Scandal In The Holiest Of Places

I heard it from a friend nearly a week back …. I was told that it was being kept under wraps for the sheer shamefulness of it - but I was surprised to read about it on the front page of the Kuensel’s 27th July, 2024 issue.

The reported involvement of our men in Blue in the scandal that was recently unearthed at Taktsang is so terribly appalling. This is a manifestation of the rot that is setting in into our society - it cannot get any baser than this. When the custodians of law can be allured into turning into law breakers - the citizens have to start worrying.

What are we supposed to do? We can bundle these culprits inside sacks and throw them into the Wangchhu. But how many of them? And how often? That is not the solution to our problems.

We have to accept that such vile crimes become possible because we offer people the opportunity, and the reason, to carry them through. In other words, the onus must fall on the law makers - for their inability to design laws that help build a robust and law-abiding society. When laws begin to hinder lawful activities - citizens will resort to unlawful activities. That, sadly, is the way the cookie crumbles.

Think about it - monument fees have always been collected from tourists visiting Taktsang and other designated monuments elsewhere - it has been happening for decades. Then why is such scam happening now? Why did it not happen earlier - when the takings would have been many folds more than now because of the sheer superior numbers? Can we blame it on the sudden and abrupt decline in the morality and the ethical mores of the police, the guides and the drivers? And, if that is true, what is causing it?

Obviously, something has come to pass that is beginning to alter the very moral fiber of the Bhutanese people. Time may be at hand for us to realize the folly of our endeavors and make amends, before the opportunity is lost to us, irretrievably!

The case of Taktsang may be just the proverbial tip of the iceberg - it is a scary thought that this may be happening elsewhere. Consider the implications if this is happening at the Phuentsholing border gate!