By H H Mohrmen
The prophets of doom had a field day the last few weeks. They are busy projecting that everything that has happened in the Khasi and the Jaintia hills are but bad omens. The foretellers prophesied that there is an evil design behind the occurrence and what had happened during the last few months and foretold of a dark and gloomy future that awaits the jaitbynriew. People are quick to conclude that the arrest of Skhembor Khongjirem Rangbah Shnong of Wahkhen village, the arrest of Daniel Khyriem leaders of the Khasi Students Union or even the arrest of Adelbert Nongrum former Chief Executive Member of the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council are handiworks of outside forces which seek to weaken or even threaten the very existence of the jaitbynriew.
The social media abounds with the false prophesies and it is also of no surprise that people are quick to proclaim that whoever is in the forefront of the movement or the agitation are the protectors or the messiahs of the jaitbynriew. At the same time they are quick to cast aspersions against those who have other opinions. People question the silence of the dorbar ki khlieh nongsynshar and in particular the spokesperson of the dorbar ki khlieh nongsynshar in the entire mess. And on the other hand those who have other opinions than that of the self-proclaimed protector of the jaitbynriew are condemned as ‘ingkhong shyllangmat, nongdie ri’ and so on and so forth.
The common people are quick to join the bandwagon and readily become ‘ki ñiang kohnguh’ (creatures that unthingkingly nod their heads in approval about everything) with any idea that gains popularity in the area. They flow with the wave of popular opinion and do not even ask questions because we all are yet to learn to be critical of any opinion. It is not in the community’s trait to ask questions and by tradition it is considered to be improper to questions or criticise our leaders. Critical thinking is not in the ethos of the Khasi Pnar hence people flow with whatever opinion is thrown up at a particular point of time.
But if we only care to look carefully and try to understand the reason why both Skhembor Khongjirem and Adlbert Nongrum were arrested, it is amply clear that the duo were arrested because there is a case of contempt of court order against them. In the case of Adelbert Nongrum I think he is educated enough to know the nitty-gritty of the judicial system and the fact that one can be taken to task if one openly criticizes the court. We don’t know anything about Skhembor Khongjirem but it only confirms what we have been trying to advocate that even if we ultimately are able to come up with a legislation to legalise dorbar shnong and the office of Rangbah Shnong, there should be a section for capacity building of the members of the committee shnong and particularly the headmen and the secretary Shnong because ignorance of the law is no excuse! Those who have been appointed as headmen and secretary shong should be capacitated that they at least have basic knowledge of law and judicial procedures. So there is no outside hand involved in this entire imbroglio. This happened either because it was lack of knowledge about the subject or the arrogance of being the hero- the sole protector of culture and tradition.
Daniel Khyriem was arrested because there are cases against him along with the leaders of the 13 pressure groups which were part of the umbrella organization for organizing the long-drawn-out ILP protest. One cannot question the right of an individual or any organization to protest, but only if the protest is democratic, peaceful and people support the agitation program(s) out of their own will. But in many of these protests people are forced to stay indoors and public property is damaged, followed by law and order problems. Some people even lost their lives during the protest. Now when there is law and order problem and when public property like government offices are burnt and vehicles damaged, the law should take its own course because everybody is equal in the eyes of the law. There is no cause no matter how good or important it may be that can justify any illegal act, not to mention assaulting and killing of a human.
So the arrest of Daniel Khynriem is also not an evil design. Nor is there any outside influence involved in the arrest. Again it is but the law of the land taking its due course of action. If somebody commits a crime during the period of the agitation, the leaders of the organization which have called the strike are to be held responsible. One cannot avoid the long hand of the law. The leaders cannot wash their hands and feign ignorance of what happened during the strike; hence they are liable to be arrested if they ignore court orders.
The demand that the District Council Affairs send the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council Village Administration bill for Governor’s recommendation is now being challenge by ka Thma U Rangli (TUR). TUR has a legitimate ground to protest against the enactment of the bill because the residents of the Khasi hills were not taken into consideration when the bill was formulated. The KHADC has not even circulated the draft bill which is mandatory in the parliamentary democracy to seek public opinion on the proposed bill.
People are quick to join in the chorus to demand for enacting the law, but the question is how many of the residents of the Khasi hills have read the KHADC Village Administration Bill? If we claim that the bill is meant for the people, can we also claim that every citizen who lives under the jurisdiction of the Khasi hills autonomous district council has understood the bill? If we vehemently demand for the enactment of the bill, do we even have the Khasi version of the bill for the benefit of the common people for whom the bill is meant? Or are we saying that all the people in the villages can read English. The bill will just be a bill if it does have the consensus of majority of the stake holders. This is a very important bill so let us not jump to conclusion without examining all the pros and cons of the bill. We have been waiting long enough for the district councils to come up with the bill so can’t we wait a little bit more till we have a consensus of majority of stake holders on the bill?
The bill passed by the JHADC is not free from criticism either. The opposition in the JHADC has claimed that the bill was not available in the public domain for the people to make suggestions, and the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (Establishment of Elaka and Village Election, appointment, powers, function and jurisdiction of Daloi, Sordar and Waheh Chnong bill 2015) was not even adequately debated in the house.
The issue of the dorbar shnong or the rangbah shnong has lingered for quite some time. Those of us in the villages are bewildered and the demand for immediate enactment of the bill will not help. The fast and protest for immediate enactment of the bill is simply forcing one’s opinion on the others. This is rather undemocratic. Adelbert’s fast is imposing what he thinks is right for the community without even allowing for a debate on the subject to continue which is again undemocratic. The VAB or the JHADC’s bill need to be debated further for the benefit of the jaitbynriew.
In the entire quagmire we blame others for our problems and create a situation of a ‘fear of the unknown’ in the society. It is now obvious that the entire fiasco is of our own making and we all are responsible for what has happened. If there is anybody to be blamed for the imbroglio, we are the ones to be squarely blamed for the situation and no one else. So the fear of the unknown in this situation is like being afraid of our shadow. And is fearing our own shadow good and healthy for the jaitbynriew?