01.00.00

Trucks in mud

Here on the Nakay Plateau in central Laos, logging trucks work around the clock to beat the wet.

00.19

Early rains have made the only road close to impassable.  But the trucks keep grinding back and forth, because half the nation's timber comes from here.

00.37

This is the logging juggernaut.  Timber is the mainstay of the economy.  If there are people in the forest they have to make way.  Laos is now determined to move a staggering twenty percent of its population.

01.16

lorries in rain

One company has the monopoly on logging around here, the Mountainous Area Development Company, known locally as BPKP.  BPKP is run by the military and its boss is the most powerful man in central Laos - General Cheng.

01.43

Chopper Take off

In one of the poorest countries in Asia, General Cheng goes to work in a Soviet chopper ... one of three at his disposal. 

01.54

Cheng in chopper

Revolutionary Hero Cheng is Lord of all he surveys... one of the last great forests left in Asia.

02.02

He's in charge of logging,  and conveniently, he's also head of the Human Resettlement Programme here, moving native people out of the forest and into the modern world.

02.15

Interview: General Cheng

Why did the Government choose a General and the armed forces to carry out this development role?

02.21

Because it was a time of real difficulties and the military is experienced in this sort of situation.

02.30

What sort of difficulty?

02.32

Because of the poverty of the people, nothing more than that.  On their own they struggle hard.

02.51

Lak Xao

This is the town that Cheng built, Lak Xao.  The General's hacked his base out of the jungle.  Logging dollars funded the roads, the schools, a market with a grand facade, even temples.

03.06

The most imposing building in the heart of town is the elaborate headquarters of BPKP ... and behind that is the General's private zoo.

03.22

Int: General Cheng

After finishing work in the evening I walk over here just to relax.

03.32

Sawadee - zoo worker calls deer

03.42

Watching animals

General Cheng collects rare creatures from his forest realm. As he destroys their natural habitat, he saves a few specimens for life in a cage.  He fails to see the contradiction, and without irony, he says that he loves animals.

04.00

Int: General Cheng,

Pacing bears

With regard to the animals some people think we put them in prison but the reality is we bring them here just to care for them, and to save them from extinction. When people learn not to hunt them, we'll set the animal free in the forest.

Johnny Johnson with bears

04.32

Genreal Cheng is so committed to his zoo he's invited an animal group, the Carnivore Preservation Trust, to work with him in Lak Xao.  

04.49

Local Director Johnny Johnson has 20 species in captivity - including Pung the baby Sun Bear, reared by hand since she was found wandering on a highway at one month old.

05.03

Int: Johnny Johnson

One of the things we're very concerned about with this program is that these animals are socialised with us.

05.10

Why do these bears need saving?

05.13

The main reason is that their habitat's being destroyed all across their range.  The secon reason is that they're considered to be a delicacy by some of the Asian countries, particularly the Koreans.

05.32

Bears in Cage

Johnny Johnson wants to liberate his bears from these cages.  He's struck a deal with the General, for BPKP to fence off some forest for a wildlife park.

05.44

Int: Johnny Johnson

We said we can give you the expertise to work with some of these animals and we can create something that's really good for the country. 

But isn't he the one and his company the one destroying their habitat?

That's not really the issue as far as we're concerned, they have a job to do.

06.05

Children's band playing

Marching Music

06.19

General Cheng doesn't just collect animals... he's also fascinated by the diverse cultures of the people who live in his forests.

06.29

The 95 children performing here are from various ethnic groups - plucked from their poor families by General Cheng to receive an education. 

06.39

Some were as young as four when Cheng swooped down on their villages to collect them in his chopper.  They haven't seen their families in two years.

06.52

Int: Her Pao

He came by chopper and told the village chief that he would take us to study here in Lak Xao and the General said "Now it's time to go'' and now I'm here to study.

07.04

And how did you come here from your village... How did you get to Lak Xao from your village?

07.15

Translator speaks for Noy - Little girl dressed in traditional costume

She flew by helicopter.

07.18

And what was that like?

07.22

She felt frightened.

07.25

Not just frightened, but confused as well.  9 year old Noy is from the Yao people but today she's been dressed up as a Hmong.

07.35

Int: General Cheng

It was their choice to come and their parents agreed.  During their three years here they've been happy.

08.05

Dorm exterior

The children are housed next door to the General's animals. When he has time he looks in on their classes.

08.12

kids reciting

08.20

Int: General Cheng

Sometimes we ask them ‘Do you miss your parents' and they say ‘yes', but we want an education. They enjoy it because we arrange sport, singing and dancing to create a good atmosphere.

08.59

Chainsaws

The General's grandiose schemes for the development of Laos all depend on his company's core business - logging.

09.07

BPKP claims it's the guardian of the forst, and its chainsaws pose no threat - even though some of these trees are hundreds of years old.  It says it logs selectively, to fill its quota: half the national timber cut of 600,000 cubic metres a year.

09.28

Int: Maydom

It's not so high, 600,000 - it's not too much. There's only one factory in Malaysia, only one factory.

09.54

music & jungle

This is what's being lost: the traditional lifestyle of one third of the population... forest dwellers who carve out crops from the jungle, moving their fields when the land is spent.

10.11

workers in field

Although they've been the owners of this land for generations - they see no part of the profits from logging.

10.19

But BPKP says this traditional way of life is the very reason the people must now be moved - their slash and burn cultivation is destroying the forest, and must be stopped at any cost.

10.35

People have been carrying out this practise for centuries - why is it now a problem?

10.41

Int: General Cheng

Now it makes them very poor and the environment has been badly damaged.  Therefore there must be a policy to reallocate the land for a new way of life.

10.55

Walks to Slash and Burn field

Si Boulapan is a village chief moved out of the forest by BPKP.  He's been moved three times so far but has received no land.

11.06

So the only way he can feed his family is to return to the forest - slashing and burning to grow rice.  But soon this forest will be closed to him, the future looks bleak, for the Government's resettlement project will create hundreds of thousands more refugees like Si - landless and dependent on handouts.

11.28

Int: Si Boulapan

It's up to the Government to find jobs for us - it would make things easier for us if we had work.

11.45

kids watching TV

Si lives in a BPKP model village - almost suburbia. As chief, he has the biggest house... other families have to share - crowding into smaller homes. Si also has the only television in the village - run off a car battery. It draws all the local kids.

12.06

woman at window

These people may not have jobs or land, but BPKP has told them that they own their display homes with easy access to water and schools.

12.18

school

But if their presence here no longer fits the company plan - they'll find BPKP can move them again.

12.26

Int: Maydom

So they own the house?

They own the house.

Not BPKP?

Not BPKP.

They have the piece of paper to say this is their house?

It's their own house.

Can they sell the house if they want to and move somewhere else?

Normally they cannot sell it , because they have to live in the house provided by BPKP and they have to follow our instructions.

12.50

Music

13.08

rice paddy

BPKP didn't resettle Sieng Hong and Kong Mee. Nine years ago they chose to leave the hard forest life for the relative ease of the valley. They brought their ten children down from the mountains and saved enough money to buy this rice paddy.

13.26

Sieng Hong in rice paddy

The rice in this field's bending over, it's going black too soon. It's not ripe yet.

13.35

Kong Mee

Bending? Is it normal rice or sticky rice?

13.42

Int: Sieng Hong

Frankly speaking our life now is better and I don't really miss the old village. We miss our relatives and we return to visit but we wouldn't go back to live, we'll stay here.

14.12

cattle

Sieng Hong lives in a village on the outskirts of Lak Xao - and although he was not moved by the government, he's a model for the 800,000 people he plans to resettle.

14.23

children

But while the first families down from the forest may be better off - there simply isn't enough land for the rest of the resettled peoples to live like this.

14.32

Sieng Hong knows that those who follow him won't be so lucky.

14.36

Int: Sieng Hong

If they come they must come as traders, but for farming there's no land available, there's no space.

14.54

Isn't the problem with the overall plan to resettle people engaged in slash and burn thet in fact there's not enough land available to resettle everyone?

15.03

Int: Maydom

I think we can provide enough land.

15.07

But at the moment the best land in Loas is already being used... is there enough to resettle one fifth of the population?

There's enough. No problem.

15.29

Cows in mud

Perhaps this is the only solution for the displaced people of central Laos - working for the General.

15.41

Sawmill

Sieng Hong's 17 year old daughter Khankeo is employed in the BPKP sawmill. Khankeo occupies a low rung on the company ladder - working six days a week for less than $2 a day.

15.56

Int: Khankeo

The salary is good and I like the job. When I get paid I help my family and send my brothers and sisters to school and I have some money for myself, like my friends.

16.20

forest

In the brave new world of resettlement the lucky ones will be picking up sticks for the General. The rest, perhaps the majority will have no land and no work.

16.42

Performance, empty chairs

In Lak Xao the General's children are trained to put on a good show. But he can't always be there to play proud father. Business comes first and drives every decision at lak Xao. The school, the zoo, the resettlement village are all shown off as models of a bright future. But their scale is small and they provide no proof that loas can resettle one fifth of its population in a huge experiment in social engineering