Not much to cover...

I have no problem that Bhutan Times featured me on its front page today. Frankly, I’m flattered.

But everybody else should have a problem with that. The article is definitely not front page news. While some readers may find the opposition leader’s New Year resolutions interesting, they are of no national significance. Not the stuff that serious news papers would consider front page material.

However, the deed, so to speak, has been done. So let’s have some fun.

First, the photograph. I’ll buy lunch for the person who can tell me where it was taken. For obvious reasons, I can’t allow the photographer, my friend Colin, to participate.

Second, the trek. Visiting my constituency involves walking. A lot of walking, as two of the three gewogs have no roads at all. And for the purposes of my New Year resolutions, visits to my constituency won’t qualify as treks – they are way too difficult to be considered that. So if you are interested, really interested, in walking, and walking with me, contact me. You’ll get to visit the house featured in “What’s decentralized?”

As for the trek, I still say “Will I ever be able to do the Snowman?”

e-PIT...

Yes! I can now file my PIT online. Actually not fully online, but electronically – download the PIT return form and send it in as an email attachment.

I’m not complaining. This is a huge step forward. So, well done. I’m going to file my PIT electronically. Are you?

Internet came to Bhutan in June 1998. It’s been more than a decade. Let’s see what I can now do online: I can read the news, participate in online forums; maintain a blog; check government announcements, complain to ACC, check if I’m a registered voter, download government forms, apply for foreign labour, register for employment, and a few more things.

Now let’s see what I still can’t do online: I can’t renew my drivers’ license, apply for a passport, apply for security clearance, check my bank balance, pay utility bills, pay telephone bills, make loan installments, apply for school, attend online classes, apply for and renew business licenses, update and transfer my census, buy bus tickets, buy air tickets, process building permits, pay other taxes, apply for rural timber, declare my assets, and a lot more.

Improving online services will reduce red-tape, corruption and expenses. Connectivity is no longer an issue. Nor is human resources. See what Singaporeans can do online.

What’s decentralised...

Consider this: each minister would enjoy entitlements and benefits totaling about Nu 9,942,000 during the 10th Five Year Plan period. This is at current pay scales. (See my conservative estimates towards the end).

Now consider this: 40 gewogs would each get capital funds amounting to less than Nu 9,942,000 each during the 10th Five Year Plan period. This is according to what has been budgeted in the draft 10th Five Year Plan. Three of them (Soe, Samrang and Khatoe) would not even get Nu 3 million each for the entire 10th Plan period – in other words, each of these gewogs would get less than one-third of what a minister would earn.

Then consider this: each minister would enjoy entitlements and benefits totaling about Nu 13,842,000 during the 10th Five Year Plan period if the Pay Commission’s proposal is accepted.

And consider this: 70 gewogs would get less than Nu 13,842,000 during the entire 10th Five Year Plan period. That means that 70 of the 205 gewogs would get less money each for capital works during the 10th Plan than what a minister would earn during the same period.

True: Education, health and rural electrification are not included in the gewog budgets. And true, the dzongkahgs and central ministries would have additional programs that would benefit gewogs.

Also true: people in the gewogs would be mainly concerned about money that they would have real control over. That is the funds that have been budgeted for their respective gewogs. And there may be 70 gewogs, each having access to less money than what one minister may earn.

……………………………………………….

(A) Current entitlements and benefits of ministers (including PM, Chief Justice, Speaker, Chairman of NC and Opposition Leader):

1. Salary: Nu 78,000
2. Housing: Nu 23,400 (30% of salary)
3. Telephone: Nu 5000
4. Electricity and water: say Nu 3000 (actual)
5. Discretionary grant: Nu 8,300 (Nu 100,000 a year)
6. Prado: say Nu 33,000 (new Prado costs Nu 2,000,000. Assuming ministers keep it after five years, monthly benefit is 2,000,000/5/12 = Nu 33,000)
7. Fuel: say Nu 10,000
8. Driver: Nu 5,000

Total benefit = Nu 165,700 per month or Nu 1,988,400 per year or Nu 9,942,000 for five years

(B) Entitlements and benefits proposed by Pay Commission for ministers (including Chief Justice, Speaker, Chairman of NC and Opposition Leader; PM would get more):

1. Salary: Nu 130,000
2. Housing: Nu 26,000 (20% of salary)
3. Telephone: Nu 5000
4. Electricity and water: say Nu 3000 (actual)
5. Discretionary grant: Nu 16,700 (Nu 200,000 a year)
6. Prado: say Nu 33,000 (new Prado costs Nu 2,000,000. Assuming ministers keep it after five years, monthly benefit is 2,000,000/5/12 = Nu 33,000)
7. Fuel: say Nu 10,000
8. Driver: Nu 7,000

Total benefit = Nu 230,700 per month or Nu 2,768,400 per year or Nu 13,842,000 for five years

Comment on comments...

I don’t want to moderate your comments. Your views, as far as I’m concerned, are as important as anybody else’s, including mine. That’s why I have chosen not to remove – or reply to – any of the comments attacking me.

But, I cannot, and will not, allow personal attacks on any other person. These I will remove immediately (I’ve already removed a couple of comments on the PM). Also, every reference to His Majesty the King will be monitored – “…His person is sacrosanct” (Article 2.15 of our Constitution).

That said, I’m not a journalist. So I will ask BICMA for a quick lesson on defamation, libel and slander.

Meanwhile, keep your comments coming.

Watching BBS...

Consider this: The BBS has already televised the prime minister’s speech during the National Day celebrations in Pema Gatshel on four different days – 23rd December, 25th December, 28th December and 31st December.

Now consider this: The BBS has televised His Majesty the King’s address to the nation during the National Day celebrations in Thimphu only on one day – 17th December.

A Girl with AIDS...

My blogging efforts are paying off – yesterday I was invited to a private screening of “A Girl with a Red Sky”, a film about HIV/AIDS.

The film is short. But it is powerful. Tashi Gyeltshen, the film’s writer and director, presents a series of matter-of-fact conversations between the protagonist, a nine-year old girl dying of AIDS, and Death who has come to get her.

The film highlights the horrors of HIV/AIDS from a very different perspective – it shows Death shocked by the ruthlessness of the dreaded disease.

“A Girl with a Red Sky” was funded by UNICEF and YDF, and has reportedly already caught the attention of international HIV/AIDS activists. I am not surprised.

Nor will I be surprised if the film wins some international awards. Three Bhutanese directors have already shown the way: Dorji Wangchuk (for School among Glaciers, and Long Walk to Education), Kesang Chuki Dorji (for Doma Sellers) and Ugyen Wangdi (for Price of a Letter)

Well done, Tashi, and good luck.

(Of the 19 new HIV/AIDS cases detected in our country last year, 2 were infants.)

Dragon Mania...

There’s a festival going on at the Clock Tower Square. It’s an art festival. And it features the dragon, our county’s namesake. Young artists have gathered to create dragons of all types, sizes and colours. And our children are invited.

Take your children there. It’s warm and sunny outside. And the organizers have put together a range of activities to keep children and parents busy and interested. Naturally, there are plenty of dragons. Plus there are exhibitions, calligraphy, music, outdoor chess, street art, juggling, on-the-spot art classes, and rock climbing.

Rock climbing? Yes, rock climbing. The clock tower, it turns out, makes the perfect wall for children to try out vertical climbing.

Dragon Mania is organized by VAST, Voluntary Artist Studio, Thimphu. This festival, like all their activities, is carried out entirely by volunteers.

VAST is the brainchild of Karma Wangdi, popularly called “Asha”, one of Bhutan’s foremost social workers. Asha, himself an artist, left his government job in 1998 and set up VAST to promote art and social service among our youth. Why? Because while he, as a student, always had a qualified art teacher (his favourite was Mr Narendra Singh Gupta from Uganda), none of our schools today give art enough attention. Asha, by the way, studied in YHS from 1966 to 1976 – no prizes for guessing what I think is happening to our schools.

During the last 10 years, Asha and his team of exceptionally dedicated volunteers have organized art classes, camps, exhibitions, seminars, competitions and campaigns. In the process, they have influenced the lives of a thousand young Bhutanese. And more than a few adults.

So go to the Clock Tower Square. Support VAST. The festival runs through tomorrow.

No to bags...

The first item the National Assembly debated yesterday was bags. To be precise, bags worth Nu 1800.

It turns out that traditionally, members of the National Assembly are given a bag each at the start of every session. This tradition is not uncommon – countless bags and satchels have been distributed in workshops and seminars throughout the kingdom. For this session of the National Assembly, the DHI offered to present the bags.

Trouble is we are not allowed to accept gifts valued above Nu 1000. So the honourable members unanimously decided not to accept the bags.

This is significant and historic. It is significant because our lawmakers have demonstrated, in no uncertain terms, that they will not engage in anything remotely associated with corruption. It is historic because this is the fist time that “tradition” has been bypassed in favour of honesty.

The National Assembly’s decision is no small matter. And its message is loud and clear: don’t misuse tradition to justify corruption.

Excellent!

What’s in a name?...

My friends call me Massive. And many of them still don’t know my real name. But I don’t have a problem with that. In fact, I like my nickname. It’s short. It’s unique. And it’s easy to remember.

My nickname is an adjective without a noun. So it makes people think. And wonder about that always absent noun. It causes embarrassment. And disappointment. But I’ve had other embarrassing and disappointing nicknames too.

My first nickname was a question. At five, before I knew a word of English, I was sent to a boarding school in India. There my teachers and fellow-students talked to me, encouraged me, persuaded me, and yelled at me, all in English. To all of them I replied, very courteously and patiently, “ga-che-mo?” – what is it? So Ga-che-mo? automatically became my nickname.

My second nickname was a noun. It was short and to-the-point. By the time I could speak English, my friends must have decided to get back at me for the countless ga-che-mo’s I had inflicted on them. So they called me Pot Brush. Very specific. But cruel. In fairness though, my hair was wild and my head big. So I would have looked like a brush used to clean – how should I put it? – toilets.

My next name was definitely uninteresting. I must have lost my colourful personality by then. My friends called me Toby, an abbreviation of Tobgay. Very boring.

Later I was called Big Darb, the only adjective-noun combination of a nickname I’ve been blessed with. “Darb” is Anglo-Indian slang for “head”. So even at 15, my head continued to attract undue attention.

And then I went to Sherubtse College. In my first week in Kanglung, Sonam Phuntsho, who now is the director of trade, called me Jaws. Incidentally, Sonam and I went to the same school and grew up in the same hostel. I now wonder if he was responsible for many of my nicknames. Come to think of it, it’s very possible.

Anyhow, I was satisfied. And secretly grateful. I liked Jaws. It was short, unique and instantly brought to mind Spielberg’s famous horror movie. What more could a boy ask for in a nickname.

But Sonam wasn’t satisfied. He decided to draw even more attention to my well-defined mandibles. So he called me Massive Jaws. My friends called me Massive.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Resolutions for 2009...

Frankly, I’m surprised at how many people have been reading my blogs. And very grateful. I want to thank all of you for your support. Whether you agree with my views or not is unimportant. That you take the time to visit and read and comment is important. And for that, I thank you all very much.

This is my final post for 2008 – my resolutions for the New Year. They’re in no particular order.

1. To read at least 12 books. Or, better still, at least one book each month. Anything remotely resembling a piece of legislation will not count.

2. To see at least 6 Bhutanese movies. And in the theatre; not at home. Anything on TV, naturally, won’t count.

3. To relearn my mother tongue – Khengkha. This was the first language I spoke. I forgot both Khengkha and Dzongkha when, barely 5 years old, I was sent to a boarding school in India. How best to relearn Khengkha? Spend more time with my mother.

4. To go on a trek. Will I ever be able to do the Snowman? I’ve been thinking about it for almost 10 years now.

5. To learn a new hobby. Dramyen? Golf? Gardening? Fly fishing? The possibilities are endless.

6. To keep blogging. It’s hard work. But enjoyable. And, even if one person reads it, well worth it.

7. To redesign this blogsite. Too many people have complained that my blogsite is too much like me – boring!

Happy New Year.