Hello Everybody,

Greetings from the Election Commission of Bhutan.

For those members in Bhutan, the election subject must be getting
familiar every day. The first ever nation-wide parliamentary mock
election process has been rolled since 26 March 2006 with the aim to
test run the election machinery. Over 5000 civil servants have been
trained as electoral officers to conduct the election. As it is a
mock election, it shall be presented as a contest between four dummy
political parties viz. Druk Green Party; Druk Red Party; Druk Yellow
Party; and Druk Blue Party.

The polling for the primary round is on 21 April, and the polling
for the general elections is on 28 May 2007. I hope that many of you
will make efforts to cast your vote - the first ever in our lives.

The reason I am writing out of the blue today is not to talk about
elections, but something I have been asked to discuss with all of
you.

The other day a loyal member of our group paid me a visit, and said
that our group is not active anymore. He said that our group must be
revived, and made active. The group is too important to be left in
the cold. He said that most importantly the forests represent the
largest natural resource base for the country, and the professionals
interested and working on natural resources must have a forum to
share knowledge and experiences.

He said that since I am now a 'very busy person' I should hand over
the role of a moderator to someone else, and there are many keen
professionals in the group who would make group exciting and
purposeful.

I completely agree with this 'loyal member', and take this
opportunity to urge you to nominate or volunteer to be the moderator
for our group. I know that there are many members who are currently
pursuing advanced university degrees, and who have time to provoke,
analyse and write. Please come forward to unite or connect us
for 'Forest for Gross National Happiness".

The group has passed the test of time. It has today a total of 222
members and exchanged a total of 1018 messages on all aspects of
natural resources management.

I hope many of you would respond to this posting.

Warmest regards,

Phuntsho Namgyel