Kamal Raj Sigdel writes his experience in China

In Search of Rural China (Nov 16)

Kamal Raj Sigdel

Since we had no special plan, we planned all our itineraries on our way as we met new friends. While we were traveling by city bus in Chhongqing, we met Nicole. We asked her to recommend one rural area between Chongqiing and Chengdu. After experiencing the hustle and bustle of grand Chongqing, we were in search of a solitude, a rural and backward area. Nicole suggested us to visit Hechuan, which she said was one and half hour's drive from Chongqing. We decided to go Hechuan to see rural China.

 

Surprisingly though, Hechuan turned out to be something very different than what we had expected. We came to Hechuan to see rural China, but that was a big city with wide highways and high rise buildings. We came to realize that the definition of "rural" in China is different that the one we had. And more surprisingly, this was also the "small" town we were looking for. We had to redefine "small" and "rural" in Chinese context. We had hard times finding a rural-looking area.

 

The first outing in Hechuan, however, revealed us a part of rural China that caters to the demand of a growing urban centers. We were with our local friend, David, whose Chinese name is Chu Ching. He is doing his Bachelor's degree at the University of Heuhan, and has been planning to migrate to Singapore for he has been offered a position at the Singapore International Airport.

 

Walking though the muddy roads into the rural areas, we met some farmers who earned their living by selling their produce at the nearby marketplace. Most of them grew cash crops like green vegetables, potato, sweet potato, ginger, garlic, coriander and taroe. One of the farmers, who looked over 60, was toiling hard in his potato field. He was digging out potatoes to sell in the nearby market. We talked to him for a couple of minutes. He said he sells those potatoes for 2 Yuan per kilogram. Since he was near a big market, he had new hopes about his future.

 

One important place we visited in Hechuan was the ancient temple of Buddha where one thousand statues of Buddha were carved on a cliff. The temple, which had to undergo some minor renovation after the April earthquake, was built on a rocky cliff. The images and statues at the temple gave an impression that it inherits something from Hindu religion as well. It looked like the ancient stupa in Kathmandu, Soyambhu Stupa, where both Hindus and Buddhists worship. The Hechuan temple featured a godlike figure riding on a tiger, which resembles Hindu Goddess Laxmi riding her pet Tiger. Derek, being a Buddhist, made some prayers and we joined him. We were asked to offer some money as donation. Each of us donated some money and left the temple.

 

We had planned to go to a historic place nearby Hechan after the lunch. After about one and half hours' rest we took a taxi and went to the hill station. In ancient times, the hill station was used as a fortress. The stone walls against the rocky cliff reflected the craftsmanship and war skills of the ancient war lords. The place was strategically important for rulers of ancient China because it was a safe place from where one could watch the movement of one's enemies far across the Jialing River, that flows flat down the mountain.

 

We though of spending a couple of hours on the internet. The cyber café were strictly monitored. We had to borrow the special internet card from our local friend, David because no one without the card was allowed to use internet. It is China, we realized. I was shocked to see none of the Chinese youngsters using internet for email and site surfing, all were really engrossed in their internet online games. I saw most of them enjoying the virtual reality game like the Second Life. They seem to be less interested in outer world. We had some troubles using internet as the operating system was in Chinese language.

 

When it comes to freedom, we have problems appreciating China. Whatever we saw during the day -- the booming construction, huge investment in constructing highways and train networks, housing -- would hold no meaning and appear hallow the time we would realized that the people are not as free as we are outside China. Our experience of surfing in Hechuan taught us something more. Most of the news sites where either blocked or slowed down. The heavily regulated internet and the media exposed to me another horrible fact about China -- the leadership fears the public opinion and its free flow. The moment I experienced the strict censorship in the media and the internet, I thought this is where the Chinese leadership has to rethink and be more adaptive. We tried to understand what the new generation Chinese is feeling about the media censorship. Most of them are outspoken. They are not likely to be suppressed by any power. They would act on their will. They responded that the government media reports only the positive things that had undermined their credibility. The Great FireWall, a government-run project with an annual expense of 800 million US$, will turn out to be another "monumental stupidity" [as the Great Wall is] very soon as it will be impossible to sensor the internet materials.

 

In the evening when we were walking down the streets at Hecuhan, we heard a Hindi song being played in a fancy store, which was a very rare case in a deep China like Heuhan. We went inside the shop out of curiosity and came to know that the shopkeeper loves Indian songs too. We bought some warm cloths and foot wares. We had a dinner at a nice restaurant at downtown Hecuhan and went to buy train ticket for Chengdu.

 

The days in Hechuan also help us understand the group better. The first day's evening was memorable. Derek and I started drinking while Huma and our local friend David decided not to drink though they were also at the same table. After two quarter bottles, I stopped and that disappointed Derek, because that was against the normal American drinking tradition. I always wanted to see Derek get equally drunk but he would never get drunk by the same amount of drink I take, and that disappointed me too.

 

Though Huma did not join, we continued dirking that night. I came to know more about the American values and conventions regarding drinking when Derek and I get drunk. We became more frank and open and that helped us understand each other more. Derek, as a "Westernized Cambodian" seemed to have troubles sometimes (especially when he gets drunk) penetrating his filters. Drinking, in his perspective, was a major part of socializing with people. I had a long discussion with him on why one cannot categorize someone as "unsocial" because s/he does not drink.

 

Eating habits among our GIST group was a new way of making fun. I would not eat beef, Huma would not eat pork and Derek would eat "everything". However, I interpret it not as a problem but simply diversity, something like a cow eating grass and tiger eating meat. There were several instances where each one of us could not see things from other's perspective.

 

While we were very friendly to each other and the GIST made us lifelong friends, we also realized that we cannot change the way we are. I had heard about American individualism but not experienced. Derek was one example and he made me clear what is American individualism. He cared much more about his and others' individual choices than Huma and I did. I, as a light drinker, find myself in between Huma, who was not so a partier and Derek, a party animal.

Huma Sheikh from India writes about her experience in China

November 20, 2008

By Huma Sheikh

 

Prior to the China GIST, I would define our group as ''victory peace'' as I was pretty sure about our understanding and cooperation with each other. And tonight (the last day of GIST) as I look back at our nine-day journey , the scrambling scribers Phatry Derek Pan, Kamal Raj Sigdel and me (Huma Sheikh) --  we traveled over 2500 Km with an average of three days transit at five places each across Sichuan province--   turned out to be affectionate and supportive as well.

 

Though our profession as journalists makes us look like one, we don't have everything in common. Every time we ate together we realized differences among us as Kamal and I were always choosy. about certain food items while Derek was comfortable with every cuisine. Sometimes I would get angry at myself when I took long time in ordering food, ensuring I have not eaten anything 'unwanted'. Similarly, Kamal would show no flexibility when it came to eating and the irony was Kamal and I have different dietary restrictions; he would eat what I couldn't and vice versa. But, I must appreciate Derek for his patience; he never had any complaints even if he had hard time waiting hungry for food most of the times in restaurants before it was finally served.

 

Another part of GIST history, though relatively a little challenging, was differences in our lifestyle and attitude. We are completely three different personalities when it comes to our interests (regardless of profession), choice, taste and way of living. I am less outgoing and prefer to stay indoors; I can accommodate change but very rarely. Kamal on the other hand is fine in shifting his interests as long as he is not overdoing it while Derek is a completely different person. He is a 'King of Nights' according to my observation and likes to stay outdoors as much as he can. He doesn't sleep more than 3-4 hours at night and it is amazing to see his energy and enthusiasm in the morning after having slept hardly a quarter of night.

 

However, the way we allied in challenges and attached to each other by feelings of affection and personal regard stands us out from the rest. We changed ourselves in order to patronize each other for the success of our long-lasting relationship and friendship beyond team GIST. I stayed out for long in the spirit of friendship, Kamal and Derek sometimes looked alike to me with hardly any differences. Derek also in the same vein showed camaraderie to tone down a bit on his American style of living to suit with us-- Kamal and me, two Asians.

 

The team spirit and understanding among us is the perfect example of adaptive leadership. The way we enjoyed the nine-day trip harmoniously is indeed a history of sorts.

Changed Perspectives and New Insights into China by Kamal Raj Sigdel

By Kamal Raj Sigdel

BEIJING, 6 December 2008 - The foggy street in front of the Ping An Fu hotel, Beijing made an impression of an early morning at some remote harbor. The three of us: Kamal (myself), Derek and Huma set our sail for the adventure and left the harbor. The place we were heading was an uncharted land for us. The trip was going to be adventurous, especially because we didn't know anyone there; none of us could speak Chinese, and we didn't have any special arrangements and booking for our lodging and flooding.

The challenges emerged as we left the hotel and most of the times they were about communicating with the Chinese speaking general public. One of the Chinese friends we met on the subway the other day had told us a joke, "If you're lost and don't know Mandarin, find a young Chinese person wearing glasses. They will explain whatever you need in English." 

Interestingly, the joke turned out to be no longer a joke. Whenever we felt like we were lost, we searched for someone wearing glasses and we would get the right answer in English. We reached the Military Museum by the subway but after that we had to ask someone our way to the train station. The formula worked and we reached the Beijing Train Station on time. We had enough time before the train would leave. We thought of having some food.

Whenever we thought of having food, we had problems. As a Hindu, I would not eat beef at all, Huma, a Muslim, would not eat pork and Derek, a Christian, would eat everything. Just to make sure that the food we wanted to order does not contain beef or pork, we had no alternative but to either draw a picture of a cow and a pig and cross them out, or act out in all fours a cow and a pig, make some noise like a pig and cow would do and waive our hands vigorously saying 'NOT THIS'.

We entered into the KFC fast-food restaurant by the train station and shared a table with a stranger, as there were no vacant seats. We tried to gather some information about our first destination (Chongching) while we eat. Huma asked the KFC girl if they are mix pork in the chicken burger to make sure she is not inadvertently eating pork. I asked about beef. Derek just sat laughing at us. 

We started breaking ice with the young person sharing our table. But this young person would not speak English. He called his girlfriend in Chongcing to help us find a place to stay in Chongqing. His girl friend, Gong Jiang, over the phone, gave us a phone number of one of her friends in Chongqing. She also said he will  help us when we reach Chongqing. How nice! How welcoming! That would have been unthinkable elsewhere, I believe. We then headed back to the train.

The train station was one testimony that China is really a big country with huge population. We had to really push ourselves hard through the huge crowd, which  hosted all sorts of people. People with sacks on their backs, people with beddings, people who don't look as 'elite' or 'urban' as the ones we saw in the Beijing Capital International Airport. This also indicated the rapid migration taking place in the country.

We had already stuffed our bags with some food packets. The train pulled away slowly at first then faster and faster. The view of rural China through the train window was panoramic. The motor road seen on the other side of the train track would sometime fly very high over the villagers' roofs making it impossible for them to use the road. Unlike the roads in Nepal, the road would not bother climbing down a mountain in a serpentine route. It would just fly from one mountain top to another over a bridge overlooking swaths of green fields and villages underneath. 

The passangers in the train were unexpectedly friendly. We made many good friends during the 26-hour journey from Beijing to Chongqing. There were interesting ways to make friends. The Chinese took interest when we would try to speak broken Mandarin. We would ask their name: Ni Jau samma min cha? 

The card magic tricks and games helped make few more friends. Derek knew quite a number of card tricks and some of the youngsters came up with really interesting card games. We stayed late night playing cards with other Chinese passengers. We also met a young kid friend, who was really cute - we communicated well in gestures. When we speak Mandarin everyone would laugh and that's what we liked the most. We concluded that the degree of hospitality among the Chinese and their friendly behavior will attract more and more foreigners and tourists into their country. We all agreed to go and try to fall asleep in our respective upper bunk beds. 

When we woke up early in the morning the train was still pulling southward, and in full speed. The view outside the window was one of a typical cold and misty December morning. We were still hours of trainride before Chongqing. What we could see through the train window was very interesting. Almost everywhere, we could see huge constructions going on: highways and bridges being built, high rise buildings under construction, cranes atop most of the skyscrapers, factories and chimneys and the likes. Somewhere we could see a whole new city under construction. We wondered: whom are these buildings for? Most probably for the 900 million rural Chinese who have not benefited from the recent economic growth in comparison to their urban counterparts. One of the new friends, You Jhi, who was also in the same cabin, said that the Chinese government wants to attract foreign investment in these cities and therefore it is focusing on building the infrastructure first. It sounded opposite to what urban planners were talking back in Hawaii: we need to have seizable population first and think of a city plan. 

We reached Chongqing Train Station at 4:00pm. We ranged the new friend from Chongqing. He was requested to receive us at the Chongqing Train Station (take note of this). As we had expected, he arrived there in about 30 minutes. We then went into McDonalds for coffee. One of the staff at the restaurant suggested us to go to Youth International Hostel for accommodation, which she said was really cheap. The new friend's name was Xian. We left for the hotel together. 

We checked in at the Youth Hostel, we took few minutes to refresh ourselves. And we went out for the nights expedition. We were all craving for food, some Asian spicy food.

We had to again draw a couple of pictures of a cow and a pig. We were able to get some very spicy and hot food items. The day was already gone. We had to sleep for a fresher morning.

The train journey from Beijing to Chongqing also explains a lot about Chinese hospitality. They are all friendly people who are peaceful and harmonious in real sense of the term.

Something weird happened that night at the hotel. We heard some scary noises coming from the bathrooms. There was a continuous tapping sound and sounds like someone is flushing the toilet. But every time when we woke up to check what was going on, it would stop. Derek and I wanted to check. Huma confirmed she also hared the same noise. She ran toward the lobby in fear. We looked inside the bathrooms and there was nothing.

The day's trip revealed us two major issues: one is the fact that there is no other country in the world where so much of construction is going on at such an accelerating rate, and the other is China's confidence to take on the leadership role is rising like anything. If we are to avert future conflicts among world's major powers (old or new), the world must respect the modern China, the center of the world.

[In my core team traveling form US to China, I had Huma, a Kashmiri Indian and Patry Derek Pan, a Cambodian American. This piece was also part of our group report we presented to the bigger group led by our US professors. Not all of us had the same conclusion, however. When I came back to Hawaii, US, I could not stop writing about it for a newspaper.

Interestingly, the day before we left for this exploratory visit inside China, under the East West Center fellowship, the ASEM meeting had just concluded in Beijing with a call for a more transparent and inclusive international monitory and financial system, which in a way was also a call for new Bretton Woods after the US financial crisis that was at its worst by the end of 2008. It was a great time to be in Beijing to witness the booming economy and when i was back in Hawaii, I wrote an article covering this new "call" from a new rising power [China] and it was published in Ka Leo Weekly, Hawaii, USA. Read the article here: "Call for a New Bretton Woods"

https://www.manoanow.org/global-economic-restructuring-a-new-bretton-woods/article_3100b37d-fe19-5c01-b89b-6efb18786071.html 

Chengdu, China

Lu Xiao (Brian), Bobby, David and others

Chongqing and Hechuan

David, Xie Yang, Salina, Sago, Derek and others in CQ, China

Here is Sago from Chongqing, China

Sago works at the Youth International Hostel, Chongqing, China. In the pic are Derek from USA and Sago.

Friends in Chongqing, China

Here are Henry, Sago, Xie Yang (Charlie) and You Jie

Train Journey in China

While traveling some 2500km in China via train from Beijing to Chongqing, the world's most populated city.

NEPAL: Bhutanese refugees find new life beyond the camps

NEPAL: Bhutanese refugees find new life beyond the camps

KATHMANDU, 10 November 2008 (IRIN) - Thousands of Bhutanese refugees in Nepal have been successfully resettled in seven countries, including the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark and Canada, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

The refugees are Bhutanese citizens of Nepalese origin, known as Lhotsampas in Bhutan. For the past 17 years, nearly 106,000 refugees have been sheltered in seven camps in eastern Nepal since their eviction from their homes by the Bhutanese government, which introduced a law stripping them of their citizenship and civil rights because of their ancestry.

After several years of failed bilateral talks between the Nepalese and Bhutanese governments to repatriate them, the refugees are now opting for third-country resettlement with the help of UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Since March 2008, 6,200 Bhutanese refugees have been resettled and more are in the process of leaving the camps every week, said UNHCR officials in Nepal.

UNHCR said the USA had offered to resettle 60,000-plus refugees from Bhutan over the next five years, with another 10,000 hosted by the other countries listed.

Norway, which has a quota of barely 1,000 immigrants from all over the world, has provided settlement for nearly 200 Bhutanese refugees, according to the Bhutanese Refugee Rights Coordinating Committee (RRCC).

New beginning

"After so many years of suffering and leading miserable lives as refugees, they now have a chance to live in dignity," Ashok Gurung, senior member of the RRCC, told IRIN in the capital, Kathmandu.

Gurung, himself a refugee, explained that refugees had now been happily living in host countries.

"I have a strong degree of respect for the courage it must take for refugees to make the decision to resettle and begin their new lives upon resettlement," Daisy Dell, the UNHCR representative in Nepal, told IRIN.

She added that the resettlement process was a huge cultural and social adjustment for refugees who have been living in harsh camp conditions for nearly two decades.

The resettled refugees are adjusting to their new environment and have found jobs that pay as a high as US$8 per hour working on farms, in hotels and other jobs, according to RRCC.

"They have to struggle initially and have to start from scratch as most are not highly educated," said Gurung. "It's the children who benefit the most." He added that local charity agencies and Christian missionary organisations were helping to sponsor or find financial support to enrol the children in school.

Breakthrough 

"It's amazing," Dell told IRIN. "We recently surpassed 6,000 departures in less than 10 months." She explained that UNHCR had been working towards a comprehensive solution for the Bhutanese refugees for the past 17 years. "During that time our office has faced many challenges both in terms of refugee protection and camp-management issues and the larger political and security situation in Nepal," said Dell.

The agency has met resistance from some groups of refugees who have been advocating for repatriation to Bhutan and protesting against third-country resettlement.

According to some refugees, there are 13 different armed groups still opting for repatriation and the Nepal government has stepped up security with the help of armed police in the refugee camps. UNHCR's position is that resettlement is an individual choice.

"Without the support of the refugee community, the government of Nepal and the international community, the possibility of resettlement for some 100,000 refugees from Bhutan would not have become a reality," added Dell. (IRINnews.org, NY )

Ousted Nepal king makes silver screen debut

Ousted Nepal king makes silver screen debut 10 Nov 2008

While media reports depict Nepal's deposed king Gyanendra as poised to release his own autobiography soon, on Sunday, the 61-year-old made his debut on the silver screen, courtesy Nepali filmmaker K P Pathak. "Maina", Pathak's poignant film based on a true story from the violent 10-year-old People's War that saw over 14,000 people die by the hands of the security forces and the Maoist guerrillas, also casts the deposed monarch dextrously. The eponymous film is about a 15-year-old schoolgirl, who was tortured to death in 2004 by the then Royal Nepalese Army headed by King Gyanendra because her mother had witnessed the rape and execution of two other young women. Though the army denied having any hand in Maina's disappearance, her mother Devi Sunuwar, aided by Nepal's human rights organisations, began a gritty campaign for justice that moved the Supreme Court into ordering an investigation and then, asking police to arrest the four army personnel who were identified as responsible for her murder. While most of the characters are played by theatre actors, Gyanendra plays himself as Pathak craftily weaves in two scenes taped from actual appearances by the former king. In February 2005, a year after Maina's disappearance, King Gyanendra gave a televised address to the nation to declare that he was taking over the government and imposing a state of emergency. As soon as the address ended, the army, who backed the coup, disconnected the entire telephone service in the kingdom and shut down Nepal's only airport. In the film, the human rights activist who plays a key role in tracking down Maina's killers in the army, is shown as struck by the announcement made by the king as she watches TV in her office, fearing that the battle for justice would now become even more difficult with a dictatorial government giving greater powers to the army. The royal announcement is rejected by the political parties and soon, there are protests nationwide that eventually force the royal regime to disband itself. Fourteen months after the royal coup, Indira, the activist in the film, once again switches on her television set to see the king announcing he is stepping down from power. As "Maina" premiered Sunday, there was no immediate reaction from the former royals on the interpolation. But the army, once loyal only to the royal family, is bound to feel immediate pinpricks. The film mercilessly rakes up the brutal rape and murder of Maina's cousin, 17-year-old Rina Rasaili, as well as the schoolgirl's torture inside the barracks, burying the body and offering to pay money to her family to hush up the incident. Pathak says he had several disquieting moments while making the film. "My entire family and all my friends were against the idea," he says. "Then I began receiving anonymous calls from 'wellwishers' who advised me not to pick a fight with the army. But I have no fight with the army, it's only against a dictatorial state and a dictatorial security force."

US financial crisis affects South Asia - Commentary

US financial crisis affects South Asia
By: Kamal Raj Sidgel
Posted: 11/6/08
The unexpected U.S. financial crash and its ripple effects have thrashed the weak economies in South Asia, which were already reeling from the food crisis and the rising price of oil. India, despite being the most powerful economy in South Asia, was not immune to the impact of the financial crisis.

India has significant foreign capital inflow but, following the credit crunch in the U.S. and Europe, investors have started withdrawing their money from India. The Bombay Stock Exchange fell sharply in return. Thankfully, recent developments show new hopes of a rebound. Nevertheless, liquidity concerns in the Indian market have proven to be the biggest and most visible problem. The Indian central bank has responded by cutting the interest rate to 8 percent as a means to boost liquidity and stabilize India's finances.

Although India's central bank has been claiming that the country's economy is strong enough to absorb the impact of the financial crisis, there is no denying that India's technology sectors will be especially hard hit. This is because many of the information technology companies depend on the U.S. for business.

Pakistan is another country in South Asia that has been severely affected by the financial crisis. In fact, Pakistan seems to be one of the hardest hit. Its economy, already on the brink of collapse, is destined for bankruptcy because fleeing foreign investors have caused a significant depreciation in its currency, the rupee. Pakistan is also facing a serious liquidity crunch, with the only solution being international support.

Pakistan's request for Chinese support, however, has been denied because of Pakistan's alleged involvement in terrorist activities in China's Muslim-dominated areas. Saudi Arabia has refused to give Pakistan a financial concession on the oil trade, as well. The only option for Pakistan is to approach the International Monetary Fund, which will set highly stringent conditions for the nation. Nepal's economy is suffering, as well.

The recently elected Maoist government has unveiled a $3.5 billion annual budget - of which more than half is expected to be foreign aid. The donor countries, however, are all facing liquidity crunches and will have difficulty making their donations. Not receiving foreign aid would undoubtedly deal a heavy blow to Nepal, which is also witnessing the depreciation of its currency against the U.S. dollar.In Bangladesh, political instability has been the main factor behind its poor, private capital inflow.

Now, with Bangladesh's major trading partners in a financial crisis, the country's main trading sectors will be the hardest hit. Bangladesh's apparel industry, for example, had laid down an ambitious target of exporting an equivalent of $25 billion and creating an extra 2 million jobs in the next five years. It is doubtful whether this will be able to occur. Bangladesh's leaders, however, have a ready-made excuse: their economy cannot grow unless the current political situation is stabilized.

Sri Lanka, on the other hand, is expected to be less affected by the financial crisis. Although foreign investors have begun to pull their money out of the country's stock market, the government has been saying that this will not have any detrimental impact on the economy.

The Colombo Stock Market has shown some negative impacts, but analysts claim that it's part of a normal ebb and flow. Nevertheless, Sri Lankan apparel and tea industries are vulnerable to the crisis, as the U.S. is one of their major export destinations. Although the U.S. financial crisis has impacted South Asian countries differently, it would be simplistic to blame it for the economic recessions in most of these countries. Severe political unrest is probably the largest cause behind the economic distress of Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Nepal is just emerging out of a decade-long Maoist insurgency. Bangladesh is under military rule with serious political turmoil. Pakistan is struggling to establish democracy after Benazir Bhutto's assassination and Pervez Musharraf's ouster. Sri Lanka, although new hopes have emerged, has been continuously fighting with separatist rebels.Each of these nations will have a strong economy only with the establishment of a stable democracy. And India, a major economic force in South Asia, has a large role to play in helping bring about a democratic and stable future in the region.
© Copyright 2008 Ka Leo O Hawaii

Fatherhood, gender and power

Fatherhood, gender and power

 

By: Kamal Raj Sidgel

Posted: 11/5/08

During the American Women's Liberation Movement, controversial writer Germaine Greer publicly claimed that blurring the identity of father would liberate women. However, the blurring of the father's identity raises several ethical and moral questions centered on the fact that in women's reproductive potentiality lies the ultimate power - and both men and women can exercise it to rule over each other.

In the Judeo-Christian religious tradition, control over females began with God's declaration to Adam, "Thou shalt rule over all the creatures of the world," including Eve (females were categorized as "creatures" created for men). According to this tradition, Eve was seduced by Satan. Another story holds that Eve and Satan fell in love, and Adam, seeking a way to control Eve, crafted the ideas of "chastity" and "sin."

 

Ever since, this rule has been formalized. The Manusmriti, a lawbook of ancient Hindus, says that women, animals and rivers should never be trusted and should be controlled at all times. Islam says the same.

 

Some historians say that males learned methods of female subjugation from animal husbandry. They discovered that if a black-spotted bull copulates with a domesticated cow, and the cow is put under control, the reproduced spotted calf assumes the identity of the spotted bull, not the unspotted cow.

According to this theory, males observed and applied the same theory to their wives. They began to control female reproductive capacity via enforced domestication, enforced chastity, enforced pregnancy and other forms of sexual repression designed to ensure that men can confidently claim ownership of the children their wives give birth to.

We know that a father is necessary for child bearing, but, until the advent of paternity testing, we didn't know how to identify him. Today, then, women are learning how powerful they are compared to men. In the same vein, the identity of children without fathers has been a matter of fear and, therefore, most countries do not grant them citizenship. This legal framework is maintained through links to ethics, religion, chastity and morality.

Surprisingly, however, some women in far western Nepal have been able to keep the ball of power in their hands. They are not the talented and highly educated women living in the luxurious cities; they are women practicing polyandry in remote districts. All of the women have decision-making power in their families. In fact, the family is matriarchal. Women are privileged because the father's identity is blurred. One wife has multiple husbands in her own home and, fortunately, the males of the area have not yet discovered paternity testing.

If we understand how to deal with facts and utilize them for a positive cause, there may be a way to transform the "second sex" into the first. What is interesting is that power never remains in the same hand. It is inevitable, then, that gendered politics will one day be turned upside down. (The writer is East West Center fellow in Hawaii, USA) © Copyright 2008 Ka Leo O Hawaii, USA

Hiking in Hawaii by APLP Generation 8 (some of them)

Some of the Generation 8 APLPs, namely Shawn Hall, John Taylor, Meredith Holmgren, Mihoko Shimoji, Tashi Wangchuck , Yoriko Ii, Sunita Chaudhary, Vannarith Chheang, and Kamal Raj Sigdel did a five-mile hiking on November 2, 2008, just two days before departing for China. Here is a documentary prepared by Kamal using the footages from the trip.

Greenway: Hopes for Bhutan

By H.D.S. Greenway

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

WASHINGTON: Seen-it-all Washingtonians saw something new last week: a Bhutanese temple rising on the Washington Mall amid fluttering prayer flags near the Washington Monument. The Bhutanese are in town for the Smithsonian's Folklife Festival. With a population of just 600,000, the Tantric Buddhist kingdom in the high Himalayas wants to introduce itself to America, with dancers wearing the masks of birds and beasts, archers, weavers, and the rest of what they have to show. A photograph of a Bhutanese setting up his tent graced the front page of The Washington Post.

"Druk Yul," or "land of the thunder dragon," as the kingdom is known, lies squeezed between the far larger dragon of Chinese power in Tibet, from which Bhutan's culture derives, and the elephant of India to the south.

Bhutan became a kingdom 101 years ago, encouraged by the British when most of the squabbling factions agreed to unite behind a monarchy. Having wrested much of Bhutan's lowlands away, the British were happy to see what was left remain independent. And there Bhutan remained, essentially in the Middle Ages, until it started, cautiously, to open up to the outside world in the 1960s. A road to India was built in 1961. An airport came in the 1980s. Television and the Internet arrived only in 1999.

Although no army waits at the gates to invade - Bhutan has more monks than soldiers - the country is nonetheless engaged in a struggle for its survival. Bhutan saw China take over Tibet, its spiritual homeland, in the 1950s. Bhutan then saw India manipulate Nepalese immigrants in neighboring Sikkim, taking advantage of the resulting unrest to annex that semi-independent kingdom in 1975. Bhutan watched Nepal's monarchy self-destruct in an orgy of murder and suicide, to be followed by a weak king, and a Maoist insurrection that this year came to power in an election that abolished the monarchy.

One Bhutanese said the other day that Nepal's monarchy, by not bending sufficiently with the times, had gone the way of the French monarchy, while Bhutan's was more like the British, adapting with the times.

And so it has. This year, the year of the earth rat on the Buddhist calendar, Bhutan became a constitutional monarchy, forming political parties, and holding mock elections to get the people used to the real elections this spring. Bhutan likes to call itself the world's newest democracy, all done without a revolution or a civil war. Bhutan's king abdicated in favor of his Massachusetts- and Oxford-educated son.

But the Bhutanese still worry, and rightfully so. Will its nascent democracy evolve in a constructive way? Or will it evolve as Pakistan's has, with parties controlled by powerful families and led by crooks? Unhappily, too much of the story of democracy in South Asia is also a story of violence and corruption.

They worry, too, about demographics. Bhutan has a Nepalese minority, living peacefully in the lowlands, but if too many new immigrants pour in, looking for land, that presents its own dangers. Once before Bhutan expelled a lot of Nepalese in a controversial move. They languish today in refugee camps in Nepal, many claiming they were exported unjustly.

Arguably the greatest threat comes from global warming. The primary source of income is hydropower, sold to India. The giant, modern turbines are often left with a little trickle of water here and there to power a prayer wheel. But the snows of the Himalayas are melting, and every year the torrents of spring grow a little less.

Bhutan has adopted a development model of its own, in which it seeks to grow slowly, hoping to maintain its cultural identity, its pristine environment, while advancing economically under what it hopes will be sound government. They call it a "middle way" to development under the theatrical slogan of "gross national happiness." About 30 percent of the budget goes to education and healthcare, both of which are free.

The Bhutanese have seen other developing countries adopt to modernity too fast, with cultures lost, citizens corrupted, listless youths lost to drugs, and the environment polluted. It will be a race to see if Shangri-La can survive the onslaught of the 21st century. (The International Herald Tribune).

Maoist threat continues

By Kosh Raj Koirala (Source: The Kathmandu Post)

He had nothing to do with the Maoist. Nor had he anything to gain from the state parties. With repeated threats and physical assaults from the Maoists, Sharan Bahadur Bhandari, 73, is forced to desert his ancestral home at Chattiwan VDC-7, Makawanpur four years ago and lead a miserable life along with his family members in the capital city.

According to Bhandari, Maoists had first asked his family Rs 100,000 as donation. "As we failed to pay off the amount as demanded, they [Maoist] first abducted and tortured my eldest son and then to me, alleging that we supplied their information to army. As luck would have it, we both were spared death then," told Bhandari, recounting his harrowing experience in March 2003.

While insecure as always, Bhandari and his eldest son Ganesh then chose to desert the village. This, however, made their family members the Maoist target.Local level Maoist cadres started threatening to kill their family members if the latter failed to call them back to the village. "They [Maoist cadres] would come at the house mostly in the night and ask whereabouts of my husband and father-in-law," said Gyanu, the eldest daughter-in-law of Bhandari. "Once Maoist cadres stormed into our house in the afternoon and brought me and my three daughters at the courtyard. They started pouring kerosene on us, threatening to burn them alive. Luckily, one of the cadres proved kind enough that we were left unharmed."

In April the same year, the Maoists put on their flag at the house and declared seizure of all 7 bigha of farming land. They also took away five milking buffaloes, one cow, four oxen, 62 goats, 150 chickens and a large amount of food grains. "We then had no option but to pack off things that came handy and flee the house for life," said Gyanu. "Maoist cadres still continue to threaten us. They have also denied returning our seized properties."

Bhandari family is just a case in point. According to Maoists' Victims Association (MVA), as many as 15,000 of the total 27,000 Maoist-displaced families are still languishing in the capital city or district headquarters, mostly for fear of Maoist attack.

In the historic peace agreement signed between the government and the CPN (Maoist) on November 21 last year, the Maoists have expressed commitment to help return the displaced people voluntarily to their respective ancestral village and also give back their seized properties.

Dharma Raj Neupane, president of MVA, said Maoists are not fully abiding by the peace agreement. "Only thing they [Maoists] have stopped after signing the peace agreement is they have left killing people. They have denied returning the seized properties. Lower rung Maoist cadres continue with their tactics of threat, intimidation and abduction even these days," said he.

Neupane asked the government to take initiatives for forming a committee that includes representatives of Maoist, Maoist-victims and the government in central, district and local level to help resolve the problem. He also said that the assistance the government decided to help rehabilitate displaced people is far less than adequate. "The important thing is building a sense of security among people. It also needs certain investment from the part of the government. It is obvious that people do not want to return to their home only to find their properties either destroyed or robbed," he added.

(The writer is sub-editor at The Kathmandu Post, the largest selling English in Nepal).

Pakistan facing bankruptcy as world financial crisis deepens

by Vilani Peiris

Wracked by political instability and hard hit by the global economic crisis, Pakistan is teetering on the brink of default. The country's foreign reserves have dwindled to around $4.5 billion, equivalent to about six weeks of imports, foreign investors have fled the country in droves and the rupee has fallen sharply. The international credit rating agency, Standard & Poor's, has downgraded Pakistan to a position superior only to the Seychelles, which has already defaulted.

The government is desperately seeking an infusion of up to $10 billion to shore up the country's finances. It had been hoping for assistance from longtime ally China, but President Asif Ali Zardari returned from Beijing last Friday without any commitment of cash. Another traditional ally, Saudi Arabia, has refused to provide financial concessions on oil exports to Pakistan.

As a final option, Pakistan may be forced to apply to the IMF for assistance. Such a step would certainly come with unpalatable strings attached that would hit the poor and provoke further unrest. Shaukat Tarin, financial adviser to the prime minister, told Bloomberg.com that he would write to the IMF in three to four weeks if Pakistan is unable to obtain funds from other agencies and allies.

Tarin said that Pakistan had already presented its economic stabilisation plan to the IMF which included an end to price subsidies, tighter monetary policy and plans to slash the budget deficit. Such austerity measures will lead to further prices rises and cutbacks to the country's limited social spending. A Pakistani delegation is due to meet IMF officials in Dubai today and tomorrow.

The impact of any financial implosion would certainly compound the country's political crisis which is already being intensified by US demands for the Pakistani army to step up its war on Islamist militias along the border with Afghanistan. Its support for the bogus "war on terror" has been transformed into an argument for financial aid. As a Pakistani official explained to the New York Times: "A selling point to us even has been, if the economy really collapses this is going to mean civil strife and strikes, and put the war on terror in jeopardy."

A top secret National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) drafted by US intelligence agencies and leaked to the media last week, summed up the situation in Pakistan as "no money, no energy, no government". According to McClatchy newspapers, the NIE warned that the government was facing an accelerating economic crisis that includes food and energy shortages, escalating fuel costs, a sinking currency and a massive flight of foreign capital accelerated by an escalating insurgency.

Just two years ago, economic commentators were describing Pakistan as a success story under former military strongman President Pervez Musharraf and speculated that it would be the "next Asian Tiger". But the situation dramatically changed after Musharraf was compelled to call elections. His party suffered a humiliating defeat in February and he was finally forced to step down as president in August. The ruling coalition led by President Zardari's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) is already confronting mass resentment over the continuing war in the border areas and a worsening social turmoil.

The political crisis has contributed to a huge exodus of foreign capital and exacerbated the country's economic problems. As much as $1.2 billion a month was fleeing Pakistan in the northern summer. The rupee has slumped by more than 30 percent against the US dollar since the beginning of the year and share prices have crashed by 40 percent since their all-time high in April.

The country's plight was graphically symbolised by scenes outside the Karachi stock exchange last Monday. With trading at an all-time low, police surrounded the building to keep angry investors at bay. Chairman of the Small Investors Association, Kayusar Qaimkhani, told the media: "There are no longer small investors left in the stock market, they have all been destroyed." On July 16, angry investors chanted anti-government slogans and stoned the stock exchange.

The stock market is virtually dysfunctional. When the index fell another 286 points or 3 percent on August 27, the exchange authorities imposed a floor of 9,144 to prevent it plunging further. Since then trading has declined to record lows with a flight from shares that are regarded as overpriced. The floor is due to be removed on October 27, with analysts predicting sharp falls as foreign investors dump an estimated 20 percent of their equities. Foreign investment in equities has already dropped from $4.8 billion to $2 billion since the beginning of the year.

The Daily Times warned on October 14: "The recent decline in the Pakistan stock market suggests that the bubble has burst and experts fear that this is likely to spread to the real estate market, which like the stock market is 'irrationally overpriced'."

Global crisis

Market analyst Muhammad Suhail told the Los Angeles Times last week: "The global crisis has really added fuel to the fire. There was a time window earlier this year to address all this, and we missed it." The drying up of credit internationally has hit Pakistan hard with the banking system suffering a severe liquidity problem this month. Overnight call rates rose to high levels ranging from 32 to 40 percent, despite the injection of 54 billion rupees into the financial system by the central bank.

A Newsweek article entitled "Can Pakistan Stay Afloat" on October 10 described the chaotic situation inside Pakistan. "This time it wasn't the terrorist scare making Pakistanis nervous. Depositors thronged banks over the past few days to retrieve cash and valuables. Rumours that the government was on the verge of seizing bank lockers and foreign-currency accounts to rescue its deteriorating financial position had been popping up on cell phones." The panic was temporarily laid to rest by the appointment of Shaukat Tarin, a former banker, as the new financial adviser.

Describing the mounting public hostility, Newsweek explained: "[T]he Zardari-led coalition government, already besieged by political rivals and insurgent groups, has had to take unpopular measures to prop up the economy. It has raised taxes, upsetting the business community. It has trimmed government spending, prompting bureaucrats to grumble. It has increased tariffs on power, angering consumers and businesses already fed up with outages. And it has phased out subsidies on imported fuel, leading to price increases for everything from bus rides to cooking oil and prompting small, periodic protests."

Pakistan is heavily indebted with foreign debts standing at $44.5 billion. The Pakistani Dawn reported this month that the country's domestic and foreign borrowing rose by 100 percent in the past three months, reaching $2.21 billion—compared to $1 billion for the same period last year. Loan repayments are contributing to the government's large budget deficit.

Economic growth is slowing sharply. The IMF's World Economic Outlook report released last week predicted that Pakistan's GDP would decline to 3.5 percent for the next fiscal year beginning in July 2009—down from 5.8 percent for 2007-2008 and an estimated 5.4 percent for 2008-2009. "The main concern is a build up of stress in the global financial system and a sharper than anticipated global slowdown," the report stated.

Ordinary working people are already being affected by inflation that is running at nearly 25 percent on average. The inflation figure measured by the sensitive price index (SPI) reached 30 percent in the week ending October 9. Sharp increases have been reported for essential items such as flour, sugar and transport. Worst hit are the poor. According to the SPI figures, inflation was 33 percent for household groups with incomes less than 3,000 rupees.

The government estimates that about 25 percent of the population of 169 million is living below the poverty line of $1 a day, but other sources put the figure far higher. An Oxfam report released this month estimated that "the number of poor in the country has risen from 60 to 77 million because of food inflation". It found that the poorest 20 percent spent 50 to 58 percent of their income just to buy cereals.

The government has announced a cosmetic welfare program, known as the Benazir Income Support Program, to attempt to quell popular anger, but has already slashed the allocation from 50 to 34 billion rupees even before the scheme has started. Its main efforts have been directed towards securing financial aid, propping up the banking system and wooing foreign investors with bigger tax holidays at the expense of working people. Even if Pakistan avoids default, the country confronts a rapidly deepening economic and political crisis. (Source: www.globalresearch.ca)

The royal massacre: An unsolved mystery

The royal massacre: An unsolved mystery

By: Kamal Raj Sigdel

Posted: 10/27/08

It would not be an overstatement to say that the history of South Asia's politics is one filled with heinous assassinations. There have been several assassinations of political leaders and head of states in the countries like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. Yet what baffles many is that most of the cases remain a mystery.

 

One such assassination in South Asia that is still unsolved is the 2001 royal massacre in Nepal. The whole family of the second to last monarch of Nepal, King Birendra, was shot dead while they were at a royal feast inside the Narayanhiti Palace.

 

The world was shocked; hundreds of thousands of people mourned and the politics of the tiny Himalayan nation took a U-turn. Yet not a single effort was made to dig out the truth behind the massacre. The people of Nepal and the world have been given no clear explanation as to who actually was the culprit or who plotted the assassination.

 

Immediately after the massacre, the government formed a special committee under the leadership of the Speaker of the Parliament, Taranath Ranabhat, in order to investigate the incident. After a 24-hour secret investigation, the Ranabhat Committee concluded that it was Crown Prince Dipendra who shot his father, mother, sister and brother and then killed himself with the same gun.

 

The governmental investigation stopped thereafter. No more questions, no further investigations, no second inquiry. Not a single person agreed with the Ranabhat report, which was too hard to swallow and too contradictory. No one believed that the crown prince was the culprit. Despite all this, no effort has been made to investigate the massacre in a more scientific way to this day.

 

Right after the tragedy, many books were written and the market was flooded with different versions and conspiracy theories on who killed the royal family. Most of the speculations condemned the government's report and pointed fingers at King Gyanendra, the late king's brother, and his "lust for power." Others tried to blame India and its icy relation with King Birendra. And some even stated that the Maoists, who were fighting against the state, plotted the event to ultimately takeover leadership.

 

Some of these stories catered greatly to the need of the politicians. The Maoists, for example, capitalized on these circumstances. The royal massacre ended up weakening King Gyanandra's support base among the general public and garnering support for the Maoists' ascension to power in the Democratic Movement of 2006.

 

Now that the country has abolished the institution of monarchy, the time has come for a fair investigation into the killings. The success of the Democratic Movement has brought new hopes that the new Maoist government will undertake a second investigation into the carnage. The current Prime Minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal (also known as Prachanda) committed himself to finding the culprits and he must take that promise seriously.

 

This is one of the very crucial jobs the government can do now to establish a good image among the war-torn faces of Nepalis as well as the watchful world community. The government must provide fool-proof answers to the questions regarding the assassinations.

 

Nepal cannot let the killings remain an item on the already long list of unresolved assassinations in South Asia.

 

Sigdel is an Asia Pacific Leadership Program fellow at the East West Center

---

© Copyright 2008 Ka Leo O Hawaii (A UHM student newspaper in Hawaii, USA)

The royal massacre: An unsolved mystery - Commentary

The royal massacre: An unsolved mystery - Commentary: "as well as the watchful world community. The government must provide fool-proof answers to the questions regarding the assassinations.

Nepal cannot let the killings remain an item on the already long list of unresolved assassinations in South Asia."

Tahitian Dance at East West Center

October 2008, Hawaii, USA (Students at the University of Hawaii at Manoa perform Tahitian Dance at the lawn of EWC dorm.

Tahitian Dance at East West Center

Asia Pacific Leadership Program Fellowship 2009-2010

New Scholarship Opportunity

The East-West Center is pleased to announce new fellowships for the Asia Pacific Leadership Program for 2009-10. Entering its eight year, the Asia Paci?c Leadership Program (APLP) is the center of excellence for leadership education in the Asia Paci?c region. The APLP is a graduate certi?cate program combining the development of regional expertise with the enhancement of individual leadership capacity. Based at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, the program has created a network of dynamic leaders in 48 countries who are helping to build a peaceful, prosperous and just Asia Paci?c community. All participants receive an APLP Entrance Fellowship valued at approximately $15,000.

Participants
The Asia Pacific Leadership Program seeks outstanding individuals with proven leadership experience or high leadership potential from across the Asia Pacific region, North America and beyond. All participants have at least a Bachelors degree with the majority having graduate degrees as well. At least 20 countries are represented in each cohort. APLP Fellows come together from all walks of life, including areas as diverse as government, business, NGOs, health sciences, media, monastic orders, and education.

APLP participants will gain broad regional perspectives, become knowledgeable about the critical challenges facing the Asia Pacific region, and be trained to exercise leadership and promote cooperation. The APLP empowers leaders with the knowledge, skills, experiences, and supportive community needed to successfully navigate personal and regional change in the 21st century.

Application Forms and Fellowships
For more information about the Asia Paci?c Leadership Program, as well as application forms and fellowship opportunities, please visit our website at: www.eastwestcenter.org/aplp or email: aplp@eastwestcenter.org.
The application deadline is December 1, 2008. Fellowships begin in August 2009.
Thank you for sharing this announcement APLP 2009-2010 Announcement [pdf].

The East-West Center is an education and research organization established by the U.S. Congress in 1960 to promote better relations and understanding among the peoples and nations of Asia, the Pacific and the United States through cooperative research, education, and dialogue on critical issues of common concern. Funding for the Center comes from the U.S. government, with additional support provided by private agencies, individuals, foundations, corporations, and the governments of the region

For more information visit www.eastwestcenter.org/aplp

South Asia focus: conflict in Kashmir

Sheik Huma
Issue date: 10/16/08 (Ka Leo)
Kashmir is a particularly beautiful, yet unstable, region in South Asia that lies between India and Pakistan. Over the past 60 years, both India and Pakistan have fought three wars over this territory. Kashmir has been grappling with incidents of violence since a separatist uprising in 1989 and now the recent spate of protests due to a controversial religious land transfer issue has added fuel to the fire.

On May 26, the Jammu and Kashmir Government, in consultation with the Indian government, reached an agreement to transfer 100 acres of forest land to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board. The board is responsible for the smooth and trouble-free pilgrimage to the holy cave shrine of Amarnath, and the acres were given in order to set up temporary shelters and facilities for Hindu pilgrims.

This evoked a huge controversy; demonstrators from the Kashmir Valley were against the land transfer, while protesters from the Jammu region supported it.At first, the people of Kashmir opposed the land transfer because they feared ecological imbalance in the region. The protesters later claimed that land transfer was an attempt to change the demographics of the valley.But the acre agreement is not the real issue, as far as protesters are concerned.

The people in the region have pent-up emotions and take advantage of any situation that arises. There are already thousands of acres of farmers' land under the occupation of the Indian Army in the valley. While farmers are still optimistic about getting back their land, it seems the Indian government is no longer interested in the reduction or withdrawal of troops from the valley. The land transfer has only helped to spread negative sentiment.Kashmir has been recognized by the U.N. as a disputed territory.

The origin of the problem in the valley is traced back to the non-implementation of the agreement made by the Indian government in 1947 when India and Pakistan won their independence from Britain. According to the agreement, the people of Kashmir were promised the right to self-determination by the first prime minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru.

The various phases of self-determination, however, were always evaded by the Indian government. The valley has since become the bone of contention between the two neighboring countries.
The protesters also said that according to Article 370 of the agreement - which grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir - no non-Kashmiri can own land in the valley.

The recent row is thus a fight of Kashmiris for their rights.Thousands of people took part in the processions in which 40 people, including a separatist leader, were killed and hundreds were injured due to police firing. As the protests turned violent, the Congress-led government in the region came under extreme pressure from its main alliance party, the People's Democratic Party. The party threatened to withdraw support if the government did not revoke the land order.

Though the order was revoked, the Ghulam Nabi Azad government had to step down after the People's Democratic Party didn't lend support to his government and the governor rule was imposed in Jammu and Kashmir.The revocation of the order, on the other hand, provoked widespread protests in Jammu. Several people there were killed and many others injured in demonstrations. The people of Jammu, in support of the land transfer, enforced an economic blockade in the Kashmir Valley by stopping traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.

The protest continued for 61 days, and on Aug. 31, a Jammu and Kashmir governor-appointed panel signed an agreement with the Hindu groups, who were leading the agitation in Jammu. According to the agreement, the shrine board would be making temporary use of 40 hectares of land during the "yatra" (pilgrimage) period.Although the new agreement has brought the situation under control in Jammu, it has provoked Muslims in Kashmir.

Though there was a lull in violence in the Kashmir Valley during the holy month of Ramadan, a string of violent incidents have taken place in the past few days. Recently, curfew was imposed in the valley and several separatist leaders were arrested in order to stop them from holding sit-ins in Lal Chowk, the heart of the capital city in Kashmir.The question is how many more lives must be lost before there is a complete end to violence in Kashmir?

Nepal's "living goddess" tradition meets modernity - Commentary

By: Kamal Raj Sigdel
Posted: 10/20/08
Last week, Nepal witnessed the coming of a new "living goddess" in the sacred temple of Kumari in the ancient city of Kathmandu. News headlines splashed in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, CNN, BBC, and many other media across the world.
The news stories tried to present the event as vividly as possible, but mostly cast the event as an exotic oriental experience. The government of Nepal, too, did its best to publicize the event in the world tourism market. What seriously lacked in all these media representations, however, was a real analysis of the tradition's challenge to survive.

According to local legend, the tradition of virgin "living goddess" worship, as manifested in the Kumari of Kathmandu, dates back to the time of the Vedas. The ancient Hindu monarchs used to worship Kumari (the virgin) for power to win great wars. It is believed that unlike the living human goddess today, Kumari used to be one of the immortal deities.

When it came to the seventeenth century monarch Sidhinarasingh Malla, however, something very unfortunate happened. One day, when the queen saw the king playing dice with the Kumari, she complained, thereby offending the goddess and prompting her disappearance.

After the king made several appeals and apologies, the deity agreed to reincarnate herself by entering into the body of a young girl, whom he could visit once per year. She would, nonetheless, vacate the young girl's body during menstruation. Today, when the young goddess comes of age, a panel of sacred judges identifies a new girl to become the next living goddess.

The first challenge to this tradition came when the monarchy was abolished after the successful April Uprising of 2006. When the king was sacked, Nepalese authorities chose to assign all cultural responsibilities the head of state.

Unlike the dynastic kings, current heads of state can be anyone from any religion, as the country has been declared a secular state. The culture would face a serious problem if, in course of political developments, a non-Hindu becomes a president and fails to carry on the cultural responsibilities that the cultural groups assign.

More intriguing is the way the Maoist-led government is dealing with the tradition. Allaying people's fear that the communist government scarps all "bourgeoisie" cultural practices, the Maoists have allowed the tradition to continue, probably because they understand that the culture has its own unique political semiotics, which were displayed during the Democratic Movement of 2006 against the monarchy.

When the movement was in its climax, the Newar community of Kathmandu invited the prime minister, instead of the king, to pay an honorary visit to the Kumari, which marked the first symbolic abolition of the monarchy. Though the Maoists understand that the Kumari deserves their respect, they are not clear about how a secular government can continue to sanction affairs that are particular to a certain religion. If they do not change their wrongheaded policy now, the culture will soon lose its way.

Another challenge comes from the unrealistic representation of the tradition by the international media, who allege that the tradition is a human rights violation. The argument is that the tradition, against the spirit of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, is "executing the child and snatching her right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion."

Most of the allegations - which come primarily from the Western media - are baseless. If the culture does not violate the rights of the child in the eyes of the Newar community, it should be allowed to continue as it has for centuries. In fact, the living goddess lives for about seven to ten years in the luxury of the Kumari palace, just as an elected president lives in the presidential palace, with all facilities provided, with her parents and friends around her and with her education advanced by special tutors.

Thus, it is in the best interest of the government of Nepal to prevent its head of state from religious meddling by shedding off the cultural responsibilities that it inherited from the Hindu monarch, while at the same time clarifying some of the myths associated with the tradition.

(Sigdel is an Asia Pacific Leadership Program fellow at the East West Center and can be reached at kamal.sigdel [at] gmail.com.)
© Copyright 2008 Ka Leo O Hawaii

Army integration: The toughest job facing post-conflict Nepal - Commentary

Army integration: The toughest job facing post-conflict Nepal - Commentary