Promises must be made – bigger the better!

Photo: Bhutan Observer

Some people complain that parties are making a lot of promises and that they think most of the promises may not be fulfilled and that they are mostly false ones. That’s the whole point! Isn’t it? I like promises - and big ones too. I believe political promises are like the goals that the parties are setting for the next five years that they would try to achieve if they are elected. Some may have set small goals and those that would be achieved.

I like the fact that someone promised a bridge over Mawkhola. That was good example. Even if the bridge could not be built over it, some form of efforts was being put during the last five years. We were told that at least a feasibility study was done. But otherwise if there were no promise then no action would have been taken. This is a typical example. Of course I am still reserving my vote to that one guy or a party who promises and builds a bridge over that river. That will be the future course of action. But it is sad to know that that MP who dared to dream big was punished for his (unrealistic?) dream.

Anyways, back to the issues of goal setting – yes goals should be set and political promises made. My belief is that these promises are good for the parties. If they are selected to govern the country, these promises would haunt them and as a result our MPs would hardly have time to warm their chairs in Thimphu.

Our former CEO (Bank of Bhutan) used to remind us that we need to set goals high. He believed that underperforming on lofty goals is better than over-performing on underrated goals. He was an exemplary leader, who never believed in bureaucracy. And now that he is into politics, we will have to wait and see how he fares in the political world.

Of course we were told that if we aim for the sun we might land on the moon. But if we aim only for the moon, we may not even get there. Such is with the political promises. Say for examples, party A promises to build 50 schools and 10,000 KM of road whereas the party B being reasonable only promises to build 10 schools and 5,000 KM of farm road. Now because the party A has set higher promises, that party would work hard and might achieve say for example – 20 schools and 8,000KM of road. But even if the party B fulfills its entire promises, it might have built 5,000 KM of road and 10 schools! The party A has not fully achieved its promises but it delivered; weigh the achievements. That’s what I am driving at.

But political promises must be made – bigger the better.