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From Far & Near

(Updated on 1 December)

By Shashi P.B.B. Malla

Nepal’s National Security Challenges

There can be little doubt that the current government of the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) has endangered the country’s national security in multi-dimensional ways. It has done so in the first instance by its utter failure in domestic affairs. But it is also flailing to a considerable extent in the realm of foreign policy. A country’s foreign policy can only be strong if it is anchored in solving pressing domestic issues.

Take the case of the United States. The four years of the Trump presidency have been an unmitigated catastrophe. Donald J. Trump has failed on all fronts.

It has been the same as the ‘reign of incompetence’ of the Nepali Communists. What a complete lack of leadership! And what a great disappointment for the Nepalese people. With nearly two-thirds of the majority in the parliament, the people naturally expected that the government would confront the pressing problems of the country head-on. But there has been a disappointment all the way. Instead of good governance, there has been utter incompetence and shameless corruption, nepotism and favouritism all the way and top to bottom.

Instead of leadership, the two top leaders of the Communists have been bickering and the other so-called leaders have done nothing about it. Oli and Dahal have been acting like thugs and bullies. The whole machinery of government has been affected and they have made a fool of themselves at home and abroad. They have made a mockery of our hard-earned international reputation. They are no better than some tinpot dictator in some utterly failed and lowest of the low Third World country.

No one can make head or tail of what actually their personal and political differences are. If they are indeed ideological, it does seem that both parties have tied themselves in knots and the personal and party contradictions are insurmountable. As British prime minister Winston Churchill said in another context concerning Russia, the machinations and contradictions of the Nepali Communists could be termed “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma” [!]

The resident Chinese ambassador was able to paper over the differences in the spring, but this time around she seems to be having problems. In any case, her dealings in the inner-party struggles is an unwarranted interference in the domestic affairs of the country.

Even the president of the putative ‘federal, democratic republic’, Bidya Devi Bhandari took her hand in bridging over the differences. This was, of course, absolutely against protocol and constitutional proprieties. She is supposed to be completely politically independent and above party politics. With her meddling, Bhandari has disqualified herself for another term as president of all Nepalese. Why are the leaders of the opposition keeping silent, and have our constitutional experts gone into exile? A very valid question to ask the leaders of the opposition is whether their ‘silence of the lambs’ makes them ineligible for leadership positions in any of Nepal’s future political disposition?

There is also the question of the present government leaning towards China and endangering Nepal’s hallowed policy of political equidistance from both New Delhi and Beijing. The flurry of high-level visits from both countries shows that Nepal is being courted intensely. However, we must not lose sight of our own vital interests. We must make clear to both our giant neighbours that we will not take sides, i.e. our neutrality and non-alignment are sacred and we will not budge from this course.

To India, in all our statements and actions we must underline categorically that we do very much appreciate India’s major contribution to our economy and development efforts. We must avoid at all costs any inkling of favouring the Chinese position in bilateral Sino-Indian issues.

Vis-à-vis China, our position must be steadfast on the ‘One China’ policy and that we will not be part of any so-called Indo-Pacific strategy to surround or contain China. If the US-promoted MCC programme is part of such a strategy, we will have no choice but to reject it. However, if it is a programme ‘with no strings attached’, we should not hesitate to incorporate it in our development efforts.

Much has been said and written about our cultural and civilizational ties to India. It is not very fruitful to weigh the relative importance of these compared to those with China in the present strategic context. We do have to learn the lessons of history, but today’s geopolitical ramifications are also paramount. The main fact is that our cultural relations with Tibet and China are also very ancient. We have to stress the synthesis and steer clear of the antitheses. We have to evolve our own policy and demonstrate that a close working relationship with both giant Asian powers is both necessary and possible. It will be a nascent definition of positive non-alignment. Our basic policy will be ‘a bridge over troubled waters’. Unfortunately, our Nepali Communists do not have the ability nor the vision for such a course of action.

Urgent Necessity for Constitutional Reforms

In the great country of Thailand, hundreds of thousands of young Thais and students have been demonstrating continuously – undeterred by the terrible pandemic –to demand urgent reforms. For the future of the country, they are insisting on constitutional reform and radical change in the military-monarchical grip of the one percent establishment on the rest of the country. Our own ‘enlightened youth’ are silent as the grave while a hundred petty maharajas exploit the country.

The Nepali Communists have made a mockery of the parliamentary system, and the opposition has done no better. It is high noon to now press the ‘pause’ button and allow the political system to rejuvenate. In this, it is no longer necessary to consider the ‘republic’ as ‘a sacred cow’. Let us not forget that constitutional monarchy, with a long and hoary tradition was abolished without recourse to the peoples’ mandate, i.e. referendum. Considering the fact that the republican presidency has been an unmitigated failure, the constitutional monarchy could be reinstated and made subject to the sovereign will of the people. At the very least, we Nepalese could collectively hold our heads high, because it would bring back honour and gravitas to the institution of the head of state!

The country badly needs a period of stability to reorient itself to the triple crises of the global pandemic, economic downturn and acute threat of climate change. We cannot depend on amateurs and corrupt and delusionary politicians, but on professionals and technocrats – at least for the interregnum.

Political Participation – A Must

Democracy is under siege all over the world, even in America that prides itself of being the oldest and greatest democracy on earth. Chris Patten, the last governor-general of Hong Kong has called out the cowardly and venal Republican leaders, who are wrecking the institutional foundations of the American governance system. Among them are Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. He even went to the extent of calling them the U.S. Fifth Column. (Project Syndicate, Nov.29).

In our own country, the so-called leaders and the political parties have made a mockery of the democratic process, monopolizing it, choking off relevant discussion and stymying any political progress.

In the United States, Harvard political science professor Dr Danielle Allen has called for a bottom-top rejuvenation of politics in general. (Reinventing American Democracy for the 21st Century/American Academy of the Arts & Sciences). Likewise, in Nepal, the political institutions – above all the executive, including the president, and the parliament are not responsive and empowering of the peoples’ needs and aspirations. Civil society organizations are either non-existent or dormant. These are but essential to assist active people to bridge divides. Then, there does not exist a culture of mutual commitment to one another and all Nepalese in general.

To nurture a healthy constitutional democracy, these three socio-political trajectories—responsive and empowering political institutions, vibrant civil society organizations and general empathy among the people– must converge and be in synchrony.

Tactics & Strategy of Peaceful Regime Change

Social media – but not the mainstream media – is full of mounting protests and demonstrations all over the country demanding urgent regime change. These have not reached a critical mass and the leaders do not seem to have a grand strategy to oust the Communists in power.

If the protests are to achieve anything substantial, they will have to coordinate at every level and also spatially. Multiple levels of leadership must be assured. The movement must also be wary of Fifth Columnists within its ranks!

It must be made clear to the police and armed police big shots that it is not the business of the security forces to brutally suppress peaceful demonstrators – like in Thailand and Belarus.

It is to be hoped that the Nepal Army – the only institution left standing which can still protect Nepal’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and is fully cognizant of the country’s vital national security interests – will reject any incentive to repress the overwhelming demand for peaceful change but instead will guarantee that government violence does not get out of hand.

In the meantime, the country’s independent intellectuals, academics and professionals should ready themselves to take over responsibility for an orderly transfer of power. There should be a ‘Council of Elders’ to advise the transitional government, which itself will be composed of technocrats. Three essential task forces should be formed immediately to tackle the multiple crises confronting us: to combat the Covid-19 pandemic and guarantee an adequate vaccine supply, economic downturn and climate change.

There is an urgent necessity to right the wrongs and rectify the blunders of the current Communist regime!

Like Trump in the final year of his presidency, the leaders of the Nepali Communist Party have shown no sympathy or empathy for the suffering of the Nepalese people. They are behaving like tyrants and think that nothing can touch them. But like Churchill once perceptively said, they are like “dictators [riding] to and fro on tigers from which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry”[!]

The writer can be reached at: shashipbbmalla@hotmail.com