My Vote!

It is raining in Gelephu.  I am reading, “Following the money trail in politics” on Kuensel. Just makes me wonder if we are heading towards managed democracy, more specifically money managed.  May be not, considering that the voters are not as politically raw as they were first time around and if we can call 2008 result a trend. The July 13 is approaching fast and the choice is in the hands of every registered voter including me.  This is how I would decide which ballot button to press.

First and foremost I will identify candidate who is more authentic. Only genuine persons will better serve the community, society, constituency and the nation. The authentic persons will not try to mortgage community’s future with offers of telecom vouchers/gho pieces/money/personal packages. They do not believe in building legitimacy but believe in building legacy. They do not view not winning an election as rejection.  Rather than rejection, they see it as constituency’s loss and politely move ahead to next platform for some pragmatic contribution. The more you are genuine a person, the less you need to prove yourself to others. So authentic persons are in positive frame of mind to better serve the nation.  How do I know who is more genuine? 

Ten-point principles will help me identify:

(i)   I will categorize the candidate promising development handout as if he/she will be doing people a favour as non-genuine. Every citizen has a right to development. Development is not prerogative of politicians. I would rather go for a person who promises how best he/she will utilize the political positions, authorities and services to mobilize resources to help achieve constituency’s growth objectives.  For example, one promises feeder road and the other says how resources (men, machinery, material and money) for the feeder road will be mobilized and community empowered to value and maintain the feeder road for longer-term benefits of the people. One is about giving handout and other owning and supporting the transport problem. My support will go to latter.

(ii)  My vote will not go to a person who talks top-down considering himself/herself as super being for acrimonious reasons. Authentic persons are levelheaded and humble, not arrogant, and know how to talk to people at every level from village illiterate to intellectuals, and with peoples of every region and background.  I respect humility.

(iii)  I will not vote for a person who tries to take advantage   of others’ mistakes. Persons enhancing their own status/positions at the expense of others never make good leaders. We all make mistakes. They are essential for improvement. Albert Einstein said," A person who never made mistake never tried anything new."

(iv)   I will not support candidates who live on hardened attitude and bitter prejudices of past.  Persons coming forward with such frozen negative sentiment lack rational thinking. First step to improving life is to improve thinking.  We need leaders with ability to think deep to guide us with foresight and courage.

(v)   I will classify the candidates who had opportunity to contribute but did not do it in the past, and now talk about doing things (which they have no clue about) as insensitive, irresponsible and incompetent. Such candidates do not deserve my support.

(vi)  I will not vote for person who works hard but with no sense to add value. In new economy you are compensated by not how hard you work but how much value you add.

(vii)  I will discard a candidate whose coordinators, tshogpas and  jabchorpas (paid workers) are of dubious integrity and shady background and are trying to lure voters through illegal means. They deserve last minute dump (no need to teach anyone this) because  superficial persons make shallow promises and have no credibility to make contributions.

(viii) I will vote for an unorthodox person. Unorthodox people are far more real, distinct and productive than people taking shelter under custom as cover of their shortcomings. As Rousseau says, “Take the course opposite to custom, you will almost always do well.”

(ix)  I will vote for candidate who accepts complete responsibility for the way things are, looks for new ideas and pioneers rational reforms.  Ability to introduce new dimension in your thought process is an important characteristic of a leader.

(x)   I will vote for a person who, in my opinion, has intellect for deep understanding of and acting on His Majesty’s message to the elected representatives

(a)on importance of shouldering duties and responsibilities;

(b)in providing service  to achieve the national goal to fulfill the aspiration of the people;

(c)in upholding democratic values including rule of law, good governance and  equitable prosperity;

(d) in maintaining tranquility; and

(e) in safeguarding security of the nation.

If you think I am looking for a person with all these attributes, I am not. When the choice is limited it is  relative, not absolute. In Bhutan almost everything is relative and one-dimensional. I am not looking for an ideal member of parliament. It’s the question of who is more authentic of the two. Not even more authentic, potentially authentic will be acceptable. So, my vote  (and yours) is (are) our future.  And, at no cost (you and ) I should let it go waste!