The Yale Globalist - The Road to Bhutan

The Road to Bhutan

Tuesday, 20 January 2009 | Ramon Gonzalez

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The road curved and rose and curved some more.

For most tourists to Bhutan, it begins in Paro, in the far west of this Buddhist kingdom nestled in the Himalayas and shrouded by the clouds. The road traces through narrow valleys bordered by craggy hills that blend into the snow-capped monsters of the north.

Past the capital of Thimpu, the road winds above the valley. Horns honk in an endless parade of blind turns—precautions against large transport trucks that ferry the goods of the outside world into the silent reaches of the kingdom.

Open valleys with old, wooden farmhouses interrupt the isolation of the mountains. In the maze of rice paddies lining the road, farmers are hard at work on the complicated system of walls and water channels needed for the plants.

Soon the people and pastures disappear and the mountains draw nearer. In the east, the valleys tighten and the road narrows, gripping the steep cliffs and climbing to the sky. The farming land grows feeble and scarce in a place where people suffer poverty and isolation.

Driving Change

A massive political transformation has taken place in the midst of this landscape: the coronation of a new king, following the first democratic elections in the country’s history. Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wanghuck was crowned on November 6th with the pageantry and pride of his people on full display. These changes promise new responses to the myriad challenges facing the country.
As I followed the road through Bhutan in June, I heard countless car and home radios tuned to the debate of the newly elected Parliament. The Bhutanese had just held their first full elections for the nation’s legislative body. Meanwhile, the fourth king of the present dynasty, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, abdicated the throne in favor of his son.

These changes unsettled a country that had revered its near-absolute king since he assumed the role in 1972. During his reign, he substantially improved living standards in the country while maintaining a focus on what he terms Gross National Happiness (GNH), an alternative measure to the traditional Gross National Product that most countries use to measure growth.

The GNH embodies King Wangchuck’s concern for the traditional culture, language, religion, and values that define Bhutan.

The election took place through staggered voting for the upper and lower houses in December 2007 and March 2008, respectively. International observers were involved in the process, educating both voters and voting officials while also demonstrating their own enthusiasm for the franchise to a cautious Bhutanese populace.

Indicating the cultural challenges to democracy in Bhutan, in the preparatory mock elections organized by the government and observers, the Druk Yellow Party, a fictional party that ran on a platform of traditional values, won a decisive 46 of 47 constituencies.

Both parties in the actual election, the Bhutan Peace and Prosperity Party (DPT) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), consequently positioned themselves close to the monarchy in their policy and composition.

The brother of the king’s four wives (all sisters) led the PDP, and the twice-former prime minister of the king led the DPT party.

Driving around the capital,Thimpu, I could not miss the legacy of these political changes. Frenzied renovations enveloped the Tashichho dzong, the country’s center of government and religious authority, for the king’s coronation in November 2008. On the outskirts of Thimpu, a new government compound of villas for the cabinet was under construction. Many of the chief members of the DPT party—which scored a decisive victory of 45 out of 57 seats—have publicly said they only want to rule briefly until the next generation can take the reins of power.

But it was not difficult to see the seeds of privilege and corruption sown in these luxurious villas, if not for these founding fathers, then for their successors.

Construction and Adaptation

Amid the construction of hotels, roads, and offices in Thimpu, I also saw the rise of shanty slums of blue tarp. These were the homes of ethnic Nepalese or migrant workers from the north of India. They are the engine behind much of the construction in Bhutan, as well as the living legacy of its past struggles over national identity.

Locals refer to occupations held by many Nepalese as those of three D’s: they are difficult, dangerous, and dirty. But while the Nepalese are economically and culturally distinct from general Bhutanese society, elder Bhutanese show great respect for the Nepalese work ethic. Older Bhutanese lament the lax lives they perceive their children are living. New college graduates face a dearth of job options and are reluctant to return to the taxing farming work of their ancestors. This trend is putting stress on the traditional familial expectation that the younger generations will care for their elders.

The government is beginning to respond to these shifting economic questions through its large stake in many of the development projects in the country. Om Pradhan, the head of the holding company for these investments, says that Bhutan will increasingly open to foreign investment, particularly in its tourism sector. Thimpu has seen the construction of a new five-star hotel, and small, boutique hotels are beginning to appear more rural parts of the country.

Despite such changes, the government continues to be the major economic actor. Bhutan has partnered with India on several hydroelectric projects to feed its energy-hungry southern neighbor. These projects, Bhutan’s largest source of revenue, are now threatened by melting glacial snows that are decreasing the spring water flows while also increasing the risk of flash floods. This is especially problematic in a country where most houses are near rivers. These forces, far outside the power of the Bhutanese government to cause or fix, add the risk of tragedy to the frenzied construction that is occurring along the river’s edge.

Occasionally, though, the government is able to change the lay of the land. The completed road project across the country from east to west is the largest and most visible of such victories. Many of the development consultants and even the conservative farmers I spoke with are strong advocates for more road construction, explaining that it will increase access to regional markets and facilitate trade for the majority of Bhutanese who still work the land for their living. But such construction may feed the flight from the farms and exacerbate the pressures on already unemployed and restless urban youth. The balance between improving and preserving the farming tradition of the country will be difficult.

The political apparatus has created a check on such modernization. The new constitution requires the country to keep 60 percent of its land under tree cover. But the broader preservation and use of its land exists outside and below the power of constitutional fiat. It will depend largely on international environmental efforts, the success of current development and investment projects, and the integration of cultural values and politics as bulwarks against the ephemeral incentives of the ballot box.

People Problems
The surface détente between the ethnic Bhutanese, the ethnic Nepalese, and the government hides a troubled history and still-simmering tensions. In the 1980’s, the government instituted language and cultural prescriptions to unify the increasing minority population under traditional Bhutanese customs. This “one nation, one people” policy mandated the use of the northern Bhutanese style of dress in public places, reiterated Dzongkha’ status as the national language, and discontinued the teaching of Nepali in schools.

Such measures may appear as cultural demagoguery, but the conviction of many ethnic Bhutanese that such unity is important reveals their real concerns about preserving a sense of nationalism even with the threat of larger neighbors that have subsumed their Himalayan neighbors, Tibet and Sikkim.

In response to the violent reaction among a small portion of ethnic minorities, and the sizable number of illegal immigrants in such groups, the government forced thousands into Nepal where they have languished as refugees for almost 17 years.

Recently, the United States has offered to accept at least 60,000 refugees. Such generosity, after years of displacement and suffering, has fueled suspicion among some in the refugee community and among the 100,000 or so ethnic Nepalese still in Bhutan that this could diminish the prospects of repatriation for the refugees. Bill Frelick, the refugee policy director at Human Rights Watch, said the specific motivations of the Bhutanese government are tough to determine. He suggested what could be a more generous explanation: “Bhutan expelled ethnic Nepalese in the first place because of a numbers question and could afford to be more generous in permitting the remainder to repatriate after the foreign resettlement program is over.”

While aware of suspicion that the U.S. resettlement program is just making the original injustice easier to swallow, Frelick placed this breakthrough in the context of “16 rounds of stalemated negotiations over 16 years in which no one has been repatriated.” Refugees resettled to the United States, he said, “could break the logjam not just in terms of numbers but also in building international awareness about the ethnic cleansing and the denial of their right to return, as they find outlets in Western media and in Washington that are simply not available to them in the camps.”

This question has been recast in light of recent political changes. In the most recent census of 2005, 82,000 residents of the country were termed non-nationals and were unable to vote. The general understanding, as an article in the Observer of London noted, is that the vast majority of these were ethnic Nepalese. In spite of these problems, nine Nepalese-speaking MPs were elected to the lower house of Parliament. The Economist wrote, “Officials in both parties said that resolving the southerners’ [Nepalese] grievances was a priority.” Frelick of Human Rights Watch took a slightly more cautious view, explaining to a casual observer, “it didn’t seem to be a part of what they were talking about” during the election.

The political response to the refugees and non-national Nepalese still in Bhutan will have to sort through powerful and at times competing pressures of national identity and full equality. The response has changed along with the political structure of the country, but this response will also shape the final form of these political changes as Bhutan confronts a problem that puts the very values of its new democratic enterprise in question. Like other ethnically homogenous countries clinging to a strong national identity in the face of restless minority populations, Bhutan will still have to struggle through the course it is charting, aiming squarely either at full political equality or at the preservation of Bhutanese life accompanied by ancillary structural political changes.

King and Culture

In addition to the democratization of the country, the transfer of the throne to the fifth king, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, means even more change for Bhutan. Western-educated, he has spoken of the need to modernize the government and the private sector. His boyish good looks have made him a heartthrob among young female fans. There was low-level frenzy in the country when private photos of him and his girlfriend became public, and were buzzed around the country in cell phone picture messages.

Such technology, along with the introduction of Internet and cable television to the country, has changed Bhutan drastically. It has allowed families to stay in touch as they spread across the country, especially since traveling, despite road construction, remains slow and dangerous. For the many monks who leave their home at an early age, technology helps provide a welcome, though imperfect, connection to the families they leave behind. As demonstrated by the many radios broadcasting parliamentary debates, these technological changes will also have profound political effects and will hopefully create a government more aware of and responsive to its citizen’s needs.

The Road to Modernity

Bhutan stands alone as a country dramatically improved by the long reign of an absolute monarch that even in its path towards modernity maintains a profound reverence for tradition and values.

Other countries can look to Bhutan as an example of successful economic development and a peaceful transition to democracy. Meanwhile, the lessons learned by other countries throughout long and imperfect histories may show Bhutan the way to creating a nation that is bettered and fulfilled by the equality of the groups within it.

To drive along the road through Bhutan is to see immense beauty and to glimpse, if only briefly, the soul of the people and country behind it.

Weaving through the paths and footbridges of the rice paddies in Bhutan’s Punakha Valley, I made my way to a temple where monks hovered in a corner, their gaze fixed on a small television broadcasting the debate of the National Assembly. Outside of the room, young monks, ranging from ages seven to 10, stood on tiptoes with strained necks, trying to get a glimpse of the screen through an open window. Perhaps the only thing more incredible to them than this political transition was the prospect of where it might lead.

Ramon Gonzalez is a freshmen in Branford College from New York City. This summer he spent seven days with his family traveling through Bhutan—visiting monasteries, climbing mountains, river rafting, walking through farms, and meeting and talking with the many friendly people he met on the way.

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