Somphavan Inthavong

WELCOME

My wife Thanom (with white scarf) crossing the Mekong River from Luangphabang (in the background) to the right bank of the river, in order to attend a Budddhist ceremony at Vat Longkhoune Pagoda, on the Sayabouly Province bank side. Here both banks are inside Lao territory, whereas in some other reaches, this 2,400-Kilometer long River forms a border between Laos and Myanmar (formerly, Burma) and between Laos and Thailand ( formerly, Siam ).

Pakse City (Laos) and its newly-built 2,000 meter long Lao-Nippon Bridge, on the Mekong River :

In the above postcard of the Mekong River, we are at the provincial capital city of Pakse, Province of Champassak, Laos, where both banks of the Mekong River are located well inside Laotian territory. In the morning, from the fifth floor balconies of the Hotel Champa Palace, one can catch a breathtaking panorama of green tropical forests running over never-ending hills and mountains with this silvery and glittering 2000 metre- wide Mekong water current carved like a mythical dragon, into the middle of the slightly foggy morning landscape and with this extraordinary reinforced-concrete bridge, symbol of 21th- century Laos, spanning this majestic river and suddenly linking and blending everything together in the heart of this ancient Southeast-Asian land . One also can discern shadowy power transmission lines coming from the 1200-metre high Bolowens High Plateau and running over the faraway horizon to the South where, about two hundred kilometres from here,the Mekong river will flow into Cambodia and then, later on, into its Delta in Vietnam before finally ending its 2400 kilometres of travel at its maritime Mouth.

350 kilometers East of Vientiane City : Local Schoolchildren waving flags to welcome guests at the Inauguration of the Commission of the 210 MW hydropower Plant of the Theun-Hinboun Dam in Bolikhamxay, the Lao PDR, in 1998.

800 kilometers South of the capital city of Vientiane, lies an outstanding land of fertile valleys and high Plateaus, where Lao-Tai and Austroasiatic groups co-habit and blend together their destiny for many thousands of years. The southernmost provinces of the Lao P.D.R., or Laos, are Saravane, Sekong, Attapeu and Champassak.

Tourists' buses at the Hotel Champa Palace,Pakse city, Province of Champassak, Lao PDR (27 December 2002): Rice,coffee, bananas, fishes, cattle, hydroelectricity are, at present, the main exports products of this province to neigbouring countries . Tourism is also being now considered as one of its major assets, notably with its vast and cool 1200-metre high Plateau of Bolovens, its Mekong River magnificent Khones Falls, located right to the Border with the Kingdom of Cambodia and its 1500-year old Vat Phou, a sandstone Monument, dedicated to Siva, and now listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage site. Professor Coedes, the famous French Scholar, wrote that Vat Phou Champassak was the "cradle" of the Khmer civilisation. Indeed, ancient documents left by Chinese travellers testified to the fact that this Khmer-style monument was more than 300 years older than the Angkor monumental sandstone Khmer Monuments, near the Great Lake of Tonle Sap, in to-day Cambodia. Pakse city is the only Lao city with the closest distance to the capital cities of Bangkok, Phnompenh and Hochiminh.

Somphavan INTHAVONG, in Buddhist monkhood at Luangphabang's Vat Phoukhouay Pagoda, in 1995. Buddhism had its birth at Sarnath near the city of Varanasi (Benares), India. With only five followers at the beginning, it penetratted into many lands. Today, it was recognized that there are as many Buddhist believers as Christian and Muslims combined. Buddhism is the oldest of the great 'world religions'. Like both the others - Christianity and Islam - it not only addresses itself to all mankind but has found adherents in almost all parts of the world. Half a millenum before Jesus, and more than a millenum before Mohammed, the Buddha found Enlightment and, out of his infinite compassion taught the way to salvation which he had discovered. In 1877,the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge published Buddhism by T.W.Rhids Davids, the firstscholarly book on the subject in English, many times reprinted.Rhys Davids then estimates that of approximately 1.5 billion people in the world, 500 or 40% were Buddhists as against 20% Christians and 12.5% Muslims.

Colombo,Sri Lanka, 1976 : Souphanouvong shaking hands with the head of the Cuban Delegation, while Phoun Sipaseuth (half-masked), Somphavan Inthavong (second from right, then 40 years old), and Sisana Sisane were looking on. The place was the Conference Hall of the 5th Non-Aligned Movement Summit, in the capital city of Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 1976.

Laotian Leaders at an official ceremony at Ban Lak Hok, 1981. Standing from left to right, in the first rank: were: Nouhak, Phoumi, Khamtai, Phoune, Sisomphone, Sali, Oudom. In the second rank, between Sali and Oudom, was Somphavan

H.E.Phoumi Vongvichit and Madame Chansy Vongvichit at home (Vientiane 22 February 1992). Second from right in white shirt: Somphavan Inthavong.

Picture taken in front of Mom Pah Thongla Residence at Ban Khounta, Vientiane City, on the Mekong River Bank : Souphanouvong (in white jacket), standing to the left, at the age of 18, in 1927. My aunt, Thongla INTHAVONG, and her husband Prince Khattiyarath, a half-brother of Pince Souphanouvong. Souphanouvong was the youngest son of Tiao Maha Ouparath Bounkhong (1857-1921).Prince Tiao Maha Ouparath Bounkhong had ten wives who gave him 24 sons and daughters. From his 10th and last wife Mom Kham Ouane, he had two daughters and one son, notably Tiao Nhing Thaveevan, Tiao Nhing Chinda Ratsamee, and Tiao Souphanouvong. From his 9th wife Mom Thee, he had one daughter and three sons, including Tiao Nhing Sisavath, Tiao Sai Khattiyarath (standing to the right of the picture, wearing black neck-tie), Tiao Sai Chindavong, and Tiao Sai Singhanath. From his 2nd wife, he had 7 children, including 3 sons (Tiao Sai Chittarath, Tiao Sai Phetsarath, Tiao Sai Souvannaphalom, Tiao Sai Souvanna Phouma) and three daughters.

As Chairman of the Mekong River International Committee for the Year, Somphavan INTHAVONG ( seated between Vice- Prime Minister Sali Vongkhamsao and The Executive Agent of the Committee, Dr. Magdi), was presiding over the Plenary Session of the Mekong Committee in1983, at Vientiane.

Curriculum vitae:

Name : Somphavan Inthavong

Date of birth : February 27th, 1936, at the village of Ban Naxay, Vientiane Municipality, Laos.

Present Address : House No. 365, Nuay 24, Ban Naxay, District of Saysetha, Vientiane, Laos.

Educational Background: After having completed his six years of elementary school and first four years of secondary school in the capital city of Vientiane, Laos, Somphavan INTHAVONG left Laos for France, in 1951,to pursue his three last years of secondary school in the Lycee de Compiegne, Departement de l'Oise. Located about 70 kilometers from Paris, next to the beautiful historical Chateau de Compiegne and its vast green park, this Lycee is a boarding school where schoolboys from French Indochina and Africa could cohabit and study together with their French comrades. As this school was part of the Academy de Paris, the two final-year examinations had to be held in Paris, at the street 'Rue d'Ulms", Quartier Latin. Somphavan Inthavong successfully passed the examination of Baccalaureat Premiere Partie in 1953 and that of Baccalureat Seconde Partie (Serie Mathematiques ) in 1954, in Paris. In order to prepare his future entrance examination to the 'Grandes Ecoles' in Paris, he moved in 1955 from Compiegne to Paris, at the Maison de l'Indochine, Cite Universitaire, Boulevard Jourdan and studied Mathematiques Superieures at Lycee Henri IV and Mathematiques Speciales at Lycee Buffon, However, for following a short visit in July 1956 in Laos, he decided to get married and left Paris to pursue his studies at Lausanne, on the Geneva Lake, in Switzerland. In this peaceful and mountainous country, where he brought along his wife, he took up Civil Engineering studies at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, University of Lausanne, from 1956 to 1961. In January 1961, at the age of 25, he was the first Laotian citizen to have obtained a Swiss Diploma in Civil Engineering . From February to August 1961, he went back to France, at Aix-en Provence, Departement des Bouches du Rhones, and worked in a small engineering consulting firm, called S.N.E.C.M.A., which assigned him to make on-the-field soil test studies of the foundation of H.L.M building project near the city of Marseilles. After the conclusion of the Geneva Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos and the formation of the Second Government of National Reconciliation in 1961, he decided to return to Laos in September 1961 and worked as civil servant in the Ministry of Public Works, in which, for a period of 8 years (1961-1969), he was mainly assigned to activities related to hydrographic and hydrologic investigations of the Mekong river Basin and shortly to highways maintenance. It was during this period that, in 1964, he went to the United States and participated in a four-month Seminar on the Economics and Social Aspects of Dam Construction, at Knoxville, Tennessy. During this Seminar, together with other participants from Asia and Latin America, he was given the opportunity of making study field-trip in nine States situated along the Tennessee River. From September 1969 to 1971, he left Laos for France where he made a scientific research in the field of Hydraulics of Porous Media and obtained his Doctor Degree (in 1971) at the Laboratoires de Mecanique des Fluides et des Solides of the University of Saint Martin d'Heres, near the city of Grenoble, for his Doctorate thesis on "Injection dans un milieu poreux homogene bidimensionnel" with the Mention : " Tres Honorable et Felicitations du Jury " ( i.e., the equivalent of " Magnum cum laude" in Anglo-Saxon universities).

Working experience: From September 1961 to1969, his main activities were the collection of hydrologic data of the main stream and tributaries of the Mekong River, in cooperation with the then 'Committee for the Investigations and Studies of the Water and related Resources of the Mekong River Basin', also known as 'the Mekong Committee' composed with the four riparian Member Countries Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. From 1971 to 1975, he was recruited in Bangkok, Thailand, as Programme Officer, in the Secretariat of the Committee of Investigations of the Water and related Ressources of the Lower Mekong Basin, or Mekong Committee, an organization headed by an Executive Agent (Mr. Van der Oord). and , later, worked as Deputy Director of the Division of Technical Studies of this organisation. He participated in the formulation of the Lower Mekong Basin Development Plan and in the desk studies of the hydropwer potential of the main stream Mekong River and its tributaries in the 4 riparian countries. At the request of Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma of Laos, he returned to Vientiane, Laos, in June 1975, at a time when both Saigon (in South Vietnam )and Phnom-Penh ( in Cambodia) have already fallen in the hands of the Revolutionary side and was assigned to the post of Deputy-Minister of Public Works of the Tripartite Coalition Government.The Great Congress of People's Representatives, held at Vientiane from 1 to 2 December 1975, put an end to the Tripartite Coalition Government and proclaimed the Foundation of the Lao People's Democratic Republic. From one of the Resolutions of this Congress, Somphavan Inthavong, at 39, become one of the 45 Members of the First National Assembly, then called People's Supreme Assembly, of the New Regime. From December 2nd,1975 to 19 April 2002, Somphavan INTHAVONG , as a civil servant of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, was elected and/or assigned at various important posts, such as se of Member of Parliament for three successive Legislatures (from December 1975 to March 1998), and Minister at the Prime Minister' Office and Auditor General (from March 1998 to April 2002). He was also cumulating posts at both the Legislative and Executive branches, when he occupied the post of Member of the Permanent Committee for three successive Legislatures of the National Assembly ( from December 1975 to March 1998) and Vice-Chairman of the State Planning Committee, and Chairman of the Mekong Committee(1981-1988), First Vice-Minister of the former Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Trade ( 1988-1989) now renamed Ministry of Trade. He retired from the Government in April 2002, after the inaugural and First Plenary Session of the Vth Legislature of the National Assembly.

He has published , in Lao language, in 1974, a short analysis of the famous Chinese historical novel , "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" , under the title of ' Kanmuong Chin smai Sam Kok '. He also wrote a few other books, including 'Notes on Lao History' , in English and Comments on Dzun Wu's Art of war, Sin Bor Khat Bor hai Kung Kiang(1972), Prajya Karnmuang, O Nor Nongsao Eui, published between 1972 and 1974 in Vientiane. He was elected as Deputy-Chairman by the Lao Writers Association in 1998.

Married to Thanom Thavonsouk in Vientiane, July 1956, he had a daughter, Soujata,45, and three sons, Santi,42; Sonephet, 39; Sonexay, 33, now all living in Laos. To date, he has seven grandchildren, including six grand-sons (Thara or 'Bobo', 23; Thirasack or 'Tui', 21; Santana or 'Sumo', 12; Danusone, or 'Danu', 11; 'Nino', 8; 'Dodo', 6;) and one grand daughter, Sakuna or 'Nana', 10.

Vientiane, 5 June 2002

Somphavan Inthavong

"One may overpower and conquer ,in battle, a thousand times, a thousand men, but yet he remains the Greatest Conqueror who conquers and overpowers himself." -- The Buddha.

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The Great Wall of China (or Chang Cheng), near Beijing, May 1995: President Samane Vignaketh ( at the middle) and I (Right) were on official visit to China as part of the Lao National Assembly Delegation. Dr.Ponmek Daraloy (left, with black glasses ) was then the Laotian Ambassador to Beijing.	Hanoi , 1994- Mr. Nong Duc Manh, then,President of the National Assembly of the S.R.of Vietnam and, presently, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam recieved in audience Somphavan Inthavong, in his capacity as Head of the Lao PDR National Assembly Delegation in official visit to Vietnam.

Vientiane,Laos(1998).- Standing at the Entrance Hall of the National Assembly were, from left to right, respectively, Bouasone, Member of the CC Politbureau of the Party ; Soulivong, Member of the CC ; Somphavan, Minister at the Prime Minister Office ; General Douangchai, Member of the Politbureau and Vice-Prime Minister ; Bounthong, Member of the CC, and Bouasy, Head of the Kaysone Phomvihane Museum Committee.	Vientiane, Lao P.D.R., 1990 : Ceremony of Soukhouane or Baci in honor of Her Royal Highness Prathep, the graceful Princess of the Kingdom of Thailand, on the Occasion of Her First Ever Visit to the Lao People's Democratic Republic. The traditional well-wishing ceremony was hosted by The Laotian President of Republic and his Wife,H.E. Phoumi Vongvichit and Madame Chansy Vongvichit.

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