great! laos defying evil red pekin comie Colonialism

[rnw]

Lao Farmers Block Chinese Developer From Surveying Land for Airport Project

A Chinese developer is moving to seize additional land from farmers in northern Laos for the construction of an international airport as part of a casino complex, according to the farmers who have prevented the developer from carrying out any survey work in the area.

The rare standoff last week marks the second time in three months that the rice farmers from Thonepheung district in Bokeo province stood firm as policemen armed with AK-47 assault rifles moved to enforce an order by the King Romans (Dok Ngiew Kham) Group to develop the land.

King Romans originally wanted to take 236 hectares (583 acres) from 46 farmer families in six villages in return for compensation well below market value, but last week the developer announced plans to extend the area required for the project by an additional six hectares (15 acres).

Angered by the potential loss of additional rice fields, the farmers on April 3 prevented King Romans officials from measuring out the new parcel of land under the protection of armed guards, villagers told RFA’s Lao Service recently.

They said that farmers angrily shouted: “Don’t measure! Don’t measure! Stop! Stop!” as the officials attempted to set up their equipment to survey the land.

While the confrontation occurred, villagers said, officials took pictures of the farmers, but would not allow themselves to be photographed, prompting one woman to ask, “Why do the officials have the right to take our photos?”

After a prolonged standoff during which the villagers refused to retreat, the situation was resolved when police and developer officials pledged to forgo the additional land confiscation, though the villagers said they remain on edge.

Citizen video of the standoff was posted on several social media sites after the confrontation, garnering support from sympathetic netizens.

Villagers said that officials are now working to get them to accept compensation for the original parcel of land by the start of the Lao New Year on April 14 and have been “keeping a close eye” on the farmers.

The 46 families have refused compensation from King Romans of around 100,000 Thai baht (U.S. $3,100) per rai (less than half an acre) of land, according to officials, and farmers contend that the rice fields to be taken for the project are valued at more than three times that amount.

The rice fields covering 235.6 hectares are part of 1,000 hectares (2,471 acres) granted by Lao authorities to King Romans for the development of the airport, as well as golf courses and entertainment projects.

Inadequate compensation

Villagers told RFA that the compensation will not be enough for them to purchase the amount of farmland necessary to meet their needs, but that authorities have threatened those who do not accept the package with imprisonment.

“We need to get more compensation so that we can buy new plots of land, but the company and government officials do not accept our demands,” one villager told RFA, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“Reasonable compensation needs to be made because the value of land never decreases,” he said.

Another villager, who also asked not to be named, said that the government was breaking the law in supporting King Romans’ interests, which center on the casino-driven Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (SEZ) project, almost exclusively catering to Chinese investors.

“Legally, rice field land must not be developed for other purposes, but the officials are flouting the law,” he said.

“It is not the people who are wrong, it is the officials.”

An official told RFA that the exact amount of compensation had not been settled yet.

“We have not paid compensation yet,” he said, adding, “We are measuring the area and collecting information and then we will compensate the villagers.”

Villagers have suggested that King Romans has pushed for district officials to move quickly on the airport land because Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad, who has backed the project, is expected to retire next year.

They accused the local authorities of being on the company’s payroll and rewarded according to the amount of land they can secure.

SEZ project

The one-party Lao communist government in 2007 conceded to King Romans 10,000 hectares (24,710 acres) of land—3,000 hectares (7,410 acres) of which are dedicated to the SEZ—for 99 years, with the objective of promoting trade, investment, and tourism.

The SEZ, which is tax exempt, began construction in the early 2000s and now includes an international border checkpoint and river port, the King Romans Casino, hotels, and a Chinatown market with as many as 70 restaurants and shops selling a variety of retail goods.

Plans for the international airport project—which will affect the villages of Phonehom, Donmoun, Phiengyam, Mokkachok, Khouan and Sibouheung—were not made public until early 2013, after the Lao government signed a memorandum of understanding with the company.

In January, the farmers defied orders to vacate their land, standing in front of bulldozers sent to flatten their rice fields and forcing armed police deployed by King Romans to retreat.

According to sources, King Romans had attempted to clear the land in 2012 but the villagers resisted, although the police were not called in at that time.

http://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/farmers-04112014180934.html

[rnw]

laos civilian should standup , do more to defend their land and environment from red norther comie gang mafia!

[FACTOR]

There is nothing Lao rice farmers and villagers can do to stop this. The Chinese will do whatever they damn well please, e.g tacky casinos, and as long as some Lao elite are getting rich by catering to them, nothing can be done. Sorry.

[anotheruser]

Good on them for standing up. However, give it a week and they will probably all be relocated to re-education centers or worse.

[FACTOR]

The most they can hope for is a bit more money for compensation.

[phuketrichard]

standing up ,

all well and good to make your voice heard but you cant fight the goverment when the chinese have brougt them already

Same as the dam project in southern Laos.

[rnw]

so all of u support comie clolonialism in ASEAN, thailland 's next target for building Kra canal, more forced relocation and land grabing coming soon, as long as witch yinsula families remains in seat.

so all expatriot 'd better move else where without evil red influences and expantionsism.

once those mafia coming to take land, all your properties in thailand would be taken over , legalpaper and docs're meaningless in eyes of those red comie evils, of course there' re loads of naive expats there believing laws but without noticing who's ruling current thailand

Edited April 14, 2014 by rnw

[rnw]

lao farmers and civilain and land grab victims should united form alliances, similar like in myanmar then myson dam projects 's halted.

[rnw]

there're numerous ways left for civilian fighting back their rights from evil comie colonialism in asean region.

if you don't carry on to defend your lawful rights, then you'll pennyless staying in porverties forever!being slaves forever!

[rnw]

The most they can hope for is a bit more money for compensation.

you must be very naive on laos PDR situations.

for laos civilian, money won't help much, once laos farmers lost your land , your nature environment and communities' forest, laos traditional culture and way of life would be assimilated by red comie completedly....poor fate laos got reloacted to other place -often environtally black spot, no liable environments left for farming or other means of survivings....

Factor, you should watch those NGO films being baned by laos communists...

even poor fate laos farmers got the compensations, that;s only enough for them to live for 1-2 years, after running of those cash, they have to no means to survive, local environment and forests detroyed, they 're worse off than refugee...women have to go to prostitute, men go for hard labour worker or other casual jobs earning very little, Meanwhile there's outflowed yunnan (red cina)migrants to compete for jobs and small business, laos civilian like tibet 're being marginalized to be poor forever........

HOw naive the western expats are on laos' real situations.

Lao comie regime intends whatever lfet in LAO s to evil red cina pekin comie mining companies, even laos soils are valuable for mining scarcity minerals

Edited April 16, 2014 by LivinginKata
racist comment removed

[rnw]

who're those lao elite are getting rich? could u elaborate th long list of it?

most 're comie laos@high ranking, plus those cinese llaos(who fled to LAOS IN CULTURAL REVOLUTION PERIODS).

THISE LAO ELITES SHOULD BE IN HELL FOREVER, THEIR BANK AC IN THAILAND OR OTHER CONTIE SHOULD BE FROZEN AND CONFISCATED.

There is nothing Lao rice farmers and villagers can do to stop this. The Chinese will do whatever they damn well please, e.g tacky casinos, and as long as some Lao elite are getting rich by catering to them, nothing can be done. Sorry.

[rnw]

Good on them for standing up. However, give it a week and they will probably all be relocated to re-education centers or worse.

SO ONCE THOSE POORLY FATE LAO FARMERS be relocated to re-education centers or worse.,YOUR EU OR WESTERN COUNTRIIES' ELITE OR NGOS WILL STAY IN BLINDED IN WHATEVER CIRCUMSTANCES, THAT'S THE GREAT SHAME FOR THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY AND WESTERN DEMOCCRACIES.

"ANOTHERUSER" WOULD YOU DO ANYTHING POSOTIVELY TO RESCUE THOSE POOR FATED LAOS FARMERS ? OR U JUST WANT TO BE ONLOOKER FOREVER UNTILL YOUR VESTED- INTERRESTS 'RE infringeD.

IF SO, HOW SELFISH YOU 'RE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[FACTOR]

Dude-- you're on the wrong forum.

[anotheruser]

Good on them for standing up. However, give it a week and they will probably all be relocated to re-education centers or worse.

SO ONCE THOSE POORLY FATE LAO FARMERS be relocated to re-education centers or worse.,YOUR EU OR WESTERN COUNTRIIES' ELITE OR NGOS WILL STAY IN BLINDED IN WHATEVER CIRCUMSTANCES, THAT'S THE GREAT SHAME FOR THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY AND WESTERN DEMOCCRACIES.

"ANOTHERUSER" WOULD YOU DO ANYTHING POSOTIVELY TO RESCUE THOSE POOR FATED LAOS FARMERS ? OR U JUST WANT TO BE ONLOOKER FOREVER UNTILL YOUR VESTED- INTERRESTS 'RE infringeD.

IF SO, HOW SELFISH YOU 'RE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Put the crack pipe down. I was just making an observation. I live in Laos and find it sad but what do you suggest I do about this? What exactly vested interests do I have to have the farmers removed? You are just attacking people for no reason.

[I Like Thai]

Tax exempt ? This means NOTHING will go to the Lao coffers, except whatever was paid for the 99 year lease. It will have Chinese workers and Chinese tourists. Everything there will be imported from China, including food.

There will be very little benefit to the local economy.

Best wishes to the farmers, but I doubt they will have much luck.

[I Like Thai]

Do some of the posters seriously believe, that when Western Interests go into "Developing Countries," that they don't treat the locals any differently than the Chinese interests do ?

[rnw]

laos farmers should unite and take the cases to intl court.

should sue those red companies.

[LivinginKata]

Any further posts in all caps will be removed.

Read the Forum Netiquette guidlines http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/254949-forum-netiquette/

[FACTOR]

Tax exempt ? This means NOTHING will go to the Lao coffers, except whatever was paid for the 99 year lease. It will have Chinese workers and Chinese tourists. Everything there will be imported from China, including food.

There will be very little benefit to the local economy.

Best wishes to the farmers, but I doubt they will have much luck.

From what I've heard the only local Lao people that might find jobs/ are finding jobs there are young females catering to you know what. Sad.

[anotheruser]

laos farmers should unite and take the cases to intl court.

should sue those red companies.

You come here and call people naive about matters pertaining to the Lao PDR and then come out with this?

[Tomtomtom69]

Tax exempt ? This means NOTHING will go to the Lao coffers, except whatever was paid for the 99 year lease. It will have Chinese workers and Chinese tourists. Everything there will be imported from China, including food.

There will be very little benefit to the local economy.

Best wishes to the farmers, but I doubt they will have much luck.

From what I've heard the only local Lao people that might find jobs/ are finding jobs there are young females catering to you know what. Sad.

From what I've read about 40% of the casino's workforce already consists of Thai, Burmese and Lao nationals. Over time, the percentage of non-Chinese should increase, as it should. We're living in a globalized world, with an increasingly globalized workforce.

In any case, the current situation violates Lao labor law which stipulates that only 20% of skilled labor can be foreigners and 10% of unskilled labor can be foreigners. However, the casino probably pays the government a regular kickback for them to turn a blind eye.

[Tomtomtom69]

Tax exempt ? This means NOTHING will go to the Lao coffers, except whatever was paid for the 99 year lease. It will have Chinese workers and Chinese tourists. Everything there will be imported from China, including food.

There will be very little benefit to the local economy.

Best wishes to the farmers, but I doubt they will have much luck.

From what I've heard the only local Lao people that might find jobs/ are finding jobs there are young females catering to you know what. Sad.

From what I've read about 40% of the casino's workforce already consists of Thai, Burmese and Lao nationals. Over time, the percentage of non-Chinese should increase, as it should. We're living in a globalized world, with an increasingly globalized workforce.

In any case, the current situation violates Lao labor law which stipulates that only 20% of skilled labor can be foreigners and 10% of unskilled labor can be foreigners. However, the casino probably pays the government a regular kickback for them to turn a blind eye.

[Tomtomtom69]

There is nothing Lao rice farmers and villagers can do to stop this. The Chinese will do whatever they damn well please, e.g tacky casinos, and as long as some Lao elite are getting rich by catering to them, nothing can be done. Sorry.

Well let's hope this casino isn't forced to close and become a ghost town in two years from now like it's predecessor at Boten, just opposite the Chinese border town of Mohan. If that happens, all the money invested on infrastructure in building up this huge casino special economic zone (SEZ) will be wasted, just like at it's predecessor. Only 2 years ago or so, Boten (known as the Boten SEZ) was booming, but read my description below to see how it's doing since then:

Last year I went to Boten and the place is now a creepy ghost town, a shell of it's former self. There are just 2 hotels left, neither of which seems to have any guests. My Chinese business partner spent 100 Yuan to spend a night there only so he could be near the border ready to organize transport for our goods early the next morning. I said "no thanks" when asked if I wanted to stay too and went down to Udomxai for the night via Luang Nam Tha with a Chinese backpacker I became friends with, only returning to the border the next day.

Boten is now being consumed by the surrounding jungle and nothing there works anymore - the petrol (gas) station has closed down, there is no internet access in the hotels or anywhere nearby and it's difficult finding a place to eat nearby except right next to the border post (but that's Lao food, not Chinese). As I have lived in China (Kunming), I have a Chinese SIM card. When I went to the China Mobile shop about 1km from the Chinese border to recharge my phone credit, in the middle of where "the action" used to be about 2-3 years ago before it was closed, I was told by the friendly lone shopkeeper that he was unable to recharge my phone but he allowed me to use his to call my boss on the Chinese side. Another elderly man from Lijiang who lives a solitary existence just opposite the closed petrol station and runs a mechanic shop (but rarely sees any customers) was very friendly and happy to interact with me and my business partner, but it makes me wonder what those few Chinese people who continue to live in the Boten SEZ are doing there. The land they are residing on was leased to the Chinese government on a 99-year lease, the people can't speak any Lao and can't legally leave the special economic zone in which they reside for the rest of Laos without obtaining a passport (from within China) and a visa. Anyway, it's a very quiet place now with the only action one sees being Lao and Chinese traffic crossing between the two countries.

[rnw]

that's great if it turns into ghost twon as from 2014 on evil red cina economy 's quagmire, ghost towns're everywhere inside red evil cina, ghost town can not be avoided now due to debts crisis for variuos red banks and shadowing banks

.

but that's great cheerful news should be celebrated for laos civilians

[NanLaew]

... evil red cina pekin comie mining companies...

The OP has made over a dozen 'responses' to his own thread already? Give us a break can you? The last I saw, there's loads of Aussie FIFO workers working the mines in Laos. The ones that don't FIFO pop over to Nongkhai and Udon regularly for some bacon and a shag.

Edited April 20, 2014 by NanLaew

[rnw]

those aussie FIFO workers 're working for the same red owners, who registered companies in perth darwin or simply took over some aussie mining companies(by buying shares or IPO) as aussie economy 's deep trouble long ago, at least australia can't create enough jobs for aussie any more,only unemployment and redundancies.

if those mining companies aussie working for in laos have no connection with red evil communists, they simply wouldn't get Laos work visa or business visa, would Laos communists allow aussies working in laos mining fields with tourist visa?

[lovelaos]

those aussie FIFO workers 're working for the same red owners, who registered companies in perth darwin or simply took over some aussie mining companies(by buying shares or IPO) as aussie economy 's deep trouble long ago, at least australia can't create enough jobs for aussie any more,only unemployment and redundancies.

if those mining companies aussie working for in laos have no connection with red evil communists, they simply wouldn't get Laos work visa or business visa, would Laos communists allow aussies working in laos mining fields with tourist visa?

With this final comment the OP has clearly lost the plot and hasn't got a clue what he is rambling on about!!