Dawa Tsering is the longest-serving foreign minister in the world. While he denied Himal entry into Bhutan, Lyonpo (minister) Tsering agreed to respond to questions by fax. (Readers should note that as a result there was no opportunity for follow-up questions.)
Was the presence of Nepali-speakers in Bhutan such that by the mid-1980s the Government was fearful of the loss of the age-old Drukpa cultural identity?
When you refer to the presence of Nepali-speakers in Bhutan in the mid-1980s, it should be understood that there are two types of Nepali-speakers in Bhutan, those who are Bhutanese citizens and those who are non-nationals. The presence of Nepalis in Bhutan began in the early 1900s after the government authorised the recruitment of Nepalis as contractual labourers to extract timber from the dense tropical forests in Samtse, the westernmost part of Bhutan's southern foothills. Initially brought as "tangyas" or forest labourers, they were allowed to stay as tenant farmers where the forests were cleared in Samtse, Tsirang, Sarpang and Geylegphug in the southern foothills. These Nepalis who had settled down as tenant farmers were granted Bhutanese citizenship by the National Assembly in 1958, and it is they and their children who constitute the bonafide Bhutanese citizens among the ethnic Nepalis in Bhutan.
Following the commencement of development activities with the launching of our First Five-Year Plan in 1961, many other Nepalis came to Bhutan. These were either labourers imported to work on the development projects and road construction, or illegal immigrants attracted by the better economic prospects in Bhutan. The presence of large numbers of illegal immigrants was revealed by the 1988 census. As would be the case in any other country, the presence and continued influx of illegal immigrants was certainly a cause for concern to us in Bhutan.