120 years of Dak Lak province

In 2024, Dak Lak province will celebrate 120 years of establishment and development. Over the course of more than a century, Dak Lak province has experienced many changes and ups and downs along with the nation's history, but it has also been very brave and heroic, contributing to the struggle for national liberation in the past and in the current cause of building and defending the Fatherland. From a wild, remote land in the middle of the Central Highlands, Dak Lak has now risen strongly, becoming one of the fairly developed provinces and is striving to be worthy of the capital of the Central Highlands.

Historical Mark

After many changes in administrative boundaries during historical periods, the Central Highlands in general and Dak Lak in particular gradually connected and integrated into the territory of Vietnam. At the end of the 19th century, during the invasion of our country, French colonialists gradually established a yoke of domination over the ethnic groups in the Central Highlands. To establish the right to govern and organize administratively over Dak Lak, on November 2, 1899, the Governor-General of Indochina issued a Decree to establish the Dak Lak Administrative Agency headquartered in Buon Don. On November 22, 1904, the Governor-General of Indochina issued a Decree to establish a new province under the administrative and political authority of the Resident General of Annam named Dak Lak province. This event had a legal nature, establishing the complete national sovereignty of Vietnam, a historical milestone marking the establishment of Dak Lak province and Buon Ma Thuot provincial capital; is the result of the process of transformation, exchange, connection and integration of culture, society, people, economy, politics and territory of the people of the ethnic groups here into the history of the nation.

Since its establishment, Dak Lak province has gone through many stages of transformation and development along with the history of the nation. Right from the time the French colonialists set foot on the Central Highlands, with their patriotic, resilient and indomitable traditions, the people of all ethnic groups in Dak Lak province bravely rose up to fight against the invaders. A series of consecutive struggles broke out during the late 19th and early 20th centuries led by ethnic minority chieftains and intellectuals, such as: No Trang Guh, A Ma Jhiao, No Trang Long, Y Jut H'Wing... In particular, after the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement in 1930-1931, the French colonialists intensified their repression, terror, and hunting down of communist soldiers, detaining thousands of loyal revolutionary soldiers of our country at Buon Ma Thuot Prison. With the resilient and tireless struggle of communist soldiers, at the end of 1940, the Communist Party Cell was established at Buon Ma Thuot Prison. This event also marked the birth of the Dak Lak Provincial Party Committee on November 23, 1940, the decisive factor in the victory of the uprising in the August Revolution of 1945 in Dak Lak, bringing power to the people.

During the two great resistance wars of the nation against French colonialism and American imperialism, under the leadership of the Party, the army and people of all ethnic groups in Dak Lak province stood shoulder to shoulder, overcame countless difficulties and hardships; always united in their hearts towards the revolution. The army and people of all ethnic groups in Dak Lak province achieved glorious feats, contributing worthily to the common revolutionary cause of the nation. In particular, with its important position in terms of national defense and security, in early 1975, the Politburo and the Central Military Commission decided to choose Buon Ma Thuot as the breakthrough, strategic battle, opening the General Offensive and Uprising in the Spring of 1975, culminating in the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign, completely liberating the South and reunifying the country.

After the country achieved peace and reunification, the Party Committee, government, army and people of all ethnic groups in Dak Lak province joined hands, united in mind, shared hardships and difficulties, promoted bravery, intelligence, dynamism and creativity, both overcame the consequences of war and fought to solve the Fulro problem, crushed acts of aggression, contributed significantly to the victory in the war to protect the Fatherland in the southwestern border; actively carried out the renovation process initiated and led by our Party and achieved many important achievements in all fields. In recognition of these achievements, the Party and State awarded the Party Committee, army and people of Dak Lak province many noble medals and titles: the title "Hero of the People's Armed Forces", the Gold Star Medal, the Ho Chi Minh Medal, the Thanh Dong Medal, the Military Exploit Medal, first, second and third class... Many localities, units and individuals in the province were also awarded noble titles by the Party and State.

Deserving of the central position in the Central Highlands

Up to now, after 120 years of formation, construction and development, especially after 49 years of the complete liberation of the South, national reunification and after nearly 40 years of implementing the renovation process, Dak Lak province has achieved many outstanding achievements of important significance in the fields of socio-economic development, ensuring national defense and security, Party building, consolidating the political system, creating a solid position and strength on the next stage of development.

Comrade Nguyen Dinh Trung, member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Dak Lak Provincial Party Committee, said: Up to now, Dak Lak has a natural area and population that are among the top provinces and cities in the country and has risen to become a fairly large province in the Central Highlands region. In particular, the province has the largest area and output of coffee, pepper, and durian in the country; it is an important traffic hub of the Central Highlands. The province's economy maintains a fairly high growth rate; the value of gross regional domestic product (GRDP) ranks first in the Central Highlands region. In the period of 2021-2023, the average economic growth will reach 7% per year, the scale of the economy will increasingly expand; the average GRDP per capita in 2024 is estimated at nearly 75 million VND. The structure of economic sectors has shifted positively, gradually reducing the proportion of agriculture and gradually increasing the proportion of services, industry and construction; The agricultural sector has been restructured towards high added value and sustainable development; the appearance of the province has changed positively. Social culture has made much progress, social security has been ensured; the material and spiritual life of the people has been improved, especially in remote areas and ethnic minority areas.

Speaking at the ceremony to celebrate the 120th anniversary of the founding of Dak Lak province, Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh emphasized that in order to strive for sustainable development, worthy of the central position and main driving force of the Central Highlands region, the Party Committee, government and people of all ethnic groups in Dak Lak province continue to closely follow the direction of the Central Committee, concretizing the goals and tasks stated in the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress and the 17th Dak Lak Provincial Party Congress (term 2020-2025); especially Conclusion No. 67 of the Politburo on the construction and development of Buon Ma Thuot city; Resolution No. 23 of the Politburo on the direction of socio-economic development and ensuring national defense and security in the Central Highlands region; Resolution No. 72 of the National Assembly on piloting a number of specific mechanisms and policies for the development of Buon Ma Thuot city and Decision No. 1747 of the Prime Minister approving the planning of Dak Lak province aim to seize every opportunity, overcome all difficulties and challenges, mobilize the participation of the entire political system and people in the province, and strive to achieve the goal that by 2050 Dak Lak will "become a province with ecological space, identity, creative connections, and be a favorite and livable destination".

The Deputy Prime Minister also requested Dak Lak province to mobilize its combined strength, effectively exploit its potential and development advantages, and strongly promote new growth drivers, especially digital transformation, green transformation, circular economy, sharing economy, knowledge economy, and new industries and fields with high technology. Innovate the economic model, focusing on developing advantageous, large-scale, high-quality agricultural and forestry products with large exports; promote agricultural activities in processing agricultural, forestry and fishery products and renewable energy production; build an urban economy, digital infrastructure, transport infrastructure, irrigation; develop services-logistics-tourism based on digital transformation. Along with rapid and sustainable economic development, it is necessary to pay attention to preserving the typical cultural heritage values of the locality; ensuring national defense-security and social order and safety. In particular, the province must always identify the task of cultivating, preserving and strengthening solidarity among ethnic groups as the "key" to building an increasingly peaceful, prosperous and happy locality, creating a new atmosphere and new opportunities, contributing with the whole country to enter a new era, an era of national growth.

Source: https://baodaknong.vn/dau-an-120-nam-tinh-dak-lak-235403.html