BHUTAN IN THE NEWS, February 2000

The television program, 60 Minutes memorably profiled Bhutan in early 2000.  Here is a transcript of that program.

HEADLINE:

Gross National Happiness:
Nation of Bhutan Is More Focused On The Happiness Of Its People Than Global Economics

Reporter - Morley Safer
Producer - Steven Reiner

While most governments are concerned with gross national product, we found a place, perhaps the only place on Earth, where the government's first priority is something it calls gross national happiness. The place is the tiny country of Bhutan, precariously tucked up in the Himalayas between the world's two most populous nations, China to the north and India to the south. You can fly to the land of gross national happiness only on Bhutan's national airline, a fleet of two small planes that maneuver through the clouds and high mountain passes, and only if the weather is just right. We went there to try to find out what gross national happiness is all about. Footage of Bhutan countryside; mountains monastery; Buddhist monks; farmer Bhutan residents watching television.

SAFER: (Voiceover) When you are here, you truly feel you are at the roof of the world.  Everest is your neighbor; sacred mountains that isolate, but do not imprison.  Monasteries cling to the brink, supported it seems, by faith alone. For centuries, this peaceable Buddhist kingdom of 600,000 people has steadfastly held the outside world at bay, and even resisted perhaps the most powerful global intruder of all, fearful that it might destroy their unique identity. But now this most remote of places has decided to welcome that intruder into its midst.

(Footage of Jigmi Thinley and Safer)

SAFER: We asked Bhutan's foreign minister, Jigmi Thinley, why on earth bring television to Bhutan?

Mr. JIGMI THINLEY: We felt that time was ripe.  The people were prepared. And also, isolated as we may be, the fact is that we feel the compulsions, we feel the compelling forces of globalization.  We do not want to be marginalized.  We want to be a part of that global village, while ensuring that we do not disappear in terms of our identity.

(Footage of Bhutan countryside; farm; Bhutan residents chopping wood; road; road signs; Thimphu; traffic; person directing traffic; dogs)

SAFER: (Voiceover) That identity is immediately apparent, a state of calm reflection.  Time somehow loses its importance, a place where roads are only a recent phenomenon, where caution is politely asked for.  In the capital, Thimphu, that civility makes traffic lights unnecessary. There are stray dogs galore, friendly beasts who lie around safe in the knowledge that in Bhutan they are next to man in the pecking, or scratching order, of creatures.  Its mere existence in one of the world's toughest neighborhoods is itself a small miracle.  China leans on it from the north, India to the south.

Mr. THINLEY: We have survived for centuries.  In fact, ever since recorded history, Bhutan has always been a sovereign independent country. With China, we have no difficulties of any kind.  With India, we have excellent relations.

SAFER: All one of them has to do is cough, and Bhutan can catch pneumonia, correct?

Mr. THINLEY: Yes, that is true.  But we are hopeful and we are confident that if they do cough, they will not be facing Bhutan.

(Footage of Bhutan residents; signs with image of Jigme Singye Wangchuck; photo of Wangchuck and wives; Thinley, Safer and others)

SAFER: (Voiceover) It's only in the last 30 years that Bhutan emerged from an almost medieval isolation to gingerly tastes of fruits of the 20th century. Thechief of state is good King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, a monarch enlightened enough to not give interviews.  He does give his subjects the power to remove him from the throne.  He lives in a log cabin in the woods and leaves ceremonial duties to his four wives, all of whom are sisters. Day-to-day governance is left to a bunch of US college graduates, like the foreign minister.

Mr. THINLEY: Penn State.  Yes, I used to root for Nittany Lions.

SAFER: So you remain a good alumnus?

Mr. THINLEY: Oh, yes.  I follow the activities in my university very closely.

(Footage of Bhutan residents; Thinley and Safer)

SAFER: (Voiceover) And others from Berkeley, Wisconsin and Tufts.  They, like virtually everyone in Bhutan, adhere to a national dress code, making it difficult to distinguish between prince and pauper.  Bhutan's austere form of Buddhism is also a constant reminder to all about the perils of power.

Mr. THINLEY: Power and privilege definitely corrupt the soul.

SAFER: You would say that for yourself?

Mr. THINLEY: Yes, I say that for myself, yes.  I have to remind myself continuously.

(Footage of Thinley and Safer; traffic; Bhutan residents; Kinley Dorji and Safer)

SAFER: (Voiceover) The country is free of the more familiar kinds of public corruption: no fleets of Mercedes, no racks of Armanis, the hallmarks of Third World aristocracies.  There's also no democracy, which Kinley Dorji, a Columbia University man and the editor of Bhutan's only paper, says is just fine.

Mr. KINLEY DORJI: Why do we need to adopt democracy for the sake of democracy?  What is important about--about democracy?  And to us, it seems that the values are important, not the facade, not just electoral democracy. We have it all around us in Asia, and how much does it work?

(Footage of Bhutan residents)

SAFER: (Voiceover) Bhutan's system is like some fairy-tale kingdom in which there's an understanding, an unwritten social contract that neither ruler nor ruled will violate.  I get the feeling that you don't necessarily think that democracy, as we think of democracy, is necessarily the best thing for this country.

Mr. THINLEY: Well, what is important to the people, basically, in a developing country?  It's water, safe drinking water.  It is good health, it is having a home, it is receiving education.

(Footage of document with text highlighted: Gross National Happiness)

SAFER: (Voiceover) All of which the government, in its official plan, has reduced to a single phrase.

Mr. THINLEY: Gross national happiness is, in fact, what this country is pursuing.  It, in fact, is what every human being really pursues in life.

Mr. K. DORJI: Gross national happiness, to me, is a blend of economic development, of spiritual values, of a rich culture.

SAFER: Gross national happiness: Any American politician or bureaucrat would be laughed off the platform trying to sell that one.  But here it is quite simply the goal and purpose of responsible government.  They hope to achieve it, they say, by carefully selecting what the West is doing right, but rejecting our cynicism and our consumerism, even when it comes to television.

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Bhutan's forests shelter some 160 species of mammals, 770 species of birds and 5,400 species of vascular plants.

Interested in traveling to Bhutan?  Geographic Expeditions , a SELF sponsor, leads adventure trips to this most secluded country.