THIMPHU, 14 September 2003 — Many people in the tiny Buddhist nation of Bhutan cried in 1998 when the king decided to hand executive power to a council of ministers and make the monarch subject to a confidence vote.
“People were nervous because Bhutan has had a tradition of good kings. So, people wondered, ‘Why do you want democracy? How are you going to improve a system that’s already good?’” Kinley Dorji, editor of Bhutan’s only newspaper, Kuensel, told Reuters.
“Devolving power, in some ways, was against the people’s wishes.”
Five years later, Bhutan has put together the first draft of a new constitution based on the principles of parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarch at the head.
Officials are coy about divulging the contents of the first draft of the constitution, which was presented to the king last December, but analysts say it will address issues such as multi-party democracy and the status of the king and clergy.
The government will take the draft prepared by a 39-member panel to the people in Bhutan’s 20 districts for debate before it is introduced in the National Assembly. The committee includes representatives from every district, the speaker of the assembly, the chief justice, monks and other experts.
“The initial drafts must be prepared on the basis of our historical culture and hopes and aspirations of the Bhutanese people,” Home Minister Jigmi Thinley told Reuters, sitting in his ornate office decorated with Buddhist paintings.
“It’s going to be a constitution drafted by the people directly and not the product of legal experts.”
But critics say the plan does not take into account Bhutan’s Nepali-speaking minority, and is only being done to satisfy the country’s Western aid donors by conforming to their views on democracy.
Bhutan does not have a written constitution and the Himalayan country’s absolute monarchy goes back to 1907 when the great grandfather of the current monarch, Jigme Singye Wangchuk, was formally anointed the first king with British support.
Wangchuk, a revered figure in Bhutan, was enthroned as king in 1972 at the age of 17 after his father’s death.
About five years ago, the king took a major step on the road to political reform when he devolved power and then followed that up in December 2001 by kicking off the drafting of a new constitution.
“I have always made it clear that the people are more important than the king,” Kuensel quoted the king as saying.
“We cannot leave the future of the country in the hands of one person. These are not mere words. The constitution will be the fulfillment of our country’s destiny being placed in the hands of our people.”
Analysts say Bhutan is under pressure from Western donors, who have a stereotypical image of a monarch as a despot, to adopt the principles of a modern democracy.
But government officials deny there is any pressure.
“In practice, we already have a constitutional monarchy. Under the new constitution too, the king will retain his role as head of state and not as head of government,” said Kuenlay Tshering, director of the office of legal affairs.
There is no time frame for the new constitution and some analysts believe the government will take its time as the new system will dramatically alter traditional political beliefs.
Critics slam the entire exercise, saying the constitutional drafting committee does not include any members of the minority Nepali-speaking community.
“The Royal Government of Bhutan did not include any member from the Nepali-speaking Lhotshampa community in the drafting committee, thus muting the minority voice in its formulation,” Bhutanese political analyst Rakesh Chhetri said in the Kathmandu Post.
The constitution aimed to deflect world attention from the issue of the return of Bhutanese refugees in Nepal, he said.
About 100,000 Hindu refugees who fled Buddhist Bhutan about a decade ago, alleging religious persecution, live in UN-sponsored camps in the east of Hindu Nepal.
Bhutan says it is ready to take back those who were forcibly evicted, but refuses to accept those who left voluntarily, saying they forfeited the right to citizenship.
“It is yet another gimmick and ‘window dressing’ to show the democratic credentials of the king to the international community,” Chhetri wrote of the new constitution.
