SIKKIM OBSERVER July 21, 2012
(L to R) IPR Secretary KS Tobgay, Chief Guest CK Shrestha, Sikkim Observer Editor Jigme N Kazi, Press Club Advisor CD Rai, Press Club General Secretary Joseph Lepcha and Press Club President Bhim Rawat at the Press Club of Sikkim function in Gangtok on July 17, 2012.
LIVING IN SELF-IMPOSED EXILE
IN MY OWN HOMELAD
“Only dead fish go with the flow”
The Press Club of Sikkim
conferred the “Khangchendzonga Kalam Puraskar 2012” award to
journalist-cum-writer Jigme N Kazi at a function in Gangtok on July 17, 2012.
The following is the full text of Kazi’s acceptance speech:
Hon’ble Chief Guest, Secretary IPR, Press Club Advisor, Press Club
President, distinguished guests and friends,
On Receiving the Award: I feel very privileged to be here today to
receive the Khangchendzonga Kalam Puraskar award from the Press Club of Sikkim
on its decadal foundation year. I am told by the Press Club that it had
“unanimously decided” to confer this award for my “outstanding contribution and
dedication” made during the last three decades (1983-2012) in the field of
journalism.
I believe that by
conferring this award to this long-time black-listed man, who is forced to live
in self-imposed exile in his own homeland, the Press in Sikkim is sending a
clear message to those who care to listen. And that message is loud and clear:
the Press in Sikkim wants to be more free and independent and those in power
and the people at large should take note of it and respect its stand.
I enjoy doing what I do –
be it eating, taking a walk or writing. I seek no reward and recognition in
doing these things even if what I do benefits those around me.
People often criticize me
of being stubborn and always swimming against the tide. Let me remind them of
what US vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin said: “Only dead fish go with
the flow.” Living with walking corpses all these years has been a very painful
experience. It is better to be exiled in
foreign shores than having to undergo constant suffocation at home. However,
if this is the cross that I was born to bare then I must live with it whether I
like it or not.
Yes, we have more
journalists and more newspapers today than when I started in this profession 30
years back. But I’m not too sure whether we are more free, objective and
independent in our reporting. What is more important in life is quality, not
quantity, and this also applies to the Fourth Estate, particularly when so many
people depend and look up to the Press to make the right decision.
Sikkimese Society: If we cannot uphold certain basic and
fundamental values of human existence such as freedom, democracy, justice,
self-respect and the rule of law we miss the opportunity that life offers to
each one of us. The first indication of a society’s degeneration is when
individuals live and work only for themselves. Sikkim is on the verge of being
a dead and decadent society. Our constant efforts to camouflage ourselves will not
work in the long run. We will be fully exposed when the time comes.
We locals often distance
ourselves from the byaparis, the
business community, for encroaching into our economic and political rights and
interests. Little do we realize that while they sell potatoes, tomatoes etc. we
are the real byaparis. We have sold
our king, our flag, our country, our distinct identity and political rights.
Not content with this we are still selling our hills and valleys, our lakes and
rivers, our land and people, our religion and culture, and worse of all our
self-respect and dignity. Is it really worth sweating it out for such people?
Sikkim Politics: Me and my kind have lived through this
bitter period in Sikkim’s history. In our efforts to fight for the common cause
we have brought down five chief ministers and made four chief ministers in the
past so many years. We did this for a
good cause and without any selfish motive. We are not to be blamed if our political
leadership continuously fails us and lets us down the moment they come to
power.
I took leave from the
Fourth Estate at the end of the year 2000 to make my personal contribution to
Sikkim politics when I was convinced that those we backed were betraying us and
the issues we raised for petty considerations. Unlike many others, I could not
hang around and hide myself safe and secure in a small corner when I was convinced
that we were being led to a dead-end street. I left active politics after three
and half years in August 2004 when I was fully convinced that I was heading
nowhere and those around me were still deeply involved in petty politics. There is no future for Sikkim and the
Sikkimese if our political leadership – ruling and opposition – fails to rise
above mundane things and continues to mislead the people while making great
promises.
It is futile to fight for
the distinct identity of Sikkim within the Union if the leaders of our larger
community are not sure of who they are, whom they represent, and what they
really want. Nepal’s political situation, where ethnic communities are being
reduced to a minority in the land of their origin, has still not opened our
eyes. This is because while our head is still not clear our heart is full of
greed. When will we ever live in a place where the mind is without fear and the head
is held high? When
will this non-stop looting stop? Corruption has reached a point of no return.
Disillusionment has set in and this seems to be irreversible. These are
dangerous trends in a sensitive and strategic border State like Sikkim.
India’s Role in Sikkim: Even if our political leadership has failed
us time and again, India must live up
to the expectations of the Sikkimese people. If it continues to ignore the
hopes and aspirations of those who sacrificed their country so that this nation
may live in peace and security there may come a day when Sikkim will become a
hot-bed of international politics. We may not see that day but that day is not
afar if India fails to honour its commitments made to Sikkim and the Sikkimese
people during the takeover.
The gradual dilution of
our distinct identity, political rights and social harmony originates from New
Delhi. The erosion of our unique and distinct cultural identity, the systematic
manner in which seeds of division are sown in our social fabric, and finally
the destruction caused to our fragile environment and ecology cannot and must
not be easily condoned. We cannot blame our leaders only; we, too, have
shamelessly become agents of division, disunity and destruction. We have sown
the wind; we will surely reap the whirlwind.
Hope and Gratitude: I’m grateful to the Press Club of Sikkim
for recognizing my work and honouring me on this very special day. This is the
time and the moment to renew our pledge for a strong, united, free and
independent Press in the State.
On this special day I
want to remember those who have helped me in my three-decade-long career. Some
of them are late Chukie Tobden, Suresh Pramar, Devraj Ranjit, Tenzing Chewang
and Pema Wangchuk. I also owe a deep sense of gratitude to the Chamling
Government and to those who worked or in any way associated with my printing press
and publications.
Living the way I did is a
risky business and I want to say how happy and grateful I am to my wife
Tsering, her parents, and my four kids –
Tashi, Yangchen, Sonam and Kunga – for letting me live my life freely and
dangerously for so long.
I hope my endeavours will
light up your path and help you to bear the burden of being free and
independent in a hostile climate in the days and years to come. My message to you on this day comes from Rev. Jesse Jackson: “Stand up,
don’t bow! Stand up, don’t bow!”
On Myself: French Emperor Napoleon Bonarpate (1769-1821) once said:
“There are only two forces in the world, the sword and the spirit. In the long
run the sword will always be conquered by the spirit.”
I have already said “I have
accepted the death of my dreams” a few years back and I stand by it.
However, I have filed my
petition in the court of Khangchendzonga, Sikkim’s Guardian Deity, to seek
justice – for Sikkim, the Sikkimese people and for myself. I am still patiently
waiting for the verdict. That this award should come at this time and in the
name of our Presiding Deity is not only very auspicious but meaningful as well.
Thank you all, both for
this wonderful award and your determination to preserve the integrity, independence
and freedom of the Press in Sikkim.
July 14, 2012
SIKKIM OBSERER Editorial
TAKING A STAND
Local Press: Regaining Lost
Ground
The editor of this paper –whether he likes it or not –
finally gets some kind of recognition. The question being asked is not ‘why’ he
is getting the award but ‘why now’. This question is relevant and needs to be
explained. When the President of the Press Club of Sikkim, Bhim Rawat, rang up Sikkim Observer editor Jigme N. Kazi last
week and told him that he was being awarded this year’s Khangchendzonga Kalam
Puraskar award by the Press Club Kazi wanted to know why he was being conferred
with this award and at this time. Was it politically-motivated or has the local
Press come of age, Kazi asked. Rawat’s two colleagues, Joseph Lepcha and Bishnu
Neopany, both senior journalists in the State, met Kazi and reiterated the
Press Club’s recent efforts to regain the local media’s independent image.
While appreciating the new development within the local media, Kazi informed
them that the Press Club and its members should be ready to face any
consequences for associating themselves with a ‘black-listed journalist’, who
has been living in self-imposed exile in his own homeland for nearly three
decades mainly because he refuses to be ‘bought over’. Kazi is among the few
public figures in the State who has kept his credibility intact – personally,
professionally and politically (he ‘flirted’ with politics for a while in early
2000s but for a good cause)
However, Kazi’s
decision to accept the award will surely evoke mixed reactions. While one
gentleman close to the editor said, “They had the guts to give you the award,”
(to which the editor replied, “You have judged well.”) one senior journalist
said, “The Press Club is not as independent as its members claim.” Another
senior journalist commented: “They have finally come to their senses and
rewarded you.” And yet one contractor from North Sikkim, who is close to Kazi,
said, “Does this mean you have Chamling’s blessings?” The fact of the matter is that in Chamling’s
Sikkim all those who do not bow down to the powers-that-be are harassed or
ignored. Anyone or any organization that tries to identify itself with those
who fail to toe the official line are perceived to be digging their own grave.
While the image
of the local Press, by and large, is not too impressive there are those within
the Fourth Estate in the State who are not happy with the way the Press has
been projected and perceived in a State where dissenting voices find it very
difficult to be heard. And yet the people depend on the Press and expect it to
ventilate their grievances all the time and take on the high and mighty at
times. The Press, too, depend on the people to react and respond to situations.
It also expects the people to come to its aid when it is being attacked and
hounded by the authorities. The sad part of the story is that people keep mum
when the Press is under pressure. Did you even take the trouble to talk to Hamro Prajashakti journalists who were
beaten up in their own work places in Gangtok on July 4, 2008? Did you care to
call on this editor when his press was ransacked in early 1990, his Press
vehicles set on fire in October 2001 and June 2004 in front of his printing
press building in Gangtok? And which newspaper-reader even bothers to take a
casual glance at the ongoing economic suppression of many local newspapers,
including this paper, in the State? If the local Press is trying to set itself
free help and support must be given by the people at large. By accepting the
award Kazi has, once again, made his stand clear and sided with the foot
soldiers of freedom and democracy in Sikkim. The local Press, too, has spoken –
loud and clear.