Wednesday, July 26, 2006

National Assembly and Bhutanese Society

Today, Bhutanese society has undergone major changes. Clearly, two levels of middle class have emerged - the upper middle class who own a lot of property and wealth such as lands, buildings and businesses in Bhutan and the lower middle class which is composed of educated, financially independent, office-going people.
It is unfortunate that the members of the National Assembly are mostly half-literate unexposed villagers while the so-called lower-middle-class of educated, well-traveled, well-read, office-going people who constitute most of the urban-dwellers is ill-represented in the NA.
I do not mean to belittle all respected memebrs. There are very capable ones too. But many are too timid or too ignorant to even raise a single issue in the whole session.
Rather than laugh at their half-baked rhetoric and lament at their sometimes stupid decisions, some of the educated people from this maruti-driving class should become members of the NA to actively take part in the discussions affecting all Bhutanese.
Come 2008, this much-needed change might come. The educated class probably cannot bear to be taken for a ride any more. Their hands will itch for a touch on the steering wheel. Otherwise, we may see ourselves laughing at the same jokes they occasionally serve us today

2 comments:

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