Son La province shares the border with Houaphanh and Luang Prabang Provinces of Laos. Its geography is complex, and its people’s living condition is still in difficulty. Meanwhile, it is also the hub of crime activities, such as cross-border human trafficking, drug trafficking, and illegal weapon trading, etc. To cope with these issues, the Provincial Border Guard (PGB) has actively taken part in building political bases in the border areas, considering it an important task and the basis to maintain sovereignty and security in the border areas. The following comprehensive and effective measures have been implemented.

First, fostering the task of propaganda and education and the building of people’s political awareness. This is a measure of particular importance. Successfully conducting this work will result in both improving the people’s awareness on the Party’s guideline and policies, the laws and understanding the local situations. Therefore, the PBG Command has ordered its functional agencies and border posts to actively give counseling to and cooperate with border communes’ Party committees and administrations in planning, preparing contents and renewing methods of propaganda and education that are close to the local social-economic situation and knowledge level of ethnic minority people.

Attention has been paid to disseminating on the Party’s guidelines and policies to ethnic minority people, border areas, ethnic and religious policies; the aims and meaning of consolidating and adding more border markers, and the nature and conspiracy of hostile forces, etc.

Border post of Nam Lanh organizes a meeting to disseminate law to locals

In addition, the border posts have attached importance to the coordination and twinning with the border guard and border localities’ authorities and people of Laos. The two sides have regularly exchanged information and maintaining the order for briefings and propaganda, making contribution to the maintenance of stability in the area and the building of the border of peace, friendship, cooperation and development. Attention has also been paid to promoting the pioneering role of officers and soldiers of border posts in improving political awareness of the people, building trust among ethnic minority people with practical work. The guideline of “post is the house, border is their homeland, ethnic minority people are their brothers and sisters”, and the motto of “listen to the people, explain to the people and build the people’s trust” have been successfully implemented. The most persuasive propaganda content is the persistence of officers and soldiers in persuading the people to improve their living conditions and in sharing hardships with the people in the most difficult areas. The fact shows that the border guard has become an indispensable force of the local Party committees, authorities and the people. The close relations with the people in the two sides of the border have been carefully preserved and nurtured by the border guard. Wherever the border guard is deployed, residential areas are formed and developed and the matters of deforestation, shifting cultivation, nomadic farming are considerably reduced, most people would not believe in the distorted information of hostile forces, but actively participate in the movement of border line, border marker self-protection, etc.

Secondly, actively participating in consolidation and enhancement of political system in border area. With its functions and tasks, the PBG Command has actively provided counseling for the provincial Party Committee, the provincial People's Committee on comprehensively investigating, clearly understanding of the situation in order to make detail plans to cooperate with other forces in building and consolidating the political system in border communes. To overcome the matter of shortage of cadres in border communes, the Border Guard Command has cooperate with the Personnel Department of the provincial Party Committee to plan and implement the Project of assigning Border Guard officers and soldier to border communes, then selected qualified officers and soldiers with additional education on social-economic knowledge to be candidate for election to communes’ party committees, administrations, and mass organizations. The elected ones have successfully promoted their roles in advising the local party committees and administration on building and consolidating the politically system, nurturing potential party members, and making contribution to renewing thinking and working style of local cadres, and holding classes to improve their defence and security knowledge, as well as the knowledge of economic development, etc.

Thirdly, actively and proactively participating in social-economic development, hunger eradication and poverty alleviation, and in building cultural life and enhancing national defence and security, making contribution to the maintenance of social order and safety in the border areas. Building strong political bases in association with social-economic development and material and spiritual life improvement of the locals means to address the root cause of political instability in the border areas. Since these are living places of ethnic groups, including: Thai, Viet, Hmong, Dao, Xinh Mu, Kho Mu, and Laotian, who mostly are poor. The fact shows that, if attention is not vigorously paid to social-economic development, it is impossible to build strong political bases. Therefore, the PBG Command has ordered its posts to select models of social-economic and cultural development for the local people to follow. On the basis of clearly understanding the situation, and with the purpose of helping ethnic people in the border areas to improve their living condition, the PGB has established and multiplied different models of economic development, such as the models of planting passiflora edulis in Song Lap commune, Moc Chau district, and prunus salicina in Yen Chau, Van Ho, and Mai Son districts. At the same time, they have been persistent in giving technical instructions on developing the 2-crop rice plantation; the model of Garden, Pond, and Stables, the model of raising goats and breeding cows in districts of Sop Cop, Yen Chau, and Moc Chau. The PGB has also been active in persuading enterprises to buy produce of the people.

Besides assisting the people in eradicating hunger and alleviating poverty, the PBG has also been proactive in mobilizing and helping the people to build cultural and civilized communes; carrying out activities, such as: health examination and treatment, and illiteracy eradication; effectively conducting the program “Border Guard joins hand to build new rural areas”, “assisting children to go to school”, etc., for the children and the poor people in border areas.

Stationed in the area of complex political, security, social order and safety, the PBG Command has been active in collecting and analyzing and forecasting the situation; collaborating with related forces to take comprehensive technical measures to fight against crimes, particularly drug trafficking; consecutively staying close to the people to understand the issues of free migration, and addressing cases related to ethnics, belief, and land disputes, etc., making contribution to the maintenance of political security, social order and safety in border areas.

The concrete, practical and effective work in building political bases in the border area by the PBG of Son La province has created belief among the people, contributing to building the strong "people’s hearts and minds posture", and the "all people’s border guard posture" in the strategic areas. It is the foundation for the PBG to enhance its strength and manage, and firmly protect the sovereignty and security of the western border of the country.

Col. Ca Van Lap, Commissar of the PBG