Why the land of happiness is unhappy?
In the age of militarisation, political conflicts, ethnic division and religious clashes, seeking happiness is an awkward but essential journey. Scientific development can no more necessarily measure the human progress but the personal wellbeing and satisfaction do. In recent years, the research on happiness have focused on the methods to measure the quality of life and not necessarily on amount of wealth.
The results of this year’s World Happiness Report (WHR) was, for many, a step forward to search elements of happiness but a curiosity for Bhutan and anger for Bhutanese elites. The angry responses from Bhutan were basically from the circle who have maintained or wanted to maintain closer connection with the royal family. The anger was not about report and but demotion of Bhutan in the happiness index against its own claim of championing on happiness philosophy. UN’s Sustainable Development Solution Network aims to measure the happiness of people in the member countries and use the data to guide the public policy towards improving the wellbeing of their citizens.
UN and the world marks March 20 every year as World Happiness Day since 2011 to which only Bhutan opposes and insists the date be shifted to November. It was Bhutan’s former Prime Minister, in fact the first elected prime minister of the country, Jigmi Yoser Thinley who lobbied in the UN for this noble initiative.
With every year Bhutan’s ranking dropping in the WHR, question has been raised if Bhutan’s claim to have championed on the philosophy is accurate and authentic.
Bhutan has long said it has replaced GDP (gross domestic product) with GNH (gross national happiness) as its main development indicator. The fourth King Jigme Singye was named as the man to have coined the GNH in 1974 when he ascended the throne. However, the idea had surfaced into the public domain and discussions begun only after mid 1990s. This was the time when Thinley had taken over the national leadership. Since his elevation to the prime minister in 1998, Thinley had given innumerable speeches and addressed conferences on GNH including co-chairing UN high level meeting titled ‘Wellbeing and Happiness: Defining a new economic paradigm’ in 2012 when the first WHR was published.
Ironically, there has been no record of any speeches, publications, conference papers, articles or books ever published to demonstrate that King Jigme was the originator of the GNH philosophy.
King Jigme needed a capable, trustworthy and exceptionally talented man who can divert the world attention away from the sins of evictions from Southern Bhutan while Thinley was in search of an opportunity to elevate himself as the centre of political power in Bhutan. This common interest between Wangchuck and Thinley helped elevate both. The exhaustion of Thinley’s utility and his forceful departure from the national politics is a different story but his absence has now been vividly reflected when it comes to Bhutan’s defence on GNH in the international stage.
Bhutanese politics is gradually opening and it is giving opportunity for general public to speak the truth. It is now not the age for Centre for Bhutan Studies and Central Bureau of Statistics Bhutan to influence citizens what they must speak or say. As people speak the reality, the so called champions of happiness scramble to find their weakness to control the public opinion. The furious Bhutanese elites against the WHR ranking exemplifies they wanted Bhutan to be the happiest country – be it required to coerce people to say what they wanted.
The need of the hour is for Bhutan to evaluate the reason why it was happier yesterday and why not today. The palace and its coterie might claim the failure of the political leaders and democracy resulted in more Bhutanese becoming unhappy. The reality is obviously different and Bhutanese leadership will definitely find if sincere efforts are made.
We all wanted to be happy. Dalai Lama puts in, ‘ the purpose of our lives is to be happy’. Everything we – eat, travel, marry, work, run – meant to add happiness to our lives. Fulfilling our emotions of passion, love, relief, grief, excitement make us happier. And we aim to make this happiness to remain for a longer term. All these critical aspects of life was absent in the authoritarian rule of Bhutan. People needed freedom. They are finding it and using it gradually.
Freedom gives us opportunity to fulfil our emotions. Freedom gives us choices, freedom gives us strength and courage. Freedom gives us happiness.
Bhutan still is not absolutely open. The older and dominating generation still believes happiness is where juniors obey their orders. The barrier is biting the dust and people are opening up to reality. The leadership has the challenges to amend their tentacles to learn the essence of happiness rather than imposing them. If Bhutan does not want to change, it must expect further fall in the WHR in future. Bhutan must do first and tell the world as it is. Or else, it run the risk of losing the grip on its own vision and higher national dreams.