Well I managed to skip a dance opportunity, which is something of a rarity, as I tend to push myself in that direction, even when I'm tired. It's as if I only have so many hours left in my life to dance, so let's not be wasting any of them. But I got mucho exercise today, a jazz class in the morning, a long hike in the afternoon, as well as an hour of work in between, so, yeah, I can pass on the Tuesday evening ecstatic dance group tonight. Oh yeah, I rode my bike to and from the dance class too, so yeah, that's enough for one day. Yesterday was pretty active also with several hours of disc golf in the morning, and a one hour zumba class in the early evening. So I'm definitely not neglecting the opportunity to get sweaty.
And it was during yesterday's golf outing that I got chapter two of Sy's story. He's the Laotian man who I wrote about a few weeks ago, the one who was in the room when Kissinger was trying to broker peace agreements during the Vietnam war. I had a few questions and we ended up playing together so I had the chance to ask them. And when the story unfolded, it was totally amazing, even though it took the form of some kind of joke. You know, the kind that has three parts, and each part is more outrageous than what preceded it. Here's what I learned.
Sy was a great student, and as a result, received scholarships to study law, first in Paris, then in London. These scholarships were part of USAID, awarded to the top students in different fields, and according to Sy, they had nothing to do with him being groomed for some future work with the US government. That was more coincidental, but let's not get ahead of the story.
After his work in London, he was sent to Australia to practice law, which he did for some period of time (I don't have the specifics). When he returned to Laos, a well-educated, experienced lawyer, he was given a wonderful (so he thought) commission to be part of the government in one of the provinces in north eastern Laos. Turns out there was a little problem, namely that the area was under Communist control, and the reason he was given the assignment was because none of the other diplomats wanted anything to do with it. It was a no-win situation, and once Sy realized that, he quit and returned to the capital.
Job number two was worse, if that's possible. There was a powerful, and very corrupt general from the army who had been arrested and was going to be tried for murder, corruption, intimidation, you name it. Sy was given the job of being the lead prosecutor on the case. This general was so powerful that the King himself couldn't get rid of him. Nor could the prime minister. 'Here Sy, you do it'. He described a meeting in which some of the generals thugs were in a room with him and offered him the following suggestion. 'On this side of the table is a bullet, on the other side is ten million dollars. Which would you choose?' Their implication was quite clear, and once again, Sy quit the job. He returned to the prime minister who had another offer for him.
He was made ambassador to Russia so he flew to Moscow to begin the assignment. The only person he could talk to was his driver, another Laotian. Other than him, there was absolutely no one to communicate with. I would imagine that being a small, Laotian stranger in Soviet era Moscow would be an incredibly gray and boring existence, and indeed it was. There was nothing to do but sit in the office all day long watching the clock go round. Sy describes it as like being in prison, and after 3 months, he quit his third job and returned to Laos.
It was at that point that he was given a much more interesting position. He was one of the government peace negotiators, trying to hammer out a peaceful solution in SE Asia during the so-called 'secret war' in Laos. He describes being at the table with Kissinger on one side and the Chinese official Ling Xiao Peng on the other. To Kissinger's right were representatives of South Vietnam. Across from them were negotiators from the North. To Kissinger's left was Sy and another government negotiator. Across from them were representatives of the Laotian Communists. Wow, I can only imagine what it was like, and the next time I see Sy (perhaps tomorrow morning), I'll get more of the story.
But like I say, it reads like a joke. The first job was to be a government representative in Communist held territory. Then to be the prosecutor of a trial against a powerful and corrupt general who had had many people killed. Then go to Moscow and be a diplomat during the Soviet era. Fascinating... and true. More to come as I learn it.
