Iron Man of Laos Prince Phetsarath Ratanavongsa the Cornell University Southeast Asia Program
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* fll!!I ''{f'':" ' J.,, .,.,Pc, IRON MAN OF LAOS PRINCE PHETSARATH RATANAVONGSA THE CORNELL UNIVERSITY SOUTHEAST ASIA PROGRAM The Southeast Asia Program was organized at Cornell University in the Department of Far Eastern Studies in 1950. It is a teaching and research program of interdisciplinary studies in the humanities, social sciences, and some natural sciences. It deals with Southeast Asia as a region, and with the individual countries of the area: Brunei, Burma, Indonesia, Kampuchea, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The activities of the Program are carried on both at Cornell and in Southeast Asia. They include an undergraduate and graduate curriculum at Cornell which provides instruction by specialists in Southeast Asian cultural history and present-day affairs and offers intensive training in each of the major languages of the area. The Program sponsors group research projects on Thailand, on Indonesia, on the Philippines, and on linguistic studies of the languages of the area. At the same time, individual staff and students of the Program have done field research in every Southeast Asian country. A list of publications relating to Southeast Asia which may be obtained on prepaid order directly from the Program is given at the end of this volume. Information on Program staff, fellowships, requirements for degrees, and current course offerings is obtainable· from the Director, Southeast Asia Program, 120 Uris Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853. 11 IRON MAN OF LAOS PRINCE PHETSARATH RATANAVONGSA by "3349" Trc1nslated by .John B. �1urdoch F.di ted by · David K. \-vyatt Data Paper: Number 110 -Southeast Asia Program Department of Asian Studies Cornell University, Ithaca, New York .November 197·8 Price: $5.00 111 CORNELL UNIVERSITY SOUTHEAST ASIA PROGRAM 1978 International Standard Book Number 0-87727-110-0 iv C.ONTENTS FOREWORD • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . .• . • • Vii • • • • • • • • • • • PREFACE • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • lX TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • xi NOTE ON ORTHOGRAPHY AND TITLES • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • xxii IRON MAN OF LAOS: PRINCE PHETSARATH RATANAVONGSA 1 INTRODUCTION ..... • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • • • • • 1 CHAPTER BIOGRAPHY OF PRINCE PHETSARATH RATANAVONGSA, VICEROY OF THE KINGDOM OF LUANG PRABANG • • • • • 4 CHAPTER 2 THE JAPANESE SEIZE.LAOS • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 22 CHAPTER 3 DISMISSAL FROM POSITION AS VICEROY AND EXILE TO THAILAND • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 36 CHAPTER 4. ELEVEN YEARS IN THAILAND . • • • • • • • • • • • • • 40 CHAPTER 5 THE LION OF THE SIP SONG CHU THAI,· LEADER OF THE FREE LAO, PRINCE SOUPHANOUVONG ..... .. • • 46 CHAPTER 6 THE COMMANDER OF THE MEKONG VALLEY REGION, BOUN KONG MANI VONG . S 5 CHAPTER 7 THE OUTSPOKEN OFFICIAL OF VIENTIANE r BONG SOUVANNAVONG . · . .. .• . • • '8 0 CHAPTER 8 THE MURDER OF KOU VORAVONG, DEFENSE MINISTER OF LAOS 86 CHAPTER 9 PHETSARATH IS INVITED. TO RETURN· TO HIS COUNTRY: PROCLAMATION OF A JOINT COMMUNIQUE OF THE LAO GOVERNMENT . ,. 9 3 CHAPTER 10 A CRITIQUE OF PRINCE PHETSARATH'S NEUTRALITY .. • • 108 V . V1 . FORE\4/0RD The Translations Project Grotip is eng�ged in sponsoring transla tions of Southeast Asian s6urce mat�rials. Formed in late 1970 as a subco mm ittee of the Southeast Asi a C ou·n ci 1 ' s Research Committee , the Group endeavors to respond to the need for translattng important works from Southeast Asian languages. The Group decided that initial trans lation efforts into English should focus·ton materials:of· a biographi cal nature emanating from the various countries· of Southeast Asia. Tl1e members of the Transl�tions Project Group with to express their appreciation to the Southeast Asia Council and its parent organ ization, the Association fort·tAsian Studies, for facilitating its efforts, and to the Ford Foundation for providing the necessary funds. Dr. Charles liouston Dr. David Marr Western Michigan University Australian National Un�versity Mr. John Musgrave Dr. Williim Roff University of Michigan Columbi� University Dr. David Wyatt Dr. Paul van der Veur (Chairperson) Cornell University . Ohio University. ' . V11 viii PRE·FACE When the Translations Project Group was first formed in 1970 and its members began to discuss their favorite Southeast Asian autobio graphical works, this volume on Prince Phetsarath of Laos came readily to mind. My own acquaintance with it dates back to a spring day in 1962, when, researching a topic in Lao history, I happened upon it in the library stacks. I was immediately captivated by its simple, un sophisticated style and fascinated by the light it shed on critical events in recent Lao history. It is a most unusual narrative, impor tant as much because of how it tells its tale as because of what it has to say. Its style is laborious, its organization sometimes cha otic, its language at times difficult even to the native speaker; and yet it has a charm and a revelatory quality that are rare. The story of Prince Phetsarath's life demanded a translator sympa thetic to its subject; one who tinderstood the period in which Phetsa rath lived and the environment from which he came. It took more than a decade to find a translator worthy of the task: John Baldwin Murdoch. Murdoch came to Cornell University in 1�71 comfortably fluent in Lao and fascinated by the country in which.he had just spent four years in rural development and education work with the International Voluntary Service. By his second year of graduate study in Southeast Asian his tory, he had immersed himself in Lao history and had become interested in Phetsarath and with·the history that had shaped the Prince's career. He chose to undertake doctoral dissertation research on the Kingdom of· Luang Prabang at the end of the nineteenth century. Before leaving Cornell in 1974 to conduct research in France, Thailand, and Laos, Murdoch had worked through two drafts of this translation, and he con tinued to work on it, and an introduction to it, while abroad. Working together, John and I agreed to cut out some sections of the text (mainly long descriptive accounts of journeys, lists of peo ple, and the full text of the Geneva Agreement on Laos of 1954), and we rearranged the manuscript where its organization proved confusing or repetitive. John hewed closely to the style of the original, at times to the point where it interfered with the reader's easy under standing; but in checking the translation against the text I never en countered an instance of mistranslation or inaccuracy. This is a faithful, if not an elegantly literate, translation. I had just given the final chapter to a typist, and was awaiting John's ''Translator's Introduction" when word arrived of his death by drowning in Bangkok on June 9, 1976. Murdoch's notes and the fragmentary draft of his ''Translator's Introduction" probably do not begin to convey all that he intended to say on his subject. In putting his notes and drafts together in the "Translator's Introduction," I have tried to remain faithful to what John actually had committed to paper. I can only guess at the shape of the final section he might have written by way of summarizing the importance of Phetsarath and his book and the peculiar light it sheds lX on recent history. Were I able, I would have asked John questions that might have elicited answers to some of the nagging questions and doubts I have about this work. Knowing the importance I know John attached both to family connections and to personal relationships in the politics of Laos, I would have asked him whether he might be able to say something about the selectivity with which the author chose the individuals to whom special biographical chapters are devoted--Prince Souphanouvong, Boun Kong Manivong, ·and Bong Souvannavong--and whether this selection might reflect Phetsarath' s political commitments_ in the last years of his life. Why were the lives of these men described in stead of those of Prince Souvannaphouma, Oun Sananikone, Katay Don Sasorith, and phanya Khammao, for example? What is the significance of the references to "the party" that appear late in the chapter on Boun Kong? What were the author's sources of information on the actions of Souphanouvong, Boun Kong, and Bong? Murdoch would have been better prepared than anyone else I can think of to attempt answers to such questions. Without him, it will be that much longer before some of the many riddles of postwar Lao history begin to be solved. John Murdoch had a more productive scholarly career as a graduate student than many of us have as professors. He completed two other translationsa1 and published an exceptionally valuable account of the millenarian2 rebellions in Southern Laos and Northeastern Thailand of 1901-1902.a He also left a number of unpublished papers in addition to this translation of Prince Phetsarath's life story. We own John Murdoch a great deal more than we will be able to thank him for. \\Te are grateful to a Lao friend, "3264," for assistance with prob lems of translation, and to Steven L. Kaplan for help in rendering French names. Pat Guilford was marvellously generous and patient in undertaking the typing of the manuscript in its final stages, following earlier drafts on which Terri Campbell and Carol Smith worked. I am especially appreciative of the hospitality and generosity of Mr. and Mrs. George B. Murdoch of Bloomer, Wisconsin, who made it possible to bring their son's work to completion. David K. \\Tyatt Ithaca, New York January 1977 1 "3264," Under Fire: Growing Up on the Plain of Jars, translated and edited by John B. Murdoch (Ithaca: n.p., 1973); and La,o Issara: The Memoirs of Oun Sananikone, translated by John B. Murdoch and "3264," Cornell Southeast Asia Program Data Paper (Ithaca, 1975). 2 "The 1901-1902 'Holy Man's' Rebellion," Jou.rnaZ. of the Siam Society, 62, l (January 1974), pp.