Fédération Indochinoise des Associations du Scoutisme
| Fédération Indochinoise des Associations du Scoutisme | |||
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| Founded | 1930 | ||
| Defunct | 1954 | ||
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The Fédération Indochinoise des Associations du Scoutisme (FIAS, Indochinese Federation of Scouting Associations; Vietnamese Liên Hội Hướng Đạo Đông Dương) was the earliest Scouting governing body in French Indochina, encompassing several smaller Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese Scout associations, open without bias of faith or political viewpoint, from 1930 to 1954. The federation spawned, then later devolved into, the Scouts Lao, the Hội Hướng Đạo Việt Nam and the Angkar Khemarak Kayarith.
In 1930, Scouting appeared in Indochina and began to develop around schools and colleges in Hanoi and Saigon. André Lefèvre, chief of the Eclaireurs de France, set up a training camp for 60 Scoutmasters from all over French Indochina in 1935 at Đà Lạt. At the end of 1937, French Scouting sent Scoutmaster Raymond Schlemmer to Indochina to oversee the setting up of Scouting in all three regions, creating FIAS.
From 1939 through 1945, the political situation affected Scouting activities all across the country, as World War II engendered independence movements. The French began to lose control and were finally overthrown by Japanese intervention. This ceased the French Scouts' activity in Indochina.
Japanese military authorities did not consistently encourage the Scouting movement in occupied territories. Where local conditions were favorable, authorities would permit local Scouting or introduce Japanese-style Scouting, or Shōnendan, and sometimes even made this compulsory. On the other hand, where conditions were not favorable, and anti-Japanese sentiments were likely to be nurtured through Scouting, the authorities would prohibit it entirely. In French Indochina, Vietnamese Scouting was permitted. After the coup in March, 1945, Bao Dai was installed as the puppet ruler, and Vietnam was nominally independent. The Japanese prohibited French Scouting, but would use Vietnamese Scouts to control the French population in Saigon.
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