Is it http://www.kuknalim.com promoting tribalism & in favor of the non- Nagas?
Doubtless that Kukna-lim.com was launched with a good intention to expose the Naga culture and customs and to interact with the people around the world. However, do they still have their good intention? The site administrator seems always supporting the view point of non-Nagas regardless of their ignorance about the Naga history, culture, custom, pain and feeling that exist in the heart of the Nagas. One of the important aspects is the promotion of tribalism in the site. When we go through the forum in the site, we find the criticism of one another tribe instead of trying to promote oneness or unity amongst the Nagas.
Firstly, one of the main members, nick name “Ratatattat” writes about the NSCN as, “Gun toting extortionists….the only thing they’ve learnt is how to stay in power. What betterment has the outfit done for the people?…. apart from a anti-crime bureau?!! …..funny…i though extortion was a crime.”
Secondly, Kukna-lim.com is one of the sites, which was hosted some years back and many Naga people visit the site and there are many young writers who write for the Nagas. But they seem so ignorant about the important of Naga issues. Today if we go and check it in their site, we’ll find that most of the articles posted in that site are not related to Naga issues and they do not accept the articles related to Naga issues. We don’t have any problem whether they have only one contributor or many contributors. However ignoring all the articles which are related to Naga issues and not posting any article related to Naga issues clearly show their true color.
Thirdly, one of the http://www.kuknalim.com members posted a picture in a thread under the title “Funny Pictures”. The picture carries the incident of 2005 in Mumbai where a Naga girl was killed instantly and another girl was wounded very badly with knife by an alleged lunatic. But the site administrator claimed that it is a gross picture; it should not be posted such kind of Naga picture. However there is not any problem if we post such kind of similar International or National pictures. Here the question arise with the members is that why we can’t post any Naga picture and related Naga issues picture when we can post similar national and international picture, which have nothing to related to Naga issues?
Fourthly, promoting tribalism through criticizing one another tribe is commonly found in the site. Outspoken one of the Naga intellectual persons from Delhi writes, as …. “u ass Tangkhuls blood thirsty fanatic, murderous, extortionist and land grabbers.. get out and forget integration before its too late and take Muviah with u when u go out. and all the Tangkhuls in Nagalands.. sala the Tangkhuls have their own colony in Dimapur,…they r becoming richer (through their means of livelihood-extortion) now they have reached Kohima too…beware of the tricks of Tangkhuls..”
In reply to above post, another Guest writes as, “hey man, your write up is great…..i appreciate your truthfulness. The Tangkhuls are for no good to the Nagas. They are bunch of thugs, murderers, extortionist…..”
Another Guest writes on Tangkhul and Maos as, “who said Maos are Nagas?…in Kohima all the thieves are Maos and no one wants them…look at them thieves, and Tangkhuls are no better too. Thieves and murderers…Tenyimi did not include Maos, but they forced themselves into the union. and we reluctantly let them into the union.. and now they claim to be one of us. Bull shits. They Meities don’t want the Tangkhuls and Maos and the Nagas don’t want them either… where will they go?”
A thread under the title “Why I hate Tangkhuls?” had started again by Tangkhul_basher and writes as, “Just who the hell you think u r guys??? i cant stand u guys anymore… u rob us, kill us, extortionists… creating trouble in our land… destroy our properties… rob our hard earned money….what is naga integration??? fck the integration issue… no chance in hell… get out of Naga-land…murderers..rapist …thief….extortionist..lets also take a poll …how many Nagas of Nagaland want integration of Nagalnd with Tangkhul and Maos???” These are only a few citing the example, however if we go to their site, we can find many things more posted by different persons.
Well, why such kind of hatred is promoting in this site? Is that promoting hatred or just a freedom of expression to criticize one another tribe? Do you think we need to discuss like, “Why I hate tangkhuls?” Tangkhuls! Oh no not again” etc
One of the latest burning topic discussions is “Is Tangkhul belongs to Naga?” Do we need to discuss such kind of discussion in the forum? Yun Newbie writes, “Well, I am quite shocked to find many people out there who have an unhealthy attitude, living in total hatredness with their fellow-Nagas.. Its because there are crooked people among Nagas tribe that infect other brothers with their deadly viruses.. Its a childish things to talk about who are Nagas and who are not.”
Another person Xyls-Ajax, writes, nom, we are Nagas to decide whether or not the Tangkhuls are Nagas*! *I believe Tangkhuls are NOT Nagas”
In conclusion, I write this as I feel that there is too much promotion of tribalism. However it is up to our respected Naga leaders whether they should take if there is any necessary action to be taken on site administrators. Or we should continue to encourage such kind of unhealthy discussion in the forum. I don’t have any personal problem with the site moderator and I am writing this for the good of the future Nagas.
R.B. Thohe Pou, thohepou@rediffmail.com.source:http://nagalandpost.com/arcdesc.asp?arcid=44816&category=Leisure&arcdate=8/7/2007
07/08/07
My Perception and I 
Statement in response to Thohe Pou’s
Kuknalim.com’s doors have been opened to all Nagas across the globe irrespective of their likes and dislikes. We have successfully ran the largest forum with over 2.3lakh topics for the Nagas over 6 years. Members have a chance to express their views openly and honestly. The moderators work hard to maintain edit the forums based on the feedback from other members.
All Kuknalim.com members agree to the websites policies by registering in the website and the administrators take no responsibility for the forum content.
Nagas from Tankghul, Zeliang, Lotha, Angami, Sema and Ao are involved in managing and maintaining Kukna-lim.com except with the involvement of our Technical Administrator who himself is ‘Anglo-Indian’ and married to a Naga.
In Thohe’s article, he blames Kuknalim.com’s site administrator for promoting tribalism and in favour of Non-Nagas.
Thohe commented on a member slandering the NSCN. Kuknalim.com has disabled the particular member from logging onto the system as according to the websites policies. We have warned the member over the past year. We are on the look out for others like him and we heavily rely on feedback from the other 5600 registered members.
Thohe also accuses that Kuknalim.com “ignores” articles based on “Naga issues” and is ignorant about the importance of Naga issues.
We do not “ignore” all articles. On the other hand, Kuknalim.com encourages its members and guests to submit news articles. Kukna-lim.com publishes articles from Nagaland dailies, Naga organizations and groups.
Thohe accused Kuknalim.com about a picture posted in its Picture Gallery about a Naga girl was killed in 2005.
That was one picture that displayed gore. If there are other Naga issues, members like yourselves have not taken the initiative to upload pictures. Pictures and articles that are constructive in nature are appreciated.
Inhumane pictures like these WILL NOT be published for any reason.
Thohe, Thank you for pointing out forums that were written by guests in 2005. As the face of the internet and information changes so rapidly, old forum messages are archived and removed from the website.
Moreover, that topic has been removed a long time. It is not advisable to base your article on out dated topics like these.
The Kuknalim.com site administrator has procedures in place to control articles of this nature on a regular basis.
While it is impossible to monitor the site in real time due to constraints, moderators spend significant time on the forums to weed these articles out.
If you have more suggestions, Kukna-lim.com is happy to communicate with you to better its website rather than raising popularity for Kuknalim.com in this fashion.
While we have a policy that Site Administrators are not responsible for comments on the website, we do appreciate your concern.
Naga leaders need to know that this article is misleading and false as it is based on already corrected measures in Kuknalim.com Whilst this discussion has taken place, the popular giant Kuknalim.com continues to receive articles from all Organizations, Groups, Newspapers across the globe on Nagas across the globe.
N. Yan Murry,
Co-founder and Site Administrator,
kuknalim.com
11/08/07
Debunking Thohe’s Kuknalim
2.3 lakhs topics and more. 40,000 hits a day and counting, 5, 600 registered members and expanding, 6 years and still growing
These are the Kuknalim numbers I know. Now let’s get to the insides for some more insights to look for that number from where everything originates. Zero. All you need is to ask, “What are the chances for all these many people to have and share the same thought?” Zero. Zilch. Is it any wonder then that a certain Mr. Thohe has his own point of view (POV) too? And just as every Kukker (anyone who visits Kuknalim) tolerates his POV, every other Kukker’s POV has to be given the same treatment. As a registered Kukker, I would like to put across my answers to the questions he has posed in his article “Is it http://www.kuknalim.com promoting tribalism & in favor of the Non-Nagas?” published in Nagaland Post, 7th August.
1. Promoting Favoritism: Just a few days back, I visited a man of prayer. It was early in the morning. Some people were already there. So I along with my friends awaited our turn. Sitting on a bench, I stared blindly ahead of me. A thick fog had created a boundary and I couldn’t see beyond some few meters. As I continued gazing, the breeze blew away the fog and Kohima became visible. There is existence beyond the fog. Similarly, there is more to the world than just exotic Nagaland. “Nagaland for Christ”, if God was for favoritism, Nagaland would be Eden permanently demarcated by a fog.
Here, I want to question the usage of the word “Non-Naga” to remove the ambiguity it puts in me. Does Non-Naga mean Mainland Indians? European? American? Would Thohe still pick the lines if Ratatat had been either a European or an American? If we really have to take history into account, shouldn’t we have a chip on the shoulder against the British Raj? Isn’t AFSPA a by-product of their regime? But then since Thohe claims that we don’t even know history, perhaps, he can enlighten me here.
2. Naga Issues: I wasn’t born a Naga. I was born a girl-child. My individuality is my identity. God made me an individual first, not a Naga. As individuals, we all posses personalities. “Naganess” is not our essence. Being a Naga is an extension of our identity. Thus, it is obvious that there is more to an individual than him just belonging to a country, place or community. Just because I cease to write about “Naga issues” doesn’t make me any less a Naga. From my POV, I am greatly encouraged when I see young writers contribute love, hope and life through their writings, acknowledging one another’s achievement, providing moral support to young achievers, pushing people to excel lest they turn out to be “issues” instead. For all we know, people still write when even to be alive for a day is a miracle.
3. Promoting Tribalism: Kuknalim represents a community to me. When there is participation, nobody is a stranger. It is important therefore not to make only friends and acquaintances but to forge relationships. When your intention is to build relationships the keyboard knows no creed. Issues come into the picture only when a friend is attacked or discriminated because s/he belongs to a particular tribe. The bond however makes us defend the tribe to protect the friend. Bonds make us sensitive to people’s situation. Friendships and relationships should precede tribal fences. I can proudly say that I have lots of Kuk friends who have even hosted me when I travel, filled up my exam forms, got my tickets done. Tribal factor never came into play. Sometimes, I wish we can all have a word with God prior to birth to negotiate what tribe we can be born into.
4. Promoting Hatred: Every paper, magazine, broadcast station, website has a disclaimer which states the content does not in anyway reflect the views and opinion of the message medium. When an individual writes, it is a personal POV and not necessarily a world view. Everything becomes subjective as well as relative. Therefore, what you read, hear and see has to be taken in as education. It also means the Editor, Proprietor, Administrator has the final say as to what goes for public feeding. Every medium has its own Operating Policies. So, if a particular user is disabled, it must be for a reason and not necessarily because the Administrator promotes Tribalism or Favoritism.
Message for Kukkers: Considering the numerical fact that there are over 2.3 lakhs topics in Kuknalim, we have to responsible with our words. A lot is being written and the Moderators don’t have enough time to go through each and every word. Let us learn to tolerate instead of reacting. At the same time, it amuses me that only a few string of lines have been picked. It could mean a lot of things. But what bothers me is why do hunt only for the negative? Why do we pay so much respect to it? And for those who forum a lot in “Issues concerning Nagaland” forums, for a change, lets stop blaming our Outfits for all our failed ventures. It’s easy to be outside Nagaland and talk a lot about taxes you don’t even pay and haven’t even paid once. To beat the system, you have to be in the system. Cause and Effect.
Sophy Lasuh
source:http://nagalandpost.com/arcdesc.asp?arcid=45089&category=Leisure&arcdate=8/11/2007
In response to Kuknalim.com Site administrator’s Statement
This is a response to kuknalim.com site administrator’s statement issued in the wake of my earlier article titled “Is it http://www.kuknalim.com promoting tribalism & in favor of the non- Nagas?” and I believe that from this response we will come to know what is fact and what is mere fiction. Nothing strange and I am not surprised since it is human nature to keep from confessing to any crime until higher authority intervenes.
Mr. Yan Murry (site admin.) in response to my above article writes, “Naga leaders need to know that this article is misleading and false as it is based on already corrected measures in Kuknalim.com”. To my honorable Naga leaders, I solemnly state that the contents of my article were pure facts and now you must also know the misleading and false statement given by the site administrator. How could they try to mislead you, our respected leaders? The site administrator above told a blatant lie maybe in the hope that due to remoteness and lack of resources our leaders will not be able to find out the truth. Till the 10th of August 2007, the situation as outlined in my original article was still prevailing and there was no ‘corrected measures’ taken as claimed. May I humbly request our honorable Naga leaders to investigate the matter so that this attempt to pull the wool over their eyes does not go unchallenged?
1) The kuknalim.com site admin claimed that they have banned Mr. Ratattat but the member himself clarified that the site moderator never warned or banned him. Ratatattat1 writes on 7th Aug. 2007 in response to kuknalim.com site administrator’s statement as follows, ”The “particular member” ie me. had not been “warned” about anything-in the 1st communiqué from the administration”. Only just prior to their above statement in response to Thohe Pou, they apparently banned him because the member had to re-register with a different nickname ratattat1 to post his reply. Also, some of my friends have been writing open letters to the site administrator complaining about his anti-Naga views and yet the member was not banned him till 6th Aug 2007. Ratattat writes, Tue Jul 24, 2007 10:56pm “That Naga nationalism is a byproduct of British policies aimed at retaining SOME measure of Empire is another fact that u need to thrust at me alongside the one u did.”
2) The site administrator also claimed that they did not snub articles related to Nagas. But let’s see what some of our friends say, RAVENRED (a Delhi based Journalist) writes on Apr 22, 2006, “Same goes with my write up dear so no offence but it would be nice if they can give an explanation. Whether the article was not worth publishing or too controversial” The above comment by Ravenred was in response to my question, “Is it worth to publish this article “Nagas are subhuman and filthy”? In their forum I had posted some of my articles with titles like, “Nagas are subhuman and filthy – the Indian officers’ perception”; “The Unceasing, Oozing Nagas blood and tears”; “The similarities between Nagas and the Southern tribes of Archipelago” (A research paper); “The myth of Nagas origin”; etc. I had submitted these articles to their site but they were never posted. Why they did not publish Ravenred’s, others’ and my articles, which are on issues related to Nagas? Personally I don’t have any problem whether they post my article or not because there are many other sites and newspaper where these will be published. If we go to their site and check in 2006, we see that there are only a couple of articles, if any, related to Naga issues.
3) The site administrator also claimed in his statement that, “….. we have a policy that site administrator are not responsible for comments on the website”. Today, in kuknalim.com we have open criticism and defamation of other tribes and by the same token, if tomorrow I go to open another site representing the Nagas and claim that according to the site policies, views expressed in the site are not my (i.e. site administrator’s) responsibility and I give everyone freedom to defame and criticize any one they like am I justified? If the Naga public says yes then I must apologize to all for raising this issue. Freedom of speech or expression never means that you and I can defame some one or other community.
4) They also claimed that the picture mentioned in the article was inhuman. Yes it was inhuman, and that was the point!!! The person who posted the picture wanted everyone to condemn such inhuman atrocities. For the record it was not supposed to be posted under ‘funny pictures’ and the intention was to open the eyes of the people to condemn such a barbaric and murderous act. I believe that Dark_angel (ex-NPMHR Delhi) had posted that as there were also some other pictures like from the Asian Tsunami and a Somalian boy dying of hunger with a vulture lurking nearby, etc. Dark_angel’s comment on my earlier article, “I would also like to point out that I was the one who posted the pic of Tangkhul gal slaughter in mumbai by a maniac in the section ” Saddest picture I have seen” which was gross for the admin and other pics of international or Indian related pics of Tsunami victim was not gross for them as one of the owner of Kuknalim was an Indian settled in Australia”. Is the website meant for Somalians and other Asians but not for the Nagas?
5).The site admin also claimed in his statement, “….while it is impossible to monitor the site in real time due to constraints, moderators spend significant time on the forums to weed these articles out”. OK, if they are too busy in their own work then they should not put up the forum in the first place providing a platform for people to defame others or send hatred messages. There are many clean sites like http://www.nagasonline.com, http://www.tangkhul.com, http://www.nagalim.in, http://www.cniceonline.com etc. How is it possible for them to keep their sites clean while Kuknalim.com cannot? Has the kuknalim.com site administrator been asleep since 2004 (when these hate posts emerged) till now, August 2007? Size is not an excuse because one should know better than to bite off more than one can chew.
6).The kuknalim.com site moderator claimed that I am just talking or writing a baseless article, the site administrator writes in his statement as, “…..old forum messages are archived and removed from the website. Morever, that topic has been removed a long time. It is not advisable to base your article on outdated topics like these” But that is the point and proof that they allow the members and non-members to criticize and defame other tribes and community since 2004 till 24th July 2007. When did you remove all those undesirable posts? Dark_angel writes, “…. Let me make it all clear to you. Tangkhul.com is born since Tangkhuls were abused like hell in the so-call site KUKNALIM, to provide an alternative space for my own people. Secondly, the article which thohe wrote was supposed to be written by four to five of us, which we cannot do it due to our tight schedule but at last Thohe did it and hats off to him.” If the site moderator had stopped or did not allow these harmful posts to be discussed after 2004 or 2005, I may not have written the article in the first place. But since they have been allowing members or non-members to defame other tribes till July 2007, I have to bring it to the notice of our honorable Naga leaders and the public to decide what is right and what is wrong.
Dark_angel also wrote, “… The duty of the site administrator and moderator is to warn or ban or remove them which tangkhul.com did on daily basis, but kuknalim will allow people to abuse particular tribe and drag on and will lock a topic yet the topic will be visible to all the members. They made sure that all the members will read again and again, but picture and words which will wake up the nationalism of the nagas were remove without hesitation. So are the kuknalim adminitration for the Nagas? Kuknalim promote tribalism and are against the posting of any news article favouring Nagas but lately i have notice that they do have started posting news related to Nagas”.
Another senior member of kuknalim.com counter comments on my article, “Guys let us not fight here!! Try to reason it out. let us forget about them targeting at one tribe or the other one. but i can clearly see that they are promoting/encouraging tribalism in the site! I have been hanging around in kuknalim.com since they were born.. so i know whats going on there….. we should advise/teach them to stop promoting/encouraging tribalism in future. that will be very good for the nagas as a whole. If they realize/know what wrong they have done, we should be happy for that.”
Wapang wrote about my article as follows, “Very good writing!! kuknalim.com should be taught a good lesson. specially the administrator and owners of the website should be taught a good lesson. thohe you did a great job. i personally would like to extent my gratitude for the write up. i hope all members/readers should think properly. kuknalim.com should be renamed as indianalim.com or antinagas.com. They are damaging the image of the nagas”
I do appreciate Kuknalim.com, which is supposed to be the first Naga website, and I used to recommend others to read it when http://www.nagalandpost.com and other sites had yet to come up. But now it comes as a shock when you visit kuknalim.com and see all the undesirable defamatory posts. Until and unless these objectionable entries are deleted from their forums, we should not recommend any one to visit the site. However I do hope that they will come to realize their mistake and make a genuine effort to keep their site clean.
7). Sophylasuh writes, “Kuknalim represents a community to me.” That is the point there. Yes the word Kuknalim represents the Nagas. For me, as a Naga, ‘Kuknalim’ is a sacred word. Just as the Indian freedom fighters used the word ‘Jai Hind” we Nagas proudly say “Kuknalim” with our heads held high. VS (ex-NSUD leader, now in Hong Kong) noting that the site policy of Kuknalim.com stipulate that members should “…respect our land and people and this should be reflected by our posts and thoughts in the chartroom/forums/emails….” has this to add, “If the administrators are sincere about their policies they would make sure that disrespect towards any Naga individual or tribe is strictly monitored and the people involved warned against repeating. Tribalism is divisive and we should do our best to discourage it. There is enough in-fighting and discord among the Naga brothers out there in the society and these forums do not need to add fuel to the fire!! Remember, it is an honor to carry the name ‘Kuknalim’. An honor that one shouldn’t take too lightheartedly because you then become the face of the Nagas to the outside world. It is an honor that can and should be taken away if limits are crossed. I fully agree with Thohe that our leaders should pay attention to these matters and take action if necessary. The site otherwise is great!”
In 2005, to bring more awareness to other Indians about the Naga problem in Nagalim, I presented a paper at the University of Pune (Inter-disciplinary discussion group) on “Nagas Political History” after the Naga do*****entary movie, “Nagas – the other side of Silence” was screened. I then recommended to the Professors of the University and students to read more news about the Nagas from http://www.kuknalim.com. If we do not maintain a respectable site, we might be sending an erroneous message to outsiders. I am proud that Nagas now have lots of website (this is one reason I wrote the article “Nagas websites serving a great purpose”) and I hope that this pride won’t be misplaced.
Today I fight for kuknalim.com to be kept clean since it bears the Nagas identity and tomorrow if there is another site promoting tribalism or anti-Naga sentiments, many people who love the Nagas including me will be there to raise the issue again. Personally I am not against any one or any particular Naga website. However I will continue to raise my pleading voice towards our honorable Nagas leaders till kuknalim.com removes all those hateful messages like, “u a s s tankhuls blodd thirsty fanatic, murderous, extortionist and land grabbers… “who said maos are nagas?…in kohima all the thieves are maos nad noone wants them…look at them thieves, and tangkhuls are no better too… we are Nagas to decide whether or not the Tangkhuls are Nagas*! *I believe Tangkhuls are NOT nagas“ and bring notice to the Naga public that they have done so (removed the defamatory posts).
Many young Naga intellectual and promising leaders visit the site to encourage the younger Naga students and to promote the Nagas culture and tradition to others. However the site administrator considers that they are all good for nothing except Ratattat who is always against the voice of the Nagas in the forum. With reference to Ratattat, who was unnecessarily criticizing the NSCN and always held a strong anti-Naga view in the forums, Mkunga (a senior Naga leader from Delhi) wrote to site administrator earlier saying, “I am a senior students and we visit kuknalim as youth so that we can check the misguiding factor and it is not that we are here posting as if we do not have any work”.
Mruivah also mentioned in his comments, “….. And what thohe has written is true to my knowledge…I also presume many of us quite Kuknalim at a same time and stop post in around 2005 or 2006 September. Some of the Members which i recall are Tesking, Human virus, Makunga, Dark_Angel, Ravenred, Thohe, Jonnycamelately, Birdie and many more”.
These concerned Nagas, all influential leaders in their areas, were strongly against Ratattat and his inflammatory words in the forum and we requested the site administrator to ban him and to delete all hate-filled posts from the forum. But the site administrator turned a deaf ear to our request and many of us quit kuknalim.com in 2006. However, we love our Naga people and we are back here to raise our voices and to bring this to the notice of the Naga people so that the site may be kept clean in order to avoid sending the wrong message to the world about us Nagas.
I on behalf of my friends (leaders and promising Naga leaders) would like to request the site administrator to remove all those hate-mongering, divisive posts so that we may continue to promote our wonderful Naga culture and tradition to the world through kuknalim.com and other Naga websites.
I on behalf of my friends also would like to request the site administrator to notify the Naga public that they have deleted all those undesirable words from the forum.
R.B. Thohe Pou
As a third party observer from Mizoram, I’m saddened to see that Nagas are not united and are more interested in blaming one another. If Nagas started to look at their brothers with love and compassion (90% Christians?) and become united, I’m sure New Delhi will listen. As for Kuknalim.com, Tangkhul bashing posts should have been dealt better. Even when such bashings are allowed for a while, it could have been used to educate such frustrated guys. THough the forum is given to those guys to express their feeling freely, the higher goal must be to educate them as well. Then a website becomes useful. Otherwise, it will be a useless place where more hatred is bred.. If Christianity doesn’t help us the Northeasterners, we are doomed!
Very true✓