Laotian Leader Blasts Bureaucracy VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) -- In remarks rarely heard in communist Laos, the prime minister complained that official corruption and excessive bureaucracy is impeding economic progress, a state-run newspaper reported Sunday. Prime Minister Sisavath Keobounphanh called for more transparency in the Southeast Asian nation's state- controlled economy at a key ministerial meeting last week, the English-language Vientiane Times reported. He noted the need for autonomous watch-dog committees to report on financial irregularities throughout Laos. Laos has been seeking ways to protect itself from the Asian economic crisis which has begun to pinch the reclusive, land-locked nation. In recent years, the country been loosening controls both in the economic sphere and, to a lesser extent, in politics. FEATURE-Satellite dishes invade Laos By Stew Magnuson, Reuters VIENTIANE, Oct 18 - Since Sengkham Vongsomphou installed his satellite dish eight months ago in his home on the outskirts of the Lao capital Vientiane, he only does three things daily. "I just work, sleep and watch television," the 50-year- old clothing seller and father of eight said. For an increasing number of Laotians, free time is being spent gathered around the television watching soap operas beamed from neighbouring Thailand into space and then to Laotian homes. Fuelled by imports of cheap satellite dishes and the public's insatiable desire to keep up with weekly installments of Thai dramas, the symbol of the information age -- the dish -- is a common sight in this once isolated and still impoverished Southeast Asian nation. And they're not just in the cities. The black two-metre dishes are now being found in even the most remote mountain villages. ALL YOU NEED: $200 AND A POWER SOURCE "Just in the past year, they're popping up in places I would have never expected," said an American aid worker who spends time in the countryside. "All they need is $200 and a power source." A unique set of geographical and cultural factors are taking sparsely populated and landlocked Laos into the world of mass media. At the heart of the boom is the quality of Thai television and the compatibility of the Thai and Lao languages. The two languages are similar and widely understood in both countries, which share a common border. Laos's two state-run television stations do not have the resources to produce the slick soap operas and flashy television shows Laotians hunger to see, local viewers said. "People want to watch many channels," said Vongphaehan Luanglath, an electronics salesman in Vientiane's Morning Market. "If I didn't have a dish at my house, I could only get one Thai channel." Viewers along the Thai border and in the lowlands can pick up a maximum of three Thai channels, Vongphaehan said, but with a dish they can receive five. RUGGED LAO TERRAIN MAKES DISHES IMPERATIVE Seventy-five percent of the country is mountainous, and the high, craggy ranges block out TV reception with regular antennae. Despite the economic slowdown and sharp dip in the value of the Laotian kip, vendors in the market said sales are steady. The kip has dropped to 4,190 per dollar now from around 3,500 in June. Most vendors sell about five dishes and receiver sets a week. Not a lot by the standards of other consumer societies, but significant in a country where poverty is abject, especially in rural areas. The dishes are manufactured in China, and reimported through Thailand. Inexpensive receivers come from China, with higher-end models made in Korea, vendors said. Low- power receivers can be purchased for as little as $200, but some cost as much as $1,200. "There's no way a subsistence farmer living in the mountains can afford one of these," said the aid worker. "It's mostly the merchants and village chiefs (in rural areas)," he said. The dishes have become a status symbol in remote villages, where they sometimes are placed in front of homes made from only a few dollars worth of timber, he said. THAI SHOWS MOST POPULAR ON SATELLITE TV While viewers can receive up to 60 channels, the vast majority watch only Thai shows rather than CNN or StarTV because of the language barrier. The one notable exception is the Singapore version of MTV. Younger Laotians like Sengkham's 22-year-old daughter, Sone, said they tuned into the music video channel for a steady diet of such groups as the Spice Girls. "I tell my children only to watch good programs," said Sengkham as a Thai rock band blared on his TV set. Laotian government officials in the past have expressed concern about the cultural invasion from their more populous Thai neighbour to the west. But most agree that they have given up the fight. Unlike in two of communist Laos' stricter neighbours, Vietnam and Myanmar, dish technology is unregulated and users don't need a licence. THE BAD COMES ALONG WITH THE GOOD Khamkhong Kongvongsa, a spokesman for the Ministry of Information and Culture's Mass Media Department, said Laos has to take the bad with the good when watching Thai television. He decried the violence, including frequent murders, shown on Thai dramas. "Every day you see people killing each other so easily on Thai TV shows," he said. "In Laos, we only have about 10 murder cases a year." But he said Laotians are not only watching dramas, but news shows as well. "Our mass media doesn't do a very good job of covering international news or making documentaries," he said. "There's no way we would know very much about things like Clinton and Monica Lewinsky if it weren't for Thai TV." U.S., Laos To Account for MIAs BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- American and Laotian experts are excavating eight sites where the remains of U.S. servicemen missing in action during the Vietnam War are believed to be buried, the U.S. Embassy said today. The operation, which began Oct. 1, marks the 40th time American and Laotian teams have scoured for clues to the fate of the MIAs, according to a press statement. The search will last until the end of the month and involves the cases of 24 missing servicemen in three southern Laotian provinces -- Savannakhet, Saravan and Xekong. There are 2,081 Americans still unaccounted for in Southeast Asia, of which 444 are in Laos. Most were airmen bombing the Ho Chi Minh Trail to stop North Vietnam from moving troops and supplies through Laos. Although not officially at war in Laos, the United States backed the government against Vietnamese-backed communists. Lao PM On Fulfilling 1998-1999 Socio-Economic Plan HANOI (Oct. 14) XINHUA - Lao Prime Minister Sisavath Keobounphanh has called on his government and local administrations to fulfill the 1998-1999 socio-economic development plan, Lao official news agency KPL reported Wednesday. The prime minister made the call Monday during a two-day meeting on the implementation of the socio-economic development plan and the budgetary plan for the 1998-1999 period. The meeting was attended by government ministers, presidents of organizations, governors of provinces, the mayor of Vientiane prefecture, and the chief of the special zone of Saysomboune. Sisavath Keobounphanh said that the materialization of the socio-economic development plan and the budgetary plan will demonstrate the capacity and attention of the government, local administrations, finance and planning officials as well as civil servants in discharging their duties. At present, the prime minister said, the people are facing serious difficulties due to the rising cost of living. The people have pinned their hopes on the government to take measures to tackle the problems and improve the economic situation, particularly to curb inflation, stabilize prices and foreign exchange rates, and expand domestic production. He said if the government achieves the targets of the 1998-1999 socio-economic development plan and budgetary plan, it means that the government has fulfilled its promise to the people and succeeded in leading the nation forward. And that will convince the people and businessmen and merchants as well as international organizations and foreign countries so that they may render more assistance and support to the Lao government, he said.