FEATURE-Former "traitors" now saviours to Laos By Sutin Wannabovorn VIENTIANE, Dec 25 (Reuters) - They were branded as "traitors" when they fled the country following the communist party takeover in 1975. Not any more. Now they are seen as saviours, so to speak, to this impoverished nation because when they come back to visit they spend and leave behind much-wanted U.S. dollars. Many overseas Laotians who fled the country when the communist Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) seized power from the U.S.-backed government in 1975 do not appear to realise they are coming back at a time when their impoverished former homeland is desperately in need of dollars. LAOS REELING FROM REGIONAL ECONOMIC PROBLEMS Although Laos is not in the eye of the currency storm that has hit Asia, it has been hurt by the economic problems plaguing its neighbours and major trading partners. The LPRP has run the country under communist-style rule for more than 22 years but it has also embraced economic reform and tried to open up the country to bring in foreign money. At the same time, it has been hit hard by its dependency on Thailand and the Thai baht, which has plunged over 45 percent against the dollar since being floated in July. Over the past few weeks the Laos kip has plunged to about 1,800 per dollar from 952. One of the world's least developed countries, Laos is heavily dependent on international aid and foreign direct investment. Neighbouring Thailand -- one of the countries hardest hit by the region's financial crisis -- is Laos' largest investor, accounting for more than one third of the country's total foreign direct investment through August 1997. "When the economic crisis hit Thailand, it affected us because Thailand is our biggest trade partner," Somphong Mongkhomvilay, vice Chairman of the Laos's State Planning Committee, told Reuters. DOLLARS ACCEPTED FROM ANYONE, EVEN FORMER TRAITORS As a result, Laos accepts dollars from anyone -- even former "traitors." "When the country is desperately in need of dollars, whoever brings it in is regarded as someone contributing to the nation," said one government official. "These people have helped a lot in the way of bringing dollars into the country," a manager of tourist company told Reuters. Most of the visitors said they were happy to spend what they earn from their second home in Laos -- the country that once scared them so much they fled. Hundreds of thousands of Laotians, especially from the Hmong ethnic group which helped U.S. forces fight against the communists during the Indochina war, fled the country after communists seized power in 1975. "I am glad to help the country," said Viengkham Manborin, 40, a Laotian who is a nationalised Canadian. He works as a computer programmer in Canada and has visited Laos four times in the past six years. EASING OF RULES AGAINST LAOTIANS WHO FLED In 1991 the government relaxed a rule banning overseas Laotians or "traitors" from returning to Laos. Viengkham, who has been in Cananda for the past 20 years, said that every time he visits he spends at least $2,000. "About $1,000 are given to relatives and I spend $1,000 to buy clothes and presents to bring back to Canada," Viengkham told Reuters. Chao Pungki, an 82-year old former prince of a remote Lao town, says he spent about $20,000 in his two-month visit the first time he returned to Laos from his new home in New Zealand. For Wong Sakan, who has been living in the United States for more than 18 years, buying things in Laos is cheap. "It is my holiday, and it is cheaper to spend a holiday here...and at the same time I can get together with my family and relatives," he said. There is no official record of how much impoverished Laos gains from these overseas visitors, but airport immigration documentation showed about 40,000 overseas Laotians have returned each year since 1991. "Lao people are very attached to their relatives, so during their visit they usually give some money to poor relatives and we estimate that each visitor spends about $2,000," said an airport official who checks the record of passenger declarations. Thailand, Laos Ratify Pact on Avoiding Double Taxation BANGKOK (Dec. 24) XINHUA - The agreement on avoiding double taxation between Thailand and Laos took effect Wednesday after both sides ratified it. Thai Foreign Ministry Permanent Secretary Saroj Chavanaviraj and Laotian Ambassador to Bangkok Bounkeut Sangsomsak presided over a ceremony here on Tuesday to ratify the pact, local reports said. Saroj said that the pact was an historic one reflecting both countries' desires to encourage bilateral trade and reinforce their existing good relationship. The bilateral agreement would enhance exchanges of investment and technology between the two countries, Saroj said. The Laotian ambassador also praised the pact, saying it will further boost Thai investment in Laos. The Chavalit Yongchaiyudh government earlier in July signed the agreement. Laos-Political Prisoners BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Three former high-ranking government officials in Laos detained since 1990 for advocating reforms are ill and may not survive without proper medical treatment, Amnesty International says. The trio -- Thongsouk Saysangkhi, Latsami Khamphoui and Feng Sakchittaphong -- are the last political prisoners known to be held in the isolated communist Southeast Asian country, ruled as a one-party communist state since the end of the Indochina war in 1975. The London-based human-rights group said Monday that the prison camp in Houaphan province in northeastern Laos has no medical facilities and conditions there are "extremely harsh and fall far short of international minimum standards." It said all three men suffer from various illnesses, including kidney and intestinal problems, diabetes and angina, an inflammation of the throat. The men were arrested for writing letters urging peaceful reforms in Laos. They were tried in November 1992 on charges of libel and disseminating propaganda and sentenced to 14 years imprisonment. Family visits have been severely restricted and at one point no visits were allowed for two years, Amnesty International said. Reading and writing materials are denied to the men, who are held in small, cold cells with no beds and allowed out only once a fortnight to bathe. They are forbidden from talking to each other and have been threatened with beatings from prison guards, Amnesty said. Laotians Vote for New Parliament By LINDA EHRICHS VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) -- With all candidates approved in advance by the ruling communists, Laotians voted Sunday for a new parliament that is expected to continue gradually opening the economy. Although the country's power structure is unthreatened by the election, it is the closest thing to a referendum since the Lao People's Revolutionary Party came to power at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. Voting is mandatory for the 2.5 million eligible voters. Results are expected later this week. Authorities had stepped up police patrols in the capital, Vientiane, in the days leading up to the election, but there was no sign of tension Sunday. The streets were thick with pedestrians flocking to schools and temples to vote. Of the 159 candidates contesting the 99 National Assembly seats, 155 are members of the governing party and four are private businessmen. Twenty-seven are women and about one- third of the country's 47 ethnic groups are represented. Many were educated in the former Soviet bloc and France, the former colonial power in Laos. Candidates were forbidden from criticizing their rivals. Chaleun Yiapoheu, president of the outgoing Assembly's standing committee, called the election "a large political assessment for the whole party, army and population." Laos, once one of Southeast Asia's most closed countries, remains unmarked by the relative political instability of some of its neighbors -- Thailand has had four governments since 1995 and Cambodia had a coup in July. But the economic crisis ravaging Asia's far more powerful economies has not completely spared Laos. Its biggest trading partner is Thailand, and the Laotian currency, the kip, closely tied to the slumping Thai baht, has plummeted 80 percent since summer. Constitutionally, parliament can pass budgets, make laws and oversee the executive and judicial branches. In practice, however, power rests with Prime Minister Khamtay Siphandone and the Politburo. The new Assembly is expected to carry on slow economic reforms instituted since 1986, when neighboring communist Vietnam also began opening its economy. Laos is one of the world's least-developed countries, and most people live by subsistence agriculture. One-quarter of men and half of women are illiterate. Life expectancy is short -- 50 for men and 53 for women. New faces likely in Laos assembly after elections By Sutin Wannabovorn VIENTIANE, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Counting was under way on Monday after general elections in Laos in which the ruling communist party was assured of maintaining its dominance in the National Assembly. Election officials said nearly 100 percent of the 2.27 million eligible voters turned out to cast their ballots in Sunday's semi-compulsory poll. Final results were not expected until mid-January because of difficulties in getting ballot boxes from more remote areas of the mountainous country. "The earliest the result of the election will be able to be announced is within two weeks," chief of the National Election Committee, Chaleun Yapaoheu, told reporters. The ruling Lao's People Revolutionary Party (LPRP) was guaranteed a sweeping victory as there were only four non- party members among the 159 candidates for the 99-seat expanded National Assembly. The party rejected six other non-party members who wanted to run. The previous National Assembly of 85 members, which included four non-party politicians, was elected five years ago. Election officials said early trends in Vientiane showed newer faces would likely be seen in the National Assembly with younger, better-educated politicians winning the most votes. Although top party members vowed political reform in the upcoming government, diplomats expected little change in the impoverished country -- one of the world's least developed nations -- because of the communist party's domination. Prime Minister General Khamtay Siphandone said not much change was expected after the elections except that there would be an infusion of younger faces into the National Assembly to replace retiring members. Many voters expected the election, the fourth in 22 years, would bring better educated people to power. "I will vote for new people who have a higher education than those in the older generation," said Wantong Wanwungsa, 45, who also voted in the past three elections. He said that like many other Laotians, he was casting his ballot because he had to. "It will be against the law (not to vote), and my name will be dropped from house registers," he said. "If you don't vote that means you are not Lao." When asked when and if Laos would switch to a multi-party system, Khamtay, who is also chairman of the LPRP, said the people only wanted one party. After abolishing the monarchy in 1975, the LPRP took power, following communist victories in neighbouring Vietnam and Cambodia. It has ruled the tiny landlocked nation ever since.