King insists on power for the people (REPRODUCTION)
Randeep Ramesh in Thimphu
Surrounded by alpine meadows and snowcapped peaks, the town of Punakha in central Bhutan bears witness to the difficulty of taking a Buddhist Himalayan monarchy into the 21st century.
Inside the 17th-century Tibetan fortress or dzong, topped with pagoda-like golden roofs, are 172 civil servants running the affairs of thousands of villagers. Here taxes are collected, new forests planned, telephone lines installed and a watchful eye kept on the "mountain tsunamis" that threaten to burst from melting glaciers and wash away the town – as happened in 1994.
Yet the dzong is more of a spiritual centre. The corridors are enveloped in incense and prayer chants bounce off the walls. Monks, clad in red robes, outnumber sword-carrying civil servants almost 10 to one. "It is not a tradition that monks and officials are here together, it is a lack of space. We need to build another dzong but have been a bit busy," says Dasho Dzongrab Taappo, the deputy head of the district.
Dasho Taappo has been preparing for next week's mock elections, a dry run of democracy in a country that has only ever been a kingdom. Next year the country's voters will face parliamentary elections. The shift has been greeted with little joy and much anxiety. Above the town of Wangdue many say they do not want to rule themselves. "It is too early to give power to the people," says Shep, a farmer. "We are not ready for government. We prefer the king."
Political shift
The result has been apathy. Fewer than half the 250,000 registered voters turned out last month in the first round to choose between four imaginary parties identified by a colour representing an ideology. Red was for rapid industrialisation, green for environmentalism, blue for civic sense and yellow for heritage and tradition. Yellow, which also happens to be the colour of the king, won handsomely by 30,000 votes. On Monday voters are expected to vote en masse for the yellow party, emphatically rejecting the new-fangled ideas of "industrial-led development".
The reason that King Jigme Singye Wangchuck and his anointed heir and son, the 27-year-old Oxford-educated Jigme Khesar Namgyel, are finding it so difficult to hand power to the people is the success of hereditary monarchy in preserving Bhutan's traditions while opening its doors to prosperity.
Bhutan, on the eastern flank of the Himalayas between India and China, is still poor but its progress has been startling given that serfdom was abolished only in 1956 and the first paved road appeared just five years later.
In the past 40 years Bhutan has flourished, building free schools and hospitals. Life expectancy has risen from 40 to 66. The literacy rate has soared from 20% in 1992 to almost 60% today. Thanks to hydropower, people are twice as rich as in India. "Bhutan has made extraordinary progress. Of course with progress comes challenges and that is where democracy comes in," says Nicholas Rosellini, the UN resident coordinator in Bhutan. "The neighbourhood has plenty of examples of instability so people are wary."
At first sight the country's capital looks stuck in a time warp. Traditional dress – a kimono-style jacket and a kilt – is compulsory in public places. Buddhist architecture is promoted and big murals of the revered phallus adorn city walls. A policy of extracting $200 a day from visitors ensures fewer people make it to the country than to Antarctica.
But Bhutan is not isolated. English is widely spoken, the internet is uncensored and satellite TV is available. Two private newspapers last year broke the monopoly of state-owned press. Korean pop stars and US basketball players have become idols for young Bhutanese. The effect of the outside world on the youth has been dramatic.
In a hotel lobby in Thimphu, Bhutan's capital, is 27-year-old Kezang Dema – the youngest and only female candidate in elections to the upper house.
People wary
She says her interest in politics was sparked by a BBC report on US presidential hopeful Barack Obama. "I saw something in his speech. I wanted to do the same for my people. Education is a priority and we need to make 100% of our people literate," says Dema.
To manage outside influences and retain a distinctive Bhutanese identity the king promoted a concept known as Gross National Happiness. This rests on Buddhist ideas that economic growth alone would not bring contentment. The result is that Bhutan ranks 134th in global wealth leagues but is the 13th "most happy" place on the planet.
GNH elevates social stability over a rush for growth and has become one of Bhutan's most notable cultural exports. The policy is widely popular, elevating environmental concerns long before they were in vogue. In the 2005 census that asked "are you happy?", only 3.3% of respondents said they were not.
However critics argue the single-minded pursuit of happiness has legitimised authoritarian, conservative rule. Abortion and cigarette sales are banned.
Some say that Bhutan's view of itself as the last repository of independent Himalayan Buddhist thought has promoted a nationalism that fuelled the expulsion of thousands of Nepali-speakers in the early 90s. Last week the UN's top refugee official called on Thimphu to help settle the future of 100,000 Bhutanese refugees in camps in Nepal.
Backstory
In 1921 the governor of Bengal, Lord Ronaldshay, wrote of Bhutan as "a magic time machine fitted fantastically with a reverse". It remained a hermit kingdom until the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959 sent a stark warning about the perils of isolation. Roads opened and the first bank arrived. King Jigme Singye Wangchuk launched a democratisation process in the late 90s and last December abdicated in favour of his son. Next year will see three landmarks: the coronation of the new king, 100 years of the Wangchuk dynasty and the first parliamentary elections.
Saturday May 26, 2007
The Guardian