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Constitution of Bhutan
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 Constitution of Bhutan2005-04-07 12:49
5 comments
picture by Flemming Funch

The formerly very isolated kingdom of Bhutan is working on a new constitution. The draft is rather beautiful. It starts out like this:
WE, the people of Bhutan:

BLESSED with the luminous benedictions of the Triple Gem, the protection of our guardian deities, the wisdom of our leaders, the everlasting fortunes of the Pelden Drukpa and the command of His Majesty the Druk Gyalpo, Jigme Singye Wangchuck;

SOLEMNLY pledging ourselves to strengthen the sovereignty of Bhutan, to secure the blessings of Liberty, to ensure Justice and Tranquility and to enhance the unity, happiness and well-being of the people for all time;
And it goes on to outline a society with freedom of speech and movement, and democracy, equality, peace, social security, free healthcare and education, free access to information, etc. Quite unique, I'm sure, is the repeated reference to happiness. Like:
The State shall strive to promote those circumstances that will enable the successful pursuit of Gross National Happiness.
I'd vote for that.

The only strange thing about he site, other than that it uses language like "luminous benedictions of the Triple Gem", which I'm not sure what exactly means, is how the people who wrote it seem very worried about copyrights. The draft constitution is copyrighted and all rights reserved by the drafting committee. And they've gone to some length to make it difficult to examine the source of the webpages or to copy the text or the pictures. Which doesn't seem to quite go together with the spirit of that constitution.


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5 comments

7 Apr 2005 @ 15:24 by jazzolog : The Triple Gem
is the process of taking refuge from the suffering of life in the world. The threefold gate is the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/lee/triplegem.html You're probably looking at a theocracy here, Ming.  

7 Apr 2005 @ 19:11 by ming : Theocracy
I suppose it would be. Although it seems like they're planning for it to be a fairly voluntary democratic one. Thanks for clearing up what it means.  

9 Apr 2005 @ 07:34 by ankh : Yes
I agree with Jazz's comments. What they wrote sounds good, but perhaps coming from a little fear, too? How about the U.S. Constitution - if you vote for happiness, what about the preamble:
We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Seems like Bhutan has taken something from us.  

27 Apr 2010 @ 06:40 by Fargo @71.38.48.127 : Unconstitutional constitution
Do autocratic government also writes constitution for people's right, liberty and justice. What is your constitution talking about justice???????. It was just the hypothesis that India tried to dissolve rumor regarding the secret diplomacy with Bhutan.  

20 Sep 2016 @ 05:09 by RV @91.109.30.89 : xender for pc
xender for pc
Good  

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