Anonymuse

I shall risk the ire of probably every single Bhutanese that reads this piece. It is harsh, but I assure you I gain nothing from sharing my thoughts. It is the mere observation of a chillip who worked as a volunteer for a little while in Thimphu.

1. Being too fond of grand plans and there is very little thought into execution. It doesn’t matter if the plan failed or is poorly executed. It doesn’t matter because no one’s head is ever on the chopping block, and therefore no one needs to be accountable. There is always one excuse or another. If I had a dollar for every time I read about “lack of resources”… Perfect case in point, Norzin lam. The Plan and The Execution. Was anyone held responsible for this Nu 20 million parking lot fiasco?

2. Overtolerance of misconduct. I was absolutely gobsmacked to read that MOE found termination without benefits to be too harsh a punishment for officials who were found guilty of fraud and other misconduct to siphon money from the government. These are civil servants who are duty-bound to act in the interests of the people. You catch them with their hands in the cookie jar, and a mere suspension of their benefits is sufficient? Where is the shame?

3. It is deplorable that compensation or “thrimthue” allows you to pay your way out of criminal conduct. There are too many examples to quote; all you have to do is search for “thrimthue” on Kuensel. How will the law ever be an effective deterrent if drug peddlars can pay off their misconduct without a single day in jail?

Before you respond by saying yes, all these are problems of the government or the civil service, let me put one thing to you. Are those in the civil service not one of your parents, siblings, cousins, uncles and aunts? Those in service are no worse nor better than those at large in society, especially in one as small as that of Bhutan’s. They are as bureaucratic as you, as wasteful, as disorganised, as corrupt. They are… you.

Until you can be the change you want to happen, no one else will.