Tim Fischer's Bhutanese blind spot

19 January 2009

Former Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer is a great Australian who injects positive energy into almost everything he touches. This month he takes up his appointment as Australia's Ambassador to the Holy See. As a result, he's had to step down from many of his positions, including co-chair of the Australia Bhutan Friendship Association. Through his personal relationship with King Jigme Singye Wangchuk, he has nurtured the feudal Himalayan kingdom in its necessary adjustment to the demands of the modern world. In other circumstances, such a tiny undeveloped country might have become a failed state, or been swamped by a powerful neighbour and gone the way of Tibet. Wangchuk ended the absolute monarchy in 1998, in favour of what Fischer calls 'an enlightened, democratic constitutional monarchy'. He has avoided the violence that finished the monarchy in neighbouring Nepal, and threatens to do so in other small nations such as Tonga. Last year he abdicated in favour of his son, as part of a timely transfer of power to the next generation. Championing the cause of Bhutan's political sustainability, Fischer has also worked to help it to maintain its cultural integrity. His efforts have been bolstered by the interest of westerners fascinated by aspects of Bhutanese culture. An example is the 2003 Australian co-produced feature film Travellers and Musicians. Foreigners are particularly taken by Wangcuck's concept of 'gross national happiness', which identifies a wellbeing that transcends materialism. However there is a dark and little known aspect to Bhutan's attempts to preserve its culture, which could be more precisely termed 'purification'. In fact Human Rights Watch last year called it 'Bhutan's ethnic cleansing'. From the late 80's Bhutanese authorities began intimidating and physically abusing ethnic Nepalis who lived in Bhutan. The king introduced laws that stripped the ethnic Nepalis of their citizenship and provided for confiscation of their land and expulsion. Today about 108,000 of these stateless Bhutanese live in seven refugee camps inside Nepal. Many have been there for nearly two decades. 'The army took all the people from their houses,' a young refugee told Human Rights Watch. 'As we left Bhutan, we were forced to sign the document. They snapped our photos. The man told me to smile, to show my teeth. He wanted to show that I was leaving my country willingly, happily, that I was not forced to leave.' Unfortunately Tim Fischer's close links with Wangchuk appear to have blinded him to such

AUSTRALIA

Tim Fischer's Bhutanese blind spot

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