Modernizing Kurdistan; A
Bhutanese Approach
7.11.2011
By Helene Sairany
November
7, 2011
Imagine a country where happiness is the guiding principal of
government. Imagine a people who see all life as sacred and the
source of their happiness, a place with an abundance of clean and
renewable energy, a nation committed to preserving its culture.
Imagine a Kingdom where the King lives in a simple wooden cottage
and judges his progress by the country’s “Gross National
Happiness.”
The idea for today’s blog came after a Friday get together with a
group of friends who keen so much love for Kurdistan. We had a
wonderful lunch and then we decided to watch a documentary on the
little Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. As I was watching the
documentary and learning about their philosophy of happiness, ideas
started flourishing; we could possibly consider parts of the
Bhutanese approach in modernizing Kurdistan to meet our people’s
needs.
In the United States and in many other industrialized countries,
happiness is often equated with money. Around the world, a growing
number of economists, social scientists, corporate leaders and
bureaucrats are trying to develop measurements that take into
account not just the flow of money but also access to health care,
free time with family, conservation of natural resources and other
non-economic factors.
But to the Bhutanese, happiness lies in the middle path. Neither
overindulging in the world’s pleasures nor rejecting the world’s
goodness can lead to enlightenment. Happiness can only be found by
taking the middle path – the path that balances the needs of
mankind with the powerful spirits of nature.
Economists in the industrialized societies rely heavily on gross
domestic product, or G.D.P as a predictor of the well-being of a
nation. But the small Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has been trying
out a different idea. In 1972, concerned about
the problems afflicting other developing
countries that focused only on economic growth,
Bhutan's newly crowned leader, King Jigme Singye
Wangchuck, decided to
make
The beauty of nature in Bhutan is impossible to miss. Its therefore
of no surprise that Bhutan is one of the countries that I am
targeting to explore next.
Helene
Sairany his nation's priority not
its G.D.P. but its G.N.H., or gross national
happiness.
Their four pillars of GNH focuses on having a good governance
responsive to the people’s needs, a balanced economic development,
preserving the environment and promoting the Bhutanian
culture.
Most Bhutanese regard nature as a living, breathing entity and hold
it precious and sacred. Damaging nature, therefore, has its
consequences. Because of their belief system, they have a very high
regard and respect for the land and their environment. With loans
from the government of India, Bhutan has built several mammoth
underground hydroelectric plant. The Bhutanese pay less for
electricity than any other nation in the world and produce so much
power that most of this energy is exported to India financing the
bulk of the government’s budget and providing free health care and
education to every Bhutanese. All this achieved with run of the
river hydro plants, sustainable energy without massive dams and
displacement of people. The country now demands that at least 60
percent of its lands remain forested. “We have to look after the
environment, environment should be conserved. We feel that the
natural environment is an integral part of life in Bhutan”, said
Bhutan's home minister. "Material well-being is only one component.
That doesn't ensure that you're at peace with your environment and
in harmony with each other", he continues.
Bhutan is also known internationally for one thing: high visa fees,
which reduce the influx of tourists. The high visa cost goes hand
in hand with the GNH philosophy: more tourists might boost the
economy, but they would damage Bhutan's environment and culture,
and so reduce happiness in the long run.
To enhance happiness is to look after their culture. Bhutan is
located between two humongous nation rich in culture; India and
china. To survive, the Bhutanian felt a must in having a
distinctive identity. To feel and smell identity, you look at the
art, the cloths, the way the architecture is set up, the language
and the music. When you look around, you automatically get the
sense of the distinctive Bhutanese culture. Looking at the new
architecture set ups in Kurdistan makes one wonder if the set up is
in harmony with the Kurdish culture. Where do all the ideas for the
construction that is currently taking place in Kurdistan come from?
All from the west. How about our art skills, our video clips and
music programs. We take them all, as they are, from the West. This
is how I feel we live; we live off of other people’s thought
process. Other’s invite and we simply consume
It only bothers me to see American and English names on shops and
restaurants as I walk or drive in Hawler. Where is the pride in the
Kurdish language? Modernization does not translate into
westernization. Westernization both creates and destroys values.
The values destroyed are typically traditional and indigenous while
the new values are more materialistic that fuels consumerism and
civilization.
Now here is the question, can we modernize Kurdistan while
preserving the Kurdish culture and its beautiful nature? Can we
make happiness and the well being of our citizens the number one
priority in implementing any system toward a good
governance?
Helene Sairany, a freelance American-Kurd writer, a doctoral
graduate from Northeastern Uni in Boston, MA. A Member of Duhok
Faculty of Medicine. You may visit Helene Sairany's blog at
http://helinamin.blogspot.com/