The Sorry Saga of Bhutan's North
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Saturday, September 19, 2009
Dissident: Democratisation in Bhutan all for show
Religious freedom, an independent judiciary, freedom of the press and human rights remain unsolved questions
Friday, September 18, 2009 By Asia News
Bhutan’s democratisation is all for show; it exists only “on paper” and is of little relevance to the population, this according to Karma Duptho, secretary of the Druk National Congress (DNC), a Bhutanese political movement operating in exile. He has harsh words for the Bhutan government on a number of issues, from Nepali refugees to the free press, from an independent judiciary to respect for human rights and religious freedom, issues that have not yet found a solution in the small mountain kingdom in the Himalayas, caught between China and India.
On the issue of religious freedom, the DNC secretary said that it “was absent until the promulgation of the constitution last year, but” even now “ we can never be certain whether the constitutional provision guaranteeing freedom of religion will be upheld.”
“There are reports of Buddhist culture and religion being imposed on ordinary people,” he said. Members of “other faiths are at risk of attacks, arrests and other forms of persecution including arbitrary detention and arrests from officials,”
Buddhism is Bhutan’s state religion. The authorities have a past of violently cracking down on dissident sects or smaller faith communities. In 1997 for example, some Nyingmapa Buddhists were killed or arrested.
Although constitutional changes made “arbitrary arrest unlawful” last year, proselytising remains illegal” and it is not clear whether “building churches is still restricted or not.”
An “independent judiciary is a fundamental tenet of democracy and this is absent in Bhutan,” Duphto said. “There are at present some 200 and plus political prisoners in various jails throughout Bhutan. Most of them participated in peaceful demonstrations in the early and late 1990s, demanding human rights and democracy.” Some of them have been “imprisoned for more than 17 years;” in 2007 they were joined by “hundreds more” who were arrested for “engaging in political activities contrary to the belief and ideology of the Thimphu regime,” mostly “charged with sedition and treason, and sentenced to 15 years to life imprisonment.”
A tool of democracy elsewhere, in Bhutan the “judiciary is under the control of the king, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, the country’s fifth monarch, who ascended to the throne in 2006 at the age of 26.
Finally yet importantly, freedom of the press remains a contentious issue. Restrictions are still in place and the country’s four radio stations and four newspapers must follow government directives. No newspaper has for instance “written a single article on the Bhutanese refugee issue” since it emerged in 2007, “except for state-owned Kuensel”.
As AsiaNews recently reported, many Bhutanese refugees found asylum in the West, but their problem still remains unresolved.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
HM grants audiance to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India
15 September 2009
His Majesty the King, today, granted an audience to Comptroller & Auditor General (C&AG) of India Shri Vinod Rai.
The C&AG of India is in the Kingdom from 14 to 17 September leading a four member delegation on a goodwill visit. He also called on the Prime Minister.
Today Morning he visited the RAA complex and delivered a talked on; “Relationship between Public Accounts Committee and Supreme Audit Institutions – an Indian perspective” to the members of the Public Accounts Committee and the RAA Officials.
This is the fourth visit made by the successive C&AG of India and the first since Bhutan adopted Constitutional Democracy. The relationship between the Office of the Comptroller & Auditor General of India and Royal Audit Authority had been strengthened with the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in 2001.
The MOU was signed to strengthen the existing friendly relations and bilateral co-operations aimed at improving the work methodologies and exchange of information in the field of public audit. Under the MOU, two Audit Officers are trained every year in the prestigious Academy of Indian Audit and Accounts Services in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, besides deputing senior resource persons from the Office of the C&AG of India once in a year to train auditors in Bhutan. The MOU was renewed in 2007 for another six years.
The visit made by the C&AG is yet another step to further strengthen the relationship between the two Supreme Audit Institutions.
His Majesty the King, today, granted an audience to Comptroller & Auditor General (C&AG) of India Shri Vinod Rai.
The C&AG of India is in the Kingdom from 14 to 17 September leading a four member delegation on a goodwill visit. He also called on the Prime Minister.
Today Morning he visited the RAA complex and delivered a talked on; “Relationship between Public Accounts Committee and Supreme Audit Institutions – an Indian perspective” to the members of the Public Accounts Committee and the RAA Officials.
This is the fourth visit made by the successive C&AG of India and the first since Bhutan adopted Constitutional Democracy. The relationship between the Office of the Comptroller & Auditor General of India and Royal Audit Authority had been strengthened with the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in 2001.
The MOU was signed to strengthen the existing friendly relations and bilateral co-operations aimed at improving the work methodologies and exchange of information in the field of public audit. Under the MOU, two Audit Officers are trained every year in the prestigious Academy of Indian Audit and Accounts Services in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, besides deputing senior resource persons from the Office of the C&AG of India once in a year to train auditors in Bhutan. The MOU was renewed in 2007 for another six years.
The visit made by the C&AG is yet another step to further strengthen the relationship between the two Supreme Audit Institutions.
His Majesty grants audience to India’s new Foreign Secretary
September 12: His Majesty the King granted audience to India’s new Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao this morning. She is accompanied by Satish C. Mehta, Joint Secretary North, of Ministry of External Affairs. They arrived in the country on a three day official visit this morning.
At the Paro airport, The Indian Foreign Secretary was received by her Bhutanese counterpart Daw Penjor, the Chief of Protocol, the Paro Dzongda and Foreign Ministry officials.
Shortly after her arrival in the capital, His Majesty the King granted audience to the Indian Foreign Secretary.
Nirupama Rao became the Foreign Secretary of India on August 1 this year. Before that she served as the Indian Ambassador to China and High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka.
From 2001 to 2002, she served as the first woman spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs. From 1998 to 1999, she was the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indian Embassy in Moscow.
She joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1973.
His Majesty also hosted a luncheon at the Dechenchholing palace for the Indian Foreign Secretary.
Later in the afternoon, the Foreign Secretary of India called on the Prime Minister Lyonchhen Jigmi Y. Thinley.
While in the Kingdom, the delegation will also be meeting senior officials and visiting places of historical and cultural interest.
The Foreign Secretary leaves for New Delhi on Monday.
At the Paro airport, The Indian Foreign Secretary was received by her Bhutanese counterpart Daw Penjor, the Chief of Protocol, the Paro Dzongda and Foreign Ministry officials.
Shortly after her arrival in the capital, His Majesty the King granted audience to the Indian Foreign Secretary.
Nirupama Rao became the Foreign Secretary of India on August 1 this year. Before that she served as the Indian Ambassador to China and High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka.
From 2001 to 2002, she served as the first woman spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs. From 1998 to 1999, she was the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indian Embassy in Moscow.
She joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1973.
His Majesty also hosted a luncheon at the Dechenchholing palace for the Indian Foreign Secretary.
Later in the afternoon, the Foreign Secretary of India called on the Prime Minister Lyonchhen Jigmi Y. Thinley.
While in the Kingdom, the delegation will also be meeting senior officials and visiting places of historical and cultural interest.
The Foreign Secretary leaves for New Delhi on Monday.
Bhutan on the Seine
Peter Foster, Financial Post
Published: Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Being vertically challenged obviously bothers French President Nicolas Sarkozy. At a visit to a manufacturing plant in Normandy last week, his aides sought out the factory's twenty shortest workers as a backdrop. On the other hand, he wasn't too short to trade in his old wife for dishy model/songstress Carla Bruni. But then she is five inches taller than him. Is that a worry? Should President Sarkozy's anxieties and joys be somehow included in the French Gross Domestic Product?
Seems like a wacky idea, but eighteen months ago, M. Sarkozy established an International Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, headed by renowned Keynesian anti-capitalist Joseph Stiglitz. This was allegedly due to "dissatisfaction" with the state of statistical information. I can just imagine the conversations along the Champs: "Zoot alors, I am absolument fromaged off with the state of zee stats. When will they incorporate zee leg over in zee GDP?"
President Sarkozy apparently wants to follow the desperately poor, heavily subsidized Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan in installing the notion of "Gross National Happiness." He claimed at a speech at the Sorbonne on Monday that focusing on GDP was all part of the "overreliance on free market principles" that triggered the global crisis. Fannie Mae and Freddie Macdidn't rate a mention.
"If the market was the solution to all problems and was never wrong," continued M. Sarkozy, "then why are we in such a situation?" But who ever said the market was "the solution to all problems?" And it's not markets that screw up, it's people. Markets just hand out the bouquets and brickbats. However, according to M. Sarkozy, one means of avoiding future crises will be to incorporate measures of such joys/aggravations as vacations (a la M. Hulot?), recycling, doing household chores, and traffic congestion. The contribution to well-being of physical attributes and sex were not mentioned, but presumably will have to be shoved in there somewhere.
Professor Stiglitz laid out his thoughts on the inadequacy of traditional statistics in a piece in last Sunday's Toronto Star. "Are statistics giving us the right signals about what to do?" he pondered. But this question begged more fundamental ones such as: who is this "we" who are seeking signals? And what do "we" plan to do with them?
Professor Stiglitz pointed out that "What we measure affects what we do," but what he really meant was that "what government measures determines what government does." Which gets to the heart of the statistical problem.
In the good old days, GDP provided a rough measure of overall output, but such statistics were always dangerous because they were the raw material of planning. Gradually, as planning failed, planners turned to attacking markets by attacking GDP. Look, they would say, car accidents contribute to GDP! Bombs and tanks contribute to GDP!
Professor Stiglitz claimed that political leaders "are told to maximize [GDP], but citizens also demand that attention be paid to enhancing security, reducing air, water and noise pollution, and so forth -all of which might lower GDP growth." But who exactly is "telling" political leaders to maximize GDP? And are we short of environmental legislation, or the threat of it, in modern democracies?
Professor Stiglitz believes, as President Sarkozy's new statistical Robespierre, that there are opportunities to "improve metrics." His ideology was clearly showing in his eagerness to incorporate inequality. "If a few bankers get much richer," he wrote, "average income can go up, even as most individuals' incomes are declining." He suggested that U.S. growth was held up as a model, but that GDP numbers didn't take account of mounting household debt. But nobody hid the household debt figures. All this establishes is that you have to look at a full range of relevant statistics to come to any conclusions. More important, you tend to pick figures to support your conclusions anyway.
Professor Stiglitz claims that policy wonks are now in a better position to assess well-being and gather the relevant data, employing such insights as that losing a job means more than just loss of income. But who except an ivory tower Martian would not know that? Meanwhile somebody has also apparently just told Professor Stiglitz that "social connectedness" is important. Uh oh. Here come those old anti-capitalist favourites: anomie and alienation!
"It should have been obvious that one couldn't reduce everything to a single number, GDP," claimed Mr. Stiglitz. But it was only ever people like him who thought that such an exercise was possible in the first place.
Now they claim access to more subtle and comprehensive measures so that they can more subtly and comprehensively interfere with our lives. Or, as professor Stiglitz puts it "Such reforms will help us direct our efforts (and resources) in ways that lead to improvement in both."
The trouble is that when he writes "us" he doesn't mean you and me. When he refers to "our" resources, he does. Meanwhile expect a lot of French people to be bothered by nerds with clipboards and happy-ometers.
Published: Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Being vertically challenged obviously bothers French President Nicolas Sarkozy. At a visit to a manufacturing plant in Normandy last week, his aides sought out the factory's twenty shortest workers as a backdrop. On the other hand, he wasn't too short to trade in his old wife for dishy model/songstress Carla Bruni. But then she is five inches taller than him. Is that a worry? Should President Sarkozy's anxieties and joys be somehow included in the French Gross Domestic Product?
Seems like a wacky idea, but eighteen months ago, M. Sarkozy established an International Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, headed by renowned Keynesian anti-capitalist Joseph Stiglitz. This was allegedly due to "dissatisfaction" with the state of statistical information. I can just imagine the conversations along the Champs: "Zoot alors, I am absolument fromaged off with the state of zee stats. When will they incorporate zee leg over in zee GDP?"
President Sarkozy apparently wants to follow the desperately poor, heavily subsidized Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan in installing the notion of "Gross National Happiness." He claimed at a speech at the Sorbonne on Monday that focusing on GDP was all part of the "overreliance on free market principles" that triggered the global crisis. Fannie Mae and Freddie Macdidn't rate a mention.
"If the market was the solution to all problems and was never wrong," continued M. Sarkozy, "then why are we in such a situation?" But who ever said the market was "the solution to all problems?" And it's not markets that screw up, it's people. Markets just hand out the bouquets and brickbats. However, according to M. Sarkozy, one means of avoiding future crises will be to incorporate measures of such joys/aggravations as vacations (a la M. Hulot?), recycling, doing household chores, and traffic congestion. The contribution to well-being of physical attributes and sex were not mentioned, but presumably will have to be shoved in there somewhere.
Professor Stiglitz laid out his thoughts on the inadequacy of traditional statistics in a piece in last Sunday's Toronto Star. "Are statistics giving us the right signals about what to do?" he pondered. But this question begged more fundamental ones such as: who is this "we" who are seeking signals? And what do "we" plan to do with them?
Professor Stiglitz pointed out that "What we measure affects what we do," but what he really meant was that "what government measures determines what government does." Which gets to the heart of the statistical problem.
In the good old days, GDP provided a rough measure of overall output, but such statistics were always dangerous because they were the raw material of planning. Gradually, as planning failed, planners turned to attacking markets by attacking GDP. Look, they would say, car accidents contribute to GDP! Bombs and tanks contribute to GDP!
Professor Stiglitz claimed that political leaders "are told to maximize [GDP], but citizens also demand that attention be paid to enhancing security, reducing air, water and noise pollution, and so forth -all of which might lower GDP growth." But who exactly is "telling" political leaders to maximize GDP? And are we short of environmental legislation, or the threat of it, in modern democracies?
Professor Stiglitz believes, as President Sarkozy's new statistical Robespierre, that there are opportunities to "improve metrics." His ideology was clearly showing in his eagerness to incorporate inequality. "If a few bankers get much richer," he wrote, "average income can go up, even as most individuals' incomes are declining." He suggested that U.S. growth was held up as a model, but that GDP numbers didn't take account of mounting household debt. But nobody hid the household debt figures. All this establishes is that you have to look at a full range of relevant statistics to come to any conclusions. More important, you tend to pick figures to support your conclusions anyway.
Professor Stiglitz claims that policy wonks are now in a better position to assess well-being and gather the relevant data, employing such insights as that losing a job means more than just loss of income. But who except an ivory tower Martian would not know that? Meanwhile somebody has also apparently just told Professor Stiglitz that "social connectedness" is important. Uh oh. Here come those old anti-capitalist favourites: anomie and alienation!
"It should have been obvious that one couldn't reduce everything to a single number, GDP," claimed Mr. Stiglitz. But it was only ever people like him who thought that such an exercise was possible in the first place.
Now they claim access to more subtle and comprehensive measures so that they can more subtly and comprehensively interfere with our lives. Or, as professor Stiglitz puts it "Such reforms will help us direct our efforts (and resources) in ways that lead to improvement in both."
The trouble is that when he writes "us" he doesn't mean you and me. When he refers to "our" resources, he does. Meanwhile expect a lot of French people to be bothered by nerds with clipboards and happy-ometers.
HM grants audiance to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India
15 September 2009
His Majesty the King, today, granted an audience to Comptroller & Auditor General (C&AG) of India Shri Vinod Rai.
The C&AG of India is in the Kingdom from 14 to 17 September leading a four member delegation on a goodwill visit. He also called on the Prime Minister.
Today Morning he visited the RAA complex and delivered a talked on; “Relationship between Public Accounts Committee and Supreme Audit Institutions – an Indian perspective” to the members of the Public Accounts Committee and the RAA Officials.
This is the fourth visit made by the successive C&AG of India and the first since Bhutan adopted Constitutional Democracy. The relationship between the Office of the Comptroller & Auditor General of India and Royal Audit Authority had been strengthened with the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in 2001.
The MOU was signed to strengthen the existing friendly relations and bilateral co-operations aimed at improving the work methodologies and exchange of information in the field of public audit. Under the MOU, two Audit Officers are trained every year in the prestigious Academy of Indian Audit and Accounts Services in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, besides deputing senior resource persons from the Office of the C&AG of India once in a year to train auditors in Bhutan. The MOU was renewed in 2007 for another six years.
The visit made by the C&AG is yet another step to further strengthen the relationship between the two Supreme Audit Institutions.
His Majesty the King, today, granted an audience to Comptroller & Auditor General (C&AG) of India Shri Vinod Rai.
The C&AG of India is in the Kingdom from 14 to 17 September leading a four member delegation on a goodwill visit. He also called on the Prime Minister.
Today Morning he visited the RAA complex and delivered a talked on; “Relationship between Public Accounts Committee and Supreme Audit Institutions – an Indian perspective” to the members of the Public Accounts Committee and the RAA Officials.
This is the fourth visit made by the successive C&AG of India and the first since Bhutan adopted Constitutional Democracy. The relationship between the Office of the Comptroller & Auditor General of India and Royal Audit Authority had been strengthened with the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in 2001.
The MOU was signed to strengthen the existing friendly relations and bilateral co-operations aimed at improving the work methodologies and exchange of information in the field of public audit. Under the MOU, two Audit Officers are trained every year in the prestigious Academy of Indian Audit and Accounts Services in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, besides deputing senior resource persons from the Office of the C&AG of India once in a year to train auditors in Bhutan. The MOU was renewed in 2007 for another six years.
The visit made by the C&AG is yet another step to further strengthen the relationship between the two Supreme Audit Institutions.
PM’s Japan experience
10 September, 2009 - Returning yesterday from his eight-day visit to Japan, Prime Minister Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley said the visit confirmed good relations between the two countries that will not be altered by the changing political situation in Japan.
Japan had its general elections in August this year where the opposition Democratic Party of Japan defeated the Liberal Democratic Party that had been in power for almost 52 years.
“Japan is one of the most important developing partners of Bhutan and, with this visit, we were able to strengthen and build linkages with both the parties,” said Lyonchhoen. “I’ve come back with assured support and many opportunities to collaborate in pursuit of various programmes the government is committed to.”
Lyonchhoen said he made it very clear to all Japanese officials he met that it was not his intention to request Japan for additional assistance beyond what Japan had already committed. “We are fully mindful of how Japan has been worst hit by the economic recession. We just wanted to thank the Japanese people for their cooperation and assistance,” he said.
“But I told them that there’s a great need for ambulances and they’ve noted that,” said Lyonchhoen. “There’s a high possibility that several ambulances and fire fighting engines may be forthcoming within this year.”
Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley said that the most important event was his meeting with the outgoing prime minister of Japan, Taro Aso, during which he thanked the Japanese government for all the contribution and support to Bhutan’s development process.
“One of the outcomes of my visit will be a significant increase in Japanese tourists to Bhutan,” said Lyonchhoen. He said that an agreement would be signed between the government and JALPAK, which will formally recognise Bhutan as a high-end tourism destination. A JALPAK team will visit in October and operations will start by spring next year, said the prime minister.
Lyonchhoen also met with the Tokyo metropolitan governor, who expressed his interest in supporting Bhutan in technological cooperation. “He gave me a list of activities in which we might find interest. But I informed them and many other business people that we’re at present looking at the possibility of upgrading our Paro-Bondey farm machinery workshop into a factory that could manufacture most parts for our farm machinery,” he said. “By upgrading, we’d need to import only the engine and the more sophisticated parts, thereby making our mechanisation of rural farm sustainable.”
During his visit, Lyonchhoen also met with the Japanese vice foreign minister, a very prominent sports personality. “I’ve invited her to visit Bhutan with the view to build relations between our sports organisations and the Japanese sports establishments,” he said.
On foreign direct investment in the area of building health facilities, Lyonchhoen said that he had a discussion with a leading biotechnology company. “This is an area we think we’ve considerable potential for in terms of having abundance of herbal medicine plants. The concerned party will visit Bhutan soon to explore the possibility of establishing a high-tech medical and research centre.”
During his meeting with the vice president of JICA, Kenzo Oshima, Lyonchhoen said he thanked them for the support they have committed. “We hope that, despite the difficulties the Japanese government is facing as a result of recession, there would be no withdrawal of earlier commitments. And this was confirmed,” he said. Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley said he studied a Japanese farming cooperative to replicate the idea in Bhutan. “The government is committed to promote cooperatives and we explored opportunities to import machinery for grading our food products and installing them in particular places, starting from Thimphu, Phuentsholing, Gelephu and Samdrupjongkhar,” he said.
Lyonchhoen had gone to Japan on the invitation of the junior chamber of commerce in Fukuoka district to speak on Gross National Happiness. He addressed an audience of more than 2,000 people, which comprised of young leaders of the chamber and important politicians.
“Relations between Japan and Bhutan have been diversifying with greater levels of exchange and Japanese people have taken great understanding of Bhutan’s development process. This relation will continue to grow,” he said.
A Buddhist group in Tokyo donated 400 bicycles to Bhutan during the prime minister’s visit to Japan.
“Another group has arranged for its transportation costs,” said Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley. “We’ll probably, depending on what the cabinet decides, give them to those people, who will pledge sincerely to use the bicycle to go to work instead of cars.”
He said that the government has already taken a step to reduce the use of private vehicles in Thimphu. “We’ve added some 13 buses during the coronation and centenary celebrations to increase public transportation and we’ll continue to add more buses,” he said.
“Through the use of 400 bicycles during working days, we’ll be able to reduce carbon emission. The idea is to make Thimphu a bicycle city,” said Lyonchhoen.
A non-government organisation in Japan, AMDA, also donated a Japanese ambulance to Bhutan.
By Phuntsho Choden
Japan had its general elections in August this year where the opposition Democratic Party of Japan defeated the Liberal Democratic Party that had been in power for almost 52 years.
“Japan is one of the most important developing partners of Bhutan and, with this visit, we were able to strengthen and build linkages with both the parties,” said Lyonchhoen. “I’ve come back with assured support and many opportunities to collaborate in pursuit of various programmes the government is committed to.”
Lyonchhoen said he made it very clear to all Japanese officials he met that it was not his intention to request Japan for additional assistance beyond what Japan had already committed. “We are fully mindful of how Japan has been worst hit by the economic recession. We just wanted to thank the Japanese people for their cooperation and assistance,” he said.
“But I told them that there’s a great need for ambulances and they’ve noted that,” said Lyonchhoen. “There’s a high possibility that several ambulances and fire fighting engines may be forthcoming within this year.”
Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley said that the most important event was his meeting with the outgoing prime minister of Japan, Taro Aso, during which he thanked the Japanese government for all the contribution and support to Bhutan’s development process.
“One of the outcomes of my visit will be a significant increase in Japanese tourists to Bhutan,” said Lyonchhoen. He said that an agreement would be signed between the government and JALPAK, which will formally recognise Bhutan as a high-end tourism destination. A JALPAK team will visit in October and operations will start by spring next year, said the prime minister.
Lyonchhoen also met with the Tokyo metropolitan governor, who expressed his interest in supporting Bhutan in technological cooperation. “He gave me a list of activities in which we might find interest. But I informed them and many other business people that we’re at present looking at the possibility of upgrading our Paro-Bondey farm machinery workshop into a factory that could manufacture most parts for our farm machinery,” he said. “By upgrading, we’d need to import only the engine and the more sophisticated parts, thereby making our mechanisation of rural farm sustainable.”
During his visit, Lyonchhoen also met with the Japanese vice foreign minister, a very prominent sports personality. “I’ve invited her to visit Bhutan with the view to build relations between our sports organisations and the Japanese sports establishments,” he said.
On foreign direct investment in the area of building health facilities, Lyonchhoen said that he had a discussion with a leading biotechnology company. “This is an area we think we’ve considerable potential for in terms of having abundance of herbal medicine plants. The concerned party will visit Bhutan soon to explore the possibility of establishing a high-tech medical and research centre.”
During his meeting with the vice president of JICA, Kenzo Oshima, Lyonchhoen said he thanked them for the support they have committed. “We hope that, despite the difficulties the Japanese government is facing as a result of recession, there would be no withdrawal of earlier commitments. And this was confirmed,” he said. Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley said he studied a Japanese farming cooperative to replicate the idea in Bhutan. “The government is committed to promote cooperatives and we explored opportunities to import machinery for grading our food products and installing them in particular places, starting from Thimphu, Phuentsholing, Gelephu and Samdrupjongkhar,” he said.
Lyonchhoen had gone to Japan on the invitation of the junior chamber of commerce in Fukuoka district to speak on Gross National Happiness. He addressed an audience of more than 2,000 people, which comprised of young leaders of the chamber and important politicians.
“Relations between Japan and Bhutan have been diversifying with greater levels of exchange and Japanese people have taken great understanding of Bhutan’s development process. This relation will continue to grow,” he said.
A Buddhist group in Tokyo donated 400 bicycles to Bhutan during the prime minister’s visit to Japan.
“Another group has arranged for its transportation costs,” said Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley. “We’ll probably, depending on what the cabinet decides, give them to those people, who will pledge sincerely to use the bicycle to go to work instead of cars.”
He said that the government has already taken a step to reduce the use of private vehicles in Thimphu. “We’ve added some 13 buses during the coronation and centenary celebrations to increase public transportation and we’ll continue to add more buses,” he said.
“Through the use of 400 bicycles during working days, we’ll be able to reduce carbon emission. The idea is to make Thimphu a bicycle city,” said Lyonchhoen.
A non-government organisation in Japan, AMDA, also donated a Japanese ambulance to Bhutan.
By Phuntsho Choden
Thursday, August 27, 2009
BHUTAN ON A HOT TRIPOD: Talk on refugee on a card
I cannot relate the issue but the run shown the heat at their buttocks.
1. Last year Senetor John Mc Cain deegation visited Bhutan and gave an assignment to submit her report to US on three major and 5 minor points;
1. Last year Senetor John Mc Cain deegation visited Bhutan and gave an assignment to submit her report to US on three major and 5 minor points;
The Bhutan Insurgencies As refugees depart for U.S., camps in Nepal foster nascent resistance
Don Duncan, GlobalPost
CLICK FOR VIDEO
DON DUNCAN / GLOBALPOST
Bhutanese refugee camp in Nepal.
THIMPHU, Bhutan — The impressive necklace of cliff-perched fortresses that dot this Himalayan nation's mountainous perimeter are a testimony to Bhutan's long-standing effort to keep out foreigners.
In the 1980s, however, the tiny Buddhist nation of just 600,000 sandwiched between the People's Republic of China and India found itself with what it considered to be a foreigner problem.
Bhutan's minority population of ethnic Nepalese had mushroomed to represent one-third of the population, causing then-King Jigme Singye Wangchuck to start a "one nation, one people" policy to deport and strip many of their Bhutanese citizenship. The campaign ended with the expulsion of about 105,000 Nepalese through beatings, torture and murder committed by the Royal Bhutan Army that lasted until the early 1990s, human rights groups and deportees say.
"We left because we were scared that they would imprison us, that they would beat us, that I would be raped," said Matimya Moktan, 41, who arrived in Nepal in 1991 and now lives in a small mud stick hut with her three children and husband in one of seven refugee camps in eastern Nepal.
Locked in political limbo, these camps have become breeding grounds for a fledgling militancy that seeks to overthrow Bhutan's monarchy just two years after the king abdicated in favor of his son, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, who heads a constitutional monarchy that permitted the nation's first democratic elections last year. "We are preparing a protracted people's war," said Comrade Umesh, a 27-year-old leader of the Communist Party of Bhutan, one of a handful of Maoist militant groups that have developed in the camps. The groups now have little more than handmade explosives, pistols and ragged Communist literature with which to wage their insurgency but Indian intelligence sources say they may soon acquire much more capacity through recent alliances with two Indian separatist groups: the National Democratic Front of Bodoland and the United Liberation Front of Assam operating in the restive Indian states of Sikkim and Assam located between Nepal and Bhutan.
"Through these alliances, the Bhutanese refugee militants can learn how to make more powerful bombs, acquire superior weaponry and fight more effectively," said the Indian intelligence source.
So far, the insurgency has been limited to occasional bombings that have damaged bridges, fuel depots and electrical transformers in southern Bhutan and the capital of Thimphu. To date, there have been no deaths and just one injury, a woman who suffered a minor shrapnel wound, according to Bhutan's national newspaper, Kunesel.
Bill Frelick, refugee policy director for Human Rights Watch, says the insurgents, who are believed to number between 600 and 1,000, are still too weak to launch an effective revolution. But other analysts say the alliance with militant Indians, the continuing relocation of refugees and recruiting forays into Bhutan are worrisome signs.
In 2006, the United States and a handful of other Western countries offered to resettle more than 70,000 Nepalese refugees. About 7,000 have already left the camps and the rest will be gone within four years, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
Frelick said the insurgents could take advantage of the resettlement program by using future remittances to buy weapons and exercising more and more radical influence rendering camps devoid of more restrained voices. "You could end up with all the more moderate people leaving the camps," he said.
For the moment, the militants regularly cross into Bhutan through thick jungles that straddle the porous border to lecture and train ethnic Nepalese residents who remain in Bhutan, refugees say.
"If all we had to show were our weapons, we wouldn't get very far," said Umesh. "So we teach our ideology and train cadres in making explosives and in guerrilla fighting. We are laying the groundwork in Bhutan both ideologically and militarily."
While the government hopes the nation's fledgling democracy will keep the estimated 100,000 ethnic Nepalese in Bhutan from insurrection, the rebels predict their ranks will increase, citing a lack of state services, special travel permits required to leave the south and a ban on Nepalese from becoming citizens. Perhaps with that in mind, the government plans to reopen 15 schools and build more health centers in Nepalese areas by the end of the year.
"The best way a country like Bhutan can defend itself and prevent security problems has to be through the people," said Prime Minister Jigme Thinley. "By the end of five years, there will be absolute parity in terms of the provision of services and infrastructure. This is how we can prevent conditions for discontent and disaffection from growing in our country."
Research assistance provided by the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute in New York.
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DON DUNCAN / GLOBALPOST
Bhutanese refugee camp in Nepal.
THIMPHU, Bhutan — The impressive necklace of cliff-perched fortresses that dot this Himalayan nation's mountainous perimeter are a testimony to Bhutan's long-standing effort to keep out foreigners.
In the 1980s, however, the tiny Buddhist nation of just 600,000 sandwiched between the People's Republic of China and India found itself with what it considered to be a foreigner problem.
Bhutan's minority population of ethnic Nepalese had mushroomed to represent one-third of the population, causing then-King Jigme Singye Wangchuck to start a "one nation, one people" policy to deport and strip many of their Bhutanese citizenship. The campaign ended with the expulsion of about 105,000 Nepalese through beatings, torture and murder committed by the Royal Bhutan Army that lasted until the early 1990s, human rights groups and deportees say.
"We left because we were scared that they would imprison us, that they would beat us, that I would be raped," said Matimya Moktan, 41, who arrived in Nepal in 1991 and now lives in a small mud stick hut with her three children and husband in one of seven refugee camps in eastern Nepal.
Locked in political limbo, these camps have become breeding grounds for a fledgling militancy that seeks to overthrow Bhutan's monarchy just two years after the king abdicated in favor of his son, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, who heads a constitutional monarchy that permitted the nation's first democratic elections last year. "We are preparing a protracted people's war," said Comrade Umesh, a 27-year-old leader of the Communist Party of Bhutan, one of a handful of Maoist militant groups that have developed in the camps. The groups now have little more than handmade explosives, pistols and ragged Communist literature with which to wage their insurgency but Indian intelligence sources say they may soon acquire much more capacity through recent alliances with two Indian separatist groups: the National Democratic Front of Bodoland and the United Liberation Front of Assam operating in the restive Indian states of Sikkim and Assam located between Nepal and Bhutan.
"Through these alliances, the Bhutanese refugee militants can learn how to make more powerful bombs, acquire superior weaponry and fight more effectively," said the Indian intelligence source.
So far, the insurgency has been limited to occasional bombings that have damaged bridges, fuel depots and electrical transformers in southern Bhutan and the capital of Thimphu. To date, there have been no deaths and just one injury, a woman who suffered a minor shrapnel wound, according to Bhutan's national newspaper, Kunesel.
Bill Frelick, refugee policy director for Human Rights Watch, says the insurgents, who are believed to number between 600 and 1,000, are still too weak to launch an effective revolution. But other analysts say the alliance with militant Indians, the continuing relocation of refugees and recruiting forays into Bhutan are worrisome signs.
In 2006, the United States and a handful of other Western countries offered to resettle more than 70,000 Nepalese refugees. About 7,000 have already left the camps and the rest will be gone within four years, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
Frelick said the insurgents could take advantage of the resettlement program by using future remittances to buy weapons and exercising more and more radical influence rendering camps devoid of more restrained voices. "You could end up with all the more moderate people leaving the camps," he said.
For the moment, the militants regularly cross into Bhutan through thick jungles that straddle the porous border to lecture and train ethnic Nepalese residents who remain in Bhutan, refugees say.
"If all we had to show were our weapons, we wouldn't get very far," said Umesh. "So we teach our ideology and train cadres in making explosives and in guerrilla fighting. We are laying the groundwork in Bhutan both ideologically and militarily."
While the government hopes the nation's fledgling democracy will keep the estimated 100,000 ethnic Nepalese in Bhutan from insurrection, the rebels predict their ranks will increase, citing a lack of state services, special travel permits required to leave the south and a ban on Nepalese from becoming citizens. Perhaps with that in mind, the government plans to reopen 15 schools and build more health centers in Nepalese areas by the end of the year.
"The best way a country like Bhutan can defend itself and prevent security problems has to be through the people," said Prime Minister Jigme Thinley. "By the end of five years, there will be absolute parity in terms of the provision of services and infrastructure. This is how we can prevent conditions for discontent and disaffection from growing in our country."
Research assistance provided by the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute in New York.
Lyonchen to visit Japan, discuss business
August 25, 2009 · Filed Under more top stories
The Prime Minister, Lyonch hen Jigmi Y Thinley will vis it Japan from August 27 to September 3, on the invita tion of Japan Junior Cham ber of Commerce.
He will be accompanied by Cabinet Secretary Dasho Tashi Phuntshog and Bhutan Chamber of Commerce and Industry president, Topgyal Dorji.
The PM will deliver a key note address on Gross Na tional Happiness at Fukuoka and hold high level meetings with the Japanese captains of Industry and Commerce. He will also visit Tokyo and meet Madam Sadako Ogata, the President of Japan Inter national Cooperation Agency (JICA) and attend functions organised by the Japan– Bhu tan Friendship Association and the Parliamentary Group for Bhutan.
The visit is expected to open new business opportu nities and strengthen the ex isting close ties of friendship between Japan and Bhutan, according to a Foreign Minis try press release.
The Prime Minister leaves today.
The Prime Minister, Lyonch hen Jigmi Y Thinley will vis it Japan from August 27 to September 3, on the invita tion of Japan Junior Cham ber of Commerce.
He will be accompanied by Cabinet Secretary Dasho Tashi Phuntshog and Bhutan Chamber of Commerce and Industry president, Topgyal Dorji.
The PM will deliver a key note address on Gross Na tional Happiness at Fukuoka and hold high level meetings with the Japanese captains of Industry and Commerce. He will also visit Tokyo and meet Madam Sadako Ogata, the President of Japan Inter national Cooperation Agency (JICA) and attend functions organised by the Japan– Bhu tan Friendship Association and the Parliamentary Group for Bhutan.
The visit is expected to open new business opportu nities and strengthen the ex isting close ties of friendship between Japan and Bhutan, according to a Foreign Minis try press release.
The Prime Minister leaves today.
Prime Minister Meets Mr. Katsuhiko Hibino and Mrs. Hibino
24 June, 2009
Mr. Katsuhiko Hibino, Professor Tokyo University of Art, and Mrs. Hibino called on the Prime Minister today at 2.30 pm. Mr. and Mrs. Hibino are on a visit to the Asian countries to create art works to be exhibited at the Asian Pacific Festival at Fukuoka this year.
During the meeting, Mr. Hibino displayed the creative art works done by the some of the Bhutanese students below ten years of age symbolizing Bhutan – Japan Friendship. The Professor said that children below ten years of age are most creative and, hence, they must have the opportunity to exercise their imagination through art.
The Hon’ble Prime Minister, in elucidating the tenets of Gross National Happiness, said that culture, was one of its four pillars. Lyonchhen said that creativity was important for the individual, society and nation for advancement as well as to help preserve artistic heritage of mankind. In that regard, he thanked the visiting professor and his wife for inspiring the Bhutanese children and letting their creative energy to flow.
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