally mechanistic to say that Laos is not a democracy.
But here is another element in Lao society that gives it style. Like Vietnam, Laos was a French Colony till 1954. The British set up institutions and spent money on developing infrstructure in their colonies. But French colonial administration had other priorities. So while there is just one big hospital in Vientiane, on the main street you will find tiny shops selling baguettes and coffee every morning, and the Laos duty free is arguably the cheapest place in the world to buy French wine (drinkable table wine starts at $ 2 a bottle). Most shops have a cellar that would make a wine-drinker's eyes sparkle. The older generation of Laotians all speak French.
Laos and India have had an affectionate relationship. There is evidence of Nehru and the Lao King exchanging letters and thoughts almost every other week. It is not just the empathy created by the history of the anti-colonial movement or the Mekong and the Ganga (the Mekong Ganga Cooperation project is, in fact, a political mission as part of India's Look East policy). It is also that India had helped Laos tremendously in economic reconstruction.
Had ? Because now China is moving into Laos fast. Despite only cautious acceptance of China, (now that Vietnam has forgiven it) Sino-Lao political, defence and economic cooperation is showing a quantum leap. An Upper Mekong waterway that will connect Simao in southern China and Luang Prabang in northern Laos will be ready by July this year and will open up a gateway for trade. An all-weather road linking China's Kunming province with Luang Prabang is also coming up. A market in Vientiane that used to be dominated by Indian traders, has now been taken over by the Chinese. From tea to cheap electronic goods to pre-stitched curtains
