Wishes for Nepal on the issue of royal coup. February 2005
If wishes were horses, the adage goes; we all will be riding around the world. It is a personal musing on the royal take over this month in Nepal. Perhaps many of my fellow Nepalese do the same.
I wish to have uncircumcised democracy in Nepal. King should remain within the pleasure of the people, not vice versa. However, the sad fact is Nepal is not doing well in this decade. I blame the petty and corrupt leaders for the blight, not the democratic system. Thus the royal coup is relevant only to the extent it will ameliorate the problems. I believe King does not enjoy support of Nepalese people. However, he has a short window of opportunity to earn the respect of the people and the history. He has to perform, produce visible results and change the people?s perceptions. There are three issues King need to address seriously and simultaneously: the corrupt political leaders, the Maoists insurgency, and the job creation. However, the center which holds all these discordant notes is the ?ethics?. King needs to address the waning ethics and the trusts in the body politics of Nepal first. I wish he would do it with demonstrated strength and sacrifice. Otherwise, the same old attitude and eventual corrupt lieutenants will provoke the next revolution. When and what will happen is any body?s guess. Perhaps, Nepalese monarchial system would not survive. It will be a strategic mistake for King to believe the army will be always behind him. Because, he is not a professional soldier; and there is no internally consistent political sub-group to support him. He is enjoying the political inertia for now and that may evaporate over night. Politicized army has not been a boon in any country.
The first agenda is to hold responsible the corrupt leaders of Nepal. They are responsible for giving bad name to democracy, strengthening Maoists, and setting stage for royal coup. When a minister pockets a penny, it is not a simple matter of shifting a penny from one to another pocket. It means betraying public trusts, violating ethics, inviting corruption in every level of civil service, and eventually making Nepal a failed state. In Nepalese culture a leader is not merely a citizen chosen for a public job, but a father figure looked up by the people. The unprecedented dance of corruption must be punished. The corruption at top is even making international news. For example, AFP News on November 3, 2001 reported, ?The Swiss accounts of three senior Nepalese ministers Khum Bahadur Khadka (Home), Vijaya Gachhedar (Water resources) and Jaya Prakash Gupta (Information and communication) have been frozen for their suspected involvement in illegal gold and weapons trade and drug trafficking.? The corrupt leaders should not get the prestige of being ?political detainees.? All the ?corrupt/Ghusya? ministers and officers must be tried in court. All their ill gotten wealth should go to the people. There should be a ?Ghushya Gate? similar to and close by the ?Shahid Gate? as a warning and lesson to the future generations.
Nepal has no choice but to tackle the Maoist insurgency. Whatever ?ideal? Maoists might have claimed is no longer relevant. The movement is basically degenerating into terrorism and extortion. To begin with, the Marxist analysis of Nepalese problem is not correct. The problem is our inability to transform from feudal to industrial state, not the struggle between capitalists and proletariats. Even Mao?s adaptation of Marxism in the then Chinese condition does not apply in Nepal. We have now empirical data that all the states following Marxist model have failed. Then, why make Nepal another victim? Pointing out the genuine poverty and social problems in Nepal is not good enough to begin a violent movement. Maoists should also come with genuine solutions and have direct or indirect enthusiasm of people. Since we already have peaceful electoral system in place and a constitution which clearly states the sovereignty being with the people, why violence? Quoting Marxist scripture is not good enough. They should begin with the question, ?Is Nepal for Marxism, or Marxism for Nepal?? If there are any genuine Marxist intellectuals then they need to go back to the drawing board and re-think the 19th century ideology. To begin with they need to address the issues of capital formation, resources allocation, labor incentive, production\service efficiency, inclusion of people in defining public good and decision making process. And that should be better than market economy in practice. If Russia and China can adopt market economy, what vision Maoist leaders propose for Nepal? The basic drawback of the communist system is apparent now that it inhibits leadership formation, entrepreneurship and creativity. Those attributes can blossom only in the free environment. Take a good look at the countries led by the maximum leaders for life. How many medals of innovations their citizens have won, let alone the Nobel prizes? Such human faculties are difficult to grow within the world view of strict economic determinism. Personal integrity, compassion and sacrifice are the keys. A struggle for the social justice is a valid and noble cause. However, do Nepalese Maoists practice what they preach? How come so far most of their victims are only unrelated and poor people? How come, not a single corrupt minister, officer or royalty is touched? What is their model of development? How will scaring off meager internal capital and potential external investments help? What solution Maoists propose to ameliorate our social ills like ?castes?? If education and social leadership is the answer, then what are Maoists doing to improve either? Violence cannot be the answer to each and every problem. Will Maoists succeed even if they have a panacea for all the Nepalese ills? Not in the current international political environment, when all the major powers are against it. The bottom line is people are not moving into areas influenced by Maoists to better their lives.
The Maoist problem must be tackled in two levels: the socio-political reasons for such movement and its leadership. In Nepal we have sadly many scars of dissatisfaction, injustice and hopelessness. It is accentuated by the lack of good leadership and apathetic government machinery. The lower living standard in itself is not really the problem. The problem is the perception that only crooks are getting ahead. Our living standard has actually gone up. But it has not and cannot keep pace with the rising expectations and showy consumerism. The desperate people will hold on to any straw, believe in any promise and run behind any flag. The Maoist movement is able to tap into precisely such psyche. Otherwise, most of the so-called Maoists are not ideologues. If you choose a Maoist cadre in random and ask, ?What is Maoism, how it will solve our problem and how many productive jobs it has created?? I bet you will get preciously ?nothing? for the answer. Thus Maoism in itself is neither problem, nor solution. The vacuum in the social, political and economic leadership is. King should address the socio-political problem by encouraging local leaders with integrity, making civil service clean and responsive, and creating jobs. And that should be genuine, not a facade like the Panchayat system. In another level the Maoist leadership must be rendered inoperative. Without the leadership the movement most probably will break down to small and manageable groups. Without the leadership and given choice, I bet most of the cadres will rather choose to be productive citizens than guerillas on run.
The mantra of ?Integrity and ethics? must be augmented with another mantra of ?Jobs and investments.? The financial corruption must be dealt in par with treason. Without the trust, we will not be able to attract internal investment, let alone the international. There should be dialogue with our industrialists how they can contribute in the national development. Another source to tap into is the non resident Nepalese. Literally millions of Nepalese are working abroad and eking out a meager living. Most of them suffer through clutching a dream of returning home with an employable skill and a small saving. Matter of fact today?s Nepalese economy is floating largely due to their remittances. Let them become million points of light. Let nation help them to fulfill their dream and national development concurrently. Another issue is the attracting foreign investment to Nepal. China is getting almost 50 billion dollars worth of foreign investment annually and her per capita is increasing in double digits. India is working hard to have a part of that. Why not Nepal? We should have another mantra, ?No to foreign aid. Yes to foreign investment.? Foreign aids make us inferior. Foreign investments make us partners. Only thing we need to watch out for are the potential environmental and social degradations. Imagine a Nepalese industrial show case where a thousand workers are producing goods and services. Let it be the model to be replicated. Let people observe the hard work and the heart warming results. We do not need to go to foreign soil to sweat and bleed. We do not need to be ?bahadurs? and ?brave gurkhas.? Our artists do not have to be waiters in New York.
I wish our leaders have the wisdom to look in geography and history of the world, and merely copy what works and avoid what does not. I wish we exude good will towards all, so that good will comes from all. I wish we could duplicate the Meiji restoration, where a group of dedicated Samurais transformed feudal Japan to a modern and industrial one. They began by dismantling the Samurai class. I wish we could duplicate the success of mountainous Switzerland located between big powers. I wish we could replicate the successes of Asian economic tigers. I wish we could replicate the successes of our fore fathers and mothers who left their legacy as temples, chaityas, sun dharas, pati/pauwas, pagodas, Kumari dance, Sakhewa, Lhosar, Teej, binayos, madals, dheme bajon, rice terraces, thankas, philosophies, traditions and pride of being a Nepali. I wish we all and especially King meditate on the ancient Sanskrit mantra ?Dharmo raxyati, raxyate?; i.e. if we protect ?virtue?, then ?virtue? will protect us.
