Tshering Tobgay

Drawing from cartoons

May 21, 2009Media

I quite enjoyed Kuensel's cartoon yesterday. Wangchuk, the artist, drew our eleven cabinet ministers huddled together, all of them smug and happy, and each clutching his Nu 2 million Constituency Development Grant. The caricatures are so accurate that all eleven ministers are immediately recognizable, even at a first quick glance. And readers are already talking about which minister is most faithfully represented in the cartoon. In my opinion, almost all the ministers are drawn well. But five are simply outstanding. They are Lyonpo Nandalal, Lyonpo Minjur, Lyonpo Thakur Singh, and Lyonpo Ugyen Tshering. Yes, even Lyonpo Ugyen Tshering though…

Good local government

May 21, 2009Local Government

Yesterday, I was in Haa. I'd gone there to observe part of the Dzongkhag Yargay Tshogdu that was in session since the 19th of May. And to receive instructions from the members of local government's highest body in my dzongkhag. During the past year, there's been a lot of talk about local governments, especially about their capabilities. My position has been very consistent: that local governments, in all 20 dzongkhags, are competent, and that they are more than able to discharge their duties as enshrined in our constitution. Yesterday, I saw that I was right. I saw that the…

CDG unconstitutional

May 20, 2009Legislature14 Comments

Yesterday, I called on our Minister of Finance. I met him to personally explain why the opposition feels that the Constituency Grant (CDG) is unconstitutional. In particular, I advised him that the CDG may violate the following provisions of our constitution. Article 1.13: There shall be separation of the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary and no encroachment of each other's powers is permissible except to the extent provided for by this Constitution. The CDG, as proposed, require MPs (members of the legislature) to be involved in proposing, approving and monitoring projects in the gewogs. That is, the legislature…

CDG poll results

May 20, 2009Legislature

Of the 37 participants in the poll, 43% asked for more debate on the CDG by using our media. 35% felt that the CDG was unconstitutional and that the Ministry of Finance should be informed accordingly. And 22% said that ECB should be informed that the CDG breaks election laws. Thank you for your advice. Yesterday I officially informed that Minister of Finance that the CDG is unconstitutional. And I spoke with the media with the hope of facilitating public debate on this important issue.

INC, UPA: Congratulations

May 19, 2009International

Her Excellency, Shrimati Sonia Gandhi President, Indian National Congress, and Chairperson, United Progressive Alliance Your Excellency: I have the great honour and pleasure to convey my humble congratulations to you on the success of the Congress Party and of the UPA during the recently held parliamentary elections. The People of India have indeed chosen wisely. I would also like to submit that the praise conferred upon you and Shri Rahul Gandhi for the astute leadership with which you have guided the Congress Party and UPA to victory in the elections is fully deserved. I take this opportunity to wish…

Impressive healthcare professionals

May 19, 2009Health, People3 Comments

I had a toothache last week. So on Friday, I went to the JDWNR hospital where Dr Kuenga Penjor, a young dentist, showed me that one of my molars had developed a big cavity beneath an old filling. He quickly removed the old filling, cleaned the cavity, and applied a new filling. My aches gave gone, and my tooth now feels as good as new. Dr Kuenga studied dentistry for six years at the Patna Dental College under a GOI scholarship. He is only 26 years old and has already decided to become an orthodontist. I'm impressed. I'm also…

Raising funds honourably

May 18, 2009Legislature, Political parties

I was surprised to learn that "... the Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) leaders recently told their members of parliament (MPs) to raise money for the party." (Read the Kuensel article). This is illegal. And I'm sure that the DPT leaders know that this is illegal. The National Assembly Act of the Kingdom of Bhutan, 2008 forbids members of the National Assembly from fund raising. Section 54 under Chapter 7 (Role and Responsibility of the Members) specifically states that "A member shall not resort to any form of fund raising from individuals or ay agency." I've already accepted that we…

Photographing Bhutan

May 17, 2009People

Here's a secret: Yeshey Dorji, one of Bhutan's best photographers, has a website. He started posting some of his photos online to satisfy friends, fans really, who keep bothering him to see his pictures. So if you go to his website, "Bhutan: Land of the Thunder Dragon", you can treat yourself to some breath-taking pictures of our beautiful country. Yeshey is 54 years old. And he's been taking pictures for more than 30 of those years. Initially he limited his interest to just a hobby, as analogue photography was expensive. It was much later, only after the advent of…

Illegal grants

May 15, 2009Legislature2 Comments

Our poll says that the CDG is illegal. 52% of the participants think that the CDG is unconstitutional. And 18% feel that it is very bad; that it will breed corruption. 15% are suspicious that the CDG will be used to win the next elections. And only 15% feel that the CDG is a good idea; that the grant will allow our MPs to fulfill their promises. 33 people participated in the poll. The result is obvious. An overwhelming majority of us feel that the CDG is not a good idea. And most of us are convinced that it…

Social risk

May 14, 2009Democracy, Monarchy

About a month ago I’d written about the Political Instability Index, EIU’s forecast of the likelihood of political unrest for165 countries. The Index ranked Norway as the world’s most politically stable country, and Zimbabwe the most volatile. 95 countries were considered “very high risk” or “high risk”; 53 countries “moderate risk”; and only 17 countries were deemed to be “low risk”. Bhutan, ranked 108, was rated at “moderate risk” to socio-political upheaval. Bhutanese Blogger expressed disappointment that I didn’t elaborate and commented: "I am disheartened that Your Excellency has chosen to blog this but do not have any opinion…

Public opinion matters

May 13, 2009Miscellaneous

The results of our first poll are in. Of the 46 voters, 59% rated our new site as good or excellent. 40% said that our site could be improved or was bad. And 1 voter – this works out to 2% of the total votes – had no comments. I thank each and every one of our readers who took the time to participate in our first ever poll. Since most of you feel this site is ok, I will continue to use it. But, expects slight changes – I’ll be constantly trying to upgrade and improve our website.…

About the constitution

May 12, 2009Government, Legislature

Kuensel is correct for being concerned that the 12 “dzongdags’ transfer flouts BCSR rule”. The newspaper is also correct for being concerned that RCSC rules may have been broken. And correct for pointing out that our government is “not above the law.” But, as serious as Kuensel’s concerns already are, we should be even more seriously concerned. Why? Because our cabinet’s offense is not limited to breaking BCSR and RCSC rules. Instead, our cabinet may have knowingly broken the provisions of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan. Article 2, Section 19(q) of our constitution states that “The Druk…

The importance of being heard

May 12, 2009Media

I've just learned that our oldest newpaper, Kuensel, declined to publish a letter concerning the recent media awards. The letter was from Tashi P. Wangdi, popularly called "Tosh", a former editor-in-chief of Bhutan Observer and one of the senior-most journalists in our country. I've also learned that the letter was posted on Kuensel's online discussion forum, but all twelve comments to the post were removed the next day. I am, therefore, happy to reproduce Tashi P. Wangdi's letter here. The right honorable prime minister underscored the importance of principle and moral high ground when it came to media during…

Compulsory contributions?

May 11, 2009Political parties

I’d promised one anonymous reader that I’d give my views on an unrelated comment on “Sustaining happiness”. This was what our anonymous reader had asked: I have been reading about the contribution of the MPs salary towards sustaining thier offices and wondered how that worked. How is accounted for in the election commission. To me, its seems like an advantage over other parties and perhaps something only DPT is capable of right now. given, that PDP has only two members even if they wanted to contribute , it wouldn't compare. The comment relates to talk about the DPT requiring…

Carving slate

May 11, 2009People

This week’s photo panel features a slate carving by Thinley Dorji. The artist, an instructor at the National Institute for Zorig Chusum, composed the two dragons facing the wheel of dharma to commemorate 100 years of our monarchy. Look at the dragon on the right and see if can decipher the message “Bhutan 100”. Thinley Dorji joined the NIZC in 2000 after completing Class X from Ugen Dorji HS in Haa. He was one of the two students who chose to study slate carving in the institute’s new programme under Agay Khandu, who was, at that time, Bhutan’s last…