Friday, November 1, 2013
Let us hope
The following opinion piece was published in Republica on October 29, 2013 under the title "Let us Hope".
Our political leaders who fought the Panchayat regime were labeled ‘freedom fighters’ when we re-gained democracy in 1990. In people’s eyes, they epitomized the democratic fight and ideals.
Now, on hindsight, we know our post-Panchayat governments were filled with faux-revolutionaries and inept and shady leaders. There were examples of freedom fighters who, when denied a ministership by their respective parties, ran as independents.
Things have not changed much. Many politicians who were not nominated by their respective parties for the upcoming election have quit their parties, and many have pressed forward as independent candidates. While some of them are genuine victims of intra-party power-play, most were determined to be undeserving by their parties.
Finally, we now have a list of candidates from all contesting political parties for the upcoming election. Because elections in Nepal are rare, every election receives warm welcome from the public. And the same is true of the upcoming election.
However, our political parties have disappointed the general population even before a single vote is cast. First, selection of candidates has shown, again, that Nepali politics and political process still remains hostage to a few powerful players.
Second, many leaders who won handsomely in the previous election have ditched their previous constituencies, and are running from new constituencies. There can only be one reason for this. These leaders fear retribution from their constituents for unfulfilled promises and undelivered results from their last campaign.
Third, political parties and top leaderships have also disappointed in terms of fielding women, indigenous and dalit candidates. Despite strong rhetoric on this front, actual action has been found lacking. Their failure in fielding diversity of candidates has once again shown that elitism and chauvinism reign high within Nepali political parties. All talks of modernizing and liberalizing have proven hollow.
The current Nepali political leadership does not reflect the character of a cosmopolitan and diverse nation whose median age is 21. The only character that our political leadership has retained is that of an old, grey-haired, upper-caste male at the helm.
The saga of political characterless-ness is nothing new in Nepal, and has a history of repeating itself. We saw our share of freedom fighters during the democratic movements of 1950 and 1990. We had high hopes from these individuals.
They had excellent character, and a hunger to liberate the country from the Rana regime and the Panchayat system respectively. We hoped that once we established democracy and installed these individuals in our government, they would raise our fortunes. However, that has not been the case. Once handed the power to rule, our freedom fighters turned politicians lost their way and sold their souls.
Abraham Lincoln, the American president, once opined that if you want to test a man’s character, all you have to do is give him power, and then sit back and watch. Nowhere has President Lincoln’s words rung truer than in Nepal. The true test of our current batch of political leaders’ character came after they were handed power in the post-Panchayat era. Most of them turned out to be crooks and liars.
The current batch of politicians running for election is no different, with thugs, dons and party-affiliated criminals getting tickets. Oscar Levant’s assessment of politicians holds true for our current batch of nominated political leaderships: underneath their flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character.
Lack of character has flowed from politics to bureaucracy to the larger society. Our public officials solicit bribes in broad daylight. Bureaucrats working in the airport rob our brothers and sisters coming back from overseas employment. Even law enforcement is corrupt. Add to this the problem of rampant nepotism and cronyism in both public and private sectors, and we have no decent hope of achieving an honest hardworking society anytime soon. Impunity reigns everywhere.
Our political parties and actors, for years, have been feeding us the hope of bringing about a ‘revolution’. Now that another election is at our doorstep, they’re busy serving us another round of cool-aid. The manifestos that are being made public by the political parties promise us 10,000 megawatts of hydropower in the next few years.
They mention Singapore and Nepal in same breath when asked about economic aspirations. How can they deliver us a new revolution while clutching to beliefs, ideologies and philosophies that are decades old and reactionary in nature?
And, why is it that we’re always searching for a new revolution? We’re done with revolutions. We now need a renaissance. However, our renaissance seems possible only if it has a phoenix-like characteristic—an ability to rise out of the ashes of corruption, nepotism, and cronyism. Let us hope.
Let us hope
Our political leaders who fought the Panchayat regime were labeled ‘freedom fighters’ when we re-gained democracy in 1990. In people’s eyes, they epitomized the democratic fight and ideals.
Now, on hindsight, we know our post-Panchayat governments were filled with faux-revolutionaries and inept and shady leaders. There were examples of freedom fighters who, when denied a ministership by their respective parties, ran as independents.
Things have not changed much. Many politicians who were not nominated by their respective parties for the upcoming election have quit their parties, and many have pressed forward as independent candidates. While some of them are genuine victims of intra-party power-play, most were determined to be undeserving by their parties.
Finally, we now have a list of candidates from all contesting political parties for the upcoming election. Because elections in Nepal are rare, every election receives warm welcome from the public. And the same is true of the upcoming election.
However, our political parties have disappointed the general population even before a single vote is cast. First, selection of candidates has shown, again, that Nepali politics and political process still remains hostage to a few powerful players.
Second, many leaders who won handsomely in the previous election have ditched their previous constituencies, and are running from new constituencies. There can only be one reason for this. These leaders fear retribution from their constituents for unfulfilled promises and undelivered results from their last campaign.
Third, political parties and top leaderships have also disappointed in terms of fielding women, indigenous and dalit candidates. Despite strong rhetoric on this front, actual action has been found lacking. Their failure in fielding diversity of candidates has once again shown that elitism and chauvinism reign high within Nepali political parties. All talks of modernizing and liberalizing have proven hollow.
The current Nepali political leadership does not reflect the character of a cosmopolitan and diverse nation whose median age is 21. The only character that our political leadership has retained is that of an old, grey-haired, upper-caste male at the helm.
The saga of political characterless-ness is nothing new in Nepal, and has a history of repeating itself. We saw our share of freedom fighters during the democratic movements of 1950 and 1990. We had high hopes from these individuals.
They had excellent character, and a hunger to liberate the country from the Rana regime and the Panchayat system respectively. We hoped that once we established democracy and installed these individuals in our government, they would raise our fortunes. However, that has not been the case. Once handed the power to rule, our freedom fighters turned politicians lost their way and sold their souls.
Abraham Lincoln, the American president, once opined that if you want to test a man’s character, all you have to do is give him power, and then sit back and watch. Nowhere has President Lincoln’s words rung truer than in Nepal. The true test of our current batch of political leaders’ character came after they were handed power in the post-Panchayat era. Most of them turned out to be crooks and liars.
The current batch of politicians running for election is no different, with thugs, dons and party-affiliated criminals getting tickets. Oscar Levant’s assessment of politicians holds true for our current batch of nominated political leaderships: underneath their flabby exterior is an enormous lack of character.
Lack of character has flowed from politics to bureaucracy to the larger society. Our public officials solicit bribes in broad daylight. Bureaucrats working in the airport rob our brothers and sisters coming back from overseas employment. Even law enforcement is corrupt. Add to this the problem of rampant nepotism and cronyism in both public and private sectors, and we have no decent hope of achieving an honest hardworking society anytime soon. Impunity reigns everywhere.
Our political parties and actors, for years, have been feeding us the hope of bringing about a ‘revolution’. Now that another election is at our doorstep, they’re busy serving us another round of cool-aid. The manifestos that are being made public by the political parties promise us 10,000 megawatts of hydropower in the next few years.
They mention Singapore and Nepal in same breath when asked about economic aspirations. How can they deliver us a new revolution while clutching to beliefs, ideologies and philosophies that are decades old and reactionary in nature?
And, why is it that we’re always searching for a new revolution? We’re done with revolutions. We now need a renaissance. However, our renaissance seems possible only if it has a phoenix-like characteristic—an ability to rise out of the ashes of corruption, nepotism, and cronyism. Let us hope.
Labels: democracy, election, freedom fighters
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