The internet has created new public spaces where Bhutanese are debating government policies, praising their Kings, swapping second-hand goods, exposing corruption, challenging laws, arguing about Gross National Happiness and considering all the things that matter to them as citizens. Rural cyber centres and cheap mobile phones from China and India are extending these spaces to most corners of the country.
Eleven years after The Guardian’s story, it turns out TV didn’t kill Shangri-La by introducing sex and crime to the society. Pek’s latest research shows that Bhutanese are still more interested in what’s happening inside their country than out. International sport, Korean pop music and Hindi soaps are popular, but the more local films and TV shows are made, the less foreign shows are watched. Pek’s research reveals a dramatic decline in the consumption of international media, which correlates with an increase in Bhutanese content. Farmers aren’t swapping Terminator 3 by Bluetooth; they’re swapping local films about Buddhist heroes – stories that demonstrate compassion and kindness, according to one farmer.
Newspapers haven’t been a great success. And as much as I wanted Bhutan Observer to achieve all of Phuntsho’s ambitions, I realise something else as I prepare to leave: perhaps they are better off without them. It’s a strange position for me to arrive at. I love newspapers. My father was a print journalist and I’ve been a print journalist most of my working life. But by leapfrogging over the development stage of print, they also missed the stage where print capitalism created a business model for newspapers. Consumer advertising, much like newspapers themselves, is a foreign concept. Bhutan doesn’t have billboards screaming ‘Want longer lasting sex?’ Shopfronts aren’t adorned with signs promising ‘Things go better with Coke’. Instead, the little advertising there is comes from government departments seeking tenders and aid organisations advising how to avoid flu, as well as warm felicitations to their Kings on their birthdays. Social media, the internet and blogs may well provide a public space for discussion about things that matter to Bhutanese without bringing the baggage of rampant consumerism.
The Bhutanese have a saying – take the best of the West and leave the rest – and that’s what they’re doing. They are creating a dynamic public space to serve a 21st-century democracy across all the modern platforms available. The people known as drukpas, in this once-hidden land they call Druk Yul, know the media experiences of other countries and want to do it differently, according to their own philosophy of Gross National Happiness. They are a nation with many voices – on the phone, radio, Facebook, TV, Twitter, blogs and more. As Kinley Dorji said: ‘We Bhutanese love to talk.’
Acknowledgments
It was an extraordinary privilege to be in the Kingdom of Bhutan as it took its first steps as a democracy. The year spent working with Bhutan Observer challenged me both professionally and personally. The owners of the newspaper, Tenzin Wangdi and Phuntsho Wangmo, brought a dedication to benefiting their society that was, dare I say, outside my previous experience of media moguls. Their approach to applying the ideals of Gross National Happiness to their media business was truly inspiring.
I am grateful for the openness of editor-in-chief Needrup Zangpo and the rest of the newspaper staff, including Rabi Dahal, Tandin Pem, Wesel Wangmo, Metho Dema, Gopal Singh and Sushil Mishra.
Thank you to Dasho Kinley Dorji and Siok Sian Pek for their hospitality and sharing their knowledge of the media in Bhutan; Tshering Tashi for his help with history; Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay for his generous gift of time; Dasho Neten Zangmo, one of the most inspiring people I have had the good fortune to meet; Kay Kirby Dorji, a wonderfully wise woman; the erudite Vice Chancellor of Royal University of Bhutan, Dasho Pema Thinley; and the hard-working, compassionate Lama Shenpen.
Mal, Kathryn and I thoroughly enjoyed our time as part of the Tashi Pelkhil community, with wonderful neighbours Megan Ritchie and Thinley Dorji, and Hans van Noord and Cecile de Boer, who, along with their children, have become lifelong family friends. We also appreciated the camaraderie of Fiona and Dave Stiedl, Sally Warriner, Jesper and Miki Krebs, and the rest of the small expat community in Thimphu, who all have now dispersed to the four winds. May you all enjoy many more adventures. And sincere, heartfelt thanks to all the Bhutanese who touched our lives, both directly and indirectly, and showed us their Bhutan, in all its complicated glory.
In Australia, I thank my two thesis supervisors Dr Willa McDonald and Dr Catherine Simpson, for guiding me through the bewildering world of academia. They challenged me with intellectual rigour, but also with kindness and good humour. I am grateful to publisher Madonna Duffy for seeing merit in this book and also for putting me in the literary care of the very capable Ian See, a genius on structure and detail.
Thank you also to Australia’s Honorary Consul for Bhutan, Catherine Harris, and her husband, David; and to Australia’s special envoy to Bhutan, Tim Fischer.
And finally, to Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, Mal Watson and Kathryn Avieson, I wouldn’t know where to start. So just … thank you.
References
Chapter 3 Braying Donkeys
32, line 19Needrup Zangpo, ‘The braying donkeys and barn managers’, Bhutan Observer, 17 October 2008.
Chapter 4 Night-hunting
35, line 23Sonam Choden, letter to the editor, Bhutan Times¸ 28 September 2008.
36, line 28Peky Samal, ‘Watch out night-hunters’, Bhutan Times, 24 September 2008.
38, line 15Needrup Zangpo, ‘Illegality of night-hunting’, Bhutan Observer, 26 September 2008.
38, line 32Tashi Dema, ‘The dark side of night-hunting’, Kuensel, 2 October 2008.
39, line 18Needrup Zangpo, ‘Defining night-hunting’, Bhutan Observer, 3 October 2008.
Chapter 5 Tashi Pelkhil
48, line 31Dipika Chhetri, ‘Now, who is a Dasho?’, Bhutan Today, 20 February 2009.
Chapter 8 Happy, Happy, Happy
68, line 26Rabi Dahal, ‘Ungar diary’, Bhutan Observer, 13 February 2009.
71, line 7Quoted in John Elliott, ‘The modern path to enlightenment’, Financial Times, 2 May 1987.
71, line 24Karma Ura, Explanation of GNH Index, Centre of Bhutan Studies, 2008.
Chapter 12 The Myth of Shangri-La
101, line 6Mark Coddington, ‘Islander’s latest adventure takes him to Bhutan, world’s happiest country’, The Grand Island Independent, 30 May 2009.
101, line 15Editorial, ‘Coffee table Bhutan’, Bhutan Times, 14 June 2009.
104, line 23Tashi Dema, ‘The Monpas of Trongsa are Monpas no more’, Kuensel, 24 September 2008.
105, line 8Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, ‘About Gross National Happiness’, Kuensel, 9 May 2010.
106, line 4Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy, ‘Fast forward into trouble’, The Guardian, 14 June 2003.
107, line 25Siok Sian Pek-Dorji, Media Impact Study 2003, Ministry of Information and Communications, Royal Government of Bhutan, 2003.
108, line 15William Langley, ‘Profile: The King of Bhutan – The prince who brought satellite TV to Shangri-La’, The Telegraph, 8 November 2008.
Chapter 14 A Victory for the Media
121, line 9Tim Fischer and Tshering Tashi, Bold Bhutan Beckons, CopyRight Publishing, 2008.
Chapter 15 Wooden Phalluses and Crooked Vaginas
126, line 8Quoted in Gopilal Acharya, ‘Of phallus: an arcane symbol’, Kuensel, 3 February 2003.
126, line 24Noa Jones, press kit for Travellers & Magicians, produced for Zeitgeist Films, 2004.
128, line 20Rabi Dahal, ‘Crooked female genitalia and the legend that straightened things out’, Bhutan Observer, 9 January 2009.
Chapter 18 Two Remarkable Women
155, line 24Pushkar Chhetri, ‘Corruption, not a shame’, Bhutan Observer, 19 June 2009.
157, line 3‘Dasho Neten Zangmo receives red scarf’, Kuensel, 27 December 2
008.
160, line 10Metho Dema, ‘The happy little home’, Bhutan Observer, 13 July 2009.
Chapter 19 Forbidden Topics
162, line 13Samten Yeshi, ‘A seemingly motiveless murder’, Kuensel, 28 March 2009.
164, line 20Quoted in Vishal Arora, ‘Religious conversion worst form of “intolerance”’, Compass Direct News, 13 April 2011.
Chapter 21 The Outside World
188, line 19Jigmi Y Thinley, statement at the 63rd Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, 26 September 2008.
Chapter 22 Floods of Change
195, line 26Editorial, ‘Down by the riverside’, Kuensel, 3 August 2009.
196, line 17Needrup Zangpo, ‘A lesson on disaster’, Bhutan Observer, 3 August 2009.
Chapter 23 Getting Along with Elephants
208, line 1Eshori Gurung, ‘First elephant awareness workshop’, Bhutan Observer, 6 March 2010.
The ancient monastery of Taktshang (Tiger’s Nest) was built over a cave where Guru Rinpoche meditated in the eighth century. It is Bhutan’s most iconic landmark.
Mal and Kathryn among the clouds at beautiful Dochula Pass, where the Queen Grandmother built 108 chortens, or Buddhist shrines, as an offering.
Kathryn and her classmates wear their very best kiras and ghos for the Sunshine School end-of-year concert.
Tenzin Wangdi and Phuntsho Wangmo, owners of Bhutan Observer.
Bhutan Observer’s front page on 17 October 2008. (Courtesy of Bhutan Observer)
The Bhutan Observer staff outside their office building. Clockwise from top left: political cartoonist Chimi Namgyal (CN); head of a dvertising Gopal Singh (GS); graphic designer Sushil Mishra (SM); editor-in-chief Needrup Zangpo (NZ); senior reporter Rabi Dahal (RD); senior reporter Tandin Pem (TP).
A crowd gathers in the courtyard of Tashichhodzong during the celebrations for the Fifth King’s coronation on 1 November 2008. (Courtesy of Desmond Boylan)
The Fourth King places the crown on the Fifth King’s head. (Courtesy of Bhutan Observer)
The Fourth King’s four wives celebrate the coronation. (Courtesy of Desmond Boylan)
A ewe with an extra horn coming out of his nose is considered an auspicious gift for a King.
Two boy monks at their monastery in Bumthang. Nearly 10 per cent of the Bhutanese population are monks and nuns.
Prayer flags near Trongsa Dzong, the former seat of government and a major monastic complex in the centre of Bhutan.
Yeshe and his kitten outside his temple, just before he begins his three-year retreat.
A guest house in Phobjikha is decorated with traditional paintings, including a phallus.
Rita washes clothes in the drain outside the toilet block where she lives with her family.
I’m next to Dasho Neten Zangmo, the head of the Anti-Corruption Commission and the most powerful woman in Bhutan.
Tim Fischer, who has been instrumental in building bonds between Australia and Bhutan, stands with historian Tshering Tashi in front of a rock painting of Guru Rinpoche.
Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, pictured here in 2011 when he was Opposition leader, has been a digital media pioneer in Bhutan. He started one of the country’s first blogs, and led the way on Twitter and Facebook
These massive embroidered thongdrels show sacred figures such as Guru Rinpoche and Buddha, and are unfurled for special occasions. This photo was taken in the courtyard at Tashichhodzong; I’m in the bottom right corner.
First published 2013 by Bhutan Observer Pvt Ltd as The Dragon Finds Its Voice
This updated edition published 2015 by University of Queensland Press
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© Bunty Avieson 2013, 2015
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Cover design by Christabella Designs
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National Library of Australia
Creator: Avieson, Bunty, author.
Title: The dragon’s voice : how modern media found Bhutan / Bunty Avieson.
ISBN 978 0 7022 53577 (pbk)
ISBN 978 0 7022 55038 (ePDF)
ISBN 978 0 7022 55045 (ePub)
ISBN 978 0 7022 55052 (Kindle)
Subjects: Press–Bhutan.
Journalism–Social aspects–Bhutan.
Journalism–Political aspects–Bhutan.
Bhutan in mass media.
Bhutan–Description and travel.
Bhutan–Social life and customs.
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