Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Open Letter to the Collective Leadership of the Kuki National Organisation & all concerned on any-Kuki tribes.

To,

Respected leaders & all concerned,

I am afraid this might pose to be very hard questions to all of you and your organization. However, I am constrained to get clarified to know officially as to how you and your organization endorse the generic term Kuki - whether as a tribe or as a nation. I am aware that the KNO was and is still, either covertly or overtly, blindly advocating the newly recognized any-Kuki tribes and that your spokesperson, Dr.Seilen was and is still campaigning for the same wholeheartedly. It is rather perplexing and absurd when he talks about Kuki nationalism and so what´s the use of it. Being one amongst who converted the nation into a tribe, he has lost all his rights to talk about Kuki nationalism or Kuki expansion unless he restores it as a nation again. The same applies to all other anti-national within the nation. However, I am not sure whether he did it in his capacity as spokesperson of the KNO or as an individual or as hired by the manipulator. I am also aware and appreciate that your organization is, at the same time, pursuing Kuki national movement to resurrect the lost glory of the nation. But, many like me wonder whether your movement was really national or instead a movement for tribe recognition. Either the movement has to be real national in all its nature and character or the word national replaced by tribe. If it has to be not national one then, with the recognition of the any-Kuki tribes your movement is over and as such, you along with all your associates have to pack up and go to take rest peacefully under the roof of your master´s palace depositing all the national properties to the owner(nation) for use in the continued Kuki national movement. So soon shall the nation see the rise of new phase of true Kuki nationalism - not necessarily armed one! A very big question by the Kuki nation and its people on the meaning of your national movement!

Thus, let me draw your kind attention to ask you few questions as below in public interest:

1. To you, what is Kuki? Is it a tribe or a nation?
2. Is Kuki for all the Kukis or for only one man? Or does it belong to one particular man or few and the rest to be under his rule or does it belong to all the Kukis?
3. Was your movement for the Kuki tribe recognition? If not then, what is the official stance of the KNO on the issue of any Kuki tribes?
4. What does Kuki nationalism mean to you and your organization?
5. Whether you still endorse the artificial any-Kuki tribes Kuki or disown it? Or whether you endorse the 22 Kuki tribes Kuki which is the genuine, real and original one?

If you endorse the former i.e., any Kuki tribes which is actually One-man´s Kuki:
(a) Would you please make it public the coverage area of your demand for a Kuki state, excluding the area inhabited by the 22 (twenty two) Kuki tribes
(b) the approximate Kuki population within your demand area excluding the population of 22 (twenty) Kuki tribes? And how will you legitimize your stance or position before the government of India on your political demand with regard to the people and the land?

Please don´t make any mistake saying that any Kuki tribes is inclusive of all the existing 22 tribes for, the 22 tribes remains intact as they are (and will remain so even if heaven falls) and as such, one cannot say they are included in the any-Kuki tribes because that is not logical or practicable in the sense that it itself is a tribe parallel to anyone of the existing Kuki tribes say, Aimol, Thadou, Zou etc. Thus, this is nothing but a worthless and harmful appendix which, if exploded, would kill the human being. So, it has to be surgically or anyhow removed immediately before it is too late and before it kills the human being including the soul. Can Kuki as a tribe have a separate state or can each of the 22 Kuki tribes have different state of its own?

However, if you endorse the latter i.e., the 22 Kuki tribes as one Kuki; how and what can you say to convince the people? What is your idea to do away with the former i.e., any Kuki tribes and what have you done towards it? What´s your plan to reinstate Kuki as a nation as much as it should rightly be? As any Kuki tribes is said to be the brainchild of a (who many call wrongly or rightly a warmonger) reverend pastor and implemented by your organization through the then Member of Parliament, you and your organization as a whole also equally, as the other two, is accountable to it and you cannot simply wash your hands of it. Now, you and your associates will have to pay a tremendous price for it while others or for that matter, the master manipulator may enjoy reaping the fruit of the sacrifice you made so big-heartedly for Kuki to be a tribe. It is a pity that you and your organization is just the scapegoat. If you don´t rectify soon you shall be outcast from your clan, tribe, and also from the larger community, the Kuki society itself.

Of late, the Kuki nation has so much of problems to contend with; the first and foremost being to check and protect it against any subversive design or activity to undermine its identity or its very existence. The attempt to murder the nation is too serious a matter to tolerate and so, the nation shall no longer tolerate it and remain a silent spectator, but shall be compelled to take appropriate action to save itself at any cost. The nation is definitely and increasingly on the wrong track owing to the powerful anti-national ideology which is not from outside but from within itself, and for rectification such evil ideology has to be rooted out from the soil howsoever it is deeply rooted in, and thrown away deep into the sea never to resurface along with the contaminated soil.

Preserving the identity of each and every Kuki tribe is equally important as protecting that of Kuki. Trampling upon the identity of any of the Kuki tribes amounts to trampling upon Kuki identity itself. And when the identity of all the Kuki tribes is trampled upon everything of Kuki is lost. There is no question of one being pro-Thadou and anti-Kuki or vice versa. A Thadou cannot be pro-Thadou but just Thadou, and a Kuki not pro-Kuki but just Kuki. No doubt, Thadous being the most numerous amongst the Kuki tribes must shoulder the responsibility of protecting Kuki national interest. But this should not mean that they are the only Kuki, but just one among equals and thus, lead in opening the doors wide open for all Kukis to come back into the fold. As such, Thadous to remain intact as it is (as one among the 22 tribes) is of paramount importance. In the like manner, the nation should shoulder the responsibility of maintaining each and every 22 tribe intact just as it is without any altering or adulterating.

"Dividing the Semite people by confusing their languages for building the tower of Babel to challenge God, as found in the Genesis, may be the work of God to humble them, but dividing people who speak and who will speak the same language/ dialect may not be his work, but that of his rival." So one must pause for few more moments and retrospect where they are headed for before leaving. Even as the nation is in the process of reunification, it takes the pain to dissuade a section of the Thadous from leaving its tribe and its nation(Kuki) in the larger interest. This is in line with the principle of mutual respect and peaceful co-existence within the larger Kuki community and the nation with others. This is what reverends and spiritual leaders should be in the forefront of promoting and preach about rather than promoting division and misunderstanding amongst his own people for self interest.

When one has been christened a name by their parents would it be logical or useful to clamour for change of it. However, if anyone says it should be then, let him first change his first name as well as the second name in every documents and certificates. Let us not forget that at the time of tribe recognition in 1956 the word Thadou was unanimously adopted to be the name of the tribe by all who speak the same dialect( now known as Thadou) in honour of his being the King of then Burma for generations. So, this should not at all be a problem or else the term Kuki itself, being a foreign tongue, would be even more a problem. We all should refrain from giving undue importance to being elder or younger or the name of a person. Or else endless problem! "For the nation to survive as a nation as ever and for ever, tribe must be advocated by one and all on linguistic basis (as already recognized), otherwise it has to be understood that it is a dead corpse walking in the form of spirit only."

For the record, proponents of any-Kuki tribes write their tribe name simply as `Kuki tribe´ unmindful of what the term `Kuki´ means and in total disregard for the nation when they take tribe certificate. This amounts to making mockery of the nation at the highest level. This is possible due to the nature of the name of the tribe itself. If they wish so, they may write one man´s Kuki, but not Kuki as a tribe. This is not surprising as this was the hidden agenda/approach or real intention of the inventor who mysteriously claim to have a super natural origin history unlike any other human being or group of people in the world, except Adam and not even Jesus Christ - thus, a big question mark making it to be the most sensational topic or story in the history of anthropology. All have to be crystal clear without any mistake that as the very term any-Kuki tribes means that there is no other Kuki tribes except what is within it. This implies there is no other Kuki or to be specific disowning the existing 22 tribes including the Thadous. Thus without any further argument it is nothing but a single separate tribe parallel to anyone of the 22 Kuki tribes.

So, where is the justification of Kuki not being made a tribe under the new term? Neither your approach nor Dr. Seilen´s is logical or practicable because a clan within a tribe can never be a tribe nor can there be the same tribe within a tribe or a tribe within the same tribe. I am Haokip by clan, Thadou by tribe and Kuki by nation/nomenclature. Remember that even all of your own clansmen, except some vested interest hallucinated with reactionary ideology by the great hallucinator, are vehemently opposed to it. It is just felt that the vested interest will come back to their consciousness very soon. So, going by the definition of the new term of Kuki as in `any-Kuki tribes´, it (Kuki) has become the smallest tribe perhaps, in the world. In every sense of the term it is divisive, narrow, destructive, disintegrating, self-inflicting and most importantly, impracticable and illogical.

Therefore, I suggest you to do some basic reading on basic structure of a society or a nation or for that matter, nationalism. When even an illiterate person can understand these basics on his own, it is most amazing people of your standing not being able to do so - perhaps, due to influence of the powerful hallucination. Sadly, Kuki society has been badly damaged not by lay people, but by so-called doctorate degree holders - Bible translation in Thadou dialect labeled `in Kuki´ and worse Kuki recognized as a tribe now. Make no mistake; Kuki has no dialect or language. No wonder then that opponents or critics of the any-Kuki tribes are simply being dubbed `anti-Kuki´ by anti-national reactionaries for reasons best known to themselves. But the fact is that, due to influence of the said hallucination, they cannot understand the Kuki basics - who are the Kukis & what is Kuki?

"When a nation (Kuki) cannot be a tribe and a clan a tribe, any-Kuki tribes, in its true sense of the term, means a tribeless tribe."

So, this is nothing but a well thought-out clever design to destroy Kuki as national identity and the integrity of major clans within the Thadou tribe, and to make it the name of a mysterious (sub)clan. It is no problem at all and it is up to himself if one cannot accept a particular tribe name despite being so much - speaking the tongue and practicing the custom, culture and the tradition, but he should not make Kuki something like a plaything of his own, making mockery of himself and the entire nation. This is exactly what matters and the nation should not hesitate to reserve the right to take its own course of action against such a wishful idea(s) to undermine the very existence of the nation. The nation shall prevent any such vested interest from owning Kuki nation as his or their personal property and any such attempt shall be crushed by the nation with all its might and resources.

Very very much against the law of the nature, you have supposedly made Kuki to be two different identities - one as a nation and the other a tribe. There is no other choice to make but only between the two - any Kuki tribes or 22 Kuki tribes, or Kuki as a tribe or as a nation/nomenclature. However, the truth is that there cannot be two or more or many Kuki, but one and I repeat, just only one Kuki - 1X22 (Kuki X 22 tribes) no minus no plus, nothing more nothing less! And one person cannot belong to both of them, but either of them. Hence, your organization must, explicitly and in no uncertain term, make an official declaration of your stance on it otherwise, the matter will be automatically brought up for serious discussion on the table when dialogue for Kuki political demand begins with the government and a case made against your organization on the issue. Would it be really worth shouting at the top of the voice for a separate Kuki state excluding the said 22 (Aimol-Zou) Kuki tribes? Where is Zalengam situated and what is its size excluding the land inhabited by the 22 Kuki tribes and what is its population excluding them?

Clan should remain as a clan (not even as sub tribe), tribe as a tribe and nation/nomenclature as it is. Clan may be by birth or blood, but tribe and nation is not necessarily so. This is truest in the context of Kuki nation and there can never be anything vice versa and any attempt to distort it would be just in vain - this is what all have to be clear about. In this regard, you owe explanation to the Kuki nation and also to your counterparts within your own organization. Any one in Manipur state who says he is a Kuki can be so only through one of the 22 tribes and not anyway else. No backdoors. And anyone within the fold of the 22 tribes is a Kuki and not any alien.

As regards my idea of 22 Kuki tribes or for that matter, Kuki reunification, let me set the record straight once again as it is often misinterpreted: No Kuki nationalist would ever think even for a moment or say that all Kuki activities have to stop until and unless all the 22 Kuki tribes can endorse it, but all of them have to be correctly in line with Kuki national interest. Kuki activities must go alongside as actively as the unification process and neither of them can stop. And, there cannot be any substitute to Kuki as name of nomenclature. The so-called Zomi, according to me, is a temporary alternative arrangement for other Kuki tribes which were not accommodated in the Kuki fold. One cannot enter a room if and when the door is tightly shut from the inside. So, either the door has to open from inside or get it opened from the outside - if necessary with force. The former is much desirable than the latter. So, there has to be visible real
initiatives on the part of every Kuki organizations in opening the big door - like the legendary Lenchonghoi´s door inside which when we all Kukis once get in, no force (even Khalvompu) would be able to attack us. Then, it will be quite natural about their comeback into its real and original fold again. I am optimistic about materialization of this vision for Kuki reunification. So, it is desirable it is not being misinterpreted as otherwise for the sake of Kuki nation.

Despite the attempts to sabotage it, the process of rebuilding of the wretched Kuki nation is already set in motion and is on the right track; and will move on until we all can celebrate its success in jubilation. This process is not as difficult as to scale Mt. Everest, but as easy and as simple as to be able to understand the difference between clan and tribe, tribe and nation, or between right and wrong. However, it would not be surprising that people who have been brainwashed by anti-unification or reactionary ideology will, under the guidance of the ideologues, continue to ring out aloud alarm bell against the noble idea of unification or revolution, yet it will go on against all odds and Kuki will once again be rightly reinstated as a nation - a great nation and no force on earth will be able to stop it.

Amid all these developments, "The good message of hope and love for all is: no worries and cause for concern; any Thadou who says he is not so despite being so much is not bound to give taxes, but instead welcomed to take the ownership of it as a free gift like the `MANNA´ given to the Israelites by God in the desert (Deu. chapter 8). So is anyone who had left and who tries to leave the fold of Kuki nation. So, it should be accepted with good grace just as it is and not as otherwise. However, if anyone still wishes to reject it and leave and invent a different tribe then, nobody can stop; but let him first invent its own distinct name, distinct dialect, distinct custom & culture, distinct tradition and new and distinct composition, but not steal others´. And most importantly, not steal the nation´s name - Kuki, but invent one new." Blessed shall be the person who accept the MANNA with good grace!

Let´s be simple: just as the Lord wants us to go to him just as we are, so does the nation (Kuki) wants us to approach it just as we are (as one amongst the 22 tribes). "Come just as you are is the theme or clarion call of the Kuki nation".
However, one option may be available; if at all there has to be any addition of Kuki tribes, it has to be something like "any other Kuki tribe(s) excluding the existing 22 tribes" meaning other Kuki tribe(s) other than the existing 22 tribes. This would imply that there is also other Kuki tribe(s) besides the original 22 tribes. This would be a sort of reservation for non-indigenous Kukis (who wish to adopt Kuki as its nomenclature) to be integrated into the fold of Kuki just as Nagas did in Nagaland - the any Naga tribes. Moreover, this would also serve as a policy of Kuki expansion. Anything excluding the 22 Kuki tribes can never be called Kuki expansion, but depression. However, if this still cannot be the option then, those who don´t want to be within the fold of existing 22 tribes would be most welcomed to leave the land where Kuki constitutes 22 tribes and go somewhere else where there is any-Kuki tribes instead of fomenting more troubles/communalism.

So as to save your organization, (which will sooner or later be rocked by the issue) not to speak of the Kuki nation, you ought to retrospect and wake up sooner than later from illusion and rectify yourself and your organization and start supporting Kuki reunification (not necessarily meaning supporting any particular organization´s ideology), disowning the fictitious One-man´s Kuki before it is too late. Or else, you will see your organization crumbling and finally vanished, to the point of no return, sooner than expected and that will haunt you for the rest of your life. If anyone is a party to the fictitious Kuki he is against the entire nation; but if for the real Kuki he is blessed to be with the nation. At present, the nation stands sharply divided between One-man´s Kuki and Kuki nation or fictitious Kuki and real Kuki. The best solution for the nation to survive peacefully is complete removal of the harmful appendix before it explodes and for every Kuki to endorse status quo(ante) of Kuki i.e., the one consisting of the 22 tribes so as to reinstate Kuki as a great nation as much as it deserves. No regrets later. Every Kuki has the bounded duty to save the Kuki nation from sinking like the gigantic Titanic ship into the Atlantic Ocean never to be seen again in the face of the world as it was.

All are welcome into the real Kuki fold. The choice is yours. Better late than never!

(Any-Kuki tribes, in all its sense, nature and form is not worth even the paper on which it is written. It is, in fact, an open challenge to the Kuki nation in the most direct manner and so, those responsible might have to go through a purge before the nation unless they repent and get rectified)

Please do not take this as an offence, but as honest questions and ideas to save the nation from sinking.
Anticipating your kind response. Direct answer from person(s) concerned is desirable.

Regards,

Timothy Haokip, New Delhi
KUKIFORUM

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