My country should have no street protests: Bhutan PM (Interview) | Toronto Telegraph

My country should have no street protests: Bhutan PM (Interview)

Toronto Telegraph (IANS) Monday 18th April, 2011

Bhutan's first democratic Prime Minister Jigmi Y. Thinley, who has completed three years in office, said the primary focus of his government was to evolve a culture where the people would never have to protest in the streets.

'I would like to see a country where there are no demonstrations. Not because the authorities are able to control law and order but because there is no desire for it and there is no need for it,' Thinley told IANS in an exclusive interview.

Public views and opinions could be addressed and responded to in a peaceful and fully democratic way, said Thinley, seated on a sofa in a knee-length wraparound known as the 'gho', the national dress for Bhutanese men.

'It's a small country, we can do this.'

With roughly 700,000 people, Bhutan is the second least populated country in South Asia, after the Maldives. One of the most isolated countries in the world until recent years, this Himalayan nation allowed tourists in 1971, and the television and the internet in 1999.

Thinley said when King Jigme Singye Wangchuck pronounced Bhutan's transition to democracy in December 2005, 'the word democracy conjured all kinds of illusions and images in the minds of the Bhutanese at the time'.

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