Mr. Michael Rutland OBE, NOM (Gold), has lived in Bhutan for the past 53 years. He has been a witness to most of Bhutan’s many stages of development and change – our idyllic seventies, the idealistic eighties, the perilous nineties and now the tumultuous 2000s. Thus, he is qualified to pass judgement on Bhutan and our state of affairs. During my meeting with him on 10th July, 2024, that is what he did precisely, and most emphatically! In the course of our conversations, he declared:
“There is no other country in this world with the level of peace, tranquility, stability and sense of security – as we have here in Bhutan.”
I agreed with him absolutely and totally! My tireless rantings notwithstanding, I know that we have it better than most. It is for this very reason - the fear that we might lose what we have achieved thus far, that some of us are frantic!
Lost and confused! What do I do? Where do I go? Who do I talk to?
It is the dread that this heaven on earth is at risk of being led asunder by those who have tended to exhibit tendencies that border on the skewed and the twisted - those who think nothing of demolishing truths spoken in good faith and with good intension - in order that their own falsehood and triviality may prevail.
It is sad to see hundred upon thousands abandon homes and families - to traverse the turbulent seas and oceans - in pursuit of livelihood - only to find that all that they have succeeded to do is - forfeit LIFE.
What exactly is triggering this human exodus? What is that which drives hoards upon hordes of our youth to brave the unknown and the untested; that they are willing to abandon the safety and security of home and family? I am unwilling to believe that they are all of them driven by the allure of the promise of gold in distant lands.
Then what is it? How, and why, are they different from those of us who see meaning and purpose in holding steadfast and remain optimistic and confident – that our pot of gold is here in this land of happiness?
What must we do to re-engineer the thought process of a generation that seems lost and confused?
A penny for your thoughts?
The country itself is definitely a heaven on earth but if the systems were the same I am sure not many would choose over seas over homeland.
ReplyDeleteFOMO
ReplyDeleteEconomic and work culture are the two main reasons for Bhutanese mass migrations abroad:
ReplyDelete1. Economic reasons: no employment opportunities and not good salary especially in private sector.
2. Culture of ‘Zhu-zhu la-la’ and ‘come tomorrow’ destroying moral of civil servants and in particular the ordinary civilians who have no connection with senior officials for any work to be done.
For the elites, including Dasho Michael Rutland, they have no problem with the above two issues.
Not much one could do to improve domestic economy.However, culture can be changed to become more efficient and time bound, transparent, fair, etc. I would like to see the civil servants calling the public citizen and updating the work progress and feedbacks rather than citizens making repeated trips to public offices. Civil servants should begin to sow the seeds of belief to public, where status, gender, ethnicity, religion, wealth, etc. do not influence the service!
For sure, a good working culture can instil confidence in FDIs and high end foreign clients on Bhutan as a nation with peace, but more so productivity and quality of Bhutanese. This would help to have a vibrant high end private enterprises that can assure job security with good salary scales...