Bars and fights
24 July 2009
Last Saturday, a foreigner was beaten up by a group of people in a bar in Thimphu. He reported the case to the police.
When the 35-year-old Dutch was leaving Om Bar, he tapped a girl, who he thought was his brother-in-law’s girlfriend, on her back to say good bye.
That was all that led to a nasty fight. The girl shouted that he touched her. Then a group of men came charging towards him. He was cornered and beaten up. His friends and family tried to help him out but they were outnumbered.
“If it had been a Bhutanese guy, I am sure things would have been sorted out but just because I am a foreigner, they charged me,” he said.
That was not the first time a fight broke out in a bar. On average, there are two fights every week in bars in Thimphu. According to the police, sometimes the fights are big.
Om Bar, a popular bar in the town, sees more than 200 people each night.
Bars are required to close by 12 am on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays and at 11 pm on Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays. On Tuesdays, they should remain closed throughout the day. But most of the bars in Thimphu do not follow the timing. Some of them remain open until early morning.
Despite increasing cases of fights and drunken brawls, it is not compulsory for bars to have bouncers. Bouncers are usually kept on the initiative of bar owner themselves. Om Bar has two security people who try to stop fights. When fights are beyond their control, they call up the police.
An employee of Om Bar says fights happen in the bar. So customers coming in for drinks are checked for weapons.
“We are planning to do away with all bottle items in the bar and raise the price of alcohol and tighten the security at the entrance. That will not completely stop the fights but will definitely make things manageable,” he said.
According to some people, fights in bars will never stop. “Bars are places where people drink, and for drunken people, any reason is a reason enough to pick a fight,” said Chimi, father of two.
However he said that keeping bouncers would help a lot. “A fight could be stopped before it becomes bigger,” he said.
Sonam, a private firm employee said it should be made mandatory for bars to check age and identity of people visiting bars and to keep bouncers. “I have grown up children, and I don’t want them to end up in a fight,” he said.
BY TANDIN PEM
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My apology to the Dutch…..i am so sorry that it happened to you,but just because of some ruffians,please do not mistrust the society in whole….there are always some bad apple in a basket full….i hope you get your justice and bring those guys under law…i hope you have good experiences in Buutan and please be safe…sorry for whatever happened..cheers
hi ther. i just wanted to let u knw that i read your papers time to time. but if you write down such stories with no facts and no resources you are making yourself another fool who has nothing to write but RUmours that are very popular in Bhutan.
I am a frequent visitor to om bar. and being there witnessing this incident i couldnt stop laughing at what u wrote not just me i am sure since there were a lot people there who witnessed the show they probably wont believe your article at all. your story is just written blindly.
Next time please get your facts and resources right when there are more than 50 people who witnessed this incident. your one side story to help the drunken victim probably told you what he had to say not realizing how drunk and pathethic behavior everyone noticed him that night.
First of all no Bhutanese girl will just shout if someone taps be it a foreigner or Bhutanese. (Did you even call the girl and ask what actually happened)
he was cornered and beaten up.: This line is totally untrue. He was acting so aggressive that while people tried to rush and calm him to stop creating problems so that all of us could have a good time he just started swinging so wildly that those who tried to calm got hit unnecessarily resulting to bigger issue.
I think Om bar having more than thousand tourist , no bhutanese has actually come across such foreigner. All foreigners come here have a good time socializing and they actually write about their experience in Bhutan not forgetting to mention about the fun they had in OM BAR. DONT BELIEVE ME Just type Om BAr on googles…
HE WAS NOT CHARGED FOR TAPPING ON A GIRL BUT HIS DRUNK AND PATHETIC BEHAVIOR
A om bar customer…..
nice!!!
i think media is supposed to inform people with the right messages, not just write anything they want to because they are out of stories. If they write about a fight then I think they should have talked to both parties concerned. I dont think a girl just shouts and makes people fight. Yes, bars are places wgere people get drunk and start fighting but theres always a reason behind all fights and one person is to be blamed. A reporters job is to find out from both sides and then write a story and not write a story just because you know one side and help them , taking advantage of being a reporter.
How many new stories do u print out everu Friday , do you think that people will be able to trust your stories, for sure i cant. This time you have lost one customer , think about wat is goin to happen if this keeps happening if the owner doest do something about this. Right now it might seem small but if this continues i am sure noone will be reading your paper after a while because you just cant be trusted.
how can we trust you if your reporter is using his/ her position to help people they know and not get the facts right.
Before printing something like this the editor should have learnt about the facts and then send it for printing. How can the people trust such paper when a small story like this is so untrue. I dont think I know all the rules about writing and media but I do know that the media is supposed to keep the people informed with the right information and before writing something like this they should have asked around, find the truth and then write.
WOW…I seriously dont know who to blame ? Do I blame the reporter who carelessly and without thinking published an article which as proved by Jigs was so untrue OR do I blame the Bhutan Observer team who was supposed to edit the article and get the facts right. How can a media person be so careless and write a story depending on the facts of only one party? I was a witness to the scene and I would like to correct the facts which the lazy reporter had misquoted.
Firstly Miss Reporter..if you were so lazy to find out, it was the other party who had reported the case to the police and not the foreigner.
Secondly Miss Reporter..the foreigner didnot tap the girl, he literally pulled her towards him, NOT ONCE BUT TWICE.
Thirdly Miss Reporter..Instead of sorting things out, his so called family (His Wife) was abusing the poor girl with nasty foul words.
GET THESE THREE FACTS RIGHT, AND THEN MISS REPORTER YOU WILL KNOW THE TRUE STORY.
Did you know, the foreigner was so drunk that he dragged an innocent guy to the police station and accused him of hitting him but upon medical checkup it was found that the innocent guy was INNOCENT AFTER ALL.
“cornered and beaten up” is a fact so untrue. If a mob of bhutanese guys had really beaten him up, HE WOULD HAVE BEEN BED RIDDEN FOR A COUPLE OF MONTHS.
From my part I found out that it was the first time for the poor girl and her friends to step in the police station, you being a reporter and having published a false article, find out some details of the so called foreigner, I am sure you will be SHOCKED, because I was!
If I may, from words of “dechen”
how can we trust Bhutan Observer if your reporter is using his/ her position to help people they know and not get the facts right.
Before printing something like this the editor should have learnt about the facts and then send it for printing. How can the people trust such paper when a small story like this is so untrue. I dont think I know all the rules about writing and media but I do know that the media is supposed to keep the people informed with the right information and before writing something like this they should have asked around, find the truth and then write.
I am sorry to have disappointed the readers but on my part I did what was best. I could not contact the other party but I did cross check with the police.
i think we dont have any news so now reporters are becoming fiction writers….. and i dont think this is the story given by the police ….and people who dont know anything please stop commenting and giving names ……… i agree with this dechen girl …u have lost one tow n now i m the third one …………….