The Foreign Service Journal, October 2003

n Nov. 11, 2002—his 47th birthday— the Druk Gyalpo, Bhutan’s King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, announced his determination to abdicate many of his powers as monarch in favor of a consti- tutional monarchy and political democracy for his Himalayan nation. The king first spoke of his plan a year earlier at the formation of a constitution-drafting committee, the latest in a long series of steps toward modernization initiated by his father. As we can count the number of other nations that are open- ing, decentralizing power, and pressing to provide universal access to education and medical care on the fingers of one hand, His Majesty’s action struck me as a grace note in a global political landscape more often characterized by dark, mean ignorance. I hold Bhutan in high regard. It’s a country that is diffi- cult to visit unless you sign up with a tour group and pay hefty fees, or are a citizen of either India or Bangladesh. As the last standing Buddhist monarchy in the Himalayas, it attracts pil- grims focused on religion, trekking, and environmental preservation. Foreign tourists were first permitted entry to Bhutan in 1974. Nearly a quarter-century later my visit took place only after heroic exertions by the man who hosted me in the hope that older Bhutanese textiles would find a mar- ket in the West. They didn’t, but our meeting led to a lasting relationship with his family. That January 1998 sojourn was enlightening. I boarded a Druk Air flight in Bangkok that halted in Dhaka to deport some 20 Bangladeshis. After the takeoff, I fell into conver- sation with a young Bhutanese woman traveling with her family. Her husband browsed an English-language news- paper and called her attention to an article about President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. “Another one,” he said. I cringed. Plucking up courage, I told her I knew Bhutanese were devout Buddhists and wondered if they would be offended by reports of my president’s philandering. “Oh, no,” she reassured me. “We’re very promiscuous people!” Our ongoing conversation revealed her husband was the governor of an eastern district — Pemagatsel — with so few roads that he traveled to village meetings on foot or horse- back. We talked about his discussions with local leaders. I don’t recall asking, but she volunteered that Bhutan “was not ready for democracy.” Insufficient numbers were literate, could distinguish wisdom from blather, or exercise their fran- chise intelligently, she said. I wondered if similar qualifica- tions would render the U.S. ‘not ready for democracy’ as well. A Delicate Balance My host, Tshering Dorji, sent his son Karma to collect me at Bhutan’s only airport in Paro that winter afternoon. We passed our two-hour drive over narrow mountain roads to the capital, Thimphu, getting to know each other. Karma had recently married an American woman who worked for the United Nations Development Programme as a physical therapist. Though they’d known each other for several years, Karma felt frustrated by cross-cultural communication. “We use the same words,” he said, “but we don’t mean the same thing.” ‘Using the same words’ is literally true: English, Hindi, 60 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / O C T O B E R 2 0 0 3 Linda Beeman, a former FS spouse, currently writes from her home on Puget Sound’s Whidbey Island. She traveled twice to Bhutan as the guest of a Bhutanese family and was privileged to be in the country during the 25th-anniver- sary celebrations of King Jigme Singye Wangchuck’s enthronement. These visits allowed her to see the country, as she says, “from inside out, as well as from outside in.” B Y L INDA B EEMAN A G RACE N OTE : P OLITICAL AND C ULTURAL C HANGE IN B HUTAN A TINY H IMALAYAN KINGDOM MOVES TOWARD DEMOCRACY WITH CAUTIOUS DETERMINATION , STRIVING TO BALANCE MODERNIZATION WITH TRADITION . O