Kurje- The Holiestic & Blessed Place

Kurje is one of the most sacred sites in Bhutan as Guru Rinpoche meditated here and left the imprint (je) of his body (ku) on a rock. In the 8th century, Bumthang was under the rule of a king named Sendhaka (alias Sintu Raja) whose home was the ‘iron castle’, Chakhar. This king was at war with his southern neighbour, King Na’oche. The latter killed the son of King Sendhaka, who became so distraught that he forgot to worship his personal deity, Shelging Karpo. The angry god withdrew the king’s vital principle and as a result he fell gravely ill. As a last resort, his ministers decided to call Guru Rinpoche, whose supernatural powers were well-known throughout the Himalayas. When Guru Rinpoche arrived in Bumthang, he went to a place a short distance north of Chakhar where there was a large rock resembling a diamond-thunderbolt on the summit. Here lived the deity Shelging Karpo. Guru Rinpoche meditated there for a while, leaving the imprint of his body on the rock. Then he asked the King’s daughter, whom he had taken as his consort, to go and fetch some water in a golden ewer. While she was away, he changed into his Eight Manifestations and began to dance in the meadow. So amazing was this spectacle that all the local divinities, except Shelging Karpo, came to watch. When the king’s daughter came back, Guru Rinpoche transformed her into five princesses, each holding a golden ewer in her hand. The ewers reflected the sun’s rays directly at Shelging Karpo’s rock. Curious about this unusual flashing, Shelging Karpo decided to take the form of a white lion and come out to see what was going on. This was the moment Guru Rinpoche had been waiting for. Turning himself into a holy griffon, (garuda/jachung), he swooped down, seized Shelging Karpo and forced him to give back the King’s vital principle. At the same time he made him promise not to cause any trouble for Buddhism and to become a protective deity. Guru Rinpoche planted his pilgrim staff in the ground where it grew into a cypress tree which has a descendant said to stand to this day in front of Kurje Lhakhang. As for Shelging Karpo, he is still the deity of Kurje. King Sendhaka recovered his health and converted to Buddhism. Guru Rinpoche compelled the two kings to meet each other and make peace at a place in the Black Mountains called Nabji, where a stone pillar commemorates this meeting. This episode constitutes the first conversion to Buddhism of Bumthang.

Source: www.facebook.com/Nima Gyelpo Retrived on 25.o2.2013

No to Domestic Violence empowers woman.

14 February is celebrated as a Valentine Day. This year it is observed under a theme called “One Billion Rising” on the valentine day and it will be celebrated every year.   One Billion Rising is a global movement, started by Eve Ensler, to end rape and sexual violence against women. The "billion" is the number of women who will be raped or beaten in their lifetime. According to the United Nations, the number is one in three women, or about one billion.

The campaign was started by playwright and activist Eve Ensler. Ensler wrote the play The Vagina Monologues). She started the organization V-DayThe idea for the organization came from the Todd Akin 'legitimate rape' and pregnancy comment controversy. Ensler was shocked at Akin's statement. She wrote an open letter in answer.

It appears that the world would like to create more awareness to end violence against women through the aforementioned campaign. As a small contribution to this initiative,   I was thinking of surprising my better half with a simple gift on this day. Unfortunately, the valentine day falls in the middle of the month and my purse gets fatter only at the end of the month to buy a gift for my better half to celebrate the Valentines day.  

Meanwhile, this made me have another perspective on having not been able to gift something for one of the special women in my life; Is this social/economical/emotional violence towards my wife?  No matter at what extent someone or some institutions make an effort to combat domestic violence, against women, systematic dictation by the social structure could be the biggest hurdle to achieve the objective. 

The social structure is the sum of the culture and civilization of the particular society. When it comes to the gender gap, there are a lot of debates going on in the world. A few experts argue that the gender issue is woven through cultural and social pattern and therefore, it becomes bit sensitive in some spaces. It is found out that the issue of gender equity breeds when some section of society continues to suppress women. And at some point society becomes more sensitive when there are more campaign and education. I have never heard my village people talking about gender equity rather they were fulfilling their own roles back at home like cooking food is responsible for women and collecting firewood is man's responsibility. 

In Bhutan, there was a practice that women were kept home to do household chores and men were sent to school. In addition, women got married or forced for early marriages resulting in less women working in the public sector. On this basis,  NGOs and other government offices responsible for women issues are trying to promote gender equality through the inclusion of women concerns in many policies of the government. Over the past year, we have seen many women being promoted to executive positions in both government and public sector. 

Bringing another big change is the opportunity for approving the ‘Domestic Violence Bill’ which is tabled for discussion in 10^th and the last session of first parliament. A few political analysts thought that the government is introducing the bill to gain women's attention to vote for them in the next election. More than the election, vote I am thinking if the bill has features addressing women's issues lying at the culture-centric society. 

Whether Domestic Bill gets approved or not, when I went to a shop to buy a gift for her, she was there in the same shop before me. We both knew that we both are there to buy gifts for each other. We discussed and decided to not to buy gifts to save us from diverting our budget from our need to such non-essential item to fulfil the gender equity gap. We already know that it is painful to divert our usual budget.  

Why we should vote for the right party

As our kings' gift of democracy starts taking roots through their sheer hard work and guidance, we must not fail our part in making the right decisions from beginning only.

The experiences that we have gained from the only last five years of democracy must be tapped in when we choose the party to govern us for the next five years. The election for the parliament in 2013 will be a big opportunity and one of the most important occasions in the country.  Being landlocked between two giants of the world, every move we make must be precarious and diligent that we can continue to fulfill visions of monarchs. This is why the election is one of the important aspects of democracy so that majority decides who should be governing the public. This way we can fix the accountability on what they are doing. 

What would be the right party to be chosen during the 2013 Election? Without a doubt, the party who can enhance the security and the sovereignty of the nation. Though pledges that can improve the livelihood of the people must be also encapsulated to the party's objectivity in keeping the country safe at all the time. If we look not even far from the region, we can see that elections are mostly treated as the tools for disintegrating the unity of the country. We must be careful about the election. Meanwhile, the electorate must not forget that each one of us has a responsibility to vote for the right party rather than viewing election is not worth to participate. In the end, this will be the grand failure on our part. 

Any party coming to the power must not dare for an aberrance from the foundation built by successive monarchs. This has kept the country on the right line for more than a century. It must give efforts on how to build a system that can handle the current scenario and which will enable the country to grow from strength to strength in the future. 

The party also needs capable candidates to form the government and a leader who is not only capable of leading the country internally but who has also sound knowledge of international and regional issues. I was told that our successive monarchs in the past were always aware of what is happening globally and taking necessary steps inside the country though they had less opportunity to learn how international relations work in the globe. One thing we are assured is that His Majesty the King is there to guide the country when it comes to Security and Sovereignty of the country including when there is a major decision to take in the account of external relations of the country- that has a direct impact on the country security. 

Let's fulfill His Majesty's vision to have a successful democracy system by voting for the right party. Let us make a sense and wise judgment and not live under the pressure of bribe and lies of politicians.

Table below is abstracted from:

http://www.electionbhutan.org.bt/REGISTEROFPOLITICALPARTY/

REGISTER OF POLITICAL PARTIES

Sl No.	Name of Political Party	Name of Election Symbol	Name of the Party President	Date of Registration	Registration Number
1.	DRUK PHUENSUM TSHOGPA	THRUNG THRUNG KARM	LYONPO JIGME Y. THINLEY	02/10/2007	ECBDERPP 07100202
2.	PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC PARTY	WHITE HORSE	LYONPO SANGAY NGEDUP	01/09/2007	ECBDERPP 07090101
3.	BHUTAN KUEN-NYAM PARTY	KUEN-NYAM KHORLO	SONAM TOBGAY (Interim)	03/01/2013	ECB/DER/PP/ 130010303
4.	DRUK CHIRWANG TSHOGPA	SWAN	LILY WANGCHUK	07/01/2013	ECB/DER/PP/ 13010704
5.
6.
7.

Author: Sangay Needup     

My village is Connected with Road

It will be always a big event for me to go to Pemagatshel, to see Gypsum trucks plying on the motor road when I was studying at my village in the nineties. I had to always beg my father and other families to take me with them whenever they go to Pemagatshel; almost a day walk from my village with some stuff on the back. Upon returning, I would be wildly boastful to my friends who have never been to the motor road, telling stories about the vehicle's speed and its sounds, and how drivers are pulling steering at turnings. I use to confidently answer their queries though most of them are self-made knowledge fewer motor vehicles.  These days I feel shy to talk to my friends who have taken the occupation of Truck Driver from my village.

The motor road heading towards Gewog center

I remember seeing the motor road and a truck for the first time in 1995 when I was 11 years old.  I still remember the difficulties my parents have faced to reach me at school, walking for two days and returning home three times a year: beginning, mid, and end of the year. I believe my self that those difficulties resulted in some of my friends dropping from the school after passing primary school based in the village. 

I remember that the village meetings used to be dominated by requests for the motorable road in the village. People have been requesting the government since the early 80s for the road. Some people would urge leaders to take this issue with the government. Village people would not know which sectors' officials are visiting in the village, they would go asking randomly the reason for denying road after the road surveys for several times since 1984. I 1984 I was born to this village and my countrymen's seemed to be requesting for this long.  

The road has finally come to my village in September 2012 after 28 years of first road survey in my village. The villagers are worth being connected since their hard works on the farm went into vain as there were no means and possibilities to sell the farming products in the market without a motorable road.  Now I can see the relief and enjoyment in their faces and in fact old people couldn’t believe themselves traveling in a car when they are visiting like hospitals and other places. It is a long dream come true for the people of Kengkhar Gewog.

Now people from the village living in other parts of the country have started to visit frequently and people saw coming projects and financial assistance for the preservation of 13 Traditional Art and Craft which is popular in the village. I am sincerely praying that the traditional art and craft once-popular is on the verge of dying to be revived with the connection of motor roads. Younger generations refuse to learn it from old folks given there is no market for them to sell the product even if have skills. As an initiative of one of the projects, the villagers celebrated 2012 National Day with farmers from Samtse, Zhemgang, and Tsirang to promote cultural exchange which brought new ideas to the villagers. Had there been no motor roads, such initiatives would not have happened. 

I saw my friends who are driving trucks and villagers are now busy exporting oranges during the winter season [visited parents and relatives in the village in 2012].   I am happy to see that people do not have to carry oranges on their back to the nearest motor roads as we did in the past.  I can already see positive transformation of the livelihood of people in my village due to the road. God bless them always!

105th National Day Celebration

Royal Address to the Nation at the 105th National Day celebration, 17th December 2012

His Majesty the 5th Druk Gyalpo adressing the nation.

On the occasion of the 105th National Day, it gives me much happiness to address our People of the 20 dzongkhags.

This National Day is of special significance. The powers offered by our People to the King in 1907 were, after hundred years of Nation building, returned in 2008 to our People by the Druk Gyalpo. It was in that year that we held the first elections under democracy and adopted the Constitution. Today we are nearing the end of the term of the first Parliament we elected in 2008 and the culmination of the tenth and largest 5-year plan. So much work lies ahead and such immense responsibilities rest on our shoulders as we approach 2013.

Yet, with capable and dedicated citizens who have great love for our country; with the guidance of the Fourth Druk Gyalpo and; with the ever-stronger bonds between People and King, I have great confidence that we shall achieve our goals.

Our People of Bhutan are unique. We have a sense of family, community and brotherhood that inspires us to come together in times of need. I have seen this following natural disasters and most recently in the way in which all Bhutanese came forward to offer whatever little we could afford to rebuild the historic treasure, Wangduephodrang Dzong.

In other nations, difficult moments in their history are met with strife, violence and conflict as people sacrifice national interest in order to achieve individual ambitions. In Bhutan such acts and events have never occurred. Our way of life, our heritage, loyalty and values remain strong in the hearts of our People and our People stand ready, even in times of great personal hardship, to place Nation above Self. I am so proud of our People and offer my deep gratitude for the love you have shown for your Nation.

It is during times of prosperity and success that we must remind ourselves of the work that lies ahead. We have made a good start in our transition to democracy but much remains to be done. Our Nation has seen great socio-economic growth but it is more important that we have growth with equity. We must raise, with all our effort, the less fortunate so that they may, at the earliest, begin to partake in the opportunities brought by modernization and progress.

The government has provided education to our youth. But for the nation to prosper for all time, a sound education must be succeeded by access to the right jobs and responsibilities, so that our youth may bloom as individuals and at the same time serve their Nation well.

The recent Rupee shortage is a serious problem. I feel it is a reminder that, as a Nation, we must exercise our traditional sense of caution and work even harder as we address the challenges of the time. For no matter what challenges lie ahead, it is only the Bhutanese citizen who can protect and safeguard Bhutan.

Today, the most important duty for us is the upcoming 2013 Parliament elections. I would like to say that we – all of us – are new to this democratic transition. We have all equally acquired four and a half years of experience in democracy. Experience comes with participation, so I urge you all to come forward as candidates, members of parties and voters for 2013.

Remember, achieving democracy is not the goal. The real fruits of our efforts should be that democracy brings greater unity, harmony and prosperity to our Nation. Democracy must be able to fulfill the aspirations of our People.

Many hundreds of years ago, Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal unified the nation, established the dual system and laid the foundations on which a unique Bhutan was born. This new nation was then further strengthened over the course of history by fifty-four Desis and generations of Bhutanese. The last hundred years, the Wangchuck dynasty, further strengthened the foundations laid by the Zhabdrung and handed over a special Nation to our People in 2008. All of this was possible because our People have lived as one small family, true to the ideals of the Zhabdrung and the foundations of a unique and special Bhutanese identity.

As we approach the elections of 2013, we must, therefore, keep in mind these foundations of our Nation and prevent all ethnic, religious or political divisions in our small Nation. We must participate in democracy with the spirit of harmony and fraternity.

In 2008, our democratic transition and the wholehearted participation by the people including the 80% voter turnout were lauded by the world. I urge you all to exercise your right to vote – it comes but once in 5 years – for it is an act of great benefit to the Nation.

With the Blessings of the Triple Gem and our Guardian Deities and the good fortune of our People, I am confident we will conduct the second elections under democracy successfully in 2013.

For me, I hold sacred the endeavors begun by my father, the Fourth Druk Gyalpo. I have committed myself to bringing to fruition all the noble endeavors begun in his 34 years of service and sacrifice. I also hold sacred my duty to ensure the success of democracy and I shall work to lay the strongest foundations for a vibrant democracy within my reign.

Above all, I believe that the Golden Throne is not a Throne of wealth, power and prestige. The Golden Throne of Bhutan is a unique Throne of Destiny to serve our People and Nation.

As King since 2006 I have always served with complete dedication and integrity. Sometimes I may have erred. Yet, you my people, have given me even more love and support and placed your complete faith and trust in me. To our People of the 20 Dzongkhags, I offer my heartfelt gratitude and pledge that I shall give everything to be of service to you and Bhutan.

In this land blessed by Guru Padmasambhava, Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal and our Fourth Druk Gyalpo, I pray that there shall be everlasting peace, prosperity and happiness.

Source: His Majesty’s Facebook fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/KingJigmeKhesar

Is losing UNSC seat indeed a happiness vote? By Dasho Sonam Kinga

Status Update

By Sonam Kinga

Is losing UNSC seat indeed a happiness vote?

The United Nations has been the theatre for playing out the highlights of our government’s foreign policy in the last 15 months. Two events in the UN are noteworthy. 

One, a UN General Assembly resolution sponsored by Bhutan was passed on 19 July 2011. The non-binding resolution was adopted by consensus of the 193 member states. Two, Bhutan won only 20 votes in the UN General Assembly (short of 108 votes) on 19 October this year in its bid to win a two-year non-permanent member seat in the Security Council representing the Asia-Pacific region. Since these two events flow from the same government’s foreign policy initiative, I do not think we can look at them in isolation. Seeing the connection perhaps, it is reported that some called this the happiness vote.

Going by numbers, we may say that one was a success and the other a failure. I must clarify that numbers in the first instance was not of voting but of consensus. On both initiatives, our Prime Minister was at the forefront of global campaign in seminars, conferences and summits. Some in Bhutan were overwhelmed with this success that suggestions were made to designate our Prime Minister as Bhutan’s life-long happiness ambassador. After all, the UN has declared March 20 as an International Happiness Day! 

In my view, Gross National Happiness is more of a domestic policy, a vision of social change, and less of a foreign policy to change the world. It is an interesting development that a vision for domestic policy has become a foreign policy tool in the last few years. Certainly no world leaders would speak against happiness. Whether it is in Thimphu, New York or Rio de Janeiro, they will associate with the idea of happiness. What we need to reflect on is whether happiness is really a force on the scene of international politics. Does happiness really matter in the power game of international politics? As the vote for UNSC membership shows, perhaps it is not!

Still we think of UN resolution on happiness as a foreign policy success. The question is how this success translates to our country’s benefit besides saying that the profile of the country has been raised in the eyes of international community. Even with the failure to win UNSC seat, we still say with optimism that the campaign has ‘enhanced the respect and goodwill of the international community for Bhutan and its people.’ It appears that irrespective of our successes or failures in the theatre of UN, we celebrate or console ourselves with this optimism. Are we being honest with ourselves? 

I think we should be equally overwhelmed by our failure and seriously reflect on the whole episode. It is not just the government or parliament but our national society that needs to ponder on this issue. I recall the Prime Minister’s genuine concern of embarrassment and humiliation if we do not make it through in the first round of voting. Sadly, we could not make it to the second round.

I am sure that the aspiration of a small nation like ours to contribute to the maintenance of international peace and security by being a member of UNSC may have earned the respect and goodwill of some countries. On the other hand, I am also concerned that we may have earned reputations otherwise. For once, let us question how Cambodia and South Korea would have campaigned against us among UN member states. I have expressed this concern before. 

Amongst others, it is possible that they could have expressed lack of confidence in our ability to serve as UNSC member. Instead of them, we need to question ourselves if indeed we have such a capability. Do we have trained diplomats for such a purpose? More than the capability, which I fathom the Royal Government has assessed for itself, I used to be anxious about the prospect of voting as UNSC member in an imaginary but not impossible scenario where China and India are involved on different sides. 

How would that affect our relationships with our two immediate neighbours? Or for that matter, how would our relationship with Japan, a major donor, be affected if we had to take sides in a situation involving these three countries. If I share the government’s optimism in this failure, could it turn out to be a blessing in disguise? Could these 20 votes indeed turn out to be happiness votes?

We won only 20 votes although we had diplomatic relationships with 21 countries at the beginning of this campaign. The Prime Minister has cited our limited diplomatic relationship with other countries as the main hindrance against garnering enough support. Understanding this hindrance, we went on a roller-coaster journey of establishing diplomatic relationships with 24 more countries.

Establishing diplomatic relationships with other countries is good. However, both the timing and extent of relationships must reflect our country’s immediate and long-term interests. I wonder whether a marathon race of signing bilateral relationship agreement with 24 countries was solely dictated by circumstantial compulsion of winning support for our UNSC bid this year or whether there were other reasons. We really need to understand both the immediate and long-term rationale of establishing diplomatic relationships with many countries in a record period of time. 

For example, If (and that is a big if) our Prime Minister had agreed with Premier Wen Jiabao to establish diplomatic relationship with China for the sake of winning China’s vote in UNSC bid, we really need to re-evaluate the very basis of our foreign policy. What is of our foreign policy? What is our China policy? Of course, we have been told that establishing diplomatic relationship with China was not agreed upon. Is our policy then one of resolving Sino-Bhutan boundary issue before talking of establishing diplomatic relations or trade relation for that matter? Does this really constitute a China policy? Even without official trade relationship, we still import Chinese goods as indicated recently by import of Chinese buses where rupee is not involved. 

Many people say that the fact South Korea would win the UNSC seat was a foregone conclusion. I think even our government realized that when references were made to the extent of South Korea’s diplomatic relationship with almost every UN member-country and to the extent of their foreign aid exceeding our GDP. Could withdrawing from this race and supporting South Korea instead have won for us more good-will? Or would this have constituted an unpatriotic suggestion?

The aggressive conduct of our foreign policy in the last four years hinged on promoting Gross National Happiness through conferences and seminars and campaigning for UNSC seat deploying significant time and resources. Both converged at the theatre of UN General Assembly hall. We caught the attention of the UN’s 193 members by sponsoring a resolution for the first time. We also caught their attention by lobbying for the first time for a UNSC seat for Asia-Pacific region. 

Our government would have seen a connection between the two issues. But the world body perhaps did not see such a connection. This is clear from the difference in broad consensus on happiness resolution and dismal support for UNSC seat. Happiness is certainly not a force in international politics. It is better we redeem GNH as a domestic policy of social change and progress and take serious stock of an instructive lesson from the UN this time.

I retrieved from  https://www.facebook.com/sonam.kinga.31?ref=ts&fref=ts on 19^th December 2012