Paras' PR offensive

Paras' PR offensive
Ex-CP Paras gets a public relations operative to do a glowing interview in Singapore

ERIC ELLIS
POSTED ON 31 MARCH 2009 | 2:21 AM NST

The British comic troupe Monty Python famously described Aristotle as being 'a bugger for the bottle' in their cheeky Philosopher's Song sketch. But had the Pythons' Flying Circus set their skits in Singapore, they might've found comic inspiration in the musings of one Clement Mesenas and his charge, Nepal's deposed Crown Prince Paras Bikram Shah, in Singapore's The New Paper on Sunday and Monday.

There, in all its glory, was an 'exclusive' interview by Mesenas with Paras, infamously Nepal's own bugger for the bottle who's now exiled to Singapore after being turfed out in disgrace last year by Maoist republicans.

None of which seemed to matter to Clement Mesenas. In his New Paper piece, Paras outlined a web of palace intrigues which culminated in the regicide of June 2001 at Narayanhiti Palace by, as goes the official version of the
tragic events, Paras' predecessor Dipendra.

In the Mesenas piece, Paras says he decided to open up because "the Nepali people need to know the truth". The New Paper writes "he now wants to clear his name" about "the ugly rumours of his involvement in the incident".

Paras claims his royal relations had been arguing over an arms deal for the army. Dipendra favoured a German assault rifle, whereas the King fancied the American M-16. Paras seems to suggest his cousin would've earned a massive kickback if the army had gone with the German weapons.

Dipendra had other reasons: that his father never consulted him in 1990 when transforming Nepal from the absolute monarchy Diprendra was set to inherit to a quasi-democratic constitutional monarchy. And then there was his much-discussed romance with a member from the Shahs' rival Rana clan, which apparently displeased Birendra and his queen.

That's all very well, and the article's publication on Sunday and Monday titillated the Nepali intelligentsia, those at least who are able to access the internet when the power's on. What was arguably more interesting about Mesenas' interview was not so much that Paras was talking about the massacre publicly for the first time, it was that he
decided to do so in Singapore.

By all accounts not a particularly bright man, the 37-year-old Paras would nevertheless know there are few better places to have an advantageous story published about himself than in Singapore's clubby media, where standards are malleable. But the Mesenas interview with Paras was not some world scoop exclusive by a respected independent journalist, inasmuch as any exist in the hyper-control regime, or even a member of the New Paper's newsroom. It was written by a well-practised public relations professional, Mesenas, with a history and connections in the Singapore
media extensive enough that he was able to write the piece himself, and get it published.

No self-respecting media outlet would publish an article such as this with so many holes in it, and so little context, and particularly by an external contributor working in public relations. But Singapore lacks media that most of us would recognise as reliable and independent, hence it's the perfect place to get a snowjob published.

And what better person that someone like Mesenas, the director 'editorial and advisory' with the Singapore public relations firm Bang, which promises 'effective media communications solutions'. It raises questions about whether Paras paid or retained Bang and/or Mesenas to act in hiseditorial interest. The article is a great many things, and journalism is not one of them.

Why did Mesenas, a PR operative, write the article and not a journalist at The New Paper? Why was there no contextual discussion in the article of the reasons why Paras now lives in Singapore?

Many Nepalis believe it was Paras' excessive, and untried criminal behaviour that was one of the primary reasons for the monarchy's downfall, and the turmoil they now endure at the hands of their dysfunctional government. This is crucial background to the Paras story, and not a word of it was discussed by Mesenas in his piece, simply dressed
up to the unsuspecting reader as royal titillation.

Some clubs in Kathmandu used to employ Paras-watchers to keep an eye on palace gates and the carpark, lest the royal posse show up to party. If they were on their way, the shutters would come down. Kathmandu's nightspot owners got a little sick of calling in the interior decorators in after Paras and friends had been out on the razzle.

The most outrageous of the incidents involving Paras was the hit and run death of popular folk singer Praveen Gurung in 2000. A half-hearted police investigation took no action. Every Nepali knows this story.

Paras is not a nice man. Not that his Singapore cipher Clement Mesenas seems to want anyone to know that. Mesenas is simply being a good PR man, looking after his new friend. Or is it his client?

Eric Ellis is the former South-East Asia correspondent of Fortune Magazine.

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