NEW DELHI, 2 April 2005 — Two kingdoms in the shadow of the tranquil Himalayas are restlessly churning with political change. While Nepal’s King Gyanendra wrested power by force and suspended his citizen’s fundamental rights, Bhutan’s monarch Jigme Singye Wangchuck is preparing to relinquish power, in the belief that the country is more important than the king.
Four generations of Bhutanese kings have held absolute power for nearly 100 years. This week a draft document, which will become the country’s first-ever written constitution, was circulated in Bhutan’s 20 districts or “dzongkhags” to solicit public opinion and initiate the transition to a two-party democracy.
“The draft constitution was sent to elected district representatives, government organizations and schools. Once people read and understand it, his majesty and the crown prince will travel to each area for public consultations,” Tshering Dorji of the chief justice’s office told Deutsche Presse-Agentur via telephone from Bhutan’s capital Thimphu.
A referendum on the constitution is likely by year-end. The 34-article document envisions “democratic constitutional monarchy” with the king as head of the government and armed forces, but two houses of Parliament — a 25-member National Council and a 75-member National Assembly.
The draft, drawn up after a committee studied the constitutions of more than 50 countries, is progressive. It includes a requirement for the king to step down at 65, unless the heir apparent is still a minor, and mentions the right to information as a fundamental right.
Bhutan’s slow march to democracy has been in the works since November 2001, when the king established a 39-member constitution drafting committee.
Three years earlier he devolved all executive powers to a council of ministers and introduced a provision for a no-confidence vote against him by empowering the National Assembly or Parliament to impeach the monarch by a two-thirds majority.
In the current political system, groups of villages called “gewogs” elect a member of parliament or “chimi”, who then contributes a vote to electing a council of ministers. The government has a five-year term, with the prime minister’s post rotating among the five ministers securing the maximum votes.
“The draft constitution is a historic step, and is entirely the king’s initiative. Over the years he has taken several steps to democratize governance,” said Kinley Dorji, editor of Bhutan’s weekly newspaper Kuensel.
“Many say they are happy with the present order, because it works. But the king is clear that we need a proper political system, not an individual, to run the country.”
Bhutan’s first hereditary king, Ugyen Wangchuck — who is the current king’s great-grandfather — was crowned in 1907. Under the 1910 Treaty of Punakha, the British colonialists agreed not to interfere in Bhutan’s internal affairs, and the kingdom said it would be guided by India on external matters.
Will Bhutan’s experiment with democracy work, or will it spiral into chaos? Nepal’s brush with democracy 14 years ago proved to be a disaster with a series of unstable governments and leaders unable to stem the growing Maoist threat.
Democracy has failed in Nepal, as well as in Pakistan and Bangladesh, because there weren’t enough middle-class stakeholders to make sure the new product succeeded, said columnist Jug Suraiya in the Times of India newspaper.
Bhutan, which means “land of the thunder dragon” after its violent storms, spans 47,000 square kilometers and is locked in by Asian giants India and China. Government data show it has a population of 734,340, but some estimates put it at more than 2.1 million.
It has been strangely sequestered from the world, and any change sways in gently and slowly. It was formally admitted to the United Nations in 1971. The present king allowed international media for the first time for his coronation in 1972 and is fiercely protective of maintaining Bhutan’s cultural identity.
In 1989, an official policy called Driglam Namza compelled all Bhutanese to wear the national dress in public — the men in “gho” or robes tied at the waist with a cloth belt called “kera”, and women in ankle-length dresses known as “kira”. Tourists, a potential source of large revenue, continue to be severely restricted by expensive and inflexible package tours. Television was introduced in the early 1990s, but programs are available mainly in the capital Thimphu.
Rural areas still depend on radio for their information, where there are broadcasts in the official language Dzongkha, English, Nepali and the Sharchop dialect.
Internet access followed in 2001 and a cellular phone service in November 2003. The draft constitution says there will be freedom of the press, radio and television. Wangchuck is not new to radical ideas. Last December, Bhutan became the first country in the world to impose a complete ban on the sale of all tobacco products. He measures his country’s success by “Gross National Happiness” rather than Gross Domestic Product and says development should be understood as a process that seeks to maximize happiness rather than economic growth.
Yet Bhutan has one of the world’s smallest and least developed economies. Agriculture and forestry provide the main livelihood for more than 90 percent of the population. It is heavily dependent on India for financial assistance, but has a lot of potential in sectors such as hydropower and tourism.
Bhutan clearly cannot remain impervious to the forces of democracy and modernization. “By actually coming up with a draft constitution, Wangchuck has passed the preliminary test as an aspiring constitutional monarch,” the Indian Express newspaper said in an editorial yesterday.
“The big one, though, lies in ensuring that Bhutan’s democracy is not window dressing for palace rule, but a genuine exercise designed to give people a stake in the political processes of their country.”
