The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Sangay Thinley, 27, is a university graduate from Gedu College of Business Studies and holds B.Com degree with a major in accounting.
He is contesting for the Gup post in Yurung Gewog. The Gewog has five Chiwogs and Sangay Thinley will be contesting from the Khangma Chiwog. He will have to compete with the former Gup Sonam Dendup from Lhayoong Chiwog. The other candidate is Ugyen Tshering who is from Khangma Chiwog, and serves as the present Mangmi.
Sangay Thinley is set to go through the primary round of elections to compete against the well experienced present Gup in the secondary round. He has easily cleared the Functional Literacy Test requirement as well.
Q1. What motivated you to contest for the post of Gup?
Sangay Thinley: First and foremost, His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo Jigme Singye Wangchuck has always reminded us and said that the future of our nation lies in the hands of our youth. Keeping this in mind, I thought of participating in this very important, 2nd Local Government Election.
As of now, there were no youth coming forward to contest for this post from my gewog.
Apart from it, more and more youth are moving towards the urban areas, right after the completion of high school, or university graduates are looking for better employment.
Likewise, after my studies, I also did the same, and now I have made my mind and decided to take part for this very important post and the historical event.
With all those above-mentioned points, I wanted to set an example for the youth.
Q2. What special pledges are you offering to the people of your Gewog?
ST: Some of the very special pledges that I have to offer for the people of my Gewog would be prevention of rural-urban migration by creating better employment opportunities, eradication of poverty, perseveration and promotion of rich cultural heritage, and I will encourage and assist them to carry out with pure organic farming and create a market to sell their products.
I will also look into the construction of farm roads in all the Chiwogs under Yurung Gewog, for it is the stepping stones in the socio-economic development of any gewog.
Q3. What do you think are some of the challenges that you will face while contesting for the post?
ST: Some of the minor challenges that I faced till now are collecting documents from the court for court clearance, which is about 40km away from Chiwog. And the revenue clearance, for which I had to travel all the way to Samdrupjongkhar.
It is a human nature to create rumors and similarly some people talk behind saying that I am just a university graduate and inexperienced for this post, but it does not matter what the people say, if I happen to win, I will serve with much dedication, and work towards bringing changes in all the Chiwogs under Yurung Gewog.
Q4. How familiar are you with the people of your Chiwog and Gewog?
ST: As I am brought up here and completed my studies from my Gewog, I am pretty sure certain sections of the people under my Gewog know me. In addition, I am sociable with the people, irrespective of their age and gender.
Despite all those things, I will familiarize myself more and get to know well with the people during campaign period.
Q5. How hopeful are you of winning the election?
ST: Winning and losing is a part of the game, and I accept it, after all participation matters the most in this free and fair election.
It is up to the voters whether to vote in favor of me or not. The sole aim and objective of my participation is to offer more choices to the public for this particular post.
