The election commission (EC) has eventually decided to hold the first-ever local government elections as it fixed the poll day for June 27.
The election originally planned for May 24 had been postponed to verify the legitimacy of former political party members to contest in the elections.
Interestingly, the commission has made it open for every interested candidates, even those who were found ineligible erstwhile, to put forth their candidacy.
By now altogether 2194 candidates have shown their interest for the election.However, about 328 demkhongs are still deprived of candidates.
The EC said it has cross-checked various records to make sure former political parties have abstained from any political activities the previous year.
The verification was conducted for 121 political party members, who were accepted as candidates earlier, 259 members, who were disqualified, and another 153, who could not file their nominations for different reasons, according to the EC.
It was found that about 20 of the 259 disqualified candidates opted to withdraw from election. Also, other six candidates were found to have active participation with the political activities.
One 22-year-old Nepali girl delivered a marathon lecture for 24 hours in the Sanischare refugee camp.
Deujale in Sanischare camp/Courtesy : Purbelitimes.com
Stating from May 28 at 9:50 am, Yogini Shree Pramila Deujale continuously gave lectures on education, health, and personality development, among others until May 29, 9:50 am, informed program organizer Amar Bahadur Thapa.
According to Thapa, Deujale has been attempting to set a record of 36 hours to defect a Guinness World Records of 28 hours non-stop lecture by Mike Frazier of America.
Deujale, a resident of Sindhupalchowk district, has been making similar records in other parts of the country, claimed Thapa.
A huge crowd of exiled Bhutanese gathered at the venue to listen at Deujale’s lectures.
John Elliot is one of three foreign journalists to have interviewed the fourth Druk Gyalpo. The interview, which took place in 1987, resulted in an article that is believed to be the first news report on GNH. John was recently in the country for the Mountain Echoes literary festival. Currently, he is the India contributor for Fortune magazine.
As a journalist, you’ve had the rare privilege of interviewing the fourth Druk Gyalpo. What did you talk about?
I didn’t realise until I came back to Bhutan a few days ago for the first time since 1987, that the interview that I had was so unusual. I knew at the time that I had a scoop. I knew that I had a very rare privilege of an interview as a foreign correspondent based in Delhi with the fourth King. But I didn’t realise at the time how few interviews His Majesty had given during his reign. And GNH was the story to be talked about then.
His Majesty’s concerns were about tourism. That was the big issue then, just like the issue now might be the Internet, Facebook, Twitter, and TV programs changing the culture of Bhutan. The issue then was tourism because you had just started letting tourists in and the Tiger’s nest had just been closed because of too many people going there. And the tops of the mountains had just been closed because of people thinking that their traditions were being spoilt. There had been a lot of theft, I believe, of various treasures.
And GNH, it was pegged, as I mentioned in the article, mostly to Nepal. Bhutan didn’t want to become like Nepal. Now remember, Nepal at that time had a stable monarchy. It was simply in reference to the way Nepal had opened its doors to tourism, backpackers, and all the other problems that come with it.
His Majesty was thinking about how to look after this great inheritance that he had received. How to steer Bhutan into the modern world, while at the same time maintaining traditions. The same issue that is an issue now, but then, I felt when I sat with him that I was listening to a young man, who was really puzzled, or maybe he wasn’t puzzled, but he was thinking his way into the problem, of how to manage the conflicting pressures of inevitably having to open up but at the same time, being determined to keep the country with its traditions as much as possible.
How were you able to set up the interview? Anything specific you were looking for?
John. Photo courtesy/Kuensel
I met your foreign minister at a SAARC conference at Bangalore, and I said that I was a Financial Times correspondent in New Delhi, and that I would like to come to Bhutan, and write about development and life in Bhutan. I mentioned that I would like to, if possible, interview the king, as well other senior ministers and officials. I brought my family because it was a rare chance. So I brought my wife and two sons, we took them out of school because they may never get the chance again.
So we came and the foreign minister was very helpful. And Kinley Dorji had just launched Kuensel. He was helpful and I learnt as I went. Like a reporter, I don’t think I had any books to read at the time on Bhutan. I may have had a world bank report or something like that but I think I came in, which is often as a reporter the best way to do something, is just to come in and follow the story and see what you find.
You found GNH. Will it work?
The instinctive view of an outsider has to be that there’s little chance because of all the outside pressures. The pressures of the young, the youth, who haven’t got the traditions, who in their teens have not been brought up in the traditions, even guys in their late 20s or 30s, who haven’t got their base. On top of that, the pressures of democracy and political parties, that will need to be more policy oriented and different and have to prove themselves every five years. The pressures of growing consumerism and wealth. The growing pressures of business, and business is not totally honest in any country, not many anyway. With all these pressures how could you possibly, the instinctive reaction of the outsider, think that it could last.
On the other hand, I keep on hearing stories as I’ve heard from your prime minister and other people about how the young are interested in traditions. How there is a strong base and despite all the things that I’ve just said, and all I’ve said is what I’ve heard from other people, there is a strong enough belief in Bhutan for the thing to survive.
Since your last visit what changes have you noticed?
Thimphu – I didn’t recognise. The only place I recognised in Thimphu was when I stood outside the Taj hotel and looked up the hill and thought, “Ah that’s where I stayed, in that hotel.” I couldn’t remember the name of it, so I asked Kinley Dorji and he said, “That’s my office, it’s the ministry of information and that used to be the Bhutan hotel.”
The way the buildings are spreading along the hillsides, along the valley, is in a way awful because it’s a sign of what’s happened to the hill stations in India. I think the thing that I’ve been struck by is this great debate of what you do to this place to keep it as it is, and will the young generation who may be rebelling against it now, and wanting all the benefits of the consumer society, be converted, as they get older to the benefits of Bhutan. I think that’s the main issue. What strikes me is the westernisation, the consumerism, but alongside that, this continuing debate. And it’s fantastic to have a country, which is debating this. I’ve lived in India for many years and there, things are just allowed to happen. There’s no planning, as one has seen with all sorts of things, it all just happens. But here, you’re trying to plan, here you are really thinking of the future, there is a debate, I sense everyone’s involved.
Your impressions of the fourth Druk Gyalpo in 1987?
A very quiet, thoughtful man. I walked into the room in the palace, and it was quite dark, big windows, and I couldn’t see him, I couldn’t see where he was, and I turned around and there he was standing in a window, and I said, “Oh, there you are”, which I guess is not the way to address His Majesty when you first meet him. Then I sat down with him and he was informal, discursive, interested and concerned. I need to go back to my notebook, now I’ve realised how important that interview is in the history of Bhutan.
I had the privilege to live with my fourth generation above, my great grandmother, in her late eighties; almost visually impaired, was our symbolism and strength. Most people during her time had limited life expectancy and longer age was believed to be the engraved fate during the birth. Among many hardships and other physical challenges, she had tough time adjusting while going to the toilet due to the reason of open field defecation practice that was too common at the side of terrace. Some one had to assist her to reach the spot and provide with proper signals for the presence of any stranger in order to hide her from the disgrace. She was not having teeth and while eating, she had to knead the food to tiniest possible by her hand, and by the time she put the food on her mouth, she would begin to swallow.
While in home, she would always occupy the main bed area – mud floor space adjacent to fire that was cushioned by hay mat and sheeted by hand woven woolen rug. In that stage, her regular time pass would be to hymn slokas (rhymes) both religious and other themes in a decent tone. Some such slokas were used by the proficient practitioners at different level of social and cultural occasions, mostly asking questions followed by appropriate answers. She was illiterate but she could keep all those complex rhymes in her mind and tone them one after the other. While enjoying the heat of fire during the cold winter nights she used to tell the stories ranging from moral conclusions, deadly and frightful ghost stories, others used to be the heroic deeds and we as playoff kids would keep her tight in inquisitiveness. And, with or without comparative studies she used to advice all as saying ‘Bhu-u-thang (Bhutan) is a secular granary, here no crimes and no bad people. We used to turn off our deaf ears during her education piece without giving the weight of her analysis.
We had an extended family, all housed a three storied building built by her husband and my great grandfather in 1931 AD. My great grandfather was renowned for his high quality workmanship in woodworks, masonry and handicrafts. The legendary here is that grandfather, who died at 79 in 2001 in the refugee camp in Nepal, was just nine and contributed some manual works for kneading mud during the construction of that house.
Before the construction of that house, the family used to live on the same foundation with less stable or semi permanent structure – people would recognize that spot as maatch ghar (middle house) probably due to its location in that pattern of settlement. My pantheon, the maatch ghar had become the landmark on that territory, both in volume and style. There is no doubt that this was a marvelous house as per time and place, complete in itself.
Details of the house
The building arts, more than any other forms of material cultures are intrinsically site oriented and speak the volume of facts. This house was an old residence, well built and somewhat ornately decorated. It had a simple rectangular plan and the house stood elegantly on a rectangular rubble stone plinth of about two feet orienting in east-west direction that responded friendly with the climate. It had two feet thick rubble stone masonry walls, mortared and plastered with mud to give the surface a better finishing.
Details of front wooden post/Sketch by the writer
East the main facade was given emphasized by elements and its design. The front canopy had free style three paired wooden post, detailed with ornamentation at the upper half that held the beam taking the super-load from above. The front beam was well carved with the inscriptions of gods and goddesses. The front door was double leafed wooden framed and was richly carved with the diagrams of the sun and moon. Three windows at the first floor were highly evolved in wood detailing. The middle one had full sized peacock carving in its shutter. All around first floor had the balcony, standing on the wooden joist projections from the first floor level. Further, the wooden grills of the balcony were patterned in order or repetition.
From the third floor, there were projections of sloping wooden struts that support the overhanging roof pitched on walls, balanced in gradient both for functional purpose as well as for aesthetic point of view. Such a construction shows the abundant use of local indigenous technology and the system was the combination of load bearing wall at its exterior, the central portion with the post and beam system. Locally made iron nails fastened posts and beams where as the others members were fixed by wooden pegs.
There were two similar types of houses in whole Dagapela, one owned by Dal Bahadur Kafley at lower Goshi block and other at Suntoley block built by Karmi (mason) Nar Bahadur Dahal but those two houses were less ornamented and less dominating, and probably constructed in later periods.
Present condition
All the families of Lalidhapper, a small hamlet that gave livelihood to 26 peasant families were compelled to move out of the line of control. As a result, the whole settlement was once again reforested, suiting for the animal herders. The properties and the conditions of the house were thoroughly recorded after proper investigation by Jengo Drukpa, the defacto gup (village head) and block member TB Bhattarai on the very day of our eviction.
Later we learnt that this house become the summer capital of such local government officials. They used the house without timely maintenance resulting in the most dilapidating stage by the virtue of its construction materials. The house had sustained till 1997 AD but in that year the roof was blown off. In 1998, the users pulled down the upper two floor walls and left leveled to first floor only. Even they burnt down all the wooden elements without considering the value of those structures. In 2005, even the first floor wall also collapsed and only the foundation is left at present. Whether such demolition occurred intentionally or not, tragically my ancestry house of decent was destroyed with no mercy.
My understanding
Our ancestry especially in this territory had spent their valuable life for the survival part than contributing for the material part of significance. It was an era when the repute was indexed by the number or sons or the number of cattle tails in one’s herds; whoever can produce the bull with bigger oxbow can dominate the influential territory. As a result, hardly one can see or find the artifacts, if existed also in very fragile nature that limits the durability of the materials. Mostly their input limits to the values up to family linage but not above the group hierarchy.
Even without pre-conditions, evolution of building culture didn’t flourish well and residential type of houses was less noticed, both in scale and design. Such fragmented and scattered objects are the cultural elements that form the part and parcel of typology especially during the situation of crisis. Most of our oral cultures from generations couldn’t materialize either by discouragement or insufficient resources remained all unaccounted, indeed.
Shifting culture and rural pattern of human settlement in small, sparsely and disintegrate fashion did not permit to form larger groups and institutionalize them. Insightfulness of the people due to illiteracy also mounted and limited for collectiveness. Thus, the institutionalized system set up could capitalize in a better way that may result to the sense of space. Contextually, some rudimentary studies and misleading findings guided the authorities to look this aspect in a scalar dimension. However, instead of preserving the existing ones, some silence replacement trend by injecting certain unmatched elements had purposefully subdued the morphology. When such places lost the original characteristics, the value become less significant, and this approach had promoted to renaming those places. The flourishing trend reached to a sorrowful stage. These areas were never made the habitat by the northerners in the due course of history may be due to sense of fear, lack of trust with the immediate neighbors or the adoptability related to climatic factors and our people were first to own such lands before they converted into livable area.
My pantheon was totally misused without giving the essence and charm of such amazing structures. Functional alternation as per need and time should retain the original identity. Until and unless we all realize the value of our antiquities, free from selective mechanism, we shall remain incomplete in the world of diversification.
First of all, please accept greetings from the Bhutanese refugees in various camps of Nepal.
I had an opportunity to go through an article in the Kuensel written by Rinzin Wangchuk on May 10, 2011, where you commented regarding Bhutan, its ruthless rulers and so-called political and illegal immigrants.
Besides you, there are a number of people, politicians, diplomats and journalists who are highly paid by the demagogic rulers of Bhutan on various occasions just to praise and appreciate their way of ruling the nation.
Dr Bruce, you must be knowing that Bhutan remained as one of the poorest countries of the world until late 1970s. So the question of our fore-fathers migrating to Bhutan due to economic cause is more than super lie of Bhutanese rules as they were there in Bhutan even before the Treaty of Sinchula inked on November 11,1865 between Bhutan and British-India. Of course, political migration from Tibet to Bhutan was there time to time, even founder of modern Bhutan Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal had to immigrate Bhutan as refugee in 1616 from political strife in Tibet.
Is it your own census record that reflects population of Bhutan to be about 670,000? You must know the total population of Bhutan was 1.2 million, according to the Bhutanese authority, that was declared in United Nations in 1971 while Bhutan became the member of United Nations Organizations. The same number was suddenly reduced to somewhere 500,000 in 1990 after evicting the southern Bhutanese of Nepalese ethnicity. And, 25 million population of Nepal and 17 million population of Nepalese ethnicity of Indian states of Assam and West Bengal is nothing to do with the bonafide Bhutanese of Nepalese ethnicity. The Bhutanese refugees in eastern Nepal are from Bhutan and not from those countries. You are welcome to clear your doubt, if any, by visiting the camps and verifying their documents. So we request you, for God sake not to carry the childish version of the perpetrator rulers of present Bhutan.
Dr Bruce, we do agree that our country Bhutan is really pristine where we lived and like to live but due to ruthless rulers thousand of bonafide Bhutanese were evicted to become refugees for so long. So how can you say the rulers are taking care about their people? Are you talking about only for ruling elites and their ‘yes people’? There are still personalities of our ethnicity in high-ranked positions inside Bhutan, which we always accept. However, their inside and outside are different. As you look at the faces of some Nepali-speaking ministers in the Jigmi Y Thinley’s cabinet, you may see them as people of southern Bhutan, but they have Jigme Singye inside them since they were compelled to act in that manner.
As an outsider to Bhutan, you must know that the border of Bhutan was closed long before the eviction of bonafide southern Bhutanese. Can Bhutanese ruler able to protect northern border with China? Do you also know that the descendants of the citizens since much before 1958 were declared to be so-called illegal immigrants, as they did not possess the land tax receipt as their parents did because the land was not in their own name? How can you say this is not an ethnic issue when more than 100,000 of Bhutanese of Nepali origin were evicted from southern Bhutan?
Tricky Bhutanese rulers seem smarter than diplomats of US because only with formal relationship they were made to agree to resettle unjust Bhutanese in the refugee camp in eastern Nepal in support of Bhutanese regime. I think, this must be very much clear to you. Someone, non- Bhutanese briefing Bhutanese history is really going to be history of Bhutan because such a person can only brief the history that briefed by the rulers of Bhutan without the true history in the content.
Further, it should be known to you that the autocratic regime turned into a constitutional monarchy in the name of unique democracy where people are not allowed to practice their democratic rights. Consequently, more than one hundred thousand of bonafide Bhutanese were not allowed to say anything on this democracy.
The much trumpeted gross national happiness in Bhutan, if any, depends on supply of India and is not only loving street dogs, finding snarling dogs as smiling in Thimphu and neglecting the cry of more than exiled Bhutanese for returning to their homeland, but creating happiness to a few elites inside the country. Ever agonized Bhutanese will never be happy merely with nationwide road constructions, electricity supply and car loan.
Yes, the Government of Bhutan will keep on organizing such talk programs and seminars just to make the organizers and the speakers to say the rulers of Bhutan are unique but the subject of Bhutan are economic migrants, disgruntled terrorists, anti-national and illegal immigrants, and even Indians.
Thank you for giving me an opportunity to write this letter.
Dr Bhampa Rai
Chairman
Bhutanese Refugee Representative Repatriation Committee
The United Revolutionary Front of Bhutan (URFB) has claimed responsibility to the Sunday twin blasts in Bhutan.
In a media statement sent to BNS via email from undisclosed location, Karma, Commander-in-Chief of the Front, said the blasts were aimed at drawing the attentions of the ongoing national assembly towards the people’s aspiration and to warn the stakeholders—in their own words, responsible for the suffering of the innocent Bhutanese people in general.
“The Front detonated two (IED) explosives at followings places—one in Gaylephug cinema hall and the other in Phuentsholing Market. URFB sincerely claims these incidents that took place on May 22, 2011,” reads the statement.
The Front further stated that under the ploy of the so-called democratization, the regime still functions with iron rule and people are being suppressed, oppressed and discriminated in Bhutan.
“URFB shall continue its subversive activities till the regime exercise its autocratic power and present itself in more aggressive manner in coming days ahead,” warned Karma.
“Throughout my reign I will never rule you as a King. I will protect you as a parent, care for you as a brother and serve you as a son …” so pledged His Majesty the King during the coronation two and a half years ago.
His Majesty the King has kept his promise.
His Majesty has traveled the length and breadth of our country and personally granted land kidu to tens of thousands of farmers. He has walked – sometimes for days on end, in the sun, rain and in the snow – to meet our remotest villagers, and has cooked for them, slept in their houses, and granted kidu to the destitute, the needy and the infirm.
He has visited almost every school, from community schools to colleges, to talk with, to play – at times even barefoot – and to guide our students.
And when disaster has struck – earthquakes in our East, floods throughout the country, fire in many places – His Majesty the King has rushed to be with His people; to console them and to support them; and to help them rebuild their homes and their lives.
His Majesty has kept his promise – He has protected us as only a parent can; cared for us as a true brother; and served us as a devoted son. He is the People’s King.
The People’s King has already touched the lives of thousands upon tens of thousands of ordinary Bhutanese. And yesterday, when he announced that, “it is now time for me to marry” His Majesty touched the hearts of an entire nation.
The joyous announcement did not come as a Royal Command. Instead, His Majesty informed the nation personally, without formality and without any attempt to hide his complete sincerity, much like a son informing his parents and his siblings.
Our future queen is Ashi Jetsun Pema. And the royal wedding will take place this October.
The entire nation, like one big family, is already celebrating.
Tobgay is the Leader of the Opposition Party in the National Assembly of Bhutan. Source: http://www.tsheringtobgay.com
At least two bombs exploded in the border towns of Gelephu and Phuentsholing in the period of two hours on Sunday evening. The incident left one injured.
According to a source, the first blast occurred around 7:50pm in Phuentsholing town. Police said that the explosive was detonated in a metal dustbin. Another blast in Gelephu town occurred at 9:40pm the same night. No human casualties were reported in the Gelephu blast. Police stated that the bomb was planted near the town’s only cinema hall.
According to the police source, one Indian national of 20s sustained minor injuries. The injured including the four other Indian nationals were sitting under a tree when the incident occurred.
During preliminary police investigation, eyewitnesses have reported that they heard a loud noise and soon the dustbin was on fire. The motive behind the blasts is not yet known.
No individuals or groups owned up responsibility to the incident until the filing of this report.
Sangey and Binod Sanyashi jointly reported for BNS from Thimphu.
You can listen to a discussion regarding fund mobilisation for fire victims in Goldhap and Sanischare Refugee Camps in Nepal. In the first part, you will listen a short talk with Vidhyapati Mishra, Manager of Bhutan Media Society, who was in Jhapa for fund distribution. In the second part, there is a discussion with journalist TP Mishra from Bhutan Media Society and Ram Karki, General Secretary of Bhutanese Community in the Netherlands.
