Bhutan: The Wangchuks and the future
Written byNeha Viswanathan
For A Democracy on why the Wangchuks will find the future harder than they imagined. “In the sponsorship of wangchuks, a survey had said Bhutanese are the happiest of all Asians and now the survey by government body itself, created by inventor of GNH for Jigme’s sake, has revealed that only 60 people out of 100 are happy. Ironically, the mock survey asked 350 people in mass of 700,000.”
Written byNeha Viswanathan
27 comments
By the way Neha/moderator
I am sure this blog is linked to Bhutantimes.com. By starting the last one (u had “mocking democracy”) and now this one I think u r trying to see whether the discussion from Bhutantimes.com will spill over to this forum – when it doesnt u will use it to prove that there is no freedom of speech/expression.
Let me tell u this. It is not because of a lack of freedom of speech. The reason blogger discussions that go on in the Bhutantimes.com will not spill over here is because Bhutan is still so uniquely small where everybody knows everybody.
We live together rubbing shoulders everyday with people we may or may not like, with people whose policies we may or may not apprve of. We do not want to incite hate by shouting out in the open and pointing fingers. Those who are blogging there are expressing their concerns about certain issues (which may or may not be the truth) If it is the media in Bhutan is definitely reading them and investigating it for themselves.
As you can see our press (and even people) are much more responsible and credible. We do not believe in shouting and screaming, throwing stones and slippers at people in the public.
Freedom of press will always be a tough one in Bhutan because of the smallness of the society. Nobody understands this unless they have lived all their lives in a small town or in Bhutan. It is not because people are scared. Our people have to live the rest of their lives with each other and do not like unpleasantness.
So don’t think that just because there are people complaining about issues on Bhutantimes.com forum and not doing it here is because they are scared or because they lack freedom of expression. MIND YOU ONE THING – DO NOT TOUCH OUR KING. Even the harshest critics of the Bhutanese system will tell you that.
Our king is sacred. he is SACROSANCT. The Nepalese will never understand this (unfortunately because things have been diff for them) but we love our king not out of fear but because of the MAN and LEADER that he is and WHAT he has sacrficied for the country.
i feel stupid asking this but what is all this about why are nepalese saying bad things about the kings i never heard about any of this when this all happen
If Bhutan is proud of, it is all due to our Kings. If happiness is the measuring yardstick for Bhutan’s developmental goals, it is because we have strong cultural, social perverance and leadership towards attending such goals. we have proved through our rapid progress just within few decades. We Bhutanese are happy and feel lucky to have and will continue to have our enligthened monarchs. Look at our Constitution http://www.constitution.bt and then say why our fourth King or Kings will ever in your imigination “find the future harder than they imagined”.
With the good vision and guidance of our enlightened king, we the people of Bhutan will contrinue to economically and socially prosper, preserve our rich and unique cultural heritage, preserve our environment and frame polices as per our constitutiobn which is directed towards the attainment of peace and happiness. Remember that the people of Bhutan did not not ask for democary, it was rather a dictum from the king himself and therefore, we deeply respect the changes broughtforth by our king. When the king decided to initiate the drafting of a written constitution, he said that however, a good person may be (refering to the king himself)one cannot relay on just one individual person for the destiny of the nation must lay to each and every people of Bhutan. He further said that the principle of democracy is inherently good and we must introduce democracy and the people of Bhutan should not be dettered by the fact that democracy is not working in some of the countries. So our Kings are beyond comparision to have any bearings of the worries that is coming from yours chaotic countries.
Cheers Bhutanese
Bhutan and the Wangchuks have always been unique which most Nepalese will never understand.I think these people have enough problems in their backyard. Should save their time and energy for that. We can handle our own in our simple ways.
well said SNM,
If you look around the globe, you will notice that a failed state is a one where there is no leader. Most often the people in these countries would be always rioting and thc country miserably poor. The governemnt would be corrupted and its citizens dying like flies.
We dont have anything like this in Bhutan so thats why we say that the Bhutanese are happy.
I am Tibetan and happy for our bhutanese cousins. Keep it up and dont cave into pressure.As long as bhutan has a monarch it is safe. We dont want another sikkim. Also you guys have luck to have a wise and modest king who really loves his subjects.I find a lot of similaritys in his Gross National Happiness doctrine and The dalai Lamaas assertion that we all strive ultimately for happiness and entitled to it.
Dear folks, If there is a biggest irony in the world, it is Bhutan’s idea of happiness. It is talking about the happiness by cleansing more than 150,000 Bhutanese who do not like to wear the Bhuddist dress and follow the so-called tradition of Bhutan. Can a country be happy by evicting hundreds of thousands of people who unfortunately do not speak the same language the King of Bhutan speaks? Is this the kind of democracy Bhutan is preaching? More frustrating is the India’s back up to Bhutan in this ethnic cleansing becasue India is virtually dictating everything in Bhutan.
If you are not aware of this darker side of Bhutan’s dictatorship, go and ask to the 100,000 + Bhutanese refugees (who were dumped in Nepal some 17years ago just because they did not speak the King’s language and follow his tradition), what this Gross National Happiness means to them. This is the most inhuman kind of crime Bhutan is committing but the world is keeping mum.