Burundi Zimbabwe Democratic Rep. of Congo Moldova Ukraine

Sudan Armenia Turkmenistan Belarus Georgia

It was pointed out that the happiest people live in the west, the unhappiest in Africa and former USSR members. The countries that are relatively healthy and wealthy and have smaller populations able to support these requirements are the most optimistic. Those with little or no infrastructures or have enormous populations like China (82), India (125) and Russia (167) are suffering. Switzerland, Austria and Iceland are republics but very small populations comparatively.

What wasn�t even noticed is the fact that seven of the top ten happiest places on earth are monarchies. Yes, and the top country on the misery list used to be! We�re going to study three of these: Bhutan, Brunei and Burundi. And three more different countries there could not be. One�s monarchy has been in place for five centuries, the other less than one, and the last, once its monarchy had been removed, hurtled rapidly into depravity, civil war, genocide and anarchy on a steadily horrifying scale.

Tucked high up in the Himalayas between India, Tibet, Burma and China, Bhutan�s monarchy will be just 100 years old in 2007. Ancient records in the Malay language indicate that there have been people there for over 1400 years. It is believed that around the end of the 9^th century Tibetan troops moved in, drove out the ruling princes and their subjects and settled down. Guru Rinpoche (Precious Master), the Father of Tantric Mahayana Buddhism arrived in the tiny country, about the size of Switzerland, and instituted this religion which is still officially practiced there. In 1616 CE a Tibetan lama named Shabdrung Namgyal arrived. He set up a dual system of government, one religious and the other civil. Under him the country was united. Although he was the supreme authority he placed the day-to-day running in the hands of the Chief Abbot or Je Kempo for religious matters and the Druk Desi for everything else. After he died though outside interests moved in and for two centuries the country was fought over by its neighbours and their rulers.

The Deb Raja, as the Indian rulers called him, was the temporal head and a reincarnation of Buddha. When one of these died the country waited two years until another child was born to one of the ruling families. As soon as he could talk, if he could identify the books and rosary of the office, he was transported off to a monastery for his education. When he reached his majority he assumed supreme powers. Of course, although theoretically elected by council he was actually put there by whichever of the governors (East or West) was in power at the time.

In 1772 Britain, who had taken over the Indian province of Bengal, began relations with Bhutan. The Deb of the principality of Assam sent a force into rival Cooch Behar principality to reclaim the raja they had spirited away when they invaded his part of the country. Civil aggressions between these two warring governors continued despite Tibetan and British attempts to halt their nonstop plundering, and taking British subjects as slaves.

The British demanded treaty reparations and got nothing but trouble. Back and forth they fought until 1863, when finally the governors of Bengal and Assam had to return the lands they had stolen, and agreed to free all their British captives. In the treaty of 1886 the British government agreed to pay them an annual allowance for each subject provided they behaved themselves. This treaty would continue until 1910. Bhutan opened relations with India, and would be guided by British advice in its external affairs, while Britain would stay out of their internal affairs. It removed all claims by China and safeguarded against its aggressions. But that same year China claimed Bhutan as a feudal dependent. Britain warned Peking to forget it or else. China backed off-for the moment.

In 1885 though, under British influence, Sir Ugyen Wang-chuk, K.C.I.E., the Tongsa Penlop, defeated his rival governor in yet another civil war. The deb raja died and, lo and behold, no reincarnation appeared. After Ugyen had vested all spiritual authority in himself he let go of his earthly powers and became a hermit.

In 1907 the people had had enough of these corrupt governors and during a meeting of representatives of the monasteries, the people and the civil governments elected their first King, the then Penlop of the Tongsa. He was to rule from 1907 to 1926. This system has continued to work well. Today the fourth monarch, His Majesty King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, who came to the throne in 1972, is making attempts to turn his Druk Yul or Land of the Dragons, into a constitutional monarchy system of government. The population as of April 2006 is approximately 672,425. Regulations are in place to ensure outsiders cannot corrupt the official Buddhist culture. Many non-Buddhists complain of human rights violations, particularly those in place to prevent illegal Nepalese immigration. He is also working with the World Bank and other agencies to add hydroelectric power and expanding tourism to the economy, formerly based on forestry and farming. Under this monarchy the People of the Thunder Dragon are pulling themselves out of the stagnation of subsistence living and self-destruction.

Next is Number 9, the Sultanate of Brunei. The history of their sovereigns goes back several centuries. A tablet, written in Malay, details the genealogy of these monarchs going back to before 1804 BC. This, along with other royal relics, is kept in the palace under the Sultan's care. But Brunei too was the early victim of its neighbours. Both Chinese and Arab records show that Brunei existed as a trading kingdom from the 7^th century AD. It was conquered by a Sumatran Hindu Empire in the early 9^th century, then controlled by Borneo and the Philippines. But it regained its independence eventually.

The first sultan, Alak-ber-Tata, governed before the introduction of Islam in the 15^th Century. It is believed that he converted to Islam during a visit to the Malay Peninsula, and assumed the name of Mohammed. At the time Brunei was a dependency of Java, then known as Majapahit, and paid them a no-value yearly tribute of a jar of areca juice. Mohammedans then destroyed this country in 1478.

Sultan Berkat was a high-ranking sherif from Arabia who had married Alak-ber-Tata�s niece and built a huge mosque. Determined to enforce Mohammedan law and keep out invaders he had a wall built across the mouth of the Brunei River by sinking 40 Chinese junks filled with rocks (the Chinese helped).

In the year which ended the reign of the fifth Sultan Bulkeiah (or Nakoda Ragam) in 1521, the Portuguese explorer Magellan�s squadron leader Antonio Pigafetta dropped anchor in the river mouth. He described the splendid Court and magnificence of the capital. Nakoda Ragam had been the greatest warrior they had ever had, leading expansion forces all over Java, Luzon and all around Borneo even briefly capturing Manila. His splendid stone tomb had soon become a shrine for the adoring Malays.

Brunei�s Golden Era lasted about two hundred years. Spain had made a move and captured Brunei in 1580, so the sultan and his court retired to the Baram district. They didn�t stay long though and the sultans returned to the capital. The 9^th Sultan Hassan (1605-19) developed the elaborate Royal Court structure still in place today. However after he died internal fighting over the succession and Britain forcing colonial powers on them eventually destroyed their traditional trading patterns, as it did other sultanates. By the early 1800�s Brunei had descended into a haven for pirates and slave traders.

In 1839 the Sultan asked the British to help him put down a rebellion. A gentleman named James Brooke moved in and put down the rebellion, and had cleared out the pirates by 1840. As reward Brooke was made �Rajah� of Sarawak. He set out to expand Sarawak�s control, eventually moving into Northeast Borneo. The British took over Sarawak entirely in 1888. As a protectorate it had the same deal as Bhutan-Britain would take care of its outside security and protection, but would not interfere in its internal workings. On January 1, 1906 the Sultan signed a treaty ceding administrative matters over to the British Resident, who advised in all but local and religious customs.

Without an army Brunei was a sitting duck, captured by the Japanese early in 1942. Any Briton who didn�t get away was interned. It was liberated in 1945. In 1950 a new constitution made Brunei self-governing while the British Resident would continue to look after its defense. Brunei then resisted joining the newly formed country of Malaysia. In 1951,newly crowned Sultan Ali Saifudden Washa�dul Khairi Wad-din decided they would remain independent.

In 1967 Sultan Omar abdicated and his son Hassanal became the 29^th ruler. Omar stayed on as Minister of Defense until he died in 1986. In 1984 Brunei Darussalem became a fully independent state. The Sultan has full executive authority as both Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. He is supported with five separate appointed councils and a 9-member cabinet. His brother is Minister of Foreign Affairs. They operate under English Common Law, renting UK judges, but also operate a Sharia (Islamic Law) court system. Currently they are working on merging these into one system.

By the mid-1950s the main export items were sugar and kerosene, crude oil, rubber, sago, brasswork and embroidery (the women used gold thread) The Seria oilfield was producing about 5,000,000 barrels of crude oil annually. Today oil and natural gas exports have made the Sultanate, and its king, very, very wealthy (to the chagrin of the US State Department, which thinks it has too much influence for its tiny size). They are currently the third largest producers in Southeast Asia.

It is from the beneficent Sultan that all blessings flow. In 2004 he reintroduced a fully appointed Legislative Council, which has limited powers. The Sultan can bestow Pehins, the equivalent of a life peerage in England, or knighthoods called Dato for men and Datin for women. Their culture is Malay, the religion Muslim. They have the finest healthcare available to everyone. Schooling for nine years is mandatory, starting with pre-school. Malaria and cholera have been eradicated.

But for the children of the Republique du Burundi, Number 1 on the Unhappy list, if malaria and cholera don�t kill them some rebel soldier�s bullet probably will.

Burundi�s first �citizens� were hunter-gathers called Twa, who still squeeze out a living there today. Around 1000 AD cattle raisers called Tutsi began migrating south into what are now Burundi and Rwanda. The Hutu aristocracy owned the land and began leasing it out to the Tutsi as grazing land in exchange for labour and tribute. Around 1100 or so a monarchy developed and over the ensuing 500 years it gradually expanded its authority over most of the area of the modern Burundi borders. They were stopped for a while but by the early 19^th century expansion restarted into parts of what is today Rwanda and Tanzania.

The royal family, consisting of this Hutu princely aristocracy (ganwa) and the king (mwami), claimed to be neither Tutsi or Hutu. While the Tutsi claimed that the monarchy was a unifying influence for all peoples, the royals set about establishing their authority over all land, production and distribution. They also installed the ubugabire, a system whereby the people would be protected in exchange for taxes and land rentals.

This went on until the death of King Ntare II Rugamba in 1852. Two of his princely sons disputed the succession. Four years later European missionaries began making forays into the area. They didn�t stay but they did go back to Germany and let their government know what was there. In 1885 the Berlin Conference claimed the kingdom as a German colony under German East African Administration. In 1896 a military post was established and in 1899 it was designated at the military district of Ruanda-Urundi. It�s support wavered between supporting the king Kwezi I Kitabo of the Bezi clan, and trying to limit his powers.

During WWI the Allies removed it from the Germans and Belgium established military rule in 1916, receiving a mandate from the League of Nations in 1919 to administer all the territory of Ruanda-Urundi. They did it from afar, supporting the Tutsi-dominated royals. But it continued to place onerous requirements for crop cultivation and taxation, while ignoring the concerns of the local authorities. This led to more and more uprisings during the 1920s and 30s. After WWII it became a United Nations Trust Territory, still under Belgian control. Belgium was losing its grip on the Congo as well (granted independence in 1960), along with increasing international pressure to prepare Ruanda-Urundi for independence. In 1957 the Bezi princes founded the Union pour le progres national (UPRONA) party. The King�s most popular son Prince Louis Rwagasore led this multi-ethnic organization, with strong representation by both Hutu and Tutsi. Another political party, set up by other princes and supported by Belgium, called the Christian Democratic Party (PDC), was established in opposition.

In 1961, against the wishes of the administration, UPRONA won a landslide victory in the legislature, after which Prince Louis was elected Prime Minister. On October 13, agents of the PDC assassinated him. UPRONA factions split and ethnic violence, following independence in 1962, increased. The Tutsi king Mwambutsa IV tried to stem it by setting up a constitutional monarchy using equal numbers of Tutsi and Hutu. In 1965 the Hutu prime minister was assassinated and in 1966 the king was deposed by his son Prince Ntare IV. A military coup later that year deposed Ntare. Its leader Captain Michel Micombero abolished the monarchy and declared a republic.

Since then it has seen a succession of new constitutions, military coups, presidents, military coups, tribal genocides, war crimes and short-lived peace deals. 1993 began a 12-year period of massive genocide resulting in the deaths of over 300,000 people. In August 2005 the former leader of the rebel gang Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD) was sworn in as the first democratically elected President of Burundi. The other major party is UPRONA. There are ten other legislative parties and three in opposition. The capital city is Bujumbura. Its two official languages are French and Rundi. It has no official religion.

So what are the criteria for a happy country? Some of the reasons their citizens gave were orderliness, being more laid back, good health care, access to education and a stable economy. The countries that are monarchies provide this kind of stability, allowing for growth and freedom. When Burundi lost its monarchy it also lost an able leader who was bent on unifying his two warring peoples. It lost its stability. It lost its way. Putting a monarchy in place has unified Bhutan and made it a safer bet for outside investors. Brunei just keeps on getting richer.

As the Leicester researcher wrote there is now a worldwide debate going on as to whether countries should put more focus on making their people happy rather than making them rich. Seems to me you really can�t have one without the other, but monarchies seem to be ahead of the game.

What do you think?

Anon!