To the New Government

Tashi Delek, Hon'ble Prime Minister, Ministers and Members of Parliament!

You govern the country for next five years.  There are challenges ahead. When you face challenges, I suggest you go often to Reinhold Neibuhr’s words in The Serenity of Prayer: “ God, give us the grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish one from other.” Do not let your inner voice be drowned. We would like to see your courage following your intuition and heart, and your wisdom to know and to transform the community, society, and the nation for good.

I do not wish to remind you of your election promises and pledges. That was politics, a cocktail politics. Let us talk politics, not exactly politics but political development so far. Even though we are just two-election old and cannot call it a trend by any standard, it is worth talking about it in the interest of politics. If Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) in 2008 and People's Democratic Party (PDP) in 2013 think that they won the elections on their capability and credibility, I beg to disagree.  The DPT's landslide victory in  2008 was mainly because, I was told,  people did not want PDP to come to power. And, I do not attribute PDP's recent victory entirely to your competence and credibility. No sir, it was more of the people not wanting  DPT  continuation in power for another five years.  Why do you think DPT's votes in 43 out of 47 constituencies declined in general round from their primary round total? It was mainly "I do not want" rather than "I want". In plain political terms both the wins are mostly attributable to negative votes.

So the question is -- why are the Bhutanese getting used to casting negative votes?  The simple answer: it is easy to pinpoint mistakes of others, particularly of the government (with the help of press, civil servants and words of mouth), than to understand the real capability and competence of candidates/political parties in few days. Then there are always internal and external elements to add and multiply the impact through even your day-to-day living . The optimist will argue that negative votes will keep ruling party on their toes, but the fact is negative votes elect incompetent people. We have no time to waste another five years. How can you keep an incompetent person on the toes for five years? When competency of candidates/political parties is not an issue, voters are easily influenced by external factors. The politics gets dirty, and does not attract bright persons. The result, we land up having incompetent puppet government. In my opinion this will be simply disastrous. Can we afford people in power who has no sense to understand the difference between economic/financial assistance and strategic economic squeeze? If there are such people why blame others. It is an abstract, not deduction. I do not have an  opinion yet on your team. For now I give you the benefit of doubt. You now prove that you were elected to serve the nation, and not you were elected because the electorates did not want the other person.  

As I mentioned I do not want to make an issue out of your promises, not even on governance pledge (on which many have started muttering) like: 

"The PDP government will not increase government ministries. The prime minister will also assume the portfolio of at least one ministry to ensure that there is no need to have too many ministers. We will ensure that the prime minister’s office is not bloated. The prime minister and cabinet ministers will have minimum security. On completing the term, PDP cabinet will return the duty vehicles to the government."

The Bhutanese should not care much about these as long as the manner in which power exercised in the management of country's economic and social resources is only in the overall interest of the nation.  Without such exercise of power you know "Wangtse Chhirpel : Prosperity for All" is meaningless. 

There are far more important issues right on your plate. First and foremost, the economy needs all the attention.  The economy is expected to decline if it is not addressed through sound macroeconomic management, a strong domestic revenue base, and efficient physical infrastructure.  We know that macroeconomic management challenges due to widening domestic and external imbalances, coupled with rising inflation and the rupee liquidity squeeze, are complex.   Generating strong domestic revenue is tough, but not impossible. For efficient physical infrastructure, we need strong technical capacities in both government and private sectors.  

We are not asking you to perform miracles. You have the wisdom to make the right head-start, and with the blessing of His Majesty,  I am sure the country will be behind you. Be positive about this!