Social media, smoking and Bhutan

"At present, we are stealing the future, selling it in the present, and calling it GDP." - Paul Hawken.


Soon after the demise of his father, the term "gross national happiness" (GNH) was coined in 1972 by then Bhutan's King Jigme Singye Wangchuck. He used the phrase to signal his commitment to building an economy that would serve Bhutan's unique culture based on Buddhist spiritual values. At first offered as a casual, offhand remark, the concept was taken seriously.


"GNH" was designed in an attempt to define an indicator that measures quality of life or social progress in more holistic and psychological terms than only the economic indicator of gross domestic product (GDP). However, Critics state that because GNH depends on a series of subjective judgments about well-being, governments may be able to define GNH in a way that suits their interests. 


And that is exactly what seems to have happened to Bhutan in recent times. Did you know that in Bhutan it is illegal to store tobacco at home and sniffer dogs are routinely brought in, where suspicion exists, to check whether you do in fact have tobacco at home?


Recenty a Buddhist monk was jailed for possessing $3 worth of tobacco at home. Holding a carton of 200 cigarettes is a jailable offence in Bhutan.


Earlier this year, an upset Kinley Tshering, then a media consultant in Bhutan's capital, Thimphu, discussed with friends over drinks the jailing of a Buddhist monk. He decided to form a Facebook page, a digital protest unheard of in this Himalayan kingdom.  Soon the page had thousands of followers. 


"Facebook was important. It opened the floodgates for open criticism of the government," said opposition leader Tshering Tobgay. "People feel the need to be more vocal. Only two years ago, criticism - constructive or not - was quite anonymous." 


"There are a lot of speeches about GNH. It sounds like we are doing a lot," said Tashi Choden, a senior researcher at the Centre for Bhutan Studies in Thimphu. "But there is a different reality on the ground. The youth are increasingly alienated. We could lose what we have if we are not careful." 


“The following election (in 2013) is going to be fascinating,” stated Francoise Pommaret, a French anthropologist and historian that has resided in Bhutan for 3 decades. “I’ve no clue what’s going to happen, but you will find profound social changes. Our leaders will need to listen to a different generation.”


And right there, in the forefront, is social media pushing change in this remote Himalayan kingdom.