Bhutan a shining example to the world

On Monday, March 24 while violence was flaring on one side of the Himalayas, in Tibet, with Tibetans clashing with the Chinese authorities, on the other side in the peaceful and tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, a unique political event took place.

A hundred year old political dynasty was willingly surrendering its absolute power to a parliament and the 26-year-old King Jigme Khesar Namgyel was to become a modern constitutional monarch.

Even more strange was that the people did not want this change to democracy. They wanted their king. A foreign commentator had noted that even if there was a referendum, the people would have preferred the monarchy to democracy.

The person behind this unique transformation was the former Kking Jigme Singye Wangchuk who was crowned in 1972 at the age of 17 years and became the youngest monarch of the world at that time.

He ended the long period of isolation of his country known as the Dragon Kingdom by commencing relations with the outside world and introducing 'slow modernisation' while preserving Bhutan's Buddhist culture.

Etiquette and manners

In 1988 the king instituted the policy of Driglam Namzha (Etiquette and Manners) such as requiring all citizens to wear their traditional clothes and establishing the teaching of the national language in schools.

While establishing close links with India he also brought in radical socio economic measures such as the abolition of slavery and the caste system, emancipated women and brought about land reform.

What attracted him to the outside world was that he introduced 'happiness' as a factor in determining social progress. He measured economic progress in terms of GNH - Gross National Happiness.

Even though the idea may appear corny to traditional economists it is gaining increased acceptance by leading economists. That was probably why he was named by Time Magazine in 2006 as 'one of the 100 people who shape the world.'

An American economist, Bruno S Frey, has noted that even though the discipline of economics has much to do with human well being, economists have shied away from factoring the study of human happiness.

To most people happiness is an unscientific concept even though it is a universal desire. It is pointed out that even the American Declaration of Independence has the 'pursuit of happiness' as one main objective.

Gross Human Happiness

This concept of GNH would no doubt be of wide interest to people of the Third World who often see rising GNPs and GDPs of their countries' economies but remain as poor and miserable as ever.

A good example is Sri Lanka itself, which now has a GDP of over six per cent but the poor are unable to make their ends meet. India too had a rising GDP under the BJP government but it was routed at the polls because poor farmers had not benefited from that economic development.

Promoters of the GNH concept point out that conventional development models stress on growth as the ultimate objective; the concept of the GNH is based on the premise that true development of society is when material and spiritual development take place side by side. However much more research has to be done on this concept, many have pointed out.

For example GNH has no exact definition. It is said to be an attempt to define the quality of life in more holistic and psychological terms.

Criticism

The criticisms made against the GNH is mainly on the grounds that it depends on a series of subjective judgements which governments may be able to define in a way to suit their interests.

One example cited is in Bhutan itself where 100,000 Nepalese considered as illegal immigrants were expelled. It would have reduced the wealth of Bhutan which will be reflected in the GDP but others maintain it will not affect the GNH.

This concept of the GNH whether it will come to be acceptable by economists or not, will be welcome because it is an instance where a non Western country has dared to stray off the beaten Western track and produce some original thinking.

King Jigme Singye Wangchuk, is a shining example for Third World countries, particularly those of South Asia for voluntarily giving up the arbitrary power he enjoyed, abdicating and passing the throne to his son to be a constitutional monarch and introducing democracy to a country which has never known it.

Whether democracy and modernisation will prove to be better for the Bhutanese than their simple and traditional ways of living is to be seen.