PAYING FOR THE FREEDOM TO EXPRESS

Posted by Tshering C Dorji at 12:13 AM

One of the greatest Canadian parliamentarians, Edmund Burke, referred to press as the Fourth Estate, more important than three other estates in the parliament. I don’t know what the other three estates are. Maybe he was referring to legislation, judiciary and bureaucracy. Maybe I am wrong, so don’t take it seriously. Since I am just a casual writer, a reporter myself at one point of time, I thought I would share my own opinion about the newspapers’ role. I think it is especially relevant at a time when Bhutan Times has made headlines due to retirement of the reporters and an editor en masse.

So, in the light of Voltaire, who said to Helvetius, "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it," the readers would have to tolerate me. Compared to many newspapers around the world, Bhutanese newspapers, except for Kuensel are still “ baby in the wood.” They do have their own share of faults but their virtues are far greater than their faults. They reflect our society in many ways. They mirror us all the good, bad and ugly features that a society carries.

And like any other enterprise, it has its own element of business. It survives on advertisments, publications and creativity. It is sold under very competitive conditions these days and is required to have careful business management. If a newspaper is not produced for business, they are not newspaper but some kind of organ of whoever is sponsoring it. It has to be independent and to be independent it should have financial soundness.

But I also believe that most Bhutanese reporters and editors are able, responsible, and ambitiously capable of doing a good job despite many limitations. I am sure most believe in the fact that their work is important to their readers and to Bhutan. They can only justify their freedom of expression by reporting accurately and interestingly and also by interpreting intelligently the happenings of our time, which many of us take for granted.

Given the fact that we have a representative Government today in the form of democracy, the newspaper has a bigger responsibility of being a nation’s conscience. Therefore, survival of a newspaper becomes a a necessity. The perfect newspaper speaks for the lowly, oppressed and forgotten people. While discharging its responsibility, it would definitely trouble public conscience. In doing that, it is performing a worthy service to people. Bhutanese, like any other people around the world are hungry for news. We browse through the net to find if there is anything new.

A courageous publisher, being supported by an inspired, intelligent, and dynamic editorial staff would find his greatest fulfilment as a newspaperman. It is an achievement in itself if the newspapers are desired by the public for its authentic and well-written reports about national matters. Nattional matters need not necessarily be pleasing always.

All reporters are like any other human beings. He works, lives on his salary , gets married and look for good family life. He takes interests in matters that concerned everyone of us and often dwells in perplexities of life. But the main glamour belongs to the “brand name” created by the institution. It has the ability to change the lives of many people. So, to create such a revolution, it needs a leadership sensitive enough to understand the business of newspaper.

Freedom is a costly affair and if one cannot convey the message one wants to convey for whatever reasons, management or biasness, fear or personal interest, then the essence of newspaper becomes questionable.

Today, we are plagued by many problems. All the past generations had problems too but we are looking for new knowledge to tackle the problems we are facing now and only the newspaper can do it. Therefore, the newspaper has a double duty. It must comport itself so that it is read, listened or seen by mature people because of its reliability, and by young people because of its forward look. If the media do not have any of these elements, we might as well stop believing that we live in new Bhutan.

ONE COW ECONOMY

Posted by Tshering C Dorji at 6:30 AM

Many years ago, on my way to my village, I happened to meet one of my village cousins playing with his friends. He insisted that I should meet his mother, my paternal aunt, who was at home brewing some ara. As custom demanded, I paid her a visit. Over few cups of ara, I wanted to find out how many cows she owned because cattle in Bhutan are treated at par with other family wealth.
“ Hang ophey ya, wa bu-dang thurr shu cha. Onu bu nuu gurbu thurr phang gana, mala khung thurr rang (just have one cow that gives about one cup milk. Useless cow).“ When I was a little child, I remember that my grandpa had at least milking cow and many calves and bulls. I told my aunt that looking after one cow is not only waste of time, energy and resources but also destroying the life of my cousin. He spent his life running after a cow which gave just one cup of milk. When I suggested her to sell it off, she said that she had to keep the cow for the fertilizer. The cow dungs are good fertilizers she remarked.
Well, fertilizer or no fertilizer, lives of many children are getting wasted chasing after one cow in the villages. Maybe it’s time for co-operative dairy farms, especially those near the town and urban areas so that both the village and town are benefitted. At a rate of one cow business, Bhutan would not only waste the lives of many young children .

BABESA BABESA! TAXI TAXI!

Posted by Tshering C Dorji at 7:46 PM

About two years ago, I had gone to taxi stand near Thimphu bus station to drop a cousin who wanted to go Paro during Tshechu holidays. I was taken with surprise when I reached there. There were many passengers and many taxis but interestingly, the taxi drivers, who had formed a syndicate to make profits during Tshechus holidays were refusing to ferry individual passenger for anything less than Nu. 400 each per passenger. Usual rate was Nu.100. Their charges were beyond the affordability of common people. No one wanted to budge beyond that rate and the passengers, mostly students going home to meet their parents were caught in between the unreasonable demand of the taxi drivers and their wallet contents. I realized then that Bhutanese have now bred a leech called taxi drivers. We have also given birth to cockroaches like public utility vandals who not only broke street lights but also made walking around our own neighbourhood unsafe.

It is refreshing to know however, that new centenary taxi has been started with better facilities, convenience and which above all is reasonably priced. The society has a responsibility to make it work by availing n its services so that the so called “yellow hooded” taxi services could reinvent themselves. So far, they have been successful in fighting away good ideas of forming better association to provide improved services. Their main focus so far has been the taxi fare only. When the fuel price goes up, they want to charge more. On few occasions, the fuel price went down too but I never heard that the taxi fares were reduced.

In next five years or so, it is forecasted that the fuel price would however, reach $250 per barrel which means that the petrol price per liter would be about Nu. 150 in Bhutan. Unless energy efficient cars come within these period, it would be difficult to maintain car. Travelling by taxis, especially for common folk would be beyond reach. Most would be required to travel in bus and other public transport facilities.

Taxi meters have worked across the world. However, Bhutanese Taxi drivers’ argument is that it would not work in Bhutan because it is mountainous country. Bhutan is not the only mountainous country in the world. There are plenty of mountainous country and the meter seems to have worked there perfectly. In fact I have noticed that travelling in meter is cheaper than travelling on arbitrary price. For locals who know the road well, it is lot cheaper to travel by meters than travel by arbitrarily agreed price. The reason why the meter system in Bhutan failed must be because the taxi drivers injected fear that the passengers would be charged higher. In the meantime, taxi drivers leeched around RSTA that the passengers were not willing to travel on meters. The authorities concerned never bothered to implement it. They never bothered to educate the public well of its benefits. Like smoke and plastic ban, it became another mockery of the law.

Taxi drivers would do anything to protect his existing income if it is high. They have proven their capability in discouraging people to use meters. Seat belt concept worked well. People now unconsciously strap the seatbelt while they get into the car. It is just that people will have to make habit. There is no doubt that taxi meter concept would work well too. The authority just need to impose for about a year strictly and it would work.

It may be important for all the service provider to understand that, public do not just buy service alone today but they also buy conveniences. Given the poor state of our “yellow hooded” taxis, we might as well vote for change - change of both the car and service attitude. Therefore, the arrival of centenary taxi is a welcome news. I hope it brings in a new concept of service for the people.

By the ways, many readers may wonder what would happen to the families of the taxi drivers. There is no reason to worry. Drivers never become unemployed. They just need to change their attitudes and taxi. Taxi can be changed but their focus on money alone needs to change more. The market will balance them well.

The grass is green but take a sharper sickle...

Posted by Tshering C Dorji at 10:21 AM

Weeks ago, my friend called from Bhutan asking me to give some money to his wife whom he said was in Bangkok for some business. After meandering through the Bangkok traffic during the afternoon heat, I was able to locate his wife sitting lost on a sofa of the hotel lobby. She looked relieved though when she saw me coming. She had come to Bangkok for Visa business.
After loaning her 200 dollars, I offered to treat her with ice tea from a convenience store nearby. She looked troubled. When asked about the reason, she said that her US visa application was rejected by the US Embassy. She had paid Nu. 400,000 to the broker who offered to arrange for an invitation letter from USA. The broker’s deal was that if his client got visa, the full Nu. 4, 00,000 deposited while applying for visa with the broker got forfeited. The broker had guaranteed 99 percent that her visa would be through. Well, thats what business is all about. She had a deal with her broker that if the visa got rejected, some Nu.150,000 got forfeited out of Nu. 4,00,000 deposit and rest was returned. The airfare, hotel and other miscellaneous expenses fell beyond blind spots.
In order to satiate “beautiful future” dream of his wife, my friend took loan from banks to upfront security with broker. When his wife’s visa got rejected, the couple was dragged into predicament. They had a dream that the dollars earned in US would not only offset the loan but would also ferry them to elite class of “Land cruiser and building owners.” It was a beautiful dream. Visa rejection woke them up to reality. The reality of loan repayment. Dream of money happiness had recoiled.
Days later I wondered if my friend’s wife would have ended happily even if she got visa to go to US. Leaving her own child of three years, she was attempting to babysit someone else's child in US. The money she paid to the broker for processing US visa, she may well have spent in running a profitable business in Bhutan. I have lived in US for a very short while. It’s a great place if you have money to spend but if you are someone looking for pasture, you better have the sickle sharp enough to lay the green grass. If you have none, pray that American Jesus save you. That sickle I am talking about are your skills.
Many years ago, many young Tibetans pursued the same dream of living across the fence. Their parents also took loan from friends and others in a hope that their children would send them back money once they started working in US. The children neither sent the money nor they returned. The parents spent sleepless nights worrying about the loan to repay while the children squatted in a crowded room in "Queens" to make sense of life. Majnu Ki Tilla in Delhi where many Tibetans live and Bhutanese frequent is also known as “ Majung Pai Threla” among Tibetans which roughly means “ a place of unsuccessful people." It is said that all Tibetans who have been unsuccessful in college, getting job, getting visa, bankrupt in business, politically knocked out, and down in life gather at Majnu Ki Tilla…..oh! Majung Pai Threla. I think thats not a nice transit camp to US, at least not for Bhutanese. The only nice thing you get at " Majung Pai Threla" is momo at one of the Tibetan shops.

Subscribe to: Comments (Atom)