KATHMANDU (UCAN) -- King Jigme Singye Wangchuk of Bhutan has issued a royal edict giving his country's parliament the power to fire him and the right to choose his cabinet.

In a move curtailing the powers of the 91-year Bhutanese monarchy, the king's June 7 edict decreed that Bhutan's parliament, named National Assembly, periodically take a vote of confidence on his rule, with a two-thirds vote against him requiring him to abdicate in favor of the crown prince.

The 42-year-old king, whose title is Druk Gyalpo (precious ruler of the dragon people) and who is fourth in a dynasty that has ruled Bhutan since 1907, also dissolved his eight-member ruling cabinet, dismissing all its unelected members, and asked the parliament to nominate new members.

On July 1, state-run Bhutan Broadcasting Service radio station announced the appointment of six new cabinet ministers by the parliament and the retention of two senior members representing Bhutan's monasteries and religious sector.

The king retained the right to assign portfolios to the cabinet ministers elected by the legislature, and said that he must be kept informed on matters of security and sovereignty.

The king's reform edict and announcements were also published in the June-July issues of "Kuensel," the national weekly newspaper of Bhutan.

Although the international media termed the edict a "historic move," newspapers in neighboring Nepal took the views of Bhutanese refugees, who saw the move as an "eyewash" that would not contribute to solving their situation.

In the early 1990s, some 120,000 mostly southern Bhutanese -- one-fifth of the landlocked, mountainous nation's 600,000 people -- were evicted by the government, on the pretext of flushing out pro-democracy activists but which the refugees perceived as ethnic cleansing and religious intolerance.

Rakesh Chhetri, a Catholic and a prominent leader among some 90,000 Bhutanese refugees in eastern Nepal, told UCA News in Kathmandu on July 19, that the new edict "is only an eyewash."

"The Bhutanese authorities ... want to give an impression that they are open to international opinion, but in reality they will not make any concessions on the ground," he said.

Chhetri remarked that "the new cabinet members are better educated and younger," but worried that "they could take a harder line in the long run."

On the inclusion in the cabinet of two Sarchops, the ethnic community of eastern and central Bhutan, he commented, "Bhutan has always been ruled by the Drukpas alone, so this is a new move to include the new group."

However, he added, they were appointed to appease Sarchops "rather than to push for democratic reforms or call for the release of political prisoners."

Chhetri recalled that the late King Jigme Dorje Wangchuk had allowed back in 1968 a no-confidence motion in the assembly to oust him in favor of the crown prince but that his son, the present king who was crowned in 1975, "abolished this process of allowing no-confidence votes and has revived it (only) now."

He also noted that although 100 of the 150 National Assembly members are supposedly elected by the people in districts, the deciding votes are held by the chief district officer.

Furthermore, he said, "10 are from the religious clergy who are close to the king and 40 are those who are in government service. There is no opposition bench in the assembly. To bring anything up in the parliament you have to submit your suggestion over a month in advance.

"Do you think anyone would allow anything to be said against the monarchy in parliament, especially when the Speaker of the House is a close cousin of the king?" he asked.

Meanwhile, the United Front for Democracy in Bhutan (UFD), a refugee group in Nepal, issued a statement saying, "The orchestrated election beamed for the Western donor audience has made the new setup of six favorite cabinet ministers, six favorite royal advisers and the king's own relative as deputy speaker. The group is now set for a new vigorous move to strengthen absolute monarchy in Bhutan."

UFD chairman Rongthong Kunley Dorji, a Sarchop, was arrested in Delhi at Bhutan's request last year while on a visit to India. He was recently released on bail by a Delhi court.

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