By Patricia Mukhim
What I write in these columns are not my views alone. They are a pot pourri of views coming from a cross section of citizens, thinkers and others who simply engage with the idea of democracy on a daily basis. I asked a few people what they thought of the syiemship and the role of the Syiem in this day and age. Except for the clans from which the Syiem is elected and the clans that form the electoral college that elects him (the gender in this case is implied) no one really cares about whether we have or don’t have a Syiem. What does this mean? Simply that the Syiem plays a non-descript, obscure role in our day to day lives. He might have had some political role when the Khasi-Jaintia people lived as independent principalities and during the British Raj. But after 1950 when we became part of the Indian nation, the role of the Syiem has diminished. Every role is utilitarian. When the utility is no longer there people do not miss the institution or the person who heads it.
Let us look at the Syiem of Mylliem for instance, since we all live under his awesome jurisdiction. This Syiem collects taxes and tolls from markets and from natural resources that are transported from and through areas under his jurisdiction. Now how this money is spent and what share of the collection goes to the District Council is anybody’s guess. Coming to the District Councils, they appoint and dismiss (literally dis-appoint) a Syiem arbitrarily if he does not toe their line. It’s as simple as that! And the Council’s mandate is even more curious. They were created to ‘preserve’ our customs and practices to ensure that we are not swamped by so-called ‘outsiders’ and so that our common property resources such as lands, forests, water bodies and other tangible and intangible assets (actually our family jewels) are not auctioned out to the highest bidder. Firstly how can anything organic such as a humanly created institution be preserved? You only preserve something static such as artifacts in museums. So the Councils’ roles are by definition anomalous. At best the Councils are expected to conserve community resources such as the lush forests of Jaintia Hills. But these have been mercilessly destroyed for coal mining by private individuals. How did the Councils allow rivers Lukha and Luna to be polluted? What has the Jaintia Hills District Council done to protect these rivers? Do they even care about the death of fish on a regular basis? Do they know that Jaintia Hills is today an unlivable space?
The Council has not fulfilled its basic mandate of protecting our lives, property and natural resources. So why are they protecting obscurantist institutions like the Syiemship? What is the role of an institution, any institution for that matter? The one and only role of an institution is to serve the interests of the public. If that primary role is diluted the institution is obsolete. An obsolete institution cannot be conserved in the name of tradition. That we allow these self-serving institutions to thrive only shows how insecure we are as a people. It is enough for some rabble rouser to shout from the rooftops, “ka jaitbynriew ha tmier” (the people at the brink of the precipice) for us to lose our moorings completely and shudder with fear. Why are we such a fearful people? We are perpetually afraid of ‘u mynder’ (the outsider) and believe he will usurp our rights, our land, our forests etc. What we do not ask is who can allow the ‘mynder’ to get hold of our resources unless one of us “ki khun ki hajar” surreptitiously sells out that land in a benami deal or lease it out to him/her dubiously. Recently the Syiem of Hima Nongspung sold out land to some tea growers from Assam. Did we raise Cain about that? No we just fretted and frowned and got on with our lives. And that’s the kind of people we are.
I believe I am also a part of the jaitbynriew and therefore given to the same eccentricities. Have we ever discussed any issue logically before coming out into the streets to protest? Have we spent time analyzing problems inside out before taking up arms? Have we identified who the real enemies of the jaitbynriew are before launching scathing attacks on u mynder? No we haven’t because we are afraid of finding out the real culprits. I am afraid we are our own worst enemies. It is always easier to tilt at the windmills than to introspect. Unfortunately, prevarication is a waste of our productive time. That’s one reason we have not progressed the way our neighbouring states are.
In Meghalaya we take dissent to a very convoluted level. Dissent against projects comes about because we have a vested interest in opposing it. Once the hurdle is cleared and money changes hands, a project quietly gets the seal of approval and we do not get to hear anything about it. Now if we have a Syiemship which is to protect our interests then should the Syiems not be the proper authorities to raise the banner of dissent on a project because “it may not be in our collective interests?” Why should social organisations which are in some ways products of a democratic system play the role of the only dissenters in Meghalaya? And if the Syiem of Mylliem is only a dispenser of land and property to a clique and uses public money, not to improve the markets and other utilities within the markets, then what legitimate right does the Syiem have to continue? Should we continue to support such an institution? Should they not be just cultural symbols enjoying some pension from the State? This is a matter for urgent discussion.
Let’s come now to the Dorbar Shnong. Their role is to me a very nebulous one. They enjoy rights with no responsibilities. Now do they matter to our lives? If they do, its only because the District Administration at the time of Mr GP Wahlang, DC, East Khasi Hills, vested enormous powers on them without any system of accountability. Hence today we have to get the sanction of the Rangbah Shnong for every legal document under the sun. You cannot open a bank account, get a passport or a ration card without the Rangbah Shnong’s seal of approval. And mind you the Dorbar Shnong by its very composition is an unconstitutional body because it defies every democratic norm such as elections as opposed to selection.
Despite wielding power in their jurisdictions the Dorbar Shnong seem to suffer from some deep fear psychosis that they would rather see the city of Shillong swamped by garbage and sewerage rather than have an elected Municipal authority. Is this fear rational? Why is the present lot of Rangbah Shnong so paranoid? Is it because they fear the loss of power and authority to someone else if there is a free and fair election? And because of the paranoia of these few people the entire society faces a bleak future of a collapsed civic management system. Garbage has turned this city into a decrepit symbol of inefficiency. In a way this reflects our own anomie and dilemma of hanging on to a counter culture which serves a vested interest even while we are grappling with a rapidly changing socio-economic-political environment.
Left to the Dorbar we cannot even have a hygienic, state of the art slaughter-house or other modern amenities. Can we carry on with such absurd ideas that clash with modern liberal democratic governance? Its time to debate these issues publicly!