The Asian tigers learned to ride tri-cycles first, then learned how to ride a pony before they found themselves prepared to attend the annual Derby. Since all the Asian tigers were authritarian rulers, they did not have to paint a rosy picture to the people and give them false hopes. They did not come to power saying "i'll turn Singapore or South Korea into Japan or America".. they knew their limitations, they knew they had to first create a system, build a nation from the scatch, then embark on the journey to economic reforms. They might not have thought that economic reforms lead to political liberalization.. Political liberalziation came as a bonus. And they are now, more or less liberal democracies. Their people are not angry like our's. Their hopes, aspirations and dreams weren't crushed time and again. Our people are angry, our people are hungry and our people are frustrated, and to make the matters worse, our people are divided now. And you expect to have a functioning democracy in Nepal? I don't. I say, first give them food. Then ecducation. Once your physical and intellectual hunger is addressed, you become more calm, more thoughtful in choosing your leaders. Why do you think many intellectuals opposed the elections in Iraq? They saw a divided society, an angry society taht would have chosen angry representtaives, who in turn would have kept people divided and angry to prove his/her legitimacy. Label me undemocratic. I think in this age of freedom and liberty, rights and representation, I sound like someone from the 17th century. I tend to believe in a phase wise manner, not an all out. So I say, let's deal with the corruption that has institutionalized in Nepali bureacucary first. Then move towards economic reforms. Let's give people the means to satisfy their physical hunger first. Prmote education. Then you get civil society. Civil society and a strong middle class consumer base is what we need if we want a fully functioning democracy in 20 eayrs time. Its not going to happen overnight. And to reach to taht stage, the state has to be stable. It has to be consistent. It has to be strong. It has to be sensible. Maybe with this Feb.1 move, we are moving towards becoming less corrupt, stable, consistent and sensible. This is why, I don't find it necessary to denounce the new arrangement outright. I will wait and watch. If the new system can help a Ram Bahadur from Rolpa eat two meals a day without having his relatives send him money from Hongkong or Malaysia, I will give this system a 5 star rating. If the new system can make a Hari Prasad from lamjung- whether through coersion or other emans- send his daughters to school, I will give this system a 5 star rating. mero bhannu yeti ho...!!