poll – Tshering Tobgay

Responsible government?

June 20, 2012Economy66 Comments

"As the Honourable Members are aware, our balance of payments with India has been worsening and the RMA has been facing a severe scarcity of Indian Rupees..." That was the finance minister's opening line when he introduced the Tax Revision Bill in the National Assembly earlier today. Yes, our balance of payments with India is in bad shape. And we are facing a severe shortage of Indian currency. In other words, we face a rupee crisis. We have a crisis in our hands. And it's no point playing the blame game. We must work together - we must think…

State of our civil service

February 12, 2012Government36 Comments

I watched the last part of the People's Voice debate on BBS TV this evening. The motion was "Civil Service - efficient and accountable?" The team arguing against the motion won by a huge margin, 692 votes to 184 votes. Obviously, they were able to convince the viewers that our civil service is NOT efficient and accountable. But the votes are compiled from viewer SMSs (only one SMS per phone number is recognized). So the result also reflects widespread discontent at the state of our civil service. What do you think? Is our civil service efficient and accountable? Please…

An inconvenient truth

July 15, 2011Health39 Comments

Last week, on the 8th 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 14th of July, Kuensel reported that a young woman died in Phuentsholing hospital from post abortion complications. The abortion had been performed on the 11th 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…

Devika Darjee

February 1, 2011People, Sports

A winnerAlmost 200 of you took part in the poll to decide who would be our sportsperson of the year. Thank you for voting. And thank you for your many comments. I closed the poll at midnight on the last day of January. The race was close. Ugyen Yoeser (cycling) and Devika Darjee (cricket) ran neck and neck in our informal competition. Eventually Devika won, but by barely a whisker – she secured 55 votes against Ugyen’s 53. Devika Darjee was the only lady among my nominees for the sportsperson of 2010. She beat nine men to the top…

Leaking information

December 14, 2010Media

Mega-leaks by WikiLeaks: First it was the Afghan War Diary. Then it was the Iraq War Logs. Now it is Secret US Embassy Cables. These and the thousands of other otherwise unpublished documents “leaked” by WikiLeaks have generated strong reactions both for and against the award wining, new media nonprofit organization. What do you think? Does WikiLeaks promote transparency and accountability in government? Or does WikiLeaks threaten international relations and global security? Please share your views. And take the poll.

Security Council?

September 30, 2010Government18 Comments

Our government has started to campaign for non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council. Is this a good idea? Take the poll that asks: “Should Bhutan lobby to join the UN Security Council?”

McKinsey poll

September 29, 2010Government

During the last session of the Parliament I asked the prime minister to explain what Mckinsey were doing that couldn’t be done by our own civil servants. Subsequently, I ran a poll that asked you “Are civil servants impressed with McKinsey’s work?” Of the 569 who took the poll, 408 (or 72%) replied with a emphatic “No!” while only 72 (or 12%) said “Yes!” The others (16%) answered “I don’t know.” Our poll results are straightforward: An overwhelming majority of you are not impressed with McKinsey’s performance. That is terrible, especially if, as I suspect, many of you who…

Polling McKinsey

July 13, 2010Government27 Comments

During question hour today, I asked the prime minister to explain what work McKinsey were doing that couldn’t be done by our own civil servants. And in my leader to the question, I’d reported that the civil servants I’d spoken with had confided that they were not impressed with the work that McKinsey had done so far. Naturally, the prime minister saw it differently. He claimed that every civil servant he’d talked to had been impressed with McKinsey’s work and had lavished praise on the world’s leading consultancy firm. Perhaps. But still, let’s conduct a poll – we haven’t…

Sonam’s question

May 3, 2010Culture

Last month, Sonam Ongmo, who blogs and tweets from New York, asked her readers: have a Q 4 Bhutanese. What happens to orange scarf 4 elected ministers after they leave office? This is a pertinent question. And we should discuss it. So send me your comments. And take the poll.

Druk Star gazing

April 15, 2010Culture16 Comments

We are divided on the question of Bhutan’s accession to the WTO. 40% of you answered “No” in the poll that asked “Should Bhutan Join the WTO?”, 37% replied “Yes”, and the rest said, “I’m still unsure”. I’ll give my views on this important matter soon. For now, we need to consider another important matter: Druk Star! After four months of music and entertainment, we are down to the final five contestants. One of them will be crowned Druk Star this Sunday. Our poll asks the burning question: who will be the next Druk Star?

Civil liberties

February 11, 2010Legislature

Yesterday’s workshop on human rights awareness confirmed what most of us already suspect: that we don’t have serious human rights violations, but that, occasionally, human rights do get inadvertently sidelined. Dasho Damcho Dorji, who is the Chairman of the National Assembly’s Human Rights Committee, explained that instances of human rights violations were isolated and that they were: “not intentional” and resulted from either “ambiguity in laws” or “over enthusiasm by young officials.” But, intentional or not, the Human Rights Committee has decided to investigate all complaints they receive. They will also review legislation and government policies to ensure that…

Gender choices

December 4, 2009Women

Our last poll asked what you’d like to be reborn as in your next life. Most of us (133 or 42%) of us said that we did not care about the gender of our next birth. This is good, as it could mean that this group does not experience obvious gender biases in this life. But 132 or about 42% of us said that we would prefer to be reborn as men. And, only 51 of us – that’s barely 16% – would choose to be reborn as women. The last poll was meant to be amusing. It was…

A big problem

July 31, 2009Health, Youth

We have a problem. In our last poll, 94% of you claimed to either know or think that drug abuse is already a problem in Bhutan. On the other hand, only 5% of you said that drug abuse is not a problem in our country. 1% admitted that they don’t have a clue. I suspected that substance abuse was growing, especially among out youth. But, I had no reason to think that it was already a problem. The poll results have forced me to rethink my views – that’s why I kept the poll up for so long. Next…

Checking for our government

July 4, 2009Government

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…

CDG poll results

May 20, 2009Legislature

Of the 37 participants in the poll, 43% asked for more debate on the CDG by using our media. 35% felt that the CDG was unconstitutional and that the Ministry of Finance should be informed accordingly. And 22% said that ECB should be informed that the CDG breaks election laws. Thank you for your advice. Yesterday I officially informed that Minister of Finance that the CDG is unconstitutional. And I spoke with the media with the hope of facilitating public debate on this important issue.