State of the party...

Last Sunday, in the Bhutan Times…

Checking ourselves...

Lops didn’t like my last entry, about the poll results on our government’s performance. This is what Lops noted on Observing the state of the nation, but intended for my last entry: “Looks like OL wants everything to go the way he feels and views!!! POLL is just a poll and i don’t think anybody will take it seriously…For that matter, even earlier polls might be wrong!”

I hope that Lops is not correct about the OL wanting everything to go his way. If he is correct, then the leader of the opposition party sucks – LOPS.

But Lops is correct about our polls not being taken seriously. And, about the possibility of our earlier polls being wrong. Lops is correct, because polls on this blog inherently suffer from three biases.

The first bias is a socioeconomic bias. Very few Bhutanese have access to the internet. And, naturally, access to polls on this blog. Those who participate in online polls are relatively richer and more educated. And, their views do not necessarily reflect those of the masses. So the poll results would not be representative of the public’s real views.

The second is a statistical bias. A sample of two to three hundred people is statistically insignificant. Their views essentially amount to “noise”, and bear little indication of the views held by the general population. In fact, they bear little indication to the views of even just those with internet access.

And the third is a technological bias. One person can vote several times from different computers or, by using proxie servers, from one computer.

So why then do I conduct polls? Because, they make us think about important issues; And because they are fun.

Checking for our government...

Government's work

The previous poll, on our government’s performance, drew a record number of voters. 409 of you participated in the poll. And, 206 of you said that our government’s performance so far has been “good” or “very good”. That’s an impressive 64% approval rating. Not bad, indeed.

But some of you were suspect. Which promoted one reader, freewill, to point out “…that some DPT fanatics are corrupting you poll results by voting 50 to 100 times by one person. I think your website should be set up in such a way only one person from one ip can vote once and disable proxies.”

Indeed. The numbers favouring the government’s performance changed overnight. I do believe that we had one, or a few, voters casting multiple ballots using, as freewill suggests, proxie servers. So perhaps we did not have as many as 409 people participating in our poll. And so perhaps the poll results are not honest.

But, I will still respect the results. That’s why I chose not to close the poll even though I noticed the overnight swing. My views, however, on our government’s performance is public knowledge. I wrote about it a few days ago.

Our next poll is on our parliament. Let’s see which of our two houses conducts their debates well.

Black Friday...

Today, Friday, July 3, 2009, will be remembered as a dark day in the history of our democracy for two reasons.  One, the National Assembly started imposing its ban on live TV coverage of its proceedings.

And two, a cabinet minister refused to report to the National Council for “Question Time”. The National Council had directed the home minister to report to them today, in person, to answer questions. The questions had been sent to him in advance. Lyonpo Minjur, however, did not report to the Council and submitted his answers in writing. The refusal of a cabinet minister to report to the Council undermines the mandate of the National Council and the democratic process.

Financing political parties...

The Royal Audit Authority, in its annual report to the Parliament, pointed out what we all know: that both our political parties are in serious financial problems. As of 30^th June 2008, PDP owed Nu 20,326,924 to the Bank of Bhutan and Nu 3,588,232 to other various other suppliers. DPT owed Nu 14,253,975 to the Bank and Nu 7,708,010 to other suppliers.

Yesterday, the National Assembly spent a good hour discussing the Royal Audit Authority’s observations on the financial status of our two political parties. Actually, we did not really discuss the audit observations per se. Instead, we talked about, at length and in great detail, the need to provide state funding for the political parties.

This is not good. During our first session, about a year ago, we’d debated state funding for political parties. And we’d agreed that it would be unconstitutional. In fact, the Chief Justice, who at that time was still the Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee, publicly declared that state funding for political parties would be unconstitutional. But still, we discussed the issue again.

Some of the arguments our honourable members of parliament, including ministers, presented were shocking. Most of the members proclaimed that, upon closer examination, the Constitution did not specifically prohibit state funding for political parties. Many suggested that the foundations of our democracy would crumble if the existing parties were to fail. Some threatened that political parties, especially a ruling party with a huge mandate, would resort to corrupt means to raise funds. And, one brave member even proposed that laws could be amended to allow state funding.

My views are simple and straightforward. According to Article 15.4(d) of the Constitution, a political party can be registered if, among other things, “It does not accept money or any assistance other than those contributions made by its registered members, and the amount or value shall be fixed by the Election Commission.” Furthermore, the Election Act clearly specifies that political parties can raise funds from only three sources: registration fees, annual membership fees, and voluntary contributions. So obviously, I cannot support any proposal for state funding for political parties.

But what if one or both the existing parties were to collapse? Wouldn’t that affect democracy? Yes. But the show, so to speak, would go on. The importance of the existing parties is overrated. They are not indispensable for our democracy. Should they fail, it would be most inconvenient, and embarrassing, but other parties would surely come forward. And, they wouldn’t make the same mistakes, especially the excesses that have caused both PDP and DPT financial woes.

Now, if politicians, on the other hand, are prepared to knowingly violate the Constitution, we should be scared. It is dangerous for democracy. And it must not be allowed to happen.

Incidentally, less than a month ago, I’d expressed my concerns that our government may try to justify state funding for political parties (read Financing parties).

Guru’s birthday...

Monks celebrating Guru

Today, the 10^th day of the 5^th month, the Zhung Dratshang, our central monastic order, performed Tsho-khor for Trel-da Tshechu to commemorate Guru Rimpoche’s birth anniversary, and to offer prayers for the welfare of our country.

The Trel-da Tshechu­­ was first performed, on the 10^th day of the 5^th month, by Guru Rimpoche to mark the completion of Samye Monastery, Tibet’s first and oldest monastery. The monastery was built by King Trisong Detsen in the 8^th century.

This week’s photo banner features monks performing the Tsho-khor for Trel-da Tshechu at the kuenra – the main assembly hall – ­of the Tashichho Dzong.