Judging other People.

A well written article by a Bhutanese in response to Mr Khaw's speech in the parliament
http://www.passudiary.com/2011/10/to-mr-khaw-boon-wan-what-did-you-expect.html

To Mr. Khaw Boon Wan, What did you expect?

(This is in reply to National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan of Singapore on his comments made on our country )

Dear Mr. Khaw,

I was not surprised when you said Bhutan is not the last Shangri-la on Earth, because I had a friend from your country who found Bhutan only "full of mountains and valleys". When you visited Bhutan, what did you expect? Those flying mountains you saw in Avatar? or Every Bhutanese merrily dancing in designer clothes? Well, you must have at least expected fancier cars and taller buildings but we only have taller mountains (not flying ones) and thicker forest (truly natural).

I am not surprised even when you said "Most of the time, I saw unhappy people, toiling in the field, 

worried about the next harvest and whether there would be buyers for their products." because I heard a 

proverb in school that goes, "Two men looked through the prison window, one saw the mud and other

 saw the horizon". I am only surprised that you have spend "Most of your time" in Bhutan looking in the
 

fields. I am amazed at your ability to figure out whether the people are happy or unhappy just by looking at

them- O' you even knew they were "worried about the next harvest". No wonder you country export

human resources.

I visited your wonderful country sometime ago, and it felt like a city from the future. The transportation 

system held me spell bound, Cleanliness of the street is so much that I didn't find a fragment of dust on my

shoes after walking for the hours, Every building and car looks new, and there is no question about the

civic sense among the people. Four days after I landed in Bhutan I woke up and started sharing the stories 

of your wonderful country- yes it took me four days of sleeping to shake of the hangover of many sleepless nights in your 24X7 country. I read the amazing history of your country and thought to myself, if Bhutan's to develop, Singapore can be our vision.
But since you questioned the presence of happiness in Bhutan, let me answer by telling you few things that you overlooked when you visited my country. Those people you saw in the fields weren't unhappy, if you have gone closer you would have heard them singing and enjoying the social lives, perhaps you won't understand that. If you have spent a little longer time watching them, you would have seen and a woman with basket on her back and holding arms with several children coming with steaming food- we don't have McDonald or KFC. Then everybody will sit down to eat their lunch, laughing and joking, feeding babies, for over an hour- you wouldn't have had so much time to sit and watch I know, times means money in your country. But we have luxury of time. People don't worry "about the next harvest and whether there would be buyers for their products." In fact, we don't do much commercial farming, we do most of them 

to keep with the tradition. And when the sun sets, doesn't really matter what time, people leave for their

homes where they have a large family waiting. Large family because we don't chase away our children when

they become 18 or children cast away their parents when they age.

We don't need Health Insurance to survive, no have to go for Education Loan for educating our children. 

We don't hang the drug users, we counsel them to hang on to their lives, we don't have to have a job to 

survive, and when we fall sick even the furthest cousin comes to attend without having to update Facebook

 status.

If you reread our history you will find that our wise kings have hidden us from the outside world so that we

could remain the way we are today. If we start mining our mountains and lumbering our forests, we can 

become Singapore in a year but no matter what you do you can never become Bhutan. It is far too 

difficult. We shall be the last breath of oxygen on earth.

Bhutan may not be the Last Shangri-la but we are happy.




comments by Khaw on Bhutan here:

SINGAPORE: The measure of happiness has been a topic of debate in Parliament over the last few days, and constant references to Bhutan have been made as well.

National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan joined the debate, saying he visited the small nation a few years ago and the romanticised version of the ancient kingdom did not fit the reality he saw there.

In his speech in Parliament on Wednesday, he said Bhutan is not the "Shangri-la on earth" that some make it out to be.

Mr Khaw said: "Most of the time, I saw unhappy people, toiling in the field, worried about the next harvest and whether there would be buyers for their products. They have studied us because Singapore is also a tiny nation, living next to big neighbours.

"We have successfully transited from third world to first, and managed to create a functioning and harmonious society for our people. In their minds, Singapore could well be the Shangri-la and they want Bhutan to emulate Singapore."

My 2 cents worth:

"Never Judge other people until you walk in their shoes and live in their skin for 10 years, not 10 minutes"

"Please read the responses and replies by the Bhutanese to Passu:

 perfect English!!!!

 because they receive their education in English, 

yes,

their medium of instruction is ENGLISH!!!! 

not Bhutanese!"

BTW, I have a lot of relatives and friends  in Singapore and I have mildly experienced what Passu has felt..hehehe!!!

Thanks, Andrew, for sharing!