Acting late

August 1, 2012Posted inDemocracy35 Comments
Four years ago the prime minister pledged to enact a right to information law. The prime minister didn't give a definite time frame, but he promised that it would be done "soon". It's already been four years since the government made that promise. And we are still waiting for them to keep their word. Now, however, finally, there seems to be some movement: the Department of Media and Information has conducted an RTI awareness workshop, and the Ministry of Information and Communication has distributed a draft RTI Bill for public comments and feedback. But all this is for nothing.…

Right to information

March 28, 2012Posted inDemocracy, Media36 Comments
Article 7 of the Constitution is about our fundamental rights. Section 3 of that important article declares that "A Bhutanese citizen shall have the right to information". By this provision, any citizen has the right - a fundamental right - to ask the government for any information. And the government must provide that information, whatever it may be. That is because the fundamental right of the citizen to government information, as granted by the Constitution, is unqualified. And it is unconditional. "A Bhutanese citizen shall have the right to information" - that's all the Constitution says, simple and straightforward.…

Secret agents

January 5, 2011Posted inMedia

Friend or foe?

WikiLeaks: 38 of you said that WikiLeaks promotes transparency and accountability in government; 24 think that it threatens international relations and global security; and 6 readers either had made up their minds or didn’t know about WikiLeaks.
Thank you for taking the poll.
It’s important to think about WikiLeaks. And what the whistle-blowing phenomenon means for Bhutan. Drukpa, a monthly newsmagazine, asked me for my views and published them in their latest issue. My commentary in Drukpa follows:
Opinion over WikiLeaks is sharply divided. The whistle-blowing website has angered many governments. They claim that the indiscriminate release of secret information threatens international relations and global security. And they warn that it endangers the lives of innocent people. So they have aggressively sought to discredit WikiLeaks and its upstart founder, Julian Assange.
But others including journalists, activists and technologists, claim that WikiLeaks makes governments and corporations more transparent and accountable. They herald the organization as a champion of democracy and good government. And anonymous supporters of WikiLeaks have retaliated by attacking the websites of several agencies who have appeared to suppress the organization.