| Username |
Post |
| By way of Sachit R. |
Posted
on 07-Aug-00 01:23 PM
by KANAK MANI DIXIT
When Novel Kishore Rai returned from Bonn after serving a much appreciated—even celebrated—term as Nepal’s ambassador toGermany, the last thing he expected in Nepal was a petty accusation intended to destroy his reputation.
A leak to a Kathmandu newspaper earlier this month, most likely from
officials in the Nepali Embassy in Bonn, accused Ambassador Rai of
leaving Germany without paying credit card dues of a little over DM
1,000 (about NRs 32,000).
Foreign Ministry officials at Shital Niwas deny having played any part
in the leak, but seem strangely reluctant to speak up for an envoy who
had served the country well. Dr Rai’s replacement, Balaram Singh Malla,
could not be reached by telephone for comment because the embassy is in
the throes of moving to Berlin.
Because the process of credit card billing (where payment is made after
presentation of monthly bills) is not well understood in Nepal, the
newspaper story carried a certain credibility among the Nepali public,
already predisposed to believing the worst of their representatives
abroad after one was caught stealing books in Washington DC some years
ago.
The tiny unpaid amount was actually billed to the credit card of Dr
Rai’s spouse, Nirupa Rai. Besides the fact that the unpaid sum was very
small in Deutsche marks, Ambassador Rai says that most of the charge
was actually the result of a billing error for a train fare to Paris
that he had already paid in cash.
Diplomatic insiders say that, by all indications, this was a motivated
leak meant to taint the image of someone with a scrupulously clean
reputation. But it was a tragic blot in the four-year ambassadorial
stint of this Tribhuvan University linguist. Says Ram Thapa, the
Cologne-based President of the German-Nepal Friendship
Association (GNFA), “This is an incredible insult for someone who did
Nepal so proud. A simple credit card oversight has been used as a smear
campaign.” Indeed, the accusation needlessly tarnished the unblemished
image of a non-career scholar and much-acclaimed diplomat.
Novel Kishore Rai was appointed ambassador to Bonn by the UML
government of Man Mohan Adhikari, and was unique in that a serving
academic was given a posting which had earlier been the preserve of
ex-generals, retired bureaucrats and royal palace appointees. At last
Nepal had an ambassador in Bonn (plus his wife) who spoke fluent
German, which added to his effectiveness in a pivotal European country.
Being a political appointee (though he is not a party member), there
was a fear among these German professionals that he would be recalled
when the UML government fell in Kathmandu. They therefore lobbied hard and succeeded in prevailing upon the new foreign minister to maintain Ambassador Rai at his post. That initial political hurdle having been overcome, Dr Rai was able to complete his full term in November 1999, even as the country saw six prime ministerarial changes back home.
This was an ambassador extraordinaire, as can be gauged from remarks
made by luminaries from Germany, Austria and Switzerland in a special
GNFA testimonial published when he finally left Bonn. Karl Kirchhoff,
Head of the South Asia Division of the Ministry for Economic
Co-operation and Development, writes of how Ambassador Rai’s “loyalty
to Nepal was enormously motivating for us” and how he admired his
”commitment, charm, wit and expertise”.
Former UNDP Resident Coordinator in Nepal, Manfred Kulessa, writes of
how not since the days of the “great Sardar [Bhim Bahadur Pande]” had
Nepal seen an envoy to Germany as effective as Dr Rai. A German-based
Nepali doctor who has worked for long to provide ambulances and medical
equipment to Nepal writes: “We had nearly forgotten over the previous
years that we could get support and interest from the ambassadors of
Nepal. With Dr Rai a new era started.” Toni Hagen, the noted Swiss geologist of Nepal, said that Dr Rai belonged “to the new generation of open-minded, well-educated and unbureaucratic young
Nepalis with a sense of compassionate responsibility for the whole
people without self-interest.”
Perhaps the best accolade came from firebrand German activist and
journalist Ludmilla Tuting, who has covered Nepal for more than two
decades. “You were the best ambassador from Nepal we ever had in
Germany,” she writes.
After such a sendoff in Germany, when asked how he felt about the
accusation, Dr Rai’s eyes well up with with tears, and he takes off his
glasses. He does not answer. You try again, and ask: “Why don’t you
send a clarification to the newspaper?”
He replies, “Des ko rajdootlay yasto garcha bhanera kasailay
patyaula jasto malai lagena. Tyasailay khandan garina.” (I did
not believe that anyone would believe that our country’s
ambassador would stoop so low. So I chose not to react.)
|
| ashu |
Posted
on 09-Aug-00 01:20 AM
That was an an eye-opening article on from
The Nepali Times weekly re: how an oversight by a generally honest, competent and caring Nepali was seriously and damagingly blown
out of proportion by -- excuse my choice of phrase-- slimy bastards whose sport is:
a) to look for ways, when they are unable to do anything else, to destroy others' reputation, and
b) to try to one-sidedly influence others
to be against the person (i.e. Rai, in this case).
Fortunately, while such people (SBs) seem
to succeed in the very short run, they never do in the long run.
Novel Kishore Rai remains one of the most decent human beings I have ever met in my life.
On another note, it's conceivable that had Rai been a high-class/high-caste Kathmandu ko
bahun/chettri or newar, with a more forceful connections to the elites, he would probably have been left untouched by Kathmandu's influential media -- notably Kantipur and
The Kathmandu Post.
oohi
ashu
|
| Biswo Nath Poudel |
Posted
on 14-Aug-00 05:59 PM
I think I imbibed the news about ambassodor
Rai without hesitation, as I have seen other
several embassy officials with more jarring &
perverted sense of honesty. Though I admired
his help of singer Bhakta Raj Acharya, I had
problem to condone his seeming misdeeds.But
we all know, how our politicians are back
there, and how much better plenipotentiary we
can expect from them.
This article of Kanak Mani Dixit was an
eye-opener.I think Kanak Mani Dixit is an
aboveboard person, and so I think it is ok to
believe him.I generally don't think Kantipur
as dishonest and biased, but it does so some
times,may be for its own vested interest. The
Kantipur publications has exerted more size
and influence in Nepalese politics than
Gorkhapatra exerted in its monopolistic one
century.
But Ashu:Please don't communalize anything.
We may not have been able to give lower caste
or non-caste citizens anything, but it is not
any upper caste agenda against a lower caste
sincere person.Your erudite writing has been
corrupted by your insistence in investing
liberal prejudice where it is not warranted.
Biswo.
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| ashu |
Posted
on 15-Aug-00 08:39 AM
Poudel-ji wrote:
>I generally don't think Kantipur
>as dishonest and biased, but it does so some
>times,may be for its own vested interest.
Yes, Kantipur -- like the New York Times
or The Wall Street Journal or The wasdhington Post -- at times presents biased/slanted
and just plain wrong news for its own whatever interest.
I bring in American examples above to underscore the fact that even the most influential of American newspapers are not completely free from bias and mis-reporting. Last January, I had an opportunity to work on
a US presidential campaign in New Hampshire, and I was stunned to see the coverage how
certain campaign news in New Hamsphire, to which I was also a first-hand witness as
a campaign staff, played out in the national press.
If that's the case in the US media, then,
on visiting Nepal this time, I am not surprised to find Kantipur and The Kathmandu Post doing their own share of mis- or misplaced reporting from time to time.
>The
>Kantipur publications has exerted more size
>and influence in Nepalese politics than
>Gorkhapatra exerted in its monopolistic one
>century.
I agree with you here. In the course of our voluntary work here in Kathmandu on the Kamaiya issue, I have discovered that if the news is not in Kantipur (and, for that matter, the BBC Nepali Sewa), then it's not really news as far as Nepali politicians and policy-makers are concerned.
In this sense, Kantipur does have this incredible power
to make or break a person in nepal. To give you an example, this "Paras Kanda" is kept alive in news mostly because Kantipur is still carrying related news.
> But Ashu:Please don't communalize >anything.
>We may not have been able to give lower
>caste
>or non-caste citizens anything, but it is
>not
>any upper caste agenda against a lower caste
>sincere person.
I am not accusing anyone of anything. Nor am I saying that there is a conspiracy
of sorts against Novel Koshore Rai.
As a high-caste bahun from Kathmandu
myself, and as someone who has had some
opportunity to observe caste-related politics/debates and related 'ground realities' in Nepal, in and away from Kathmandu, I am arguing in the mode
of: "it is conceivable of event X
happening in Nepal, IF one fact
Y is such."
I don't know whether that's liberal prejudice or what. But I do know that
even when my logic may NOT sound
convincing to some, therein lies
the "maja" of engaging in kura-kani
on this Web site with thoughtful
critics like you.
oohi
ashu
|
| Biswo Nath Poudel |
Posted
on 15-Aug-00 03:07 PM
Ashuji:
When I read repeatedly your first comment, I
think the so called liberal prejudice that I
thought you were investing there was not that
conspicuous,and probably I went too far in accusing that.But still, social workers and left leaning politicians along with liberal
journalists and intellectuals have always
relished maligning high caste whenever there
was even a singular case of such apathy or
design against a person who happened to be a
low-caste or non-caste.(non-caste is something I used for non-Hindu Nepalese.) Fuelling intellectual logic with inharmonious
and bigoted element doesn't serve to promote
low caste and their fiscal and social standing, but it rather generates a chaotic insurgency among them,thereby perturbing the existing social fabric.I don't say we enjoy
harmonious and exemplary social coexistence
in Nepal,that is something our dullard leaders say in public speech to fool us, but
we have still not degenerated into the worst
caste/ethnic chaos that our neighboring Bihar
and others in the world are witnessing.
So, it is wrong to implicate caste/connection
factor in this case.The design may have been
originated in some Byzantine corner of scheming Shital Niwas, which has dismal record of performance in its real job: like Bhutan issue, Bharat interference issue etc..
There is another point of disagreement with
you :Do you think Paras Kanda is alive just
because of Kantipur? Don't you think that was
an eggregious act that jolted everybody in
Nepal?Don't you think the moral turpitude of
Paras has sunken below the acceptable
demarcation? Don't you think King Birendra's
walking in Tridevi Marg (see yesterday's
Nepalnews) was a deliberate gimic to downplay
another of royal family member's felony by
evincing an acceptable face of royaltee?
There is no doubt Kantipur is our Microsoft
in media and power,and we need to trim it,and
intellectuals there in Kathmandu needs to
search for alternatives,it did fine job in
Paras scandal.
Ashuji, Finally I really enjoyed your
informed comments.And would appreciate it if I can hear more from you.
Biswo.
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