Kuzu Zangpo everyone,
A very happy 118th National Day of Bhutan!
I will tell a story, a story of Bhutan that I am very much part of. Perhaps you and I can contextualise it more to Bhutan’s journey than my regurgitating of the standard and established approach of retelling the narrative would otherwise do. In the late 1980s, my mother was contributing Zhabto Lemi (voluntary labour contribution) in Mongar to construct a school in her village where she would later send her eldest child. Around the same time, Honourable Deborah Keith was working in Paro to transform and improve Bhutan’s agriculture sector. My mother must not have met my father yet at that point in time.
Three decades later, her eldest child shares his story on Bhutan’s National Day here in the centre of London in the presence of Honourable Deborah as the Chairman of the Bhutan Society of the UK. Reflecting on what my parents share in our regular conversations, I do not think my parents thought that I would be in a place for which they cannot even pronounce its name let alone know its geographical location and time zone.
If my story can be situated in Bhutan’s journey, the pace of change, progress, and development have been unprecedented. It continues to be the case. The foundation of such a change was laid on 17 December 1907 with the accession of Gongsar Ugyen Wangchuck as the first hereditary monarch through a signing of the popular social contract.
After more than 250 years of internal strife and instability, which Wiltshire bornThomas Hobbes would have categorised as ‘nasty, brutish, and selfish‘, the Wangchuck Dynasty established order, brought peace, and ushered a path of growth and development, including finding a place for Bhutan in the comity of nations. It is the foresight of our monarchs that, today, here and now, we Bhutanese, find ourselves celebrating Bhutan’s National Day with friends of Bhutan in the heart of London, an exemplar of modern, developed city.
As we came here, Choeying, Dawa, Karma, Leki, Phub, Rinchen, Santi, and us all, were able to navigate bus, train, and tube routes. We were not only able to navigate the transport routes but also the complexities of the 21st century everyday lives which are complex, sophisticated, and competitive. The credit is due to the continuing legacy of the visionary monarchs for laying a robust policy mechanism to empower its citizens to be equals among citizens of the fast economically globalising world.
A story of Bhutan will not be complete without highlighting the goodwill, generosity, and commitments of its development partners, playing their key roles in different capacities – at individual, organizational, and country levels. For example, Honorable Deborah’s work in Paro helped my parents in Mongar get seeds and agricultural tools, which indeed helped in my education through the sale of vegetables at Gyalpozhing. We continue to count on the goodwill of Deborah, Scott, Vinod, John, Bodo, Charlie, and Lucy, the Bhutan Society of the UK, the United Kingdom government and the like. And, the Bhutan Society of the UK has a series of plans and activities to develop the human and social capital of us Bhutanese here in the UK which would go a long way in strengthening Bhutan’s human resource pool. We shall remain grateful for eternity.
We continue to build on our progress. As we celebrate the 118th National Day of Bhutan, now, it is midnight in Bhutan – 18 December has commenced – marking the beginning of a new day. By the time we disperse later this evening, my parents in Mongar will be preparing to get up. My fellow countrymen, who came to Bumthang to celebrate the historic day, will be traveling to their respective destinations to navigate the fast-paced 21st century, including ideating a policy environment to facilitate the return of non-resident Bhutanese which stands at 9 percent of Bhutan’s little over 700,000 population.
It is within these contexts that back home, fellow countrymen are preparing for the fourth round of volunteer engagement at Gelephu Mindfulness City, the one of a kind project, premised on the principles of harmony between nature, culture, and technology, led personally by His Majesty the King. As a late-comer to the western-led international order, and economic system, Bhutan is uniquely positioned to take advantage of the ‘privilege of historical backwardness’. It is a day such as today that we get to reflect on the journey we are on as a citizen, community, nation, and friends of Bhutan as we build a future that is better, brighter, and bountiful than it is today.
I wish everyone a very Happy 118th National Day with refreshments prepared by the hands of, and from the hearts of Bhutanese, Au Chencho, Namgyel, Karma, Santi, Sonam, Kezang, Rinchen, Leki, Dawa, Eden, Choeying and Phub. Thank you so much for your efforts. Thank you Honourable Deborah and the Bhutan Society of the UK for the support in booking this very warm hall.
Many thanks and Trashi Deleg!