By April Robertson

Prabuddha Lohani, an industrial engineering student from Nepal, said he is disappointed in some of the most recent Nepali national news.

Last week, prime minister Karima Begum slapped one of her employees five times for sending an old car, rather than a new car, to the airport to pick her up.

“She was acting stupid and without class,” Lohani said.

He said that the incident was not an isolated event: It is common behavior for leaders in Nepal to abuse their power.

“Another minister smashed the window of a car when the driver stopped the vehicle without telling her he was about to stop,” Lohani said.

He also remembered an incident during the reign of another minister, when a forestry officer was locked in a room for several hours because he said something the minister didn’t like.

“Everyone in Nepal is going insane from these things,” he said.

In Lohani’s opinion, the Nepali people have too many hopes and dreams but not enough direction to do achieve those goals.

“There is no law and order in the country; people are controlled by their emotions,” he said. “This (incident) is just a small picture of Nepal politics. It’s getting worse every day.”

Lohani said he thinks that the brunt of the problem is that many citizens let all the responsibilities fall to the minister or leader at the time and that they are not concerned with the greater good of Nepal.

“People need to wake up. You are the one to change things,” he said. “(Leaders) are not the people to tell us what to do; we should tell them.”

Demonstrations and protests are constant in Nepal, which is part of Lohani’s concern.

“When demonstrations are going on, there is no business, no work, so people don’t have money to feed their kids,” he said.

During these times, class time is reduced to 10 to 15 days a month and some students have to walk for hours before taking an exam.

In Nepal, there are 22 political parties. Lohani said this is because everyone has their own idea of how the government should be run, but then they are not satisfied with their leader when they realize he or she can’t fix everything.

Lohani said he doesn’t think a new constitution would help because the leaders do not follow what they write.