Crazy bear?...

Peaceful?

A bear recently wrecked havoc in the meditation centre in Tango. Thankfully, it did not attack any of the monks.

But others have not been as lucky. Earlier this month, a bear mauled and killed a man in Dawakha. A little upstream, in Jabana, a farmer managed a narrow escape after stabbing a bear two times. Further upstream, in Shari (Haa), a man was severely mauled by a bear. And on the other side of the Wangchu, in Chapcha, another man was seriously mauled by a bear.

Be careful when you venture into the forests. Never go alone. And always try to alert and scare away any bears in the vicinity.

Bears forage at this time of the year. Many of them do so with their cubs So they are naturally nervous. And they will attack if they are startled.

But the recent spate of bear attacks may not be normal. A single bear could easily cover Shari, Jabana, Dawakha, Chapcha and Tango in a couple of days. So could it be that the same bear visited all these places? Could it be a rabid animal? Could it be the bear that the brave farmer in Jabana stabbed?

Regardless, it would be advisable for the concerned authorities to look into the matter immediately … before more lives are endangered.

Thimphu’s lifestyle...

In 2007 the Ministry of Health conducted a survey in Thimphu to assess the state of non-communicable diseases in the capital. The results showed that we live dangerously. For example:

• One out of every five adults consumed tobacco – they either smoked or used smokeless tobacco.
• One third of the adult population consumed alcohol regularly. One third of them were associated with hazardous drinking and binging.
• Most adults did not exercise to meet minimum health requirement. More than three-fourths of adults did not get any exercise at all during their free time.
• Two thirds of the adult population did not eat adequate fruits and vegetables.

The results also showed that our sedentary and indulgent lifestyles were already causing needless suffering. For instance:

• One out of every ten adults was receiving treatment for hypertension. One fifth of the adult population had raised blood pressure.
• One tenth of the adult population was either diabetic or suffered immediate risk of developing diabetes.
• Over half of the adults were overweight.

That was the story back in 2007. I wonder how it would look like today. It’s time for another survey, the results of which will probably force us to take non-communicable diseases seriously.

But some data is already available. The following table, prepared by Dr Gampo Dorji of the Department of Public Health, shows a disturbing trend.

A role model...

Civic sense. Do we have it?

Sangay Dorji is one person who does have good sense of civic responsibility. I chanced upon him fixing potholes on the road to Dechhenchholing. He collected soft rock, gravel and mud from a nearby landslide to fill the larger potholes. And within minutes, even before he was finished, vehicles started plying on the repaired side of the road.

Sangay Dorji, who lives in Dechhenchholing, drives a taxi on the weekends. He decided that he didn’t need to keep driving on a certain rough patch when he spotted a small landslide above the road. He’s already filled the potholes with mud and gravel several times. Similarly he keeps fixing the uneven – and dangerous – offset at one end of the Dechhenchholing bridge.

Here’s Sangay Dorji – a role model – in action.

Politics of LG elections...

The local government elections are over. And the new gups – the heads of local governments – have started taking their charge throughout the country.

But a dozen gewogs still don’t have gups.

Goenshari in Punakha yielded a two-way tie. The election results in Bjabcho in Chukha was nullified as the winning candidate turned out to be overaged. And elections for Gongdue in Mongar could not be conducted as the lone candidate was disqualified for violating electoral laws.

So elections for Goenshari’s two candidates will be repeated. And elections will be conducted in Bjabcho and Gondue.

The remaining 9 gewogs don’t have gups yet, because the election results in these gewogs are being contested. And cases have been registered against the winning gups of these 9 gewogs.

I find one of these cases particularly disturbing. The winning gup of Tendu, Samtse has been alleged to have received help from an uncle who apparently is a DPT party worker.

If this is true, it is a flagrant violation of electoral laws. Local governments are nonpartisan. And political parties should not attempt to influence local governments in any way.

The Samtse dzongkhag court will, no doubt, hear the case carefully.

But because a political party has allegedly been involved, it may also make sense for the Election Commission to investigate the case separately.

CDG giveaway...

Looking for power

During a recent meeting with gups, the PM reminded the local government leaders that, “The constituency development grant of Nu 2M … was not fully used in most gewogs”. And he advised them to put the CDG “… to use to benefit the poor and contribute towards alleviating poverty.”

The PM makes it sound like local governments have full authority over CDG. They don’t.

Firstly, local governments cannot decide how to use the CDG. They can only submit project proposals. The proposals must ultimately be approved by their MPs. And the ministry of finance can release CDG funds to gewogs only at the instructions of MPs.

And secondly, CDGs are earmarked for National Assembly constituencies. Each constituency is made up of a group of gewogs. Most gups have no idea how the CDG will divided, and how much their respective gewogs will receive. That decision seems to lie exclusively with the MP.

The government should be concerned that most gewogs have not used CDG fully. If that concern is genuine, the government should hand over full and complete authority of the CDG to local governments. There’s really no need to involve MPs.

Otherwise, and in spite of what the PM has said, most gewogs will still not be able to make full use of the CDG. In which case, something else should concern the PM: that his MPs may purposely delay use of CDG till 2012 in order to extract maximum political mileage. The next general elections, after all, is in 2013.

Photo credit: Kuensel

An inconvenient truth...

Last week, on the 8^th of July, Bhutan Today reported that the Phuentsholing hospital received four post abortion complication cases in just one month. All the abortions had been performed across the border, in Jaigon. All four cases were life-threatening.

This week, on the 14^th of July, Kuensel reported that a young woman died in Phuentsholing hospital from post abortion complications. The abortion had been performed on the 11^th of July, in Jaigon, just three days after the Bhutan Today article.

Many of our women have lost their lives attempting abortions. Many, many more have suffered life-threatening complications caused by abortions. And countless others have undergone the trauma of abortions in dangerous clinics across our border.

The media have done a remarkable job informing the public about the reality of abortions, especially about abortions that go wrong. But still, the subject is taboo.

We know what’s happening. But we chose to ignore the truth.

This cannot continue. We must talk about it. This conversation will, no doubt, be uncomfortable, even difficult. But for the sake of our women – for the sake of our sisters and our daughters – we must accept what’s going on. And we must look for solutions.

What do you think?

Should we legalize abortion? Or should we explore other solutions? Please give me your views. And please take the poll.

Powerful tendency...

Absolutely right

In their editorial last Sunday, The Journalist warned us that “Power Corrupts and Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely”.

Their editorial, and the quote about how power can corrupt, reminded me about a conversation I had with a friend of Bhutan several  years ago. This is how she explained the context of the quote by Lord John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, an English historian and the First Baron of Acton (1834-1902):

In 1870, the Catholic Church entered a crisis over Vatican’s promulgation of the dogma of “papal infallibility” — the dogma in Catholic theology that, by action of the Holy Spirit, the Pope is preserved from even the possibility of error, when he teaches faith or morals in the context of divine revelation.  

Lord Acton was a devout Catholic.  He went to Rome to fight against the dogma of papal infallibility, but failed.  It was in this context that, on April 1887, Lord Acton made his famous statement in a letter to an ecclesiastic scholar Mandell Creighton: 

“I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men with a favourable presumption that they did no wrong.  If there is any presumption, it is the other way, against the holders of power, increasing as the power increases.  Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility.  Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.  Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or certainty of corruption by authority.  There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it. “

This friend of Bhutan carries considerable influence and authority herself. And she explained that knowledge of this story could be useful in any fight against those who abuse authority and misuse power.

And for good measure, she added:

I have met only one man in my career who quoted the much misquoted quote accurately, word for word:  His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo.

Democracy in Bhutan...

The people's choice

Uncontested elections are generally walkovers for the lone candidates. That’s why they’re called “uncontested” elections. Since uncontested elections have only one contesting candidate, that candidate is automatically declared the winner.

But not in Bhutan. Our electoral laws allow voters to cast their ballots even if there’s only one candidate is running. According to Sections 575 and 576 of the Election Act:

575.     A poll at any election to Parliament or a Local Government shall be taken in the constituency concerned even if there is only one contesting candidate or political party.

576.     The candidate shall, for the purposes of section 575, be declared elected only if he/she secures in his/her favour a majority of the total valid votes cast at the election.

This feature is unique to Bhutan. Unlike voters in other democracies, our voters can exercise their right to vote even in uncontested elections. That is, our voters have the right to accept or reject a candidate even if that candidate is the only candidate in that constituency.

The whole purpose of democracy is to give people the power to choose their representatives. So the people must enjoy that power – to accept or reject – even if there is only one contesting candidate.

The recent local government elections proved that this unique feature is important. The elections had 535 constituencies having only one candidate. And voters rejected the lone candidates in 31 of those constituencies.

The winning candidates will represent their people for five years. So it’s important that people have the right choose their representatives even when that choice is limited to one candidate.

Naturally, I feel bad for the 31 candidates who lost the uncontested elections. But the results, unfortunate though they may seem, are a celebration of democracy in Bhutan.

Photo credit: BBS

Monkey business...

Last Sunday’s cover page of The Journalist features a troup of loud monkeys goading a horse and a couple of cranes to continue pushing for state funding.

The dejected animals encircled by the rascals appear to complain:

“…. And No Matter What We Do Or How We Spin It, They Are Still Gonna See State Funding As Monkey Business”

The Journalist is right: no matter how you look at it, state funding for political parties is indeed monkey business.

But The Journalist is also wrong: the horse wants no part of the monkey business, so it should not be there.

The Constitution does not permit state funding for political parties – plain and simple. So there’s no point in arguing about the need for state funding. If state funding is needed – and needed critically – then first amend the laws. Otherwise, no matter how state funding is justified, it must ultimately be subjected to the laws of the land.

Now join the fun in jungles of our democracy…

Open invitation by Haa...

Your invitation

Have you been to Haa?

Chances are you haven’t. You haven’t been to Haa, because you probably didn’t have any work there – you didn’t have the reason to go. And you probably haven’t been there, because, like most people, you think that the journey from Thimphu to Haa is long and arduous.

But there’s good news. If you haven’t been to Haa, you now have good reason to go there. This weekend – that’s on the 9^th and 10^th of July – Haa Dzongkhag, along with the Tourism Council of Bhutan, are organizing the Haa Summer Festival to showcase Haa’s “rich alpine flower, folklore and culture.” You can download information on the festival from the ABTO website.

By the way, it takes under three hours to drive from Thimphu to Haa. The journey is beautiful – you’ll travel through several villages, and along pine forests, meadows and buckwheat fields as you make your way to Ap Chundu’s protectorate.

But if you wish, you could also bicycle to Haa. TCB has organized a bike race from Chunzom to Haa via Paro and Chelela on the 9^th of July. That should be interesting, especially the ride from Bondey (which is at 2,200 meters) to Chelela (3,800 meters).