Bhutanese festivities

Music

King

Clark:  This is the Dragon King, His Majesty Jigme Singye Wanchuk. These are two of his four royal wives, all sisters. These are his loyal subjects. Welcome to the last Shangri La.

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Map Bhutan

FX:  Chanting

Interior Buddhist temple

Clark:  In a world where increasingly being modern means being the same, where you can not necessarily tell by the streetscape what country you are in, it's refreshing to come to the mystical kingdom of Bhutan.

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Parade

Music

Clark:  This has not been the fastest country on earth to modernise. It wants to take it slowly, to learn by others' mistakes - ours that is.

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Traffic in Tiumphu

Take traffic for example. Tiumphu is now the only capital city in the world with no traffic lights.

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They did have a set installed a few years ago, but people complained that they were unsightly. So they were taken down. And the traffic policeman returned.

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And why not? I've never seen a set of traffic lights enjoying themselves as much as this man.

Bhutan does of course have its traffic jams. But even these have their own individualistic style. And there seems to be a total absence of road rage.  Such is life in an undeveloped country.

Kinlay:  When people talked about development in the past,

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Kinlay

Super:

KINLAY DORJI

Editor in Chief, Kuensel Newspaper

they always asked what the Gross National Product was. And the king then turned around and said ‘We're not interested in Gross National Product, we're interested in gross national happiness.'

Music

Clark:  And what the king says goes. While the rest of the world was plunging with economic rationalist fervour towards a new millennium, this king took a bizarre step  and opted for the wellbeing of his subjects.

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King at festivities/ Kinlay

Kinlay:  To us, gross national happiness basically means that ultimately the long term and the ultimate goal of development should be happiness, that people should be happy. And Bhutan believes that this happiness cannot come from purely material development, economic development, but that it must be very carefully balanced with spiritual health, with the environment, and generally the quality of life.

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Man looking out of window/ marijuana

Clark:  One might be tempted to think that the gross national happiness here is drug induced. After all, the streets are paved, not with gold, but with marijuana. From every nook and cranny, in every street, cannabis grows like a weed. But virtually no one smokes it. Instead they feed it to the animals.

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Farmer

This farmer told me his cows didn't like it much, but the pigs were hooked.

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Farmer:  The first time the pigs get drunk and fall over - but then they get used to it... It fattens them up nicely.

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FX:  Pigs grunting

Pig

Clark:   While the pigs can't just say no to drugs, it seems the Bhutanese can.

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Kinlay

Kinlay:  Yes, marijuana grows wild all over, it's more common than normal grass. And I think it reflects the innocence of Bhutanese society that it's not used as a drug. You know that marijuana is most popular food for pigs. People go around, you walk around every - any time of the day you'll find people collecting it to feed their pigs. I think Bhutan is one country where pigs do fly.

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Pig/Silver Jubilee celebrations

FX:  Pigs grunting

Clark:  But here, high in the Himalayas, halfway to heaven, something is afoot. Important people are in town. There's magic in the air.

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Just days away are the biggest celebrations here for 25 years. It's the silver jubilee, the Dragon King has been on the throne for a quarter of a century.

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FX:  Cheering/brass band

Clark:  The whole city is rehearsing, bristling with anticipation. For on this coming royal day of days, there can be no mistakes. Everything must run smoothly. Not that the king is a beheading king, just the opposite.

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Crowd cheers king

FX:  Cheers

Clark:  Indeed, he seems to be honestly and universally admired.

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Kid:  Yeah, he's a good king.

Girl:  He's very handsome.

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Kids

Clark:  During the king's reign, life expectancy has increased an astounding 20 years.

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Figures on education, health, clean water supply, electricity, all are just as impressive.

River

The government has paid for the improvements with hydro-electricity, which it sells to India, just down the mountains.

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FX:  Bells

Tourists in market

Clark:   The second biggest money spinner is tourism.

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To get a glimpse of heaven, tourists pay top dollar. There's no tourist quota, but the government charges a minimum US$250 a day to keep the quality up and the  numbers down.

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Music

Himalayan foothills

Clark:  The main tourist attraction is the wilderness. In these Himalayan foothills, there's a cornucopia of diversity, a treasure house of the world's plant and animal species. And the government is well aware of its value.

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Queen at tree planting ceremony

FX:  Camera shutters

Clark:  This is Her Majesty - Ashi Dorji Wangmo Wangchuk - the queen. Well one of the queens.

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She's guest of honour here at this tree planting ceremony. But it's not just a government paying lip service while tearing the forest apart. Bhutan's record with its ecology is exemplary. Even the greenies agree.

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Dr. Kinlay

Super:

Dr. KINLAY DORJI

World Wildlife Fund

Dr. Kinlay:  The king, right from the start I think, was most conscious of the need to preserve the Bhutanese - well, let's just take it simply - the forests, the forest cover. And from the very beginning he introduced a ban on logging by private companies, which were there when he took over.

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Clark:  Bhutan is the only country in the region that can boast an increase in forest cover over the past 25 years.  Even on a day to day basis, the environment gets a look in. The king recently banned plastic bags in the kingdom.

Kinlay:  He even issued a royal decree whereby even the king himself,

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who, according to our law, is usually above the law, has to obtain a permit to be able to get a tree for his own use.

Clark:  It comes as no surprise that the motivating factor in the king's philosophy has a spiritual rather than material ethic.

Kinlay:  The landscape and the culture

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go hand in hand, and the culture which is basically based on Buddhism, again, is very benign to the environment. And we believe in not harming any living being, and not harming anything, not only human beings.

Clark:  Buddhism is the driving force of Bhutan. The strongest of all their traditions. Traditions that have remained protected by the remoteness of the Himalayas.

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Dasho

Super:

DASHO SANGAY WANGCHUK

Commission for Cultural Affairs

Dasho:  Many hundred years it has been in that tradition. But I don't say that, you know, we have to continue with this tradition exactly the same.

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Clark:  Bhutan has recognised that change is now inevitable, that their geographic isolation will no longer protect them from outside forces.

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Classroom

Clark:   During the king's reign, tradition has been encouraged. At this government run school in Tiumphu the best young craftsmen and women from around the country receive expert tuition.

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The skills being learnt here are ancient, steeped in Buddhist mythology. But increasingly, these artefacts are valued, not just for their use in Buddhist ritual, but as products that can be sold to the growing tourist market.

The culture is changing, but to Buddhists, nothing remains the same.

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Dasho

Dasho:  Tradition or culture, whatever, it doesn't matter, but main thing is the people's intellectual way, their development, intellectual development is important. So I think so far, within this 25 years, Bhutanese people intellectually, they have got development, I can say.

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Construction above city

Clark:  But some developments just about to happen could test Buddhist patience to the limit.

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High above the city, preparations are being made. A new deity is about to arrive.  Television is coming to Bhutan. And that's not all.

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Queen

Queen:  Because of the action we take today, there will be profound impact on our society. Internet will have wide application in organisations and our personal lives.

FX:  Monks chant

Clark:   In this jubilee year everything seems to be happening at once. Not only is television coming, the internet has arrived. Bhutanese will now be able to surf the super highway.

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Queen:  The choice of content on internet is indeed vast. What is downloaded, and how internet is used, is up to the prudence of the users. Like all tools, on one hand, it is very powerful, on the other hand it can be put to detrimental use and overwhelm the users.

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Clark:  With yet another official opening in this week of ceremonies, Bhutanese home life is changed forever. Television finally arrives.

King:  Television will become a very important force

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King

for national integration, for the promotion of Bhutanese culture, including music and literary activities.

FX:  Applause

Clark:  But some remain dubious on the impact it will have.

Kinlay: I think there will be the whole consumerism culture, the

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Kinlay

Super:

KINLAY DORJI

Editor in Chief, Kuensel Newspaper

impact of the very, very aggressive advertising which is on television. And I think - I mean that's why, because it's all going to be new to Bhutan, it's all going to be very attractive, very glittering, very bright. I think it's going to be, it's going to be a problem.

Family watch TV

FX:  Monks chanting on TV

Clark:  Night one, and the good people of Tiumphu sit down expectantly to spend their first evening in front of the telly.

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Buddhists believe that all of life is an illusion. One monk pointed out that television must therefore be an illusion of an illusion. And if something is so unreal, perhaps it is not so dangerous.

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Dasho

Super:
DASHO SANGAY WANGCHUK

Commission for Cultural Affairs

Dasho:  Anyway, all is the illusion is anyway, so therefore if you understand the nature of the illusion, or realise that that is illusion, so television's nothing.

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Dancing/band

Music

Clark:  And so in the kingdom of Bhutan arrives the royal day of days. In other parts of the world, royalty is in trouble. Here the fairy story just gets stronger.

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Clark:   Far from clinging to power, this young king last year shocked the parliament, by introducing new legislation devolving his power to his subjects.

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In effect, parliament, by a vote of no confidence, could now sack him. But nobody wants to. They want him to continue developing this tiny kingdom while maintaining the country's unique identity.

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It's an identity that they are pleading with the world to leave intact.

Kinlay

Kinlay:  I think Bhutan is looking at global trends, seeing the so called globalisation and especially mourning, perhaps, the disappearance of many diverse cultures. In that sense, Bhutan really believes that the world needs Bhutan.

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Street lit with neon

Clark:  Perhaps the real question is does Bhutan need the rest of the world?

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Yet another first, a ferris wheel. It's taken a while to get here, but the Bhutanese respond with an innocent passion that Coney Island and Luna Park lost long ago.

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As they whirl into a new technological orbit, renouncing the isolation of their ancient hermit kingdom and enter a new domain of information and global progress -  you could only wish them well.

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