Bhutanese refugees resettle in the United States

Many Bhutanese immigrants have settled in American cities like Pittsburgh where housing is affordable and opportunities are open for them. The United States has agreed to resettle 60,000 displaced ethnic Nepalese from Bhutan. The Associated Press reports their situation and the cultural adaptations they experience.

"Unlike other, high-profile refugee groups such as Iraqis and Burmese, the ethnic Nepalese have gone largely unnoticed. Since there are no Bhutanese communities in the United States, most are being resettled near cities like Pittsburgh, where housing is affordable and officials hope diverse populations will reinvigorate urban areas hurt by deindustrialization.

Charitable organizations responsible for resettlement get the families apartments, food, Social Security cards and English classes, and help them find jobs. After three months, the families will have to provide for themselves, usually working minimum wage jobs.

Bhutan is a predominantly Buddhist constitutional monarchy bordered by China and India. In the early 1990s, the monarchy instituted sweeping legislation that effectively stripped the ethnic Nepalese, a Hindu minority also known as the Lhotsampas, of their citizenship, their right to own property and their ability to get government jobs.

Since then, an estimated 100,000 ethnic Nepalis have fled to refugee camps."

Links to other posts on Bhutan:

Bhutan crowns fifth king

Interesting facts about Bhutan

Talk with Bhutan's prime minister, Thinley

Talk with Bhutan's prime minister, Thinley

The Wall Street Journal features a talk with Jigmi Y. Thinley, Bhutan's first democratically elected prime minister. Bhutan is located in between China and India and as one of the world's newest democracies, taken much effort to balance the process of modernization with maintaining their unique culture based on Buddhist values. Interestingly, Bhutan is the only country to measure Gross National Happiness (GNH), rather than the more common Gross National Product.

Created by Bhutan's former King Jigme Singye Wangchuck in 1972, GNH is based on four pillars:

1. The promotion of equitable and sustainable socio-economic development
2. Preservation and promotion of cultural values

3. Conservation of the natural environment

4. establishment of good governance.

According to Mr. Thinley, he "will continue to implement the government policy of GNH. Happiness is not hedonistic, 'it is not the kind of fleeting pleasures that we seek.' It has to do with 'being able to balance material needs of the body and the spiritual needs of the mind.'"

During the talk with Mr. Thinley, he also elaborates on his thoughts about democracies.

"Democracy, according to Mr. Thinley, boils down to 'the empowerment of the people, the freedom of the voter. . . . giving the capacity to the individual citizen to determine his or her own destiny,' he says. 'Now if these are what democracy provides, then I would say that regardless of what culture you belong to, democracy is essential.'"

Here are two previous posts about Bhutan:
--Interesting facts about Bhutan
--Bhutan crowns fifth king

Interesting Facts about Bhutan

Bhutan recently crowned Oxford-educted King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck as its fifth king. Here are some interesting facts about the country of Bhutan:

- Wedged between China and India, the tiny, isolated and land-locked nation of 47,000 sq km with a population of 600,000, controls several key Himalayan mountain passes. It takes its name - Druk Yul, the Land of the Thunder Dragon - from violent storms in the Himalayas.

- The conservative Buddhist kingdom has been ruled by a hereditary monarchy since Ugyen Wangchuck became its first king in 1907.

- Democratic reforms in July 1998 gave the National Assembly powers to remove the monarch with a two-thirds vote.

- More than 100,000 Bhutanese Lhotshampas (Hindus) have been confined in UN refugee camps in neighbouring Nepal since 1990, when they fled or were expelled after violent clashes fuelled by tensions with the Buddhist majority.

- Bhutan is one of the world's smallest and least developed economies. 63% of its labour force works in agriculture. Its per capita GDP (PPP) is US$5,200 (2007 estimate). Average life expectancy is 65.53 years and the literacy rate is 47%.

- In 1971, as Bhutan was admitted to the United Nations, the then King articulated the idea of Gross National Happiness, stressing happiness, self-reliance and prosperity as a more important development measure than Gross National Product.

- In December 2006, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck abdicated the throne to his son, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, to give him experience as head of state before the democratic transition.

Bhutan crowns fifth king

On Thursday, the country of Bhutan has crowned its fifth king after waiting two years for court astrologers to determine the perfect time for the next royalty. At precisely 8:31 A.M., the Raven Crown was placed on 28-year old Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck and he was given the title of Druk Gyalpo, or Dragon King.

"The ceremony, symbolizing the strength of the monarchy, was seen as a deeply reassuring moment for the last independent Himalayan Buddhist kingdom — once one of the most cutoff, tightly controlled places on earth, but now slowly opening up to the uncertainties of modernity and vagaries of democracy."

"Most Bhutanese believe it is the kings who have allowed the small nation of some 700,000 people to survive with their culture and sovereignty intact while sandwiched between 1.1 billion Indians to the south and 1.3 billion Chinese to the north.

These two Asian giants have already swallowed the other Buddhist kingdoms, like Sikkim or Tibet, that once thrived across the Himalayan range.

'We have enjoyed progress, sustained peace, security and growth. These are all attributed to the great kings, benevolent kings, selfless kings that Bhutan has had,' Bhutan's Prime Minister Jigme Thinley, who was elected in the country's first democratic elections in March, told reporters Wednesday.

With so much faith being placed on guidance from the monarchy, the last two years have been somewhat bewildering for Bhutan as King Jigme Singye Wangchuck announced he was giving up much of his power to transform the nation into a democracy.

Under his reforms the king remains the head of state and will continue to have extensive powers, but Parliament can impeach him by a two-thirds majority.

At the same time he abdicated in favor of his Oxford-educated eldest son Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck — a handsome bachelor with an Elvis Presley-like hairstyle and sideburns."