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You have probably already come across pieces on porn and alcohol regulations, and on other crackpot theories that Hinduism, patriarchy and capi­talism are responsible for rapes and other criminal activities in the country. Yes, there’s a porn ban in effect and the government is enforcing stricter alcohol con­trol (i.e., making it impossible for alcohol companies to sponsor cul­tural, sports or any other events, to put up billboards or to adver­tise in any media). Not many have dared ask the correlation between porn, alcohol and rapes and other criminal activities. How many rapes are committed because of porn and how many under the influence of alcohol?

 If porn and alcohol led to rapes and crimes then Europe and even Japan would be pretty dangerous places to live—but they aren’t. There are many western countries where you can get porn in cable and you have beer commercials on national TV. Actually you have beer and hard liquors commer­cials in Chinese TV channels, and nobody draws any connection between crimes and alcohol there. Of course, porn is banned in China to prevent the spiritual pollution of its citizens, as the argument goes. But the curious ones can go to any book store and under photography section find books on human body photog­raphy with nude and semi-nude models. Porn is banned but cele­brating the beauty of human body is not. And no, Japan, and China and European countries aren’t any more dangerous than many South Asian countries with porn and alcohol bans.

Now the question is, what made our all-powerful govern­ment make silly decisions that make no sense whatsoever? The real reason that Nepal is becom­ing dangerous is not because of porn or alcohol, but because of politics. Yes, it’s bad governance and corruption that have made Nepal unlivable.

If I know I can pay money or use political and personal connec­tions to get just about anything done, wouldn’t I be emboldened? This is exactly what’s happening. People aren’t afraid to commit crimes because they know their political connections, wealth or their parents will bail them out. The police find themselves help­less. The politicization of police force has made police officers think 10 times before arresting a criminal. When you see people arguing with police officers on the streets, refusing to follow legiti­mate and valid orders, you know the country has issues with how it’s governed.

Don’t get me wrong. Nepal Police is an impressive organiza­tion and its officers are compe­tent. But the political system has thus far not shown any interest in utilizing their skills and trainings to rid the country of crimes and criminals. They have to follow government orders, and the gov­ernment is influenced by party leaders, donors, the powerful ones and who not! The govern­ment sits idle, no matter how seri­ous the charge or how heinous the crime committed by family members and friends and neigh­bors of political leaders and big businessmen. The police then have to ignore court rulings and charges filed against criminals and pretend they do not even see most wanted criminals when everybody else sees them chatting up the prime minister and home minister. The police have to deny any such sighting and sheepishly tell us, “we are leaving no stone unturned to nab the culprits.”

This is it. No porn, and no alco­hol is to be blamed for rape and other crimes. Instead, the govern­ment, if it is serious about safety and security of its people, should stop interfering and influencing police investigations and have a “no exceptions” policy. Crimi­nals, no matter who they be, say, even the president’s son or the prime minister’s daughter, won’t be spared. That would do.

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli believes the country has achieved a lot in the past ten months under his leadership. While addressing the federal parliament on Jan 6, Oli looked calm and com­fortable, and presented a rosy pic­ture of the country. He highlighted figures that, according to him, were historical on many fronts, such as the annual economic growth projec­tion, revenue generation, remittance and more. He reaffirmed his com­mitment to strengthen five areas, namely the legal sector, government organizations, human resources, the budgetary system, and the audit system. He also responded to minor criticisms raised on social media.

There is something funda­mentally wrong with PM Oli’s perception of the way the country is being governed. He genuinely believes everything is fine. He is not worried about the situation of impunity, corruption, economic disarray and other everyday issues of public concern. While people are getting increasingly disillusioned with this government, Oli’s problem is that he is never ready to accept it. Oli’s perception could have been based on the advice he receives from those close to him. But there are clear signs that he faces threats from his own people, in that he is being misled.

The paradox of this government is that it has sold the biggest dream in history but has built a network of incompetent people in key sectors to achieve it. We have seen the fall­ing apart of most government insti­tutions and authorities. As in the past, every government institution has turned into a playground for political profiteering. If competent people get a chance to run public institutions, they can turn things around. Kul Man Ghising has shown how a single individual can make a lot of difference.

But the Oli government seems to be undermining the leadership of competent individuals in public institutions. There are several orga­nizations that are filled by incompe­tent people. Let’s take the example of the Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), which has been dragged into controversy and which may give us a larger picture of the country’s gov­ernance. Unfortunately, Oli might be unaware of his own people’s involvement in thwarting his dreams for the nation.

The NAC is as important an orga­nization as the NEA in transforming the destiny of this country. It has huge potential in creating oppor­tunities and generating revenue. A few months ago, PM Oli force­fully appointed Madan Kharel as the Executive Director and Chairman of the NAC, against the will of the Tour­ism Minister and Secretary. PM Oli made Kharel the all-powerful direc­tor. It’s his second appointment in the office.

I doubt Oli appointed Kharel to tarnish the NAC. But it is increas­ingly clear that Kharel is working to ruin the organization, declare it bankrupt and hand it over to some private interest group. Under his leadership, it might be the end line for the NAC. If he fails in this mis­sion, he could be sacked anytime.

 A few months ago, PM Oli forcefully appointed Madan Kharel as the Executive Director of the NAC

Since Kharel’s appointment, the NAC has fallen into decline. He has not made a single effort to save the organization. We can critically examine the wide body controversy and the role of the Exec­utive Director in this regard. The NAC is facing a loss of 10 million rupees every day because of incom­petent management. Rather than making plans and executing them to rescue the NAC, Kharel spread wrong information to the media about its solvency status. It’s a pity that the head of the organization cannot even understand its basic financial circumstances.

By way of comparison, if we pur­chase some business property with a bank loan, do we just worry about the loan or make plans to earn profit from the property? We should cer­tainly be mindful of the loan, but we should be more excited about the opportunity, make a series of business plans and work towards making profits. But Kharel is doing just the opposite in the NAC.

I present this case as an example of the paradoxical nature of the Oli government. The prime minis­ter is tirelessly selling a dream of a prosperous Nepal, but in charge of this project are incompetent and corrupt folks.

In 71 years of bilateral relations, this was only the fifth official high-level engagement between the US and Nepal—not including the ones at the undersecretary and assistant secretary of state levels. Why then is America sud­denly giving importance to its relations with Nepal?

Make America great again

For cues, one needs to look at the churning inside the US gov­ernment since the inauguration of Donald J Trump as the 45th President in January 2017.

President Trump’s sloganeer­ing under the broad theme of ‘Make America Great Again’ (MAGA) may appear crude given his mercurial nature. But there is lot more sophistication there than meets the eye. While Trump is the salesperson (to his base), there are several architects behind this major reordering of American economic, security, for­eign and environmental policies, among others.

On the economic front, the trade and tariff war with China and even with US allies is what Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist, describes as an effort to reorder the global supply chain to make it Ameri­ca-centric again. Bannon, a for­mer navy officer and investment banker, argues that America has a limited window of opportunity before China becomes too power­ful to be confronted on economic terms. Bannon may have left the White House, but there are oth­ers in the US administration who share his worldview.

With the elevation of Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State straight from the CIA, American security and for­eign policies appear to be morphing into one. Pompeo, a former hawkish Congressman from Kansas, is the first former CIA director to take charge of the State Department. Histor­ically, the next career stop for former CIA chiefs is either the Pentagon or the National Security Council. That is because, at the heart of America’s decision-mak­ing process, there used to be an imaginary line between security hawks and doves—giving com­peting but useful inputs to the President for the best course of action. (Ex CIA Director Walter Bedel Smith did become Under­secretary of State in 1953 and a few were appointed ambassadors at a later stage, but none became the chief diplomat).

These are not just personnel changes in America; these are major changes in terms of world- view. Empires and big powers need well-defined enemies to ensure internal coherence. Trump’s team has decided that China, not Russia, is their next strategic rival, and that current efforts to contain Beijing have been inadequate. Even the ‘civi­lizational risk’ posed by Islamic terrorism seems to have been downgraded under Trump’s pres­idency, as demonstrated by the decision to pull out troops from Syria and Afghanistan.

Nepal’s challenges

America also appears to have decided that it will no lon­ger outsource its initiatives to its allies or proxies but rather take direct charge—in large part due to the fact that the allies are no longer in lockstep with the new American approach. Japan, India and South Korea have been undergoing their own rapprochement with China. This means the wish of Nepali officials and strategic thinkers, who have been urging the US to stop looking at Nepal through an Indian lens, might just come true. But this isn’t without risk—particularly against the backdrop of Nepal seeking to court both China and the US. Yes we need to diversify our relations, but we also need to attain internal coherence and clarity on what our national interests are. Subse­quently, we also need to build our negotiating capacity.

As winds of a new cold war blow, Nepal has to understand the changes within the US to avoid being caught in the crossfire and misled by false expectations. America, under Trump, wants to retain its preeminent status, with­out necessarily wanting to bear the cost it entails—as indicated by its continued demands from NATO and other allies to pay their ‘fair’ share.

Nepal’s journey to republican­ism has not been a smooth one, one reason being the lav­ish luxuries enjoyed by our VVIPs that sometimes dwarf even those enjoyed by our ex-monarchs. People are not amused. One of the reasons they over­threw monarchy was the Royal Place’s open exploitation of public resources. The monarchy was abol­ished, and a republic proclaimed. Yet the leaders of the new repub­lic, starting with the President, have so far given a poor account of themselves. The president’s rather extravagant ways are making people compare her lifestyle to that of the former monarchs.

Austerity with public resources should be a hallmark of democratic leaders. In this, the president, the ceremonial head of the state, should set an example, as she is the custo­dian of the new republic. But she instead appears determined to milk the state dry.

As if the sumptuous 160 ropanis of land on which Sheetal Niwas (President’s Office) sits were not enough, the government is shifting the adjacent Nepal Police Academy. The premier training facility for the national police force is being moved to expand the President Office premises and build a helipad.

Separately, the president already has twos set of motorcade. Yet an electric vehicle is being added, and an additional Rs 160 million sought to get her new bullet­proof cars. Combined with the Rs 1.5 billion that has been set aside for a helicopter to be used by the President, Vice President, Prime Minister and other VVIPs, this represents a gross misallocating of state resources in a relatively poor country.

It increasingly looks like the cere­monial president styles herself after the queens of yesteryears as she tries to match their opulence.

In addition to the aforementioned lavish amenities, the president has also developed a thing for need­less foreign junkets. The president’s high-level state visits are normally fixed by the calendar and budgeted accordingly. However, the Bidhya Devi Bhandari’s recent visits, such as to Qatar and Poland, have been ad hoc and made purely at the behest of the president.

Apparently, the President’s Office continuously lobbied with the Qatari government to get Bidhya Devi Bhandari invited to Doha. Inter­estingly, while 10 government offi­cials accompanied Bhandari on her Qatar visit, another 27 were allowed to tag along, at an additional cost of Rs 13 million. The final bill from Poland, where the president took along an even bigger retinue, is yet to be published.

This is unbecoming of the head of the state and the first female presi­dent of the republic. The damaged credibility of her office will be hard to restore.