Local losers in Lao casino capitalism
By Beaumont Smith
KHANTABOULY, Laos - The girl looked no older than 14, a pale and an
unconvincing sex goddess peering out from a mobile phone screen, her hair thin
and straight. Trying to be sexy, she fondled a pubescent breast. Her knickers
had holes, a touching but tawdry detail. Her phone number was displayed on the
bottom of the screen. You could call her, the message said, and she would come
to you. Child exploitation, Lao style.
The sale represents a business opportunity for Khemsath, a local motorcycle
driver. "Sure, you can get sexy [girls] downloaded into your mobile phone." He
went away on his motor bike and returned
a half hour later with stock. "Easy to get in the markets," he said with an
uneasy laugh. He was clearly embarrassed as he revealed images of kids having
groping sex on his iPod.
If a draft report by United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations
Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking (UNIAP), World Vision, Child
Frontiers and Save the Children has it right, many of the customers for these
images are from neighboring China and Thailand. The fear is that with the
clampdown on tourism-driven pedophile rackets in neighboring countries that Lao
children might be the next target for globe-trotting sex predators.
This comes at a time when a large number of families in Laos are being
relocated or impoverished by rapid state-led development, including for
so-called special economic zones (SEZs). The report, yet to be translated by
the Lao government, reveals a seamy side to Laos' economic development and
raises many questions about the nature and pace of change in a nation that has
casinos but poor health care, a rocketing Gini coefficient and a drive towards
rampant consumerism despite low wages.
Anthropologist Jim Chamberlain and his research colleagues were among the first
to raise issues about the downside to development in Laos in a UNICEF-sponsored
report entitled "Broken Promises Shattered Dreams". The 2005 study of child
trafficking indicated that children, mainly girls, were trafficked across Laos'
porous borders into Thailand, China and even into Myanmar.
The children often came from resettled or relocated villages, according to the
report. Modernization and the effects of mass media were at that stage major
drivers of the trend. The more recent multi-agency study can be taken as an
indicator that little if anything has changed since the Chamberlain report.
Indeed, a host of new social problems is emerging alongside new trends in
development, including the advent of casinos dressed up as SEZs.
Santavasy, a social worker who worked on the earlier study, concurred. "The
reason [girls get involved] include less job opportunities with decent pay,
imbalance between social development and economic development," she said. "If
the numbers are getting bigger it could mean we are getting better at finding
the victims and repatriating them back to Laos, or it could mean more human
trafficking of Lao youth into Thailand."
Casinos, recent research shows, are particular magnets for crime. The casino in
Boten, situated along the Chinese border, greeted the outgoing head of the
Swiss Development Agency Martin Sommer with a belligerent Russian thug backed
by rooftop snipers when he visited in 2010, according to people familiar with
the situation. Adverse publicity apparently caused the casinos at Boten to
close a few months ago - at least temporarily.
But Lao's central and southern casinos, which cater mainly Thai gamblers and
are protected by senior Lao politicians, are still doing brisk trades alongside
rising crime ranging from child prostitution to drug abuse to robbery.
"I moved to Vientiane as I don't feel safe in Savannakhet [province] any more,"
said Bounma, a university graduate currently based in Vientiane. "Savannakhet
has so many gangs now that they can't keep the criminals in jail. They can't
afford the food for so many prisoners, so they are out in a few days."
Bounma recounted how one of her friends became a drug addict while working at
Savannakhet's Savan Vegas casino. She then turned to sex work to pay her
gambling debts and feed her drug habit. "She thought that because she worked
there she knew the secrets, but she lost like everyone else," Bounma said.
"Many pretty girls go to the casino to sleep with men then gamble the money.
But then they are not clean any more, so [they] look for work in Thailand
because they can't marry here. They cannot go home."
The United Nations' Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has documented rising
drug addiction rates in Laos, though its research has not linked the trend
directly to the rise of casinos. Yet much of the drug abuse, locals say, is
taking place in the vicinity of the gambling havens.
Khetdavanh, a high school teacher living on the edge of Khantabouly in
Savannakhet, noted that children are being drawn into the facilities by bright
lights and excitement. "Parents don't take care of the children. They gamble at
the casino or are busy earning money…so the children are [abandoned]," she
said. "The dropout rate is very high and half of my students are addicted to
drugs. Many sell them openly in class. I have no authority."
She said methamphetamine dealing has become particularly rampant and that the
local police look the other way. "Last week many motorbikes stopped me
sleeping. They were going around the police station calling out insults. I
recognized some as my ex-students who had become dealers. The police were too
scared to come out," Khetdavanh said. "So far this year over 100 people [have
been] killed in gang fights and drug arguments."
Casino-related lawlessness extends beyond drug abuse. "My friend became a
[croupier] at Savan Vegas. Some of the men threatened her when they kept
losing. One man followed her home in his car yelling at her," said Bounma. "Two
nights later they found her body in a drain. You cannot imagine what she looked
like."
"It's a big problem for women here as the foreigners who come don't care about
us. My neighbor's daughters were dragged into a car as they passed outside the
casino. They were both raped. When the women came back they said they had lost
their souls," she said.
The Savan Vegas casino, whose ownership is attributed to an investment group in
Macau, has consistently insisted in public statements and research interviews
that it does not allow underage prostitution or drug abuse at its facilities.
Requests to contact the casino's management for this article were not returned.
Sohmadhy, a US-trained youth worker in Savannakhet, believes the casinos are
targeting Lao youth. "Schools are the pick up places for pimps working for men
with big stomachs [metaphor for wealthy]. The idea of working in mobile
entertainment places is very attractive, so they go," she said. "A few months
ago a Lao official went to the casino and saw a Lao girl pole dancing. She was
almost naked - I think he was shocked as this is not our culture. He wanted to
close the place, but they [management] agreed to stop the dancing."
Gambling debts are another ill. Khammly, a local small business man, said that
his brother was forced to forfeit his car as collateral for gambling debts he
accrued at one casino. Officially Lao are prohibited from entering casinos, but
the ban is easily circumvented. On-line Lao chat rooms are full of stories
about car parks full of "debt cars'. "They say that Lao [are] not allowed but
it's easy to get inside. He lost many times, big money. He had a Lexus. He was
told to leave it outside."
Despite rising concerns that casino-led development and modernization has given
rise to more problems than it has solved, the Asian Development Bank (ADB)
continues to support the tax-free SEZs where Boten's and Savannakhet's casinos
have flourished at a heavy social cost. Earlier this year the ADB announced
plans for a new SEZ in remote Huaphan province, which borders on Vietnam.
Social workers expect more casinos and social ills to follow.
Beaumont Smith is a Vientiane-based journalist.
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