Nepalese celebrate at a victory rally on the streets in Katmandu, Nepal, Wednesday, May, 28, 2008. Nepal's lawmakers abolished the monarchy and declared the country a republic Wednesday, ending 239 years of royal rule in the Himalayan nation and the world's last Hindu kingdom. In the first meeting of the newly elected assembly, led by former communist rebels, 560 lawmakers voted for the resolution with just four against. The king was given 15 days to leave his palace in central Katmandu. (AP Photo/Binod Joshi)Nepal assembly abolishes monarchy
By BINAJ GURUBACHARYA
KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — The main palace in Nepal's capital lowered the flag of the country's royal family Thursday, a day after lawmakers, led by former communist insurgents, abolished the monarchy that had reigned over the Himalayan land for 239 years.
Palace staff took down the small red standard with a flag-waving lion and replaced it with Nepal's national flag, a red banner of two triangles adorned with a sun and moon.
The changing of the flag was "a decision by the government to show that Nepal is now a republic," said a palace official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of palace rules.
An overwhelming majority of the assembly declared Nepal a republic Wednesday, sparking celebrations across the country. Thousands marched, danced and sang in the streets of Katmandu, setting off firecrackers, waving hammer-and-sickle flags and denouncing King Gyanendra as a thief.
By Thursday, the celebrations had largely tapered off with Nepalis relaxing at the start of the three-day national holiday declared to mark the country's rebirth as a republic. There were some scattered gatherings across Katmandu, and a few hundred people gathered outside the pink concrete palace, chanting "Gyanendra is a thief, leave the country!"
There was no immediate reaction to the abolition of the throne from the dour 61-year-old former monarch, who remained silent in recent months as it became apparent that his days as king were numbered.
Gyanendra now has 15 days to quit the 1970s-era palace and move to his large private residence in the city — or face the possibility of being removed by force.
Gyanendra assumed the throne after his brother, the late King Birendra, and much of the royal family was slain at a palace gathering allegedly by the crown prince, who then killed himself.
The killings helped pierce the mystique surrounding a line of kings who had once been revered as reincarnations of the Hindu god Vishnu, and Gyanendra was dogged by rumors that he was somehow involved in the massacre.
His popularity only further plummeted after he seized power from a civilian government in 2005, saying he needed total authority to crush the Maoists.
Instead, he found himself beset by an intensifying insurgency and a faltering economy.
A year later, weeks of massive protests forced Gyanendra to restore democracy, after which the Maoists came out of the bush and began peace talks.
An interim government, meanwhile, slowly stripped away the trappings of a kingdom. Gyanendra lost command of the army, his portrait was replaced by Mount Everest on the currency and references to the king dropped from the national anthem.
Then came April's vote for the assembly in which the fiercely republican Maoists won the most seats, all but sealing the fate of the dynasty, which dates to 1769 when a regional ruler conquered Katmandu and united Nepal.
But now that the monarchy is finished no one is certain what comes next.
While the Maoists say they are committed capitalists and have no intention of nationalizing industries or setting up collective farms, they have promised to bring sweeping change to this largely impoverished country.
But they are struggling to form a government. Wednesday's opening assembly session was delayed for hours while they wrangled with other political parties over who should be president and what powers he should have. At the end of the day, they still had no deal.
It may also be difficult to fashion lasting peace in Nepal, where supporters of every major political party — the Maoists foremost among them — have been linked to killings since the start of the peace process.
Palace staff took down the small red standard with a flag-waving lion and replaced it with Nepal's national flag, a red banner of two triangles adorned with a sun and moon.
The changing of the flag was "a decision by the government to show that Nepal is now a republic," said a palace official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of palace rules.
An overwhelming majority of the assembly declared Nepal a republic Wednesday, sparking celebrations across the country. Thousands marched, danced and sang in the streets of Katmandu, setting off firecrackers, waving hammer-and-sickle flags and denouncing King Gyanendra as a thief.
By Thursday, the celebrations had largely tapered off with Nepalis relaxing at the start of the three-day national holiday declared to mark the country's rebirth as a republic. There were some scattered gatherings across Katmandu, and a few hundred people gathered outside the pink concrete palace, chanting "Gyanendra is a thief, leave the country!"
There was no immediate reaction to the abolition of the throne from the dour 61-year-old former monarch, who remained silent in recent months as it became apparent that his days as king were numbered.
Gyanendra now has 15 days to quit the 1970s-era palace and move to his large private residence in the city — or face the possibility of being removed by force.
Gyanendra assumed the throne after his brother, the late King Birendra, and much of the royal family was slain at a palace gathering allegedly by the crown prince, who then killed himself.
The killings helped pierce the mystique surrounding a line of kings who had once been revered as reincarnations of the Hindu god Vishnu, and Gyanendra was dogged by rumors that he was somehow involved in the massacre.
His popularity only further plummeted after he seized power from a civilian government in 2005, saying he needed total authority to crush the Maoists.
Instead, he found himself beset by an intensifying insurgency and a faltering economy.
A year later, weeks of massive protests forced Gyanendra to restore democracy, after which the Maoists came out of the bush and began peace talks.
An interim government, meanwhile, slowly stripped away the trappings of a kingdom. Gyanendra lost command of the army, his portrait was replaced by Mount Everest on the currency and references to the king dropped from the national anthem.
Then came April's vote for the assembly in which the fiercely republican Maoists won the most seats, all but sealing the fate of the dynasty, which dates to 1769 when a regional ruler conquered Katmandu and united Nepal.
But now that the monarchy is finished no one is certain what comes next.
While the Maoists say they are committed capitalists and have no intention of nationalizing industries or setting up collective farms, they have promised to bring sweeping change to this largely impoverished country.
But they are struggling to form a government. Wednesday's opening assembly session was delayed for hours while they wrangled with other political parties over who should be president and what powers he should have. At the end of the day, they still had no deal.
It may also be difficult to fashion lasting peace in Nepal, where supporters of every major political party — the Maoists foremost among them — have been linked to killings since the start of the peace process.
8 comments:
well, not all monarchy are perfect; some are good, some are bad, some are successful, some are failure as well. it is the bad and the failed ones that is not good for a country. always choose wisely. god bless.
Whatch out for Moais dude gorkhan!
At least they don't live next to YOUN. If they live by YOUN like us when the Pol Pot took power they will infiltrate YOUN spies and agents with the black clads and slaughter us Cambodian and pointing fingers toward Cambodian leaders. Thats what the YOUN did. And even now they pretend to be our rescuer and mass their people into to Cambodia with HUN SEN as a puppet and blindly as Cambodia leader without seeing mass flow of YOUN people flowing in. HUN SEN must wake up or Cambodia will be the next Champa or Kampuchea Krom. To not this happen we Khmer must vote for Sam Rainsy. All Khmer will win and stop the flow of YOUN people inside our country. Khmer stand up! United we will be strong!!
Bullshit, it is Ah Khmer-Yuon who had been destroying Cambodia and the region for century, but they will be brought to justice one way or another. Indochinese people will not let any Ah Khmer-Yuon goes unpunished for crime against humanity.
And you Viet parasite @ 3:18 AM that pretends to be Khmer speaking for Khmer here must be castrated and your dick will be fed to a cancerous dog, got that you Viet parasite?
Vietcong go home!
The world sees and knows the true color of the Viet already!!!
Haha.. Nepal has never tasted Communism, they will taste after dancing on the street.
With 1.2 billion Chinese Nepal will soon be infiltrated by the Chinese without even using force like in Tibet.
Just see how many of Chinese migrate into Norht Vietnam.
Vietnamese in North are majority Chinese.
Just like in Bangkok, Thais today are Thai/Chinese. The real Thais are in poor remote areas.
Remember the Indonesian riot against Indonesian/Chinese? Chinese crawling faster than Youn parasite. They keep coming into every island in Southeast Asia and they already took a piece of land from Malaysia now Singapore.
In Burma near Burma-China border and Lao-China border are million Chinese, and the Junta/Hanoi can't say anything. Junta is in power because of China.
A few Nepalis chanting on street means that the rest are feared by the Communists after they learned 38 million Chinese were killed after dancing on the street.
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