People have reasoned blocking of the Bhutan Times website accusing that the website was going too personal, but if you think properly, that’s the main reason why our system is full of corruption because we do not go personal. Whenever we see someone engaging in a corruption practice, we try to turn a blind eye and say nothing because if we do, we surely will have to go personal by poking our nose into other people’s business. That’s the attitude of our people and if we do not change this attitude soon, Bhutanese people will not be happy to say we have a democracy in our country. I believe that in this age of information technology, anyone who is sitting behind a computer is an educated person who knows what is bull shit and what is cow dung, although I must admit some may have to brainstorm a bit to find out the difference..haha..but ultimately, he/she will know it herself. There is a saying, if you show just one side of the coin to a kid, he can think that the coin a flat circle; but if you show him the other side as well, then he will know that the coin is actually a small cylinder with a depth too. But sadly, most of what is shown to us in Bhutan is just that one side of the coin.If you want to know the other side and the depth of the coin, you need connections. A very good (and true) example is how much you will be surprised to find that the guy who did not even qualify for vocational incountry training institutes in your ISC exam is doing MBBS in Germany funded by RGOB and Youth Development fund for Bhutan. I am talking about our Health Secretary’s daughter who got very poor marks in class 12 in YHS. She was my school mate of the same batch. We did our ISC exams together. Both of us did not qualify for any professional scholarships. But I had better marks than her enough to join NRTI but she didn’t even qualify for NRTI. Time has passed by and I got a small job in one tourism company since my parents didn’t have any money to send me to private colleges. Now after one year, I got a chance to go to Germany with a German friend of mine only to get the shock of my life. I found her doing MBBS in Germany at a prestigious medical school. And I had even more shocks when I learnt that she is funded by RGOB and the Youth Development Fund of Bhutan. Now if I don’t talk about this, people will never know about such things, and if I talk about it, I must go personal or else I have no base to make my point. As a matter of fact, did we ever know any such scholarships available at the RCSC selection interviews?. Don’t you feel like you have been shown only the face of the coin, not the depth and the back of it?. Toppers from my batch and my folowing junior batches were sent to do MBBS in Sri Lanka, Thailand, India and Bangladesh only. They never knew the availability of such a scholarship. Why was the scholarship not in the list of scholarship slots in the RCSC? Already booked?.How can someone who is not even qualified for vocational trainings be qualified for MBBS? How can our government support such kind of practices?.Isn’t it morally wrong to send the toppers to the third world countries and someone like that to the developed countries?. Who is behind this? Isn’t that corruption? Isn’t that misuse of power and office? Isn’t that same as embezzling government money for private purposes? If a project manager “jabs” a few lakhs into his own pocket is corruption and faces legal penalties, I think this case also carry same magnitude because it is like “jabbing” government money or the money contributed by donor agencies for our country into the Secretary’s personal pocket and sending his daugter for the scholarship, which was actually meant for an excellent deserving student. Didn’t he breach the trust that the donor agency had in our country by sending someone who did not deserve for the scholarship?.

So, as you see, if we have to fight corruption, we must speak. We must live our lives corruption free and we must not allow others to be corrupted too even if we will have to pay a heavy price for that. We have highly qualified and very capable Secretaries in our government who do not even have a good house to live and a good car to drive. We have many very competent Secretaries and Directors who work so much behind the scenes and never appear in the lime light. We have Dzongdags who can not send their children to private colleges and are not breaking the laws. We have officers with Cambridge and Oxford degrees who never got any promotions. We have so many down the list. These silent and mostly supressed people are actually the unsung heroes of our country. Only those officials who lick arsses and bosses who are like Bush Jr. are omnipresent.

I hope with the advent of a new form of government in our country after the 2008 election, things will change but the basic thing remains the same which is Bhutanese people must not only be the eyes and ears of our beloved country, but hutanese people must also be the mouth of our beloved country too. If we don’t say anything when we see/hear/experience corruption practices in our own country, there is no point a CNN anchor talks about it on TV in a foreign land.

i have propsal to make. bhutantimes was good but it became crazy because people began to fight each other and very fast topic was lost in the fight. i propose that we should take such letter as above seriously and before it becomes fight between two or three people we should try to verify, this should be moderator or someone who knows can also write. then i think we should pass this on to anticorruption commission with first letter and supporting letters with proofs. this way the forums can have good purpose and if what someone write is useless or wrong then no proof will come. laloo

wow!!....that’s very interesting....and that’s very odd too. There was some gossip like that some times ago.

Anyway, that’s how our Health Ministry is. It’s like a mirage you see driving on a straight road on a hot sunny day after the rains--so beautiful yet that’s not real!. No surprise 6 senior doctors have resigned, a few will follow soon, and many more are earnestly waiting down the line. I am a doctor myself and I know how much it is to be a doctor in Bhutan.

As soon as you come back to Bhutan after your medical schools, RCSC will “strictly” implement the new civil service rules and you will be sent to a rural place to work. After a few years, the Ministry of Health will not even know you exist. Your friends who have some “ big” backgrounds and have connections will soon go for specializations. RCSC rules does not apply to these people but it does apply “strictly” to only those of us who are from the humble backgrounds. I know a young doctor who got a full scholarship to do specialization from abroad. Our government does not have to spend a single ‘chhetrum’ for his specialization but our Ministry of Health got his scholarship cancelled telling him that the rules of the RCSC must be implemented “strictly” and that he must come back to Bhutan and go to serve in a rural area for at least three years. But a daughter of a RBA Brigadier who did her MBBS from Sri Lanka went for her specialization to AFMC, Delhi as soon as she came back from Sri Lanka. Why is there two rules in one country? If the saying , “ The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated” is true, then how great is our nation where even people are not treated equally? YA LA MA KHEN NO!!!

A few years ago, a guy who did not qualify for scholarship in class 12 was sent to Cuba for MBBS. Now we have our own Secretary Gado’s daughter doing the same in Germany. And I think this kind of things happen in all other ministries too. A guy in Bhutan Telecom with a “big head” behind was sent to do master’s in USA sponsored by our RGOB whereas another guy who got scholarship offer from abroad was not allowed to go because he is from a humble family like you and I. That’s how it is. That’s Bhutan, the land of GNH.

please refer my proposal. to make this site a good effective website, i think moderator should list the accusations which seem very true and then make list and submit to anti corruption. but this gives responsibility to people who make accusation to be specific and give some proofs like the person who wrote in this article.

oi head of website, please reply to this laloo chap and his continous request o make complaint to anti corruption

wai apwangdrugay and laloo, idea to make this website useful is good. However, better than make Bhutan Daily focal point for reporting to ACC, it will be better to report directly to ACC. Here is their website http://www.anti-corruption.org.bt/ where all peoples with genuine grievances can make direct reports. I think Bhutan Daily can be good forum to discuss issues though as laloo said it will be important to keep discussions from going out of control. We will do our best to keep order and hopefully website can be useful.

Dear readers,
This is exactly the type of dicussion i was waiting to come on such foram. this is the dangerous plague that has been going on in our civil society for so long. Nepotism is so rampant across many who has the higher authority. Dear reader i am more concerned on this issues and always tell my fellow friends what will happen in 10 to 15 years time from now. this is what i can forsee in the future: with the pcs in place, quilification is the main criteria for advancement in the civil service career, including politician. so how much of our society gets that opportunity in the fisrt place to achieve such qulification. You see this policy is geared to create more gap betwen HAVE-NOTS AND HAVES within the span of few years. i will not be surprise to see a division of two society one with whole family including relatives so well educated with better post both in civil service as well as in political arena and the other with class 10 to 12 passout’s families who are mean to do the lowest paid job. the so called educated farmer without having few plot of land to be a educated farmer.  i will just give a simple example- a child of a well to do family has the probability to complete his/her formal education by anymeans. (either privatly or through unfair mean of scholarship which is common) but on the other hand the poor student who comes from poor background by virtue of ill luck has every posibility of landing up not completing his/her education because their parents can’t effort to bear the little expanses needed for them to complete their studies. therefore, this section of the population will be left to do the job which will hardly feed them, so i can’t imagine how can they support to bring their childern to another level of education in the comming generation.
can any one ask and see if anyone of the Ministers and high official sons and daughters take up the so called blue collar job. instead many of them are seen studying abroad with government funding without competiton. this is said, for those section of the population who’s opportunities were deprived by some undeserved one’s. if the allegation on this foram proves to be true and it looks like true then why can’t ACC act on this. i personally feel ACC should divert their attention to such corruption then hunting down some simple civil serven who has missused just Nu 500 for his DSA. The tend of corruption in the HUMAN RESOURCE to me is much more GANDEROUS PLGUE than any other form of corruption. we need to seriously do some thing on this matter.
one recommendation what i would like to make is to narrow down the range of the civil service payment. From a simple research it proves that our range of payment is almost 3o times. in the world Brizil is belive to be the highest in the gap of payment, but it is only 10 times compared to ours.
i will write more next time as i have no time now.

LAMA KHEN NO! I can’t beleive that person of such high profile can be so corrupt. He has everything - houses, land, money and what not. How can he drown himself so deep. What happen to our leaders?

This is not new to Bhutan...If you look at the ministers and high ranking people, all their kids are aboard, getting better education...whereas people like us are ending up in India or in Sri Lanka. One of this days, these corrupted people will pay for their corruption behavior. We are heading towards democratic and we will be the one, whom to choose our own leader. So, hanging on their people...Where is our HM’s dream of GNH? Maybe it is meant for higher ranking people only, but it certainly doesn’t’ applied to people like us. Cheer Up...Young fellows!
Future_Politician

There are many students studying in Canada under Govt. of Canada’s assistance to Bhutan. Some of them do not qualify for scholarship on merit basis, it is purely pull and push. ACC need to investigate foreigh scholarships to put a stop to a corrupt practise of making scholarships available only to the big shots’ children rather than deserving candidates. I would say scholarship scandal is the biggest scandal of all time. it is sad that a deserving person with nobody to pull lags behind. It is frustrating, I guess this is life.

Yes....there are lotsa scandals...lots… scholarships...postings.......everywhere........and who are the sufferers?...who are the victims?… we the humble people of Bhutan.....if we ask them why they do like that, they will give you briefings about the rules....if we reprimand about their unfair actions, they will label us as “ngolops’......I will give you one example.....this is also true......a simillar one parallel to what Ap Wangdrugay and others have expressed above....once there was a recruitment of graduates for the anti-corruption commission......and the posting, hard to believe, but was supposed to be based on “ the performances in the selection interview and first apply first chance principle”......well....the interview was held....graduates were scrutinized....and finally the selected candidates with their initial postings were announced....a good simple guy got posted in Thimphu...and another got posted to the south.....but the one who got posted to the south did not want to go there........and so........ to everyone’s dismay....and utter surprise.....a reshuffling of the candidates was done.......and you know how was the result after the reshuffling?..........none of the other guys who were posted to other dzongkhags were affected....they got the same place as they did before......there was only one change......the guy who did not want to go to the south got posted to Thimphu and the guy who first got to be in Thimphu went to the south.......we don’t believe but this kind of things happen....you know how this kind of miracle happens in our country???.......because the one who did not want to go to the south was Dasho Bap Kexang’s son.....and do you know who he is?...of course you do!!!.......hahahaha.

OM MANI PADMA HUNG!

Oh my country, is this what we have now become...a nation filled with people spitting hatred, despising others for what one was not able to achieve...and all pretending to be supporting the health of the nation by raising concerns of corruption under the blanket of annonymity?

If Wangdrujey and Doctor are so concerned about the issue, and if you really believe that the Health Secretary’s daughter is in Germany after manipulating the system, than why don’t you make a formal submission to the relevant authorities?

I made my own enquiries and I believe it is not as horrendous as you all make it out to be. She is in Germany...correct period! but I am told it was more an adhoc offer and not an established scholarship...I am also told by a teacher in her old school that she was a good student all along...but did not fair too well in the exams. And for the Health Secretary...I guess that is what the burden of being a father is all about....Did this damage anybody’s opportunity or future...???? I really doubt in the true sense…

Anyway, what would you do if such an opportunity is presented to you and you have your ward waiting in your hands? Look the other way???? He is only humane I guess…

By the way I am not the Health Secretary...just someone who is pained by the amount of hate brewing in my land of happiness…

Be honest with your views and courageous enough to table the issue at the right form or authority if so concerned.

LUNGM TONM NA KAYCAHP, KEOM TSHA WAI ZHICHI RA EIN MENA TOSA GI!

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If what Lengo says is true, it is sad that the corruption is taking place in ACC ,the very organisation which is supposed to curb corruption. Corruption is rooted in our system.

as part time and junior moderator i am called to gather the ruins after the battle and assign the points/prizes to both sides of the issue.

Ap Wangdrugay (not this moderator but someone else) brought up what he wrote as a personal issue involving himself (herself) and the daughter of the secretary. in complaining about this unfair selection he also mentioned hardworking and quiet government secretaries and others who have cambridge and oxford degrees. on the unfair selection, yes we hear this type of thing and if personally aggrieved it is right to show frustration here. on the oxford cambridge graduated senior civil servants i am not so sure we have many

someone saying he/she is from health mentioned the problem in postings ti remote places in the ministry

kuchosum expressed rising gap between rich and poor due to pcs. this one is new. i thought fronting, corruption, lack of government planning etc was responsible but it is pcs. on the gap being only 10 times less than brazil, my only reference point is my friend who has worked 21 years and is earning 19,000 in grade 5. the minimum wage is 3,100. this does not look like big gap. i will agree if you say 2 or 3 businessmen have 1,000s of crores and poor have minimum wage. this is big difference. but then this means bhutan has 3 rich people and 599,997 poor people.

someone mentioned bap kesang son and for the sheer gossip value i have to find him because we know only of one daughter so thank you for that news
‘kashitsawa prayed and prayed because he was shocked by the hatred on the web and other writers ecxpressed dismay and sadness at the corruption of health

here’s the summary

health secretary seems to have done something, something human but something wrong nonetheless according to law. however you mentioned ricb case of nu. 500 etc but that is also wrong as per the law. you see it is not the crime but getting caught wich is the main thing
will anything come from this internet fight? nothing and why? because 99% of readers are not affected by the health secretary action. the few strong responses are people directly affected or who know the accused or affected. nobody worries about what doesnt affect them and so only the gossip value is nice (you read and take home to gambling table to talk), but we will do nothing. if you take the matter up directly with ACC or govt or king will it make difference? you will hvae problem with making enemies but yes there is chance something may happen, but not guaranteed.
question to ask self. tomorrow health secretary does big favour for your and really helps you when in need, will you refuse his help because of this issue?

( PART I)

The main important reason why we are having so much nepotism in our country is because many of our citizens, like Lungta and Kashitsawa, do not understand the concept of a free society governed by the rule of moral and ethical law. These few rotten apples spoil the whole lot.

Kashitsawa has personally enquired and confirmed my words. The daughter of the Secretary “IS IN” Germany doing MBBS, as he says on an ad hoc offer and not on an established scholarship. Well, whether it is ad hoc or an establised scholarship, the main point is, how could she go in the first place?. She did not qualify for MBBS at all. Secondly, even if it was ad hoc, then why send her?. Don’t we have guys who have worked so hard and have done so well in the ISC exams better than her?. Why didn’t they at least offer the scholarship to the toppers first even if it was kind of ad hoc scholarship?. Why was she chosen for the scholarship? Just because she was the daughter of the secretary? Is that how our government functions?. You also said that you are told by a teacher in her old school that she was a good student all along but did not fair too well in the exams. You know what, we have a guy who topped in all-Bhutan common exams in class VI, Class VIII, class X but did not fair well in class XII due to some problems at home.....he didn’t get any special consideration like that? Why was there not an adhoc scholarship for him? Don’t you think he deserved a special consideration more than this girl? Thirdly you are talking about father-daughter obligations and the Secretary being just another human. You are right. He is a father. He is a human being. But do you realize that you talk like the other guys are orphans without any father, mother, sisters and brothers?. Do your realize that other people are also human too. Do you know that fathers and mothers of other students are also hoping the best for their own children?. Do you know how much these people will be hurt to know that their sons/daughters did not get what they deserve just because they are from a humble background?. Have you ever put yourself in the shoes of a parent whose son did very well in ISC exams and was sent to India only to know later that someone who got much lower marks than their son was sent to a developed country on such a fabulous scholarship, and can do nothing about it? Have you ever thought about these implications?

On another point of view, as someone said, there are many Bhutanese students studying in Canada and Australia. I don’t have anything to say about the qualified students who legally went there as scholars after doing very well in class 12. They deserve that. But my sources in Australia and Canada tell me that the private candidates out number the qualified ones in both the places. The first question is WHY?. How is it possible? And an interesting point to take note is that all these private students are not of our category. They are sons and daughters and relatives of Hi-Sos in Bhutan and people who live in the Beverly Hills of Bhutan . I can present here the list of students....their names, institutes, field of training, their scholarship undertakings, their stipends and all....in both these two countries but I respect their privacy and so please allow me to keep that information confidential.

.....to be continued.....