Written by G.Chingis
Last week, the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP) called for their XXVI congress. Usually, in a normal country with a market economy, this is not a big deal. For example, in the USA there would be a Democratic Party convention. However, if it is a country, such as the People’s Republic of China or even better, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, it will be a big event. Happy, dressed-up members of Congress will go with great enthusiasm to participate in Congressional sessions; and all ministers and high level ranking generals will go to see party leaders. It makes sense since it is every four years (time between party congresses) when poor ordinary members of the party will come and during those four years, they will not have any joy or even not be allowed to visit the Government Palace or even to visit the country’s capital. It is the same with the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party Congress.
Elected participants of the MPRP went to the Government Palace and it was a great chance to go to Ulaanbaatar. If you live in remote provinces, such as Bayan Ulgii, Uvs you can’t afford to go Ulaanbaatar city. Airfares are almost the same as if you will fly from Ulaanbaatar to Seoul.
Elected participants more than likely stayed in five star hotels. Many Mongolian officials like to say that Mongolians hate to stay in hotels, and that they prefer to stay with relatives because Mongolians have very strong ties with them. Therefore, Mongolians cannot spend even one day without meeting their relatives.
The XXVI congress of the MPRP was very traditional, even the goal of this event was to start innovation and to finish ties with the communist or revolutionary heritage. Party leaders delivered their speeches, participants were applauding them with great enthusiasm. When there were panel discussions, many participants wanted to leave. They know that speeches of party leaders are more important than speeches of ordinary participants. And this was a great time to see relatives, since the party did not allow them to stay with them. Unfortunately, General Secretary of the MPRP Mr. U. Khurelsukh warned them that they should stay in the hall unless they will be severely punished.
During the congress, there were many warnings about punishment. Severe punishment will be discharge from party membership. In the XXth century, if you were kicked from the party, it meant death. The next day you would have been fired from your job, your children would have been kicked out of schools and finally you would be asked to move out of your house. There was no private property, and housing was public and free.
Some sessions were also held behind closed doors. This might remind some of secretive regimes. The party leadership worried about some unexpected actions or some extraordinary stuff. Everything should be done according to a prepared scenario. In the XXth century MPRP’s congresses were like that. And Mongolian people had to watch this boring show all day on TV with some breaks when actor playing the Mongolian revolutionary leader D. Sukhbaatar fights in movies against the Chinese and the White Russians (FYI-there were good Russians (Red Russians) and bad Russians (White Russians). The General Secretary of the MPRP Mr. U. Khurelsukh gave a chance to Mongolian people to once again see Mr. D. Sukhbaatar played in a movie in the party congress hall.
There was one unexpected action, when there was the election of the Chairman of MPRP. Mr. U. Enkhtuvshin wanted to participate in this election. In the MPRP, the election of the party leadership usually is very straightforward. Usually there is only one candidate. Usually, party leaders will say that they want to see Mr. S. Batbold as our Chairman. Then members of the MPRP will say “yes”. You can see that it is a very simple and “clear” procedure.
So now, the MPRP is the MPP and party leaders emphasized that they want to see more of a national flavor. They missed one point though; they should invite the Dalai Lama or if it is not possible, they should invite Hamba Lama (Head of the Buddhist sect in Mongolia) and he could say that he believes that Mr. S. Batbold is the reincarnation of D. Sukhbaatar. Also, he will add that the father of S. Batbold is Mr. D. Sukhbaatar, which is a very significant sign that he is the real reincarnation.
Recently, there has been a big discussion about whether the MPP is a right wing party or a left wing party. It is a huge dilemma. If the MPP will be a left wing party, it means that the MPP was created by the former President of Mongolia, the former Chairman of the MPRP, and he who made the MPRP a member of the Socialist International. If the MPP will be a right wing party, it means that the MPP is almost like the party of Mr. B. Jargalsaikhan, former Member of Parliament and former cashmere tycoon, who established the Bourgeois Party at the beginning of the multi-party system. Maybe Mr. S. Batbold should say that he is a tycoon, and the MPP is a right wing party and forget all the archaic heritage of the MPRP and the MPP, and all of these movies where Mr. D. Sukhbaatar fights against the Chinese and the White Russians.
Unfortunately or fortunately, Mr. S. Batbold asked their party scholars, who aged from 55 to 65 to formulate the party’s new platform. Of course, they went to their tables, and these scholars found their papers from their fantastic youths when they would wake up with the book “The History of the MPRP” and later go to bed with that book.
Mr. S. Batbold belongs to a new generation, and he was reading “The History of the MPRP” for a couple of years until starting his first business. Therefore, Mr. S. Batbold is a businessman, who later became the richest person in Mongolia. He is different from Mr. S. Bayar who worked for MONTSAME (the only Mongolian state news agency) and he read “The History of the MPRP” for a long time. Therefore, Mr. S. Bayar likes topics from there like “Virgin Land” (Mongolians followed the Soviets to start growing wheat in the virgin steppes of Central Asia, which brought desertification) etc.
Therefore, the modernization of the MPRP by S. Batbold will be traditional, with communist slogans with a national flavor or in a global prospective very much like the Chinese model. The market economy with dominance of the Communist Party is the modernization of the MPRP by S. Batbold. Unfortunately, the Chinese did these 20 years ago, and now they are talking about real political reforms.
Therefore, Mongolia will go back to the beginning of XX century, when Mongolia was medieval country without industry except some Chinese and Russian owned gold mines. Mongolia expected so much from S. Batbold and his Party congress, but we received poor show with grey haired actors and old decorations.
source: The UB Post
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