“By the paramount benediction of the Triple Gem; the providence of the Guardian Deities; the devout prayers of our benevolent ancestors; and the splendid luck of a fortunate people, Bhutan was blessed with such a superlative leader as His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo, Jigme Singye Wangchuck– a King of visionary foresight, pure clarity of thought, unparalleled determination, and excellent statesmanship; a King who dedicated a lifetime in carrying out the unimaginably profound task of Nation-Building, in the service of His country and people.”
His Majesty the King, November 11, 2015, Changligmithang, Thimphu.
“But the richest legacy of His Majesty Jigme Dorji Wangchuck is his worthy son and successor, His Majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuck, in whose hands now rests the destiny of Bhutan. His Majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuck is the young King of a young Kingdom and yet both have maturity and wisdom that go back to centuries. That is why, in our strife-stricken world, Bhutan continues to be a fountain of peace. May it be so for all time to come!
Late Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, May 1972
“The young King had said he would be happy, “if Bhutan remains an independent and sovereign country, if people are happy and united and self-sufficient.” “ I don’t think there is anything else a King can achieve.”
John Scofield, National Geographic, 1974
“One of the most fascinating aspects of Bhutan is that it is one great genuine example of sustainability ….This country understands and incorporates the sense of the sacred into harmonious life… I pray that it lasts,” His Majesty King Charles told a gathering of British citizens working in Bhutan. “You have been provided a model which does not exist anywhere else… When you leave here perhaps you’ll bring something back so we can understand this harmony.”
King Charles III, February, 1998
Even Shangri-la must change. When King Jigme Singye Wangchuck ascended the throne in 1972, Bhutan suffered from some of the highest poverty, illiteracy, and infant-mortality rates in the world — a legacy of the policy of isolation. “We paid a heavy price,” the King would say later. His father, Bhutan’s third King, had begun opening up the country in the 1960s, building roads, establishing schools and health clinics, pushing for United Nations membership. King Jigme Singye Wangchuck would go much further. With the self-confidence of a ruler whose country has never been conquered, he has tried to dictate the terms of Bhutan’s opening — and in the process redefine the very meaning of development. The felicitous phrase he invented to describe his approach: Gross National Happiness. Brook Larmer, National Geographic, March 2008
After becoming King, Jigme Singye Wangchuck became increasingly interested in economic development and traveled extensively throughout the country. He also has traveled a great deal outside of Bhutan, attending international meetings and personally representing his country in New Delhi on frequent occasions. A young, vigorous head of state unafraid to break from the bureaucracy and constraints of his office — including his trips to the countryside where the Druk Gyalpo could be seen “serving the people” — Jigme Singye Wangchuck presented the monarchy as progressive and symbolic of national unity.
Andrea Matles Savada, Library of Congress, 1991
In 2006, His Majesty the King featured as one of the Times 100 individuals recognized. King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, great-grandson of Bhutan’s first hereditary monarch and once the world’s youngest King (when he came to power in 1972), rules his people more in the spirit of Buddha than of more worldly princes. To this day there is not a traffic light in the Himalayan Kingdom, by law everyone must wear traditional 14th century clothing and the number of tourists allowed into the country over the past 10 years is lower than the number of fans who pile into a college football game. Television and the Internet have, it is true, arrived with the 21st century, and a few superluxe hotels are now coming up around Bhutan, but what hits you when you touch down in its only airport is the silence. King Jigme—who gave up absolute power in 1998 and last year sent every household in the land a new draft constitution that allowed for his impeachment—is setting a quietly revolutionary precedent. If most politicians are inherently suspect because they seem so eager to grab power and so reluctant to surrender it, what does one make of a leader who voluntarily gives up his position, as if placing his people’s needs before his own?
Pico Iyer, Monday, May 08, 2006. The Times
His Majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuck said, ‘Bhutan is a very small country and we need all the success we can get. We cannot afford any failure at all. We want our people to be educated and highly productive. We want them to be professionals in every field they take up…. We want to develop as rapidly as possible, but nevertheless what is important to us is that the pace of development and the ability of Bhutanese people to stay abreast of that pace….We also at the same time do not believe that more money means more development…Whatever changes we bring about in Bhutan, so long as it is in the best interest of the country, the final decision lies with the Bhutanese people. And that is how it should be. Everywhere else dramatic changes have taken place. What is at stake here is the survival of the Bhutanese people and our religion. We are really the last bastion of Himalayan Buddhism.’
Barbara Crossette, So Close to Heaven: The Vanishing Buddhist Kingdoms of the Himalayas (1995)
Under his leadership, electricity and modern medical care reached Bhutan’s remotest areas; the country established a hydropower industry and navigated the perilous geopolitics that come with its geography — a landlocked plot, home today to about 753,000 citizens, that is wedged between India and China, the most populous nations on earth. In 2006, the King shocked his subjects by unilaterally ending Bhutan’s absolute monarchy, leading an effort to draft a constitution and institute free elections, a process that culminated, in 2008, with the country’s first general election. But the King’s most celebrated contribution is in the realm of what might be called political philosophy. It was he who formulated Bhutan’s signature quality of life indicator, Gross National Happiness, an ethos of environmental sustainability, cultural preservation and “holistic” civic contentment that has made Bhutan a fashionable name to drop in international development circles and among New Age enlightenment seekers.
Jody Rosen, New York Times magazine, October 30, 2014
Queen Ashi Dorji Wangmo told me that the old king had been planning Bhutan’s political transformation for years. “The preparation goes back to 1981—that’s when he introduced the decentralization process. He always wanted full democracy, but he does things systematically. He’s a master strategist.” A conversation with Prince Namgyel, the last surviving son of the second King of Bhutan, left me with a similar impression. An impeccable old man with closely cropped white hair, he told me, “His late Majesty said, ‘If they ask for democracy, don’t give it to them, because it will be too late: better to give it to them before they ask for it.’ That is what has happened.” Prince Jigyel put it another way: “When the clear sky breaks, the storm will come. That’s the way my father looks at this. He saw the clear sky, and he made the transition.”
Patrick French, April 13, 2009, Vanity Fair
In the 1970s “long before “positive psychology” became a boom in the West, King Jigme, suggested that nations be measured by “gross national happiness”; the rich are not always happy, after all, while the happy generally consider themselves rich.” In 2005, “he launched an even more radical idea: self-deposition. To urge his people toward independence, he announced that he would step down two years from now (his son would officially take over) and that his country would hold its first national democratic elections. King Jigme — who gave up absolute power in 1998 and sent every household in the land a new draft constitution [in 2005] that allowed for his impeachment — is setting a quietly revolutionary precedent. If most politicians are inherently suspect because they seem so eager to grab power and so reluctant to surrender it, what does one make of a leader who voluntarily gives up his position, as if placing his people’s needs before his own?
Pico Iyer, Times, April 30, 2006