We continued to explore the theme of future and governance. Dendup Chophel accompanied us to the Center for Bhutan and GNH Studies, which is an autonomous government research institute for social science and public policy, conducting inter-disciplinary studies on Bhutan’s economy, polity, history, religion, society, culture, and related themes.
One of the major areas of focus since mid-2000s was on deepening the understanding of Gross National Happiness concept to influence public policy and development discourse. Two researchers from CBS offered us an in-depth presentation of the GNH Index, GNH Policy Screening Tools, and GNH of Business Assessment Tools which were developed at the center.
We were also happy to receive some of the books published by CBS, offering thorough introductions into the subject and we were much impressed by the extensive work on the ground put into the GNH Index, such as the extensive in-person interviews with the 11 000 respondents across the whole territory of Bhutan. The GNH 2022 report can be found here (bhutanstudies.org).
After the presentation by CBS researchers and consequent discussion, we had the pleasure to listen to meet with Dasho Kinley Dorji, former editor of Kuensel and former information secretary and Sherub Dorji, Communications Officer of Gelephu Mindfulness City (GMC). Sherub was kind to hold an in-depth presentation of the vision behind GMC and answer all our questions.
But this eventful day was far from over, following a light lunch, we drove up the mountains, on our way to the Audience with HRH Princess Sonam Dechan Wangchuck, who is also the President of JSW Law School. On the way to Her Royal Highness, we stopped at a beautiful viewing point, calming our nerves prior to this important meeting.
Her Royal Highness Princess Sonam Dechan Wangchuck, daughter of the Fourth King, received us in her beautiful, tasteful and modest private residence. We were extremely honoured to engage in over an hour-long conversation with Her Royal Highness on Bhutanese-Norwegian relations, research collaboration between JSW and OsloMet, as well as legal developments, GNH or the criminal justice system reform in which Her Royal Highness is deeply involved, emphasizing modernization and rehabilitation, drawing some inspiration from the Norwegian prison of Halden and promoting alternative dispute resolution and mediation.
Her Royal Highness also shared stories from her studies at Stanford and Harvard Law School (here (jswlaw.bt) you can learn more about HRH Princess Sonam Dechan Wangchuck).
We also reflected on the normative power of small states, sovereignty and our shared interests amid rising global tensions. We were touched by HRH’s enlightened and ethereal being and the spirit of deep care for both the Bhutanese people and the world. We were delighted to receive a signed copy of The Raven Tells a Story, a children’s book written by HRH Princess Sonam Dechan Wangchuck of Bhutan, published in 2011 to teach young readers about the Bhutanese Constitution, democracy, and national values.
Following our audience, we took an early evening trip to the massive 51,5-meters tall Buddha Doredenma statue of bronze and coated in gold, overlooking Thimphu and housing 125 000 smaller Buddha statues and a meditation hall. The total cost ran up to US$100 million, and the statue was built by Aerosun Corporation of Nanjing, China, and sponsored by Rinchen Peter Teo a Singaporean businessman and Danny Wong, a Hong Kong based Malaysian businessman, and it was inaugurated in 2015.
In the evening we enjoyed a traditional Bhutanese dinner, seated on the floor, tasting the famous butter tea (suja) with puffed rice (zhou), ema datshi, a spicy stew made from hot chili peppers and cheese, and a range of other dishes, such a spinach, asparagus and fried pork.
