Tshering Tobgay

Consulting tourists

November 5, 2009Economy, Government

So the government has accepted and decided to implement McKinsey’s recommendations for the tourism sector. And it seems like we are paying a lot of money – almost 10 million dollars – to a consulting firm to tell us what we already know. Attracting high end visitors, promoting ecotourism, making Bhutan a destination for international meetings, easing ticketing, simplifying visa procedures, improving hotels, domestic air services, developing infrastructure, investing in marketing … these are more or less the same recommendations that a series of earlier consultants have made. More importantly, they are the same ones that ABTO and tour…

Happy Coronation Day!

November 1, 2009Monarchy

I join the nation in celebrating the first coronation anniversary of His Majesty the King. On behalf of the opposition party and the People’s Democratic Party, I offer our humble felicitations to His Majesty the King. On this joyous occasion, we pray for His Majesty’s wellbeing and long life, and rededicate ourselves to the service of the tsa-wa-sum. The photograph, already an iconic picture, shows His Majesty inspecting the armed forces during the Coronation Celebrations in the Changlimithang stadium on the 6th of November 2008, five days after receiving the sacred dhar from the Machhen of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal…

Year old paper

October 31, 2009Media

A year ago, on 30th October 2008, the media industry in Bhutan raised their standards considerably. On that day, the print media gave us our first daily newspaper. What’s surprising is that that newspaper was Bhutan Today, then the newest paper in town. What’s amazing is that Bhutan Today has pulled it off. Since launching their first issue on the 30th of October, they have managed to produce a newspaper every day, without fail, throughout the last year. The paper is still simple, but the fact is that they come out every single day. The fact is also that…

Royal nuptials

October 30, 2009Monarchy

HRH Ashi Dechen Yangzom Wangchuck married Dasho Tandin Namgyel yesterday. I join the nation in wishing the royal couple happy marriage and tashi delek! None of our newspapers covered this important event. They should have.

CDG concerns

October 26, 2009Government

Earlier this year, while many of us expressed concerns over the legality of the Constituency Development Grant, the Gelephu MP had decided to use the grant to provide free boat services to passengers crossing the Mao Khola. “We are not supposed to use the CDG for recurring expenses. But considering this case to be important and for the good of the people I have put up the proposal,” he had said. The CDG was used to ferry passengers across the Mao Khola. Yet, no one has questioned the use of a “development” grant for “recurrent” expenses. Not so far,…

High value

October 26, 2009Economy25 Comments

“Magic!” is how tourists often describe their visits to Bhutan. Druk Air, dzongs, monasteries, farm houses, forests, gho and kira, red rice, mask dances, traffic policemen, archery, Mahayana, GNH, the people … anything and everything Bhutanese completely captivates the visitor. What tourists also love is the exclusiveness of a visit to Bhutan. So it’s no wonder that, despite the global recession, the tourism industry has continued to perform well. But there is one big danger. McKinsey. The international consulting firm has already recommended increasing tourist arrivals to about 250,000 a year within three to five years. That’s five times…

Good news

October 26, 2009Media

Shortly after the editor and six reporters had collectively and suddenly resigned from Bhutan Times, Wangcha Sangey, the Chairman and CEO of the newspaper, promised that he would not disappoint his readers. And, true to his word, he has not disappointed. In the barely two days since the mass resignations, he, with help from K4 Media, has turned out a 32-page newspaper that is actually better than some of its previous issues.

Troubled Times

October 23, 2009Media

On 30th April 2006, Volume I, Issue 1 of the Bhutan Times hit the newsstands. If you have that first issue, treasure it. Bhutan Times was, at that time, only the second newspaper in our country. It was started by Tenzin Rigden and Tashi P. Wangdi as Bhutan’s first privately owned newspaper. So that first issue will always represent the emergence of a vibrant private media in our country. Yesterday, journalists at the Bhutan Times resigned en masse protesting editorial interference by management. The collective resignation should seriously affect the newspaper’s credibility. And, its ability to publish its next…

Paying attention

October 23, 2009Democracy, Monarchy

When did you first know that democracy would be introduced in our country? That was the question I asked in my last entry. No one ventured a definite date. One reader, however, admitted that it was a “tough question” while others questioned the relevance and importance of the question. Relevant or not, I think I first knew about plans to introduce democracy in our country only in 2004. On 17th December that year, in Mongar, His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo had commanded that: “The highest importance was also attached to the establishment of parliamentary democracy and a system…

When did we know?

October 19, 2009Democracy, Monarchy

Last week, Bhutan successfully hosted the first Regional Conference on Deepening and Sustaining Democracy in Asia. The Centre for Bhutan Studies and UNDP Bhutan organized the event together. That Bhutan, the world’s youngest democracy, led a major international discussion on deepening democratic values is commendable. It shows how much we’ve matured, politically, since the introduction of parliamentary democracy in our country barely 18 months ago. It also shows how serious we are about our new form of governance. Looking back, it is clear that His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo had carefully prepared us, his people, for democracy. Most…

Jobs for Bhutan

October 18, 2009Employment, Monarchy

As Bhutan is a small country with a small population we must never allow ourselves to reach a situation where we are unable to provide employment to our people. Ensuring that this does not happen is an important responsibility of the government. His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo, 17 December, 2000, Trashigang

Jobless in Bhutan

October 14, 2009Employment, Youth

The results of the Labour Force Survey, 2009 has me worried: unemployment has jumped to 4%; and more than 80% of them are youth between the ages of 15 and 25. In absolute terms, 13,000 of the 325,700 economically active people are unemployed. And of them, 10,500 are youth. Youth between the ages of 15 and 19 are hit the hardest – 20.1% of them are unemployed. So last week’s job fair was a good idea. It sought to boost employment by bringing employers and jobseekers together. But, our labour minister’s statement at the job fair has me even…

Helping ourselves

October 13, 2009Monarchy

An earthquake, a storm and a fire recently ravaged our country in quick succession causing our people untold grief and suffering. And people from all walks of life, within the country and without, have come together in support of the victims of the these natural calamities that hit Eastern Bhutan especially hard. But not all of us know how to help. For instance, two Bhutanese students, both in America, asked me how and where they should send their contributions. And, a foreigner asked me the same questions too. The best and easiest way to help is by contributing to…

More food for thought

October 9, 2009Health, Poverty

Sangay made three critical observations to my last entry. Most of you would already know that I try not to reply to criticism, especially those targeted at me. But Sangay’s comments are constructive. So they deserve serious consideration. First, Sangay cautioned: “… don’t just add up those figures – I am pretty sure that these are overlapping figures.” Sangay may be correct. In fact, Ken Shulman, a friend and journalist in America, also made a similar comment in my Facebook profile. But look at the numbers again: 37% of our children are stunting; 4.6% are wasting; and 11.1% are…

Food for thought

October 7, 2009Poverty, Youth

I’m still reeling from the announcement in the Annual Health Bulletin that 37% of our children are stunting, that 4.6% of them are wasting, and that 11.1% are underweight. That means that 52.7% of our children are under nourished. In other words, more than half our children do not have enough to eat. Wasting, also called acute malnutrition, causes body fat and tissue to “waste” away, or to degenerate. And it is generally caused by extreme hunger, i.e., famine. So, even as I write this entry, one in every twenty children may be coping with famine. Stunting or chronic…