Looking for leaders - Nepali Times

Headline
Looking for leaders
A nationwide public opinion survey reveals the public's plummeting trust in the political leadership

FROM ISSUE #500 (30 APRIL 2010 - 06 MAY 2010) | TABLE OF CONTENTS

SUBSCRIBE NT

REFER

WRITE TO EDITOR

Which one political figure would you choose to lead Nepal towards prosperity, peace and democracy?

A new public opinion survey shows most Nepalis don't think the present crop of leaders can lead the country to prosperity and peace.

The most dramatic finding of this year's nationwide Himalmedia public opinion survey is that there is a leadership voidin the country. More than 5,000 respondents in 38 districts were asked last month which one public figure would be able to deliver prosperity, peace and democracy. Nearly one third couldn't think of anyone or didn't want to say. But of those who were pinpointed, Maoist leaders Pushpa Kamal Dahal (20.2%) and Baburam Bhattarai (14.7%) led the pack, with the rest in a long tail of single digits.

But asked which three parties they would trust to lead Nepal to prosperity, the respondents reaffirmed their faith in the Big Three. Unlike in the 2008 elections, the Nepali Congress and the Maoists were neck-to-neck, named by 57% and 56.2% of respondents, with UML at 52.8% per cent and MJF at 7.2%.

How should we resolve the current political deadlock?

At a time when royalist parties have been calling for a referendum on monarchy and secularism, the poll results show that 7 out of 10 Nepalis think it was right to declare Nepal a republic. More than half (52.2%) believe Nepal's Hindu statehood should be restored; this should be seen in light of the fact that 88.2% of respondents were Hindu.

There is a seeming paradox in that a third of respondents felt the Maoists were the biggest obstacle to the peace process, while at the same time the vast majority of those who suggested a solution felt the party needed to be involved in the peace process by being included in government.

READ ALSO:
An extended CA and a� Maoist-led government - FROM ISSUE #500 (30 APRIL 2010 - 06 MAY 2010)

1. Kirtee Joshi

Surveys of these types can mislead easily. Depending on the format of questionnaire , the types of questions (in fact, choices) and the class of respondents, the outcome can vary. Otherwise, how to justify that failed leaders like Nepal and Deuba still managed to register their names (forget low votes!)? Or, is it that the respondents were asked to pick a name from already shortlisted names? Those who play with the survey data know the limitation of results well, but the readers and the leaders will be misled. The Maoists will be happy to see the "towering" presence of their leaders (forget the numbers!), and Dahal will be happy to see Bhattarai's fate sealed at second position as always. Is Madav still the third most popular leader? and Deuba the fourth?? With promising leaders like Gagan nowhere to be seen, what does this survey (or surveywala) trying to prove?

Posted on: 30 APRIL 2010 | 12:24 PM NST

2. mohan acharya
As always, we have NO LEADERS IN NEPAL. we are a RICH COUNTRY with LOTS OF RICH CULTURE and LAND however the ones that THINK they are on TOP have no leadership QUALITY.

Posted on: 30 APRIL 2010 | 12:53 PM NST

3. anuj
i see in Subash Nembang, great leadership quality. Sadly, honesty is what we lack in Nepalese politics.

Posted on: 30 APRIL 2010 | 2:42 PM NST

4. Siddha
highest scorer PKD is 16.3 points below no one and don't know put together [36.5]. interestingly both PKD and BRB together still fall short by 1.6 point to a score as high as No one. isn't it saying Maoists are not the right choice for leadership. MKN, SBD deserve retirement

Posted on: 30 APRIL 2010 | 3:38 PM NST

5. SP
I agree to Kirtee Joshi's comment. These types of polls are valid in a highly-educated society provided that the polling mechanism left little room for error. An unbiased result is difficult to extract and serves the purpose of misleading the populace. an unworthy exercise that dents the reputation of Nepali Times which is held in such high regard amongst the Nepali Journalism Fraternity.

Posted on: 30 APRIL 2010 | 3:40 PM NST

6. Wakajoola
Yes, these surveys' aren't a good way to judge the current status because some of the variables are skipped or not considered. But i have a tool to take a general idea of the people and what they are thinking. I think that is important while looking at these data. The chart clearly shows, in general, that there is lack of trust in the politics & politicians in the mind of the people. They are reluctant to name any politicians as there aren't any.

The main problem with the politicians in Nepal is they "TALK BIG" and if you talk big there is high probability that no one will believe them, because this clearly shows they are not serious about the long term... I guarantee that if someone has clear vision of long term and know the obstacle to reach that long term vision, they will be hailed as a LEADER. For now, for me, everyone lies in the "TALK BIG" category.

Posted on: 30 APRIL 2010 | 5:18 PM NST

7. CyberLekali
Dr. DK aka Arthur aka MaDai is hiding under Sheeps skin. He recently got American citizenship by hook and crook as a refugee (calling himself victim of Maoists) and gave up his Nepali citizenship. He is not the first and last Maoist supporters who get US citizenship using Refugee status. He will certainly attack everyone who is not in his side. CyberLekali

Posted on: 30 APRIL 2010 | 9:57 PM NST

8. Sam

In order for Nepal to move any forward, the destruction, looting, extortion and lawlessness needs to stop. This will not stop until Prachanda is brought to justice. Let's let it done. Join the Declare Prachanda a War Criminal page in Facebook so we can start pressuring the international community.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Declare-Prachanda-a-War-Criminal/122073621138882?created#!/pages/Declare-Prachanda-a-War-Criminal/122073621138882

Posted on: 30 APRIL 2010 | 10:36 PM NST

9. Jagan

I think there is only one way out from the current situation. First and foremost, MK Nepal must step down IMMEDIATELY without any condition and pave the way for the formation of the next government. Show me where in the world there are so many people sitting as key government ministers, and prime minister, who had been defeated and discredited by the people at the poll? Could they not have waited till the next election?

We all knew that it is the weakest government that would not be able to stand on its own, leave alone to do anything concrete, from the very beginning it was formed. It was due to GPK's anger at the Maoists for not making him the President and more so motivated by the nepotism to induct his daughter to a minister and then a deputy PM position in the MKN government. MKN proved not only incompetent at handling the government, his failure to timely act to sack corrupt and unruly ministers made him like a puppet dancing to the ill advice and wrong tune of those who are not accountable to the people.

I am not a Maoist supporter, nor will every subscribe to their policies, but to be fair to them, they are the largest party in the CA who won the election. Let them run the government and if the people don't like them, they will face the same fate as others did.

MKN, I appeal to you, please step down. You may loose your post but the country will win. By the way, Mr. MKN, sir, it is not your job to say and put a condition for quitting your post as to who will succeed you or should not succeed you. If there is a bloodbath tomorrow, people will hold you responsible.

Posted on: 30 APRIL 2010 | 10:59 PM NST

10. Arthur
It seems obvious why the survey asks for three parties instead of asking which party is preferred like every other political survey in the world.

The table for political figures also obscures the most politically important breakdown - the numbers who prefer the government or the opposition (with all others not able to affect who will govern).

But simple arithmetic would indicate those numbers are roughly:

35% Maoist opposition to 13% UML/NC government (nearly 3 to 1).

That is so obviously an overestimate of UML/NC support and underestimate of Maoist support that it must reflect the sampling being weighted towards urban areas and nearby.

Posted on: 30 APRIL 2010 | 12:09 AM NST

11. Ekalavya Sharma

These polls remind me of the polls that they took before CA election in 2008. Their polls showed that UML would come first place in CA election and in reality they came in third number.

Posted on: 30 APRIL 2010 | 12:23 AM NST

12. chintan
Come on Nepali Times, be brave and bold.

People in general trust the Maoist leaders than more than anyone else, referring to people outside Kathmandu.

Even your polls among the educated and middle-class folks, and usually confined to certain section of society, finds that together Prachanda and Baburam get almost 35 percent approval rating. So, read your polls better. The nine months of Maoist government showed more character, energy, vibrancy than the stale leadership and governance of other parties.

Even diaspora members were excited about the Maoists. So, come on, use your media influence in Nepal to give a better reality of the truth. It is quite common knowledge that Nepali Times is against the Maoists.

Posted on: 01 MAY 2010 | 5:43 AM NST

13. Baburam Dahal

All of them have been tested by the people and failed to delivery. Morally, Dahal has no right to be people's leader. He was trusted by the people but he just turn his back and ran away from his duties and responsibilities. Makune has also no moral and ethical ground to be the leader. He is not fit even for the running GA BI SA or municipality. Deuba as we all know have been labelled as incompetent twice. Baburam may be better choice among them and yet to be tested as top leader of the country. However, with Maost ideology I don't think he will also lead Nepal to peace and prosperity. I think the questions is asking the best among the Tom Dick and Harry. It it is asking about the leader like Lee Quan Yew, Neharu, Dr. Mahathir then it will have weight.

Posted on: 01 MAY 2010 | 6:32 AM NST

14. kumar kafle

Some one knows better than another like i know how curropt gagan was during his T C's FSU(free student union) chairmanship reffering to garden construction. Father contracter, brother engeneer and he himself as SAVAPATI!!!!!! Nearly 8o lakh's budget. As u can see the inside tiny garden, is it worthy 8 millions?

We dont have humonoids or leader manufacturing factry as mentioned above like Lee Quan Yew, Neharu, Dr. Mahathir but hope can never be made think end. somewhere sometimes somethings good can happen. This is called hope.

To be fair enough to speak nutrally, people have hope upon dr Bhattarai if he is able to come across the only party mentality and become a leader for all in the future because a successful P M should possess a quality and ability to analyse every circumtances ownself rather than tgetting suggestion from hired -ill minded advisers, by the office of the Primeminister, and that helps not to be a pendulum alike PM. Lee Quan Yew, Neharu, Dr. Mahathir were simple men of high thinking and strongly committed to serve the nation. So they did. In the recent days, amagingly Dr Bhattarai is seen as one of the selfless persons from some of the behiviours like asiding the laxuries.

Posted on: 01 MAY 2010 | 9:13 AM NST

15. Sargam
Hi there,

So you guys have already started trade-offs! Should I count you all as yuckies or say Yaka-Wows? All self proclaimed pundit-commentators must know by now that the old tricks do not work any more. The Bahun clique rules Nepal since say Prithivi Narayan Shah. Do you look out of your windows of your heart where Nepal stands at now?

Next, you Yaka-Wow chaps must be in the know that Nepal bumps along the bottom lines of economy. The zombies of dead communism or its derivative Maoism want to rule the country by using every inhuman ways and mean possible so far in the world. And you Yaka-Wows are trying to give a new government to Nepal? Be serious just for a mug shot!!

Somebody wrote somewhere that Maoists are flogging the dead horse by stoking panic about counter-revolution. Nay, it has been substituted by a new party called as Yaka-Wow!?!

Posted on: 01 MAY 2010 | 10:52 AM NST

16. Dr B
Is this article about the poll results? If so then only one statistic counts "30% of respondents couldn't think of a person to lead the country into prosperity etc and only 20% (one in five) actually named someone."

Is this article about leadership? If so forget it as there are no leaders in Nepali politics.

Posted on: 01 MAY 2010 | 9:43 PM NST

17. CyberLekali
Arthur should be busted. DK aka Arthur aka MD is the hayena hiding under Sheeps skin. He recently got American citizenship by hook and crook as a refugee (calling himself victim of Maoists) and gave up his Nepali citizenship. He is not the first and the last Maoist supporters who get US citizenship using Refugee status. He will certainly attack everyone who is not in his side. CyberLekali

Posted on: 01 MAY 2010 | 11:18 PM NST

18. Pasang Sherpa
Present is possibly the most valuable section in a time line. In order to solve this political puzzle, the situations that might be seen tomorrow should not be considered. I recommend PM Nepal to step down and let the country run by the Maoist Party. This is the only solution to solve the present and let our country breathe for awhile.

I predict that the Maoist led government will also not survive long in their ruling. They have arrived to this phase in their political career during which there has been many bloodshed and acts of terror. With this thought in the back of my mind, I believe that they will bring some changes to some extent but they will also not be able to fulfill the demands of some groups of people who will be strong enough to throw them off. In the last ten years, there has been a drastic change in the thinking of Nepalese. They are very aware in terms of politics and their government. However, there are thousands of innocent Nepalese who are not aware of their political opinions but still end up in the street supporting their so called "Leaders." I hope this is not the case in today's May rally of 2010 and the demonstrators are fully aware of their contentious behaviors to expedite their demands.

I am not the only one who is wishing for peace and prosperity but I believe that I fall into the group of least people who are taking the peaceful path to bring peace and prosperity. All I want to say to all the leaders of Nepal is " Do what ever you think is correct but do not do anything that you think makes you correct. "

My last words to all the people of my country is

" HOPE THE BEST AND EXPECT THE WORST"

Thank you very much

Pasang Sherpa

Posted on: 03 MAY 2010 | 1:56 PM NST

19. Sargam

@Pasang Sherpa, You might be considered to be a good prankster in your 'village', alright?

Would you mind if I tickle one of your funny bones?' Searching down my memory lane I picked one prank for your regal:

An itinerant sage one day came across a panic-stricken village. And he inquired about the cause. The villagers complained that there was a ferocious and venomous snake that bit the villagers and didn't let them live in peace.

The sage found out the snake and forbid it from frightening and biting the poor villagers.

Some months later the sage happened to come back to the above mentioned village where every villager was happy and smiling except the serpent.was badly battered and � almost dying.

The sage inquired near the snake and the snake replied, "Last time you stopped me from biting the villagers. As I do not bite them they do me all sorts of misery possible because they are no more scared of� me." complained the snake.

"You imbecile", the sage retorted, " I told you not to frighten and bite the villagers, but did not prohibit you from hissing."

Posted on: 03 MAY 2010 | 7:38 PM NST

20. Kiran Lal
I noticed that Baburam quoted this public opinion survey on Bbc Saja Saval yesterday. He said "even a magazine that doesn't agree with us" thinks we our Chairman is most popular. Bhattarai should have read between the lines to see that nearly half of the people either haven't decided but think there is no one fit to lead Nepal. Also the other message that seems to have been lost on the comrade is that if his party gave up threatening, extorting and killing people he would probably get 2/3rd majority in the next election. isn't that what the Maoiss want to achieve with violence anyway? So, Baburamjee, save us all the trauma and misery. You have caused enough suffering to this country.

Posted on: 04 MAY 2010 | 11:44 AM NST

21. Tenzin Sherpa

Tenzin Sherpa

:Given that the maoist have fought more than ten years, I think they deserve a chance to rule the government... However, they are highly educated and have the potential to lead a government that can lead to Nepal's development. As per I know and if I am not wrong they were the initial driving force of the last revolution; to abolish monarchy... And they have the majority in the current parliament...

However... their sister wing (YCL), should have been emplyed for the development such as cleaning the streest..( the last time they did)... this would be able to win the hearts of Nepali people... I am not saying that they should carry out this sort of activity just to win people's heart, but as a selfless service...

And as other people have mentioned above, it was after the maoist fight that nepali people have started to be concerned more about the politics and situation of the country...

Thanks

take care all the nepalise ...

Posted on: 04 MAY 2010 | 3:50 PM NST

22. Sargam
If that real and historic Tenzing Norkay Sherpa would have heard these two 'fake' Sherpas he would have roared like a lion and would have booted them out of sight for their audacity to insult the race of Sherpas by prematurely accepting without resistance a yoke of Maoism for at least 30 years.

Don't tell me if you are really the aborted children of Prachanda, the awesome!

Dare calling yourselves the tigers of mountains!

You already make in your pants, by golly!?!

Posted on: 04 MAY 2010 | 6:27 PM NST

23. Tenzin Sherpa

Sargam ji ( sorry if you are not Nepali or understand Nepali)

Whats your solution then... Mr. anti-maoist and polictics expert ?

By the way, I am not a fake sherpa and its a wrong accusition you are making without knowing about a person. I am not insulting Sherpas and don't try to divide people ethnically,

If people like you start to divide people ethnically or start to segregate based on ethnicity then another Prithvi Narayn Shah would have to born to unify the nation into one nation...

WHat are you a Limbuwaan, Khumbuwann or something other wann ? There is no doubt that if you were the leader of Nepal, there would be a civil war over the country... and then great Nepali people who unified the nation and those who died for the country would have to suffer the grief for having a ruler like you...

"You already make in your pants, by golly!?!"- do not judge others looking at yourself in the mirror ....

Danyavaad ....

Posted on: 04 MAY 2010 | 8:17 PM NST

24. Sargam
How easily I could make this bugger confess his 'crime'? Pasang (Passang) and Tenzin (Tenzing) are actually the same person, if he is a Sherpa or not still I very much doubt it.

Most probably a Tibetan on mission from his master from Beijing to testify Nepalese political conundrum.

In a way, why did I choose this moniker Sargam? Yeah for sure I like music passionately. But Sargam that means a music with 7 fundamental scale-notes to avoid cacophony.

In life we need to stick to some of those principles to avoid cacophony if you want to be credible. Politics is also a science. If you try to play with the life of the inhabitants by means of tricks one day it will return against you like a boomerang.

Sherpas, in general, they are the only people who could maintain the mountaineering activities and flourishing businesses in Nepal. Every month a new lakhapati oozes out from the Sherpa soil in Nepal.

And here a little runt of a specimen comes out to be a Maoist's tail who knows it for certain if Maoists take over the country this lucrative business of Sherpas would be most probably gone to ashes for good. And at that time if he is a Sherpa, that's not as yet sure, he would have only his eyes to cry a river over his misfortune.

Hence, if you are an authentic Sherpa it is said that everybody judges, if not gauges others after himself.

That said, an Arab maxim goes as follows, " If what you want to say is no better than silence just belt up!".

Here goes a country bumpkin!?!

Posted on: 04 MAY 2010 | 10:42 PM NST

25. Pasang Sherpa
Friends, (especially, Tenzin Sherpa and Sargam)

Please take it seriously and discuss the issue in a formal manner. It is not very legitimate to offend some one by commenting on their personal back ground. I personally felt offended when Sargam claimed that Tenzin Norkay Sherpa won't be too impressed from what we said. I didn't see the seriousness and politeness in what Sargam said. Tenzin Norkay Sherpa has nothing to do with your debate in this public forum. I am also not very happy how Tenzin Sherpa replied back to Sargam by pointing out his ethnicity as a weakness.

Sargam and Tenzin Sherpa, measure Nepal once and think how big it is. I assume you imagined a smaller Nepal as I expected and it is correct. Why is there so many divisions if it is just a small place for us to live.

It is both of your home work to think tonight and come back with a good answer for each other.

Take care

Pasang Sherpa

Posted on: 04 MAY 2010 | 10:57 PM NST