Read Online So Close to Heaven by Barbara Crossette - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Barbara Crossette
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comes, the already rich (who took to tourism with alacrity) will be richer and the poor entrepreneurs will be in another line of work—and resentful.
The infant tourism industry also wants more of Bhutan’s temples and monasteries opened to foreigners. That request provokes sharp counter-reactions from the religious leadership and monastic orders. Monks wield considerable power in Bhutanese society. They not only resist thefurther intrusion of tourists—saying that temple treasures will disappear and the sanctity of holy places will be irrevocably disturbed—but also quietly defy efforts to modernize monastic life and put thousands of state-supported monks into some form of public service.
“We have always had very close affinity, very close respect and cooperation and deep faith, with the clergy,” the king said. “There has always been total and complete harmony. One of the reasons is because the religious institutions in Bhutan do not interfere in the political aspects of the country, and the king does not interfere with religious affairs. In fact, I have emphasized to the government as well as to the religious community of Bhutan that it is important to give them more and more powers as far as religion is concerned. But even within Buddhism, changes have to take place, whereby the monks can no longer like in the past live in the four corners of the dzongs. They will have to go out and do social work. We would like them to be doctors, be health workers, help the farmers, help the poor people. I think that in this day and age, the Buddhist institutions in Bhutan will have to reach out to the people.”
Where the king and religious leaders seem to be in agreement is in their opposition to the creation of an urbanized plutocracy with only the thinnest of ties to traditional Bhutanese civilization. This, the king says, is why he has turned his attention to satellite dishes, which he has banned twice.
“In Bhutan, we don’t want several classes of people,” the king said, “a small number of people who are affluent, who are rich, who are prosperous, and a majority of our people who are poor and live on subsistence farming. A lot of journalists from outside incorrectly criticized us for not permitting satellite dishes to be installed by the rich and very affluent few. They didn’t bother to say that there were only twenty-nine satellite dishes, and eighty percent of them belonged to members of the royal family or rich business people. I don’t see why any individual should spend seventy or eighty thousand ngultrum [about $2,700–$3,100] to have a satellite dish installed for his or her personal entertainment when the majority of the people do not have safe drinking water, when they don’t have any proper sanitation facilities, when they have to walk days to get to their villages, when they don’t have the opportunity to see even one movie in a year.”
King Jigme Singye Wangchuck and his late father have, at some risk to the monarchy itself, given the Bhutanese one tool that makes theoutside world truly accessible: a command of the English language, now the medium of instruction in all the country’s schools. “This is a decision that was made a long time back,” the king said. “If the government and the kings of Bhutan had wanted to keep Bhutan on a feudal basis, we would never have given priority to mass education—and certainly not in English.” The introduction of English as a medium of instruction minimizes clashes over the use of Dzongkha, Nepali, or any other regional language, and also shortens the route to high-quality education and vocational training. Bhutan does not have the resources to waste money sending students abroad on government scholarships if they are unable to work in an international language.
“Bhutan is a very small country and we need all the successes we can get,” the king says. “We cannot afford any failure at all. We want our people to be educated and highly
The infant tourism industry also wants more of Bhutan’s temples and monasteries opened to foreigners. That request provokes sharp counter-reactions from the religious leadership and monastic orders. Monks wield considerable power in Bhutanese society. They not only resist thefurther intrusion of tourists—saying that temple treasures will disappear and the sanctity of holy places will be irrevocably disturbed—but also quietly defy efforts to modernize monastic life and put thousands of state-supported monks into some form of public service.
“We have always had very close affinity, very close respect and cooperation and deep faith, with the clergy,” the king said. “There has always been total and complete harmony. One of the reasons is because the religious institutions in Bhutan do not interfere in the political aspects of the country, and the king does not interfere with religious affairs. In fact, I have emphasized to the government as well as to the religious community of Bhutan that it is important to give them more and more powers as far as religion is concerned. But even within Buddhism, changes have to take place, whereby the monks can no longer like in the past live in the four corners of the dzongs. They will have to go out and do social work. We would like them to be doctors, be health workers, help the farmers, help the poor people. I think that in this day and age, the Buddhist institutions in Bhutan will have to reach out to the people.”
Where the king and religious leaders seem to be in agreement is in their opposition to the creation of an urbanized plutocracy with only the thinnest of ties to traditional Bhutanese civilization. This, the king says, is why he has turned his attention to satellite dishes, which he has banned twice.
“In Bhutan, we don’t want several classes of people,” the king said, “a small number of people who are affluent, who are rich, who are prosperous, and a majority of our people who are poor and live on subsistence farming. A lot of journalists from outside incorrectly criticized us for not permitting satellite dishes to be installed by the rich and very affluent few. They didn’t bother to say that there were only twenty-nine satellite dishes, and eighty percent of them belonged to members of the royal family or rich business people. I don’t see why any individual should spend seventy or eighty thousand ngultrum [about $2,700–$3,100] to have a satellite dish installed for his or her personal entertainment when the majority of the people do not have safe drinking water, when they don’t have any proper sanitation facilities, when they have to walk days to get to their villages, when they don’t have the opportunity to see even one movie in a year.”
King Jigme Singye Wangchuck and his late father have, at some risk to the monarchy itself, given the Bhutanese one tool that makes theoutside world truly accessible: a command of the English language, now the medium of instruction in all the country’s schools. “This is a decision that was made a long time back,” the king said. “If the government and the kings of Bhutan had wanted to keep Bhutan on a feudal basis, we would never have given priority to mass education—and certainly not in English.” The introduction of English as a medium of instruction minimizes clashes over the use of Dzongkha, Nepali, or any other regional language, and also shortens the route to high-quality education and vocational training. Bhutan does not have the resources to waste money sending students abroad on government scholarships if they are unable to work in an international language.
“Bhutan is a very small country and we need all the successes we can get,” the king says. “We cannot afford any failure at all. We want our people to be educated and highly
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