Wisdom from small Himalayan kingdom

Bhutan's happiness-first policy goes global

By Kang Hyun-kyung

SONGDO _ Material success doesn't always guarantee happiness.

In “Happiness Studies,” Koreans are late learners. They came to understand recently that the state of happiness is much more than monetary compensation and wealth is not a sole condition that can make people happy.

The term happiness has created a buzz. Koreans began to take on happiness and search for small things that can bring them joy in life.

People of the small Himalayan country of Bhutan were wise enough to take the happiness initiative as an essential part of policy implementation in the 1970s, way before more advanced countries, including Korea, began to mull finding the role of government to help their people lead happy lives. In this regard, Bhutan is foresighted.

In the mystic kingdom tucked away between India and Tibet, happiness has been the guiding light for major policies over the past four decades since Jigme Singye Wangchuck, the former king who ruled the country from 1972 to 2006 when he abdicated for his son, put it forth as a development principle in 1972.

Sherub Gyeltshen, senior planning officer at Gross National Happiness Commission of Bhutan, said the former Bhutanese king was “a visionary leader.”

“Our former king said his priority is not placed on gross domestic product (GDP) but gross national happiness (GNH),” he told The Korea Times at G-Tower in Songdo International Business District near the port city of Incheon last Thursday. “His idea was when the community is doing or implementing certain policies, their ultimate goal should be set on making the Bhutanese people happy. Cars, luxury houses don't make people happy.”

He visited Korea for the United Nations symposium on sustainable development and policy implementation held in Songdo last week.

According to the Bhutanese government, happiness is a state of mind that people can reach when all factors that affect their lives are balanced and therefore there is a role government can play to help the people feel happy.

Gyeltshen said “happiness mainstreaming” has been underway in his country.

The Gross National Happiness Commission (GNHC) was established to make this happen. The prime minister of Bhutan is in charge of the GNHC and all Cabinet ministers are key members of the commission. They scrutinize governmental policies and programs to see if they go together with environment, culture, GDP and good governance.

Gyeltshen said Bhutan is a Buddhist country and his country's happiness-first policy came against the religious backdrop as Buddhists are taught to work hard to reach inner peace and attain a state of happiness.

Bhutan has spread its happiness-first policy to the world. In 1998, Bhutan's prime minister introduced the term GNH to a United Nations forum as an alternative development principle.

In Korea, Bhutan is one of the most-talked-about countries when a happiness discourse pops up.

The Bhutanese are portrayed by Koreans as poor but happy people after a British institution ranked Bhutan top in a happiness survey in 2010. Some experts try to dig out the secret of Bhutanese life satisfaction despite poverty and underdevelopment.

In Korea, it is the most recent phenomenon that happiness triggered a debate. Terms like “small but certain happiness” have caught Koreans' attention.

The rare happiness discourse reflects that economic growth happened at the expense of quality of life and widening income gap between upper and lower classes. Korea's notoriously high suicide rate _ the highest among OECD countries_ also appeared to have played a part to renew the happiness debate.

Happiness has been a popular topic and stirred a debate among intellectuals for centuries. It has centered on the state of individuals' mind, rather than a policy area in which the government can help out.

Before Bhutan took the happiness initiative in 1972, little was known about governmental support or intervention to make people happy.