my take on the results of the election
Note: This is not much more than a personal rant. For serious information, eyewitness accounts, etc. try here, here, here, here, or your favourite news site. For some additional pictures, try here or here.
When I went to work this morning, I met my neighbour in the lift. He immediatly asked what is up with Mongolia - he knows where Uudraa is from - and I, half jokingly, replied that one of the parties was set up because they lost the elections. At that point I did not yet know that people had been killed.
Let me first point out that I am extremely cynical towards the claims of the DP. They found out that they fared worse than expected, and began throwing around accusations. This is no unfamiliar pattern, the MPRP in 2004 did roughly the same. The night after the election the DP had still been confident that they might succeed even in places like Zavhan or Uvs. I still remember the post from the currently shutdown olloo.mn website, with the invitation to watch the Eurocup finals at the DP Headquarters. Just too bad they apparently did not realize how the German team did not accuse the Spaniards or the referee of cheating, and how the German fans did not start to riot.
Is this a conflict between communism and democracy, or corruption and transparency? Hardly. At best it is a fight between two groups of businessmen. At least this time Erel and Buyan won't have their seats in parliament. Golomt seems to have made it, though. Unfortunately, I have to agree with bilguun at asiangypsy that this turn of events is not entirely surprising. With parties that, even if hardly distinct, treat each other like the scum of the earth and are always happy to accuse each other of every possible kind of malice - at least so long as they do not form a coalition - it's no surprise that supporters get carried away at some point. Add a number of (probably) bored young men and alcohol, and political hooliganism seems not so much out-of-place.
As for the riots themselves, it seems as if this could all have been better contained by a police better trained and equipped for crowd control. It might also have helped if some of the "leaders" had gone out and tried to defuse the situation. I have seen this work in Germany, I don't think it would have made the situation worse in Mongolia. But maybe they were not sufficiently confident of their leadership qualities.*
What else can one say? I just hope people begin to realize that mudslinging and violence are no ways of conflict resolution in democratic society, and that the country one day gets honest and competent leaders.
For those who read German, someone has posted a much more enjoyable rant here.
*Update July 5th: In a letter previously posted on Thomas Terry's blog, Elbegdorj said that he actually spoke to protesters four times - but apparently to those on Sükhbaatar Square, not to those in front of the MPRP building.
Last sentence ("For those who read German ...") slightly rephrased for clarity.
When I went to work this morning, I met my neighbour in the lift. He immediatly asked what is up with Mongolia - he knows where Uudraa is from - and I, half jokingly, replied that one of the parties was set up because they lost the elections. At that point I did not yet know that people had been killed.
Let me first point out that I am extremely cynical towards the claims of the DP. They found out that they fared worse than expected, and began throwing around accusations. This is no unfamiliar pattern, the MPRP in 2004 did roughly the same. The night after the election the DP had still been confident that they might succeed even in places like Zavhan or Uvs. I still remember the post from the currently shutdown olloo.mn website, with the invitation to watch the Eurocup finals at the DP Headquarters. Just too bad they apparently did not realize how the German team did not accuse the Spaniards or the referee of cheating, and how the German fans did not start to riot.
Is this a conflict between communism and democracy, or corruption and transparency? Hardly. At best it is a fight between two groups of businessmen. At least this time Erel and Buyan won't have their seats in parliament. Golomt seems to have made it, though. Unfortunately, I have to agree with bilguun at asiangypsy that this turn of events is not entirely surprising. With parties that, even if hardly distinct, treat each other like the scum of the earth and are always happy to accuse each other of every possible kind of malice - at least so long as they do not form a coalition - it's no surprise that supporters get carried away at some point. Add a number of (probably) bored young men and alcohol, and political hooliganism seems not so much out-of-place.
As for the riots themselves, it seems as if this could all have been better contained by a police better trained and equipped for crowd control. It might also have helped if some of the "leaders" had gone out and tried to defuse the situation. I have seen this work in Germany, I don't think it would have made the situation worse in Mongolia. But maybe they were not sufficiently confident of their leadership qualities.*
What else can one say? I just hope people begin to realize that mudslinging and violence are no ways of conflict resolution in democratic society, and that the country one day gets honest and competent leaders.
For those who read German, someone has posted a much more enjoyable rant here.
*Update July 5th: In a letter previously posted on Thomas Terry's blog, Elbegdorj said that he actually spoke to protesters four times - but apparently to those on Sükhbaatar Square, not to those in front of the MPRP building.
Last sentence ("For those who read German ...") slightly rephrased for clarity.
posted by yan at 6:07 PM
4 Comments:
Btw, olloo.mn is back online.
"Is this a conflict between communism and democracy, or corruption and transparency? Hardly. At best it is a fight between two groups of businessmen." - True it is. Imagine how much money they are going to "make" during this parliament term. MPRP will be the ruling majority in the parliament for another decade for sure, if people won't stop selling their votes for $10.
Have to agree with you. I wrote a rant on my blog in a similar vein in that period.
Instead of torching the MPRP head office or the Opera House or the Cultural Palace, they could have chosen the as yet still under construction WTC on Sukhbaatar Square. Eye sore as it is, I wouldn't have minded seeing it in flames.
OK, I'm going too far. Arson can never be justified, but can someone please get rid of that building?
Where can one find profile information of any and all MPs in Mongolia? Where they are from, what their business interest and investments are, what they claim as their political stands and agendas, academics, etc...? Is there any site that catalogs and archives transcripts on parliment sessions or voting history of individual MPs?
Please provide a post on this as it might be of interest to others or reply direct to ISTJay@hotmail.com
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home