Bhutanese set for first polls.

THIMPHU: The command came from the king, as commands normally do in a nation where royalty has ruled for a century. But when the Precious Ruler of the Dragon People spoke that day, he stunned this deeply isolated corner of the Himalayas: The age of monarchs is ending, he said, and power should be yours.

That was a little over two years ago. Now, on the eve of national elections slated for Monday that will upend a system rooted in feudal monarchism, much of the country remains unconvinced there should even be a vote.

Just ask the candidates.

"If you had a referendum, even today, Bhutan would reject democracy. That's the ground reality," said Khandu Wangchuk, the burly, gravel-voiced former foreign minister who is running for a seat in the western town of Paro.

"But there's no use wishing democracy away." What most people want is what they've always had: a powerful king.

Five generations of royal rule have molded Bhutan into an island of Himalayan idiosyncrasy, a tiny country sandwiched between India and China, carefully balanced along the edge of mediaeval traditions and modern realities.

It's a place awash in its own contradictions.

This is a country where nightclubs in Thimphu, the capital, throb with techno music, but where smoking is illegal and television didn't arrive until 1999. It's a place where nearly every child attends primary school, but any 50-year-old remembers when there were just a handful of schools and no roads to get to them. It's a country with $1,000-a-night (BD378) hotel rooms where tourism is heavily restricted. There were fewer than 20,000 visitors last year - as many as Disney World gets in a few hours.

Then there is Gross National Happiness, the overarching political philosophy which seeks to balance material progress with spiritual well-being.

That philosophy, quoted like Maoist dogma by aspiring Bhutanese politicians, came from King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, 52, the gentle-spoken, much-loved monarch who gradually opened Bhutan to the outside world. In 2006, he handed the throne to his son, King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck, now 28.

Together, they have orchestrated their own disempowerment, engineering a peaceful transition to democratic rule. The monarchy remains, but will become constitutional, like Britain's or Thailand's.

Copyright [c] 2008 Gulf Daily News

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