Inilah sebagian jurnal perjalanan saya selama di Nepal dalam rangka field study dan internship untuk program Master yang saya ikuti.
Mengapa saya di Nepal dan kenapa Nepal? Nepal adalah sebuah negara yang terletak di antara China dan India. Negara ini terkenal dengan puncak gunung tertingginya yakni Himalaya. Juga terkenal dengan lokasi-lokasi trekking dengan pemandangan yang indah serta orang Sherpa yang tinggal di daerah-daerah pegunungan. Saya berada di Nepal dalam rangka memenuhi syarat studi saya di jurusan Participation, Power and Social Change (PPSC) di Institute of Development Studies (IDS), Brighton, Inggris. Program studi PPSC ini berbeda dari jurusan-jurusan lainnya di IDS dan mungkin di universitas lainnya di Inggris. Masa studinya selama 18 bulan dengan perincian 3 bulan pertama kami belajar di kelas mengenai teori-teori, methodology, tools dan berdiskusi mengenai development studies dan isu-isu social lainnya. Selanjutnya, selama jangka waktu 12 bulan berikutnya kami akan melakukan Work Based Learning (WBL) atau semacam penelitian sambil magang/kerja/volunteer di sebuah organisasi atau lembaga yang berkaitan dengan isu yang akan dibahas. Lalu, setelah WBL kami akan kembali ke kelas selama 3 bulan sambil menuliskan disertasi penelitian yang telah dilakukan.
Saya memilih Nepal karena negara ini baru saja beralih dari system monarki menjadi Federal Republik. Dalam masa peralihan ini, banyak konflik terjadi dan memakan korban yang tidak sedikit. Berikut adalah cuplikan dari Analytical Paper saya mengenai sejarah singkat politik di Nepal.
As a new republic which also in its transitional phase from monarchy to republic, Nepal is experiencing political conflict for many years and it somehow influences social structure of youth and society (Whelpton, 2005). Nepal is a landlocked country and the world’s youngest republic. It is bordered to the north by People’s Republic of China and to the east, south and west by the Republic of India. Located between two giant countries has influenced social, culture and politics of Nepal. Geography is the main determinant in their relationships. For instance, the conflict between China and Tibet has strained the diplomatic balance with Nepal and India. The tension in Nepal’s border was increasing after the violence to Tibetan protesters by Chinese police in 2008 (www.nytimes.com).
There has been rapid political change in Nepal in the last two decades. Nepal was ruled by monarchy in most of its history. From 1846 until 1953, the Rana dynasty ruled the Kingdom of Nepal and making Prime Minister and other government positions hereditary. In 1959, the monarch created a ‘partyless’ pancayat system which governed Nepal until 1989 when ‘Jan Andolan” (People’s Movement) successfully made the monarchy to admit constitutional reforms and to establish a multiparty parliament which took place in 1991. (Brown, 1996)
In 1996, Nepal Civil War happened and killed more than 12.000 people as a result of replacement of the royal parliamentary system to a people’s socialist republic. A decade later, in April 2006, a democratic movement was took place which led to the king’s agreement to give the power to people. On 28 December 2007, Nepal was ending its 240-year-old monarchy and declaring a federal democratic republic. On 23 July 2008, Ram Baran Yadav became the first president of Nepal. However, the political tensions and power conflicts still continued in Nepal after the election. Madhav Kumar Nepal from the Communist Party of Nepal was elected on May 2009 as the Prime Minister of coalition government after his predecessor prime minister, Prachanda, resigned due to conflict with the president. (Whelpton, 2005, www.cnn.com, 2008).
