peterpan wrote on 8^th Feb, 2014 at 11:35am:


true

can someone pass the pepper and salt please 

This is nothing more than meo propaganda to demonize Lao people 

LPB7 wrote on 18^th Nov, 2014 at 10:56am:


I'm not saying you are wrong, but did you watch the video?

Unless they have some special effects or something then how did they get that boys intestines to fall out? They could have used cow intestines I bet, but I'm not sure. It seems somewhat legitimate to me.

I've seen many Hmong people in the north of Laos and I haven't seen any conflicts between Hmong people and Lao people. They seem to get along fine. But then again, not all Hmong fought alongside the US during the war.

In a way, I am glad Lao became communist because if it didn't then maybe it would be like Thailand right now, just keekha to the west and American capitalism.

I'd have to go back to Laos and talk extensively to locals to find out about the situation in order to know for sure, but I know the government does abduct activists and they are never seen again. So you never know.

I think Lao just called the brown-skinned mountain people, such as the Khmu (the original people of Laos) "kah tat." The Hmongs, Mien, Akha etc. just came down to Laos from Yunnan. Technically they aren't even Lao. I noticed in Laos that all of the ethnic groups use Lao names except for Mien people and Hmongs. Hmongs keep their identity more than any other group I've seen. This could be because they dislike Lao people but I'm not sure.

Getting to the point, most Lao people I know aren't hateful at all towards any group, except for the Americanized ones. Is it not true that the Hmongs just wanted democracy by supporting the royal Lao army instead of the communists? Most Lao people seem to want democracy, except for many I met in the south who fought alongside the Viet Cong. So why all the hate for "Meos"? I never saw any Lao people in Laos hate them. So why do westernized Lao people hate?

I'm not taking any side yet, because i dont know enough information.

There are basically 2 groups of minorities in Laos. The Khmer type, which Lao people used to call "slaves," and the recent wave that came from China. There wasn't much discrimination on the new wave until recently.

I've been told by ordinary Lao people that they are afraid of the government and the Lao Daeng and dislike them. They grant a lot of concessions to the Vietnamese and let the Viets exploit Lao land. Lao activists or anyone speaking out is fair game to them. They are basically Vietnam's cronies. Also the extermination makes Lao people look bad, like a brutal people, when in reality most Lao people I know detest violence and killing. Most see the Siamese as violent scum, since so many Lao people are killed in Siam. 

Anyways, I'm not saying the meos are "noble" because I know they used to shoot up cars and buses travelling the route from Vientiane to Luang Prabang and some tourists had been killed.

No, I don't think they belong to the dominant group. Most Lao people I know never finished high school or went to college.

Buk Nut wrote on 22^nd Nov, 2014 at 8:53am:


Thanks, I just don't know there are sort of gaps among different minorities until you brought up this. In 1996, they even used mobile in Lao, fancy cars,  that gave me impact. It was popular in Thailand well.