Lao Celebrate 25th National Day

Susan Hammond, Deputy Director of FRD, is currently living in Laos preparing for the tenth Forum Conference.

This year I was able to witness both the 25th Anniversary of the end of the war in Vietnam and the 25th National Day of the Lao PDR. Hundreds of foreign journalists came to Vietnam for the 25th anniversary last April. Newspapers, magazines and television from around the world focused on Vietnam for several weeks in April and for the most part filed stories that gave an accurate picture of contemporary Vietnam and the progress made since the end of the war.

The huge media coverage of Vietnam was in sharp contrast to the coverage of the 25th Anniversary of the Lao PDR’s National Day on December 2nd in effect the end of its portion of the second Indochina War. Very few foreign journalists traveled to Laos for the events and most of those that did filed stories that can be described at the very least as exaggerations of actual events.

I was in Vientiane for on December 2. No one was certain whether the day would pass by quietly or someone would take advantage of the date and media coverage by setting off another explosion. The Lao government took the necessary precautions by putting extra police in front of government buildings and on the major avenues. The foreign press made the city sound as if it was under tight police control with roadblocks on major streets. However, thousands of Vientiane citizens were able to get by these roadblocks to view the parade from outside of the parade grounds.

The morning began with a speech by President Khamtay Siphandone followed by a parade at That Luang square. Though this was an invitation only event and the viewing stands were reserved for government officials, members of the diplomatic community and other VIPs, the participants in the parade represented all sectors of Lao society.

Unfortunately, I had not learned the start time of the parade, which was 6:30 a.m., so did not go up to the parade grounds and witness the events myself. However, I did get to see the parade on television along with the rest of the nation. Some expatriate friends were able to cycle through the roadblocks to That Luang and were able to get up rather close to the parade grounds. They commented that the press reports did not seem to describe the same event they saw.

An AFP reporter described having to go through “careful bag and body searches” however an expatriate witness as well as Evegny Belenky, a Bangkok-based Russian correspondent, stated that the search was a light pat-down conducted not by a policeman but by a youth volunteer from the Lao Youth Union.

An AP reporter commented on the “goose-stepping soldiers”. However, he did not mention the hundreds of women walking by in beautiful Lao skirts, (rather hard to goose-step in), ethnic minorities in traditional costumes, war veterans, men and women performing traditional dances, acrobats performing tricks high above the ground on a crane, and thousands of representatives of ministries and government organizations walking behind floats depicting achievements in Laos over the past 25 years. All together more than 100,000 citizens participated in the parade.

The foreign press commented rather disparagingly on the ‘Soviet style’ of the parade but as Evegny Belenky mentions in his op-ed piece in the Bangkok Post a few days later “There is no shame for me in admitting the similarity and my own nostalgic feeling for those November 7 and May Day parades, grand and full of joy at the same time. This tradition, born in the Soviet Union and based on the much older tradition of military parades and people’s marches, was adopted by many countries with socialist systems of government, and in some countries they have outlived the socialist system itself.”

All in all the 25th National Day celebrations resembled national days all over the world. With a patriotic parade and speeches, a long holiday weekend to enjoy time with friends and family, and national flags flying outside of homes and businesses. In fact the day went by very quietly, perhaps to the foreign correspondents’ disappointment, the only explosions heard were in the form of a spectacular 45 minute fireworks display that evening.

Beer Lao float in the Lao 25th National Day Parade