Can nothing make Singaporeans happy?

BHUTAN The happiest people on Earth have no cars, no condos, no luxuries &no worries

Ng Tze Yong in Bhutan, The New Paper 27 Mar 08;

WE know the textbook story.

1819. Singapore.

'We were just a small fishing village.'

And then - The Miracle.

Two centuries of blitzkrieg development later, Singapore is now a dream come true, a beacon that others follow.

But now too, Singaporeans seem to be yearning for a return to village life.

Or, at least, for the intangibles village life offers - homeliness, freedom, the simple joy of being truly alive.

Every year, thousands of Singaporeans travel to Third World countries and return smitten by lives less comfortable, yet somehow more seductive.

This romance never leaves. It lingers at the back of our minds, always waiting to push forward through the barrage of cares.

This search for That Missing Something forms the psyche of the Singaporean youth at one point or another. Usually, it stays well into adulthood.

It's not something unique to Singapore, but I'd say it's more pronounced.

Here, the search is deeper, the yearning more agonising but somehow, also less successful.

In this dream of the what-could-be, Bhutan is the Holy Grail of sorts.

When the Singapore International Foundation (SIF) called to invite The New Paper on a trip to cover its community projects in Bhutan, my first thoughts were: What's wrong with Shangri-La?

Like most Singaporeans, I knew the country only as a paradise on earth.

The country fascinates, because if Singapore (first-class city but ranked the most unhappy of all Asian countries) is the country with everything and nothing, then Bhutan is the country with nothing but everything.

Because what else can we say we have, when we have lost happiness?

Authentic Happiness, a book by Dr Martin Seligman and recently cited by Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, Mr Lim Boon Heng, details the way to find it again.

The book sets out a three-pronged path.

1) Enjoy a pleasurable life - eating, shopping, reading (yes, even smoking, if it gives you pleasure).

2) Enjoy a good life - having a passionate pursuit, such as work or hobby.

3) Enjoy a meaningful life - doing something that goes beyond the self, such as charity or politics.

But Bhutan's GNH (Gross National Happiness) philosophy doesn't seem to fit into any of these categories.

Life in a mountain village six hours by foot from the nearest road isn't pleasurable, unless you find that a trifle inconvenience to the pleasure of living amid nature.

Passionate pursuits while eking out a subsistence lifestyle?

And charity when you're poor yourself?

In the end, the Bhutanese brand of happiness may be its own.

The country, one of the least developed in the world, says it's happy.

But it is like a man who says he loves his hut but doesn't know what it's like to live in a condo.

Does it make his happiness any less authentic, any less valid?

Or does the question matter at all?

It might not.

But knowledge of the luxuries that money can buy does impede happiness, because the knowledge tempts and distracts.

That's why - at the end of the day - it might be harder for a Singaporean than for a Bhutanese to be happy.

WHAT IF...

Which brings us back to square one.

Man, why didn't Sir Stamford Raffles think of the GNH?

Left alone as a fishing village, would we be happier today?

It's not as audacious a question as it sounds.

Not when you see how the world is looking on with envy and amazement when the Bhutanese decided the world can go its way, and Bhutan would go its own.

And not when the GNH experiment is proving that happiness does not always have to be an airy-fairy idea, but one that can form the foundation of a political philosophy.

Still, ultimately, the GNH is an untested idea. Will it work?

In the search for mankind's biggest prize, there will be many who will be only too glad to see Bhutan falter.

But succeed or fail, there is something no one can take away from Bhutan.

It takes guts to be happy, because true happiness requires sacrifices.

And this little country is proving to the world it has the guts.