21st Session Of Parliament
Many Achievements

By Prem N. Kakkar

THE 21st Parliament session has concluded and with it 15 bills have been endorsed. This is a remarkable achievement. And in the situation that the country is facing at present the session business must be appreciated.

Speculation

What was speculated during the time the session was that some work would commence on the amendment of the constitution. In this the opposition had talked much about the amendment. But talking about amendment without any homework does not mean much. Just shouting hoarse about an issue does not mean that it is worth staking note of.

The amendment issue cropped up with the escalation in Maoist related violence and the declaration of the State of Emergency. Why didn’t the issue come up earlier? This is a relevant question in the context that the country is in. If the constitution had been at fault, which is not the case, hue and cry should have been raised at an earlier date. But this did not happen. The constitution as such is very fit and fine, it is only the interpretations that go wrong. For this the Supreme Court is there to define the gray lines, if any.

Maybe the opposition thought it the right time to strike for a bargain in lending support for the ratification of the State of Emergency. The State of Emergency had not been declared without considering the implications. The country as it was suffering from the Maoist initiated violence, a passage had to be found to bring peace and security in the country. By going on a rampage of violence, the Maoists had committed a grievous mistake. They did not realise that violence does not pay in the end. The violence has only added to the misery of the ordinary people.

To come into the mainstream of national politics would have the fittest of things but this has not taken place so far.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, as soon as he assumed the high office, had opened up doors for talks with the Maoists. Instead of coming to an amicable understanding, the Maoists took this as an opportunity to strengthen their strategy. this was the reason for the peace talks between the government and the Maoists breaking down.

The liberal attitude of the government was to see an end to the spree of Maoist violence. This was what led to the declaration of the State of Emergency. Herein the issue of constitution amendment came up. It was as if, according to the opposition parties, no other way to resolve the problems facing us. This was a rather wrong way of looking at the issue. The Constitution has every provision within itself. It is for all to follow it. The question of any amendment must be debated to the fullest possible extent and then only necessary steps be taken.

There has to be concrete base for going for the same. Of course, every person has the right to express his/her views regarding anything in a democracy. But this does not mean asking for anything one feels like. A ground has to be prepared before one embarks on a crusade. The opposition has the right to seek amendment in the Constitution but it has to be clear as to what changes they seek and the reason to back it up. Prime Minister Deuba may have agreed to talk for this but he knows well that nothing in the constitution can be amended just for the asking. The main opposition party in the House too knows that highlighting the issue would be good ploy to stay in news.

All the talks hinged on the fact that this would probably bring the Maoists into the mainstream. No one knows how this idea came into the mind of the opposition that once the Constitution is amended everything would turn out to be fine. There is no guarantee to it. If the Maoists had been reasonable, they would not have gone on the path of destruction. They would have seen that the country remained intact. Violence cannot be the panacea for peace.

The killings and destruction of property seen in the past several months does not indicate that the Maoists favour peace and stability. The infrastructure that the country if destroyed would take ages to build up. Whether they understand or not such activities must stop. Without being serious for the country’s development all activities are futile. Instead of building the country, if evil intentions prevail then it is rather unfortunate.

Realisation

So, though the much talked about constitutional amendment was not tabled in the Parliament much success was recorded. The united stand of all the parties on the question of tackling terrorism was a landmark event. The lawmakers are aware that they have to work for the welfare of the people. They have also realise that achievements can be made reamining within the bounds of the present Constitution.

Journey From ‘Lost Army’ To Tea, Tourism

By Denis D. Gray

AS THE mists swirl around this mountain settlement, one can readily imagine the old soldiers from China’s "Lost Army" - their ranks withered by wars and time - setting off on their last march.

Permanent Exile

They probably won’t be marching to paradise, given a history of drug smuggling and other nefarious deeds. But these embattled veterans seem to deserve some tranquility after surviving a cataclysmic revolution, bloody battles and heartache over half a century of what turned out to be a permanent exile.

"We had no money, no food, no guns and no country. We had nowhere to go," says Gen. Lue Ye-tein, at 86 one of the last of the Kuomintang officers who fled China’s Yunnan Province in 1949 as communist leader Mao Tse Tung consolidated his victory over Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalists.

From the chaos of China’s revolution, the remnants of the Kuomintang, or KMT, found themselves unwelcome guests in Myanmar. In the early 1960s they were forced into northern Thailand, where they were enlisted to help fight communist guerrillas in exchange for asylum.

"The past was a nightmare. Let’s look to the future," the sprightly, ramrod-straight Lue likes to say.

For the veterans of the KMT’s 93rd Division the future would seem to lie in tea, tourism and gradual integration into Thai society.

Once a largely isolated state Mae Salong now welcomes tourists, many from Taiwan, Southeast Asia’s Chinese communities and China itself.

Red lanterns and scrolls inscribed with sayings from Chinese classics sway from the eaves of Yunnanese-style houses. Elders converse in Mandarin, and youngsters practice their Chinese characters from books.

"This is still a Chinese town," says Chang Zhu-ping, a friendly young businessman offering cups of the strong local brew at one of the many tea shops on the town’s main road.

Five sizable tea plantations and many smaller family-run plots blanket Mae Salong’s hillsides. Some of the larger enterprises are joint ventures with the Taiwanese, who provided technical expertise and introduced the more profitable oolong variety.

A tea theme park is being built by the wealthy son of an ex-KMT soldier. Two giant tea kettles, painted silver and gold, are nearing completion, and four more are planned. Soon, tea fanciers will be able to sample teas from around the world and even overnight inside one of the concrete kettles.

Lue says Thai authorities encourage maintaining Mae Salong’s Chinese look and atmosphere to attract tourist money.

But the town still faces economic and social problems. Sun Jiang, a shop owner and brother of the town headman, estimates that 90 percent of high school graduates must seek work in the Thai capital of Bangkok or in Taiwan.

"Truly the people of Mae Salong are smart and they work hard but they don’t have many opportunities," Sun said.

For some there are none. At the Center for Disabled Soldiers, 20 veterans subsist on a small Thai government pension and donations, sadly producing photographs of themselves as young, handsome soldiers before they were sentenced to lifetimes in wheelchairs and on crutches.

Mostly middle-aged men, they were wounded when the Thai government enlisted the KMT’s help in fighting the Thai communists in the 1970s and early ’80s.

Their fathers had made up the 93rd Division that trekked out of Yunnan into Myanmar, after Mao’s victory.

From Myanmar, the KMT fighters staged futile forays into their homeland. Lue, the old general, remembers that decade as the time of greatest hardship for the refugees.

It was when the KMT gained a reputation as opium traffickers and smugglers of jade and antiques. Lue denies his men were ever involved in narcotics, in Myanmar or Thailand. "We had to fight here and there. How could we have planted opium?" he said.

But his predecessor as head of the Mae Salong KMT, Gen. Tuan Shi-wen, once admitted: "We have to continue to fight and to fight you must have an army, and an army must have guns, and to buy guns you must have money. In these mountains, the only money is opium."

Chased out of Myanmar, the KMT split into two armies when it moved to Thailand. Tuan, whose pagoda-style mausoleum overlooks the town, set up at Mae Salong. Gen. Ly Wen-huan moved his men to neighboring Chiang Mai province.

Both colonies were closed, regimented societies with residents restricted to the area by Thai authorities, but the exiles and their hosts came to arrangements of mutual benefit.

The KMT helped fight the Thai communists, then disbanded its military organization in the mid-1980s. The Bangkok government began to grant citizenship, although some among the estimated 20,000 KMT and their families across northern Thailand are still awaiting Thai papers.

Memory

The government also ruled that outsiders could not buy land in Mae Salong, thus helping preserve the integrity of the community.

Some ties have been forged. Tourists and businessmen come. A few men have married women from the mainland. Lue was invited to visit China three times but has no intention of returning to die in the land of his ancestors.

"There is nothing for me there any more," he says. "Every time I go back I feel sad. I have no friends in China."

(AP)

Residential Areas

By Uday Lama

THERE are several residential areas within the immediate confines of Kathmandu Valley and can be counted on the fingers of both hands. Forming quiet backwaters of their own and amongst pleasant surroundings with neighbours minding their own business, these are the so-called upbeat zones where houses reflect the owner’s pride for they have invested a fortune in building, refurbishing and maintaining them.

Each house is built in an aesthetic and stylish manner but serves its purpose and are walled off—free from unwanted trespassers. Even though the residents are within earshot rarely do they engage in social frivolity except for an occasional foray when the occasion demands it.

Coloured brightly in shades ranging from light blue to greyish tones they have garages and a small garden to boot. The rooftops are bristiling with disc antennas and accommodate water tanks. One common feature is that they do not rise to more than two or three storeys and cover as little ground as possible.

There is a noticeable absence of noise and quiet and hush-hush reigns. Music filtering through the sound system are subdued and children do not yell their guts out or the adults engage in shouting matches. The residents are all upper middle class folks and go about their business with little fuss.

Favouring these residential areas are diplomats, the expatriates and the local elites. Facilities are to be found up at the front and at the edges where there are many shops doing brisk business. To get there in a jiffy one has to walk on foot.

The residents bear a trademark all their own and are involved in enterprises that earns them their livelihood and a lifestyle are used to. Often they seem a pampered lot far from the hustle and bustle and the focus of market reality. But they do give a lift to the metropolitan status of the city although much of it is unplanned and growing in all directions.

These residential areas have been built up from scratch and added onto one another with the thought of privacy uppermost. Every square inch of ground is given over to some sort of construction and there is little space between the edifices.

But everything comes neat and tidy and there is no refuse or poles leaning crasily at an angle. Maintenance and order makes sure there is no eyesore to mar the scene. A place to retire to if one has the means and the right connections. A sense of belongingness exists and the whole atmosphere is pervaded with a distinct impression of exclusivity.

Given the right frame of mind one can take a short walk in and around the vicinity and come to a definite conclusion. And that is this is no place for the drunkard or the petty thief, nor for unscrupulous traders-all of them being mean-minded. For it is non-existent in the residents vocabulary not to speak of their mindset.