[Vision2020] Two Himalayan Kingdoms Give Up Their Kings

Wed Jun 4 10:55:15 PDT 2008

Good Morning Visionaries:

I like to do at least one international topic each month for my weekly column. I've attached the full essay with pictures.

Nick Gier

TWO HIMALAYAN KINGDOMS GIVE UP THEIR KINGS

Bhutan and Nepal, two small nations nestled at the foot of the Himalayas, have just held significant elections.  The Nepalis voted in a Communist-led government and ended a 239-year-old royal dynasty without regret. The Bhutanese, on the other hand, very reluctantly voted to end the rule of their popular absolute monarch.

When I first visited Nepal during the Dasein festival of 1992, I witnessed the Nepalis' love for their Hindu King Birendra, as thousands of them lined up to receive a personal blessing from him. 

On June 1, 2001, under very suspicious circumstances, King Birendra and seven members of the royal family were assassinated. Gyanendra, the surviving younger brother, ascended to the throne and proceeded to bring further disgrace to the royal family. 

Using the threat of a Maoist take-over as an excuse, King Gyanendra instituted a state of emergency in 2005, shutting down the press, stopping the internet, and dissolving the Parliament. In April of 2006, massive Gandhi-style nonviolent demonstrations forced Gyanendra to reintroduce democracy, and the Maoists agreed to lay down their arms and to participate in new elections.

In the meantime Gyanendra, who by tradition is the incarnation of the Hindu God Vishnu, became more and more unpopular.  One day while on a religious pilgrimage, his motorcade was pelted with stones, and he was forced to beat a quick retreat to his palace.  

In February of 2007 Maoists decapitated a statue of the founding king of the Nepalese dynasty, and then they dragged the head through the streets of Kathmandu. Gyanendra's image once graced the face of the 500 rupee bank note, but he has now been replaced with a picture of Mt. Everest.

On April 10 the Maoists, contrary to every prediction, won 37 percent of vote in the Constituent Assembly election.  All the leftist parties now make up a total of 338 seats in the 601-seat body.  The May 28th vote against the monarchy was 560 opposed and only 4 in favor.

In South Asia it is very common for Communists to stand and win parliamentary elections.  The Indian Congress Party now rules India with the helped of the Indian Communist Party.  Currently there are Communist-led governments in the Indian states of Kerala, Tripura, and West Bengal.  The economic results in these provinces have been consistently poor, but Kerala boasts the highest literacy and lowest infant mortality rates in India.  West Bengal's government, however, is riddled with corruption.

Nepal's Maoists are said to be studying the programs of their Indian comrades in order to keep their promises to their peasant supporters, some of whom make only one dollar a day.  While planning land reform and public assistance, the Maoist leaders promise that they will not abolish capitalism.

While 60 percent of Nepalis turned out for their spring election, 80 percent of the Bhutanese voted in their election of March 24th.  Leaders of the two parties on the ballot openly admit that they would have preferred to remain under the rule of King Jigme Wangchuck.  

Harvard educated and on the "Dragon Throne" for 34 years, King Wangchuck made world headlines when he said that Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross National Product.  He explained this policy as "acquisition of contentment rather than the acquisition of capital." 

While on a tour of Buddhist temples and festivals in 1999, I witnessed the results of King Wangchuck's beneficient dictatorship. Royal decrees banning logging exports to India and preserving 60 percent of the nation's forests have kept the Bhutanese landscape healthy and beautiful.  

Motorcycle taxis, which foul the air in all other South Asian cities, are not allowed in Bhutan. Taking seriously the Buddhist belief that the Himalayas are mountain goddesses, Wangchuck banned mountaineering while allowing trekking in the foothills.  

Many Bhutanese believe that their king would take better care of them than politicians who would form alliances with the wealthy and the powerful. With free education and health care, Bhutan is almost the paradise that South Asian Communists promise.

There is a growing shortage of jobs for Bhutanese college students.  One third of most recent 1,200 graduates could not find positions, and for the first time gangs of unemployed youth are letting out their frustration by drinking and fighting in the streets of the capital Thimphu.

Some unemployed young people watch TV 12 hours a day (a favorite show is Desperate Housewives), and they cruise the clubs of Thimphu where Cameron Diaz was once sighted dancing the night away.  One reporter also noticed that even though the king has banned tobacco sales in the country, black market cigarettes were being lit up everywhere.

In 2007 there were mock elections to prepare the Bhutanese for democracy.  Four dummy parties were created and the Yellow Dragon Party, devoted to preserving Bhutan's rich cultural heritage, won the most votes.  These voters may have good reason to be concerned about their country's future. 

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