FW: [WTNN] World Tibet Network News -- March 17, 2011

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Thursday, March 17, 2011
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Issue ID: 2011/03/17Compiled by Nima Dorjee
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Contents
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1. Monk immolates himself; major protests at Tibetan monastery violently
suppressed
2. Fiery death of Tibetan monk sparks protests: Activists
3. Tibet Cabinet accepts Dalai Lama's resignation
4. Members of Tibetan parliament-in-exile urge Dalai Lama to stay on as
political leader
5. Dalai Lama cedes control in hopes of curbing Chinese control
6. Opinion: The Dalai Lama steps back, but not down
7. OPINION: The wisdom of surrender (Indian Express)
8. Opinion: Compassion Lama (Financial Times)
9. OPINION: Reconciling China and Tibet
10. Dalai decision, coming polls put Tibet MPs in a fix
11. Tibetan polls a money-spinning affair
12. Tibetan exile recalls life as political prisoner in China
13. Tibetan government-in-exile expresses faith in Karmapa
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1. Monk immolates himself; major protests at Tibetan monastery violently
suppressed
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Peaceful protests were violently suppressed today at Kirti monastery in
the Ngaba area of Tibet after a young monk set himself on fire and later
died.

The 21-year old monk, called Phuntsog, immolated himself earlier today,
which is the 3rd anniversary of a protest at Kirti in 2008 during which
at least 10 Tibetans were shot dead. Police extinguished the flames and
were seen beating Phuntsog before he died, according to Tibetan exiles
in contact with Tibetans in Ngaba (Chinese: Aba) Tibetan Autonomous
Prefecture, Sichuan province (the Tibetan area of Amdo).

According to the same sources, protests then broke out against the
Chinese authorities involving hundreds of monks and laypeople. After an
attempted peaceful march from the monastery, police broke up the
protests, detaining an unknown number of monks and beating Tibetans
involved.

Some monks took Phuntsog's body back to the monastery, according to the
same sources. A monk from Kirti monastery in exile in Dharamsala said:
"I was told that many of the monks at Kirti monastery would rather die
than allow Phuntsog¹s dead body to be passed onto the Chinese
authorities. Now, the whole monastery of Kirti is surrounded by armed
Chinese military and I am told that some phone connections have been cut."

"The single tragic and desperate act of this young monk and the hostile
response by Chinese authorities is a sufficient reminder that a
resolution of grievances is urgently needed if there is to be peace and
justice in Tibet," said Mary Beth Markey, President of the International
Campaign for Tibet.

This is the second self-immolation by a Kirti monk following the
crackdown that was imposed after the demonstrations in March, 2008.
Tapey, a monk in his mid-twenties, set himself on fire on February 27,
2009 as a form of protest after local authorities told monks at Kirti
monastery that they were not allowed to observe Monlam, a traditional
prayer festival that is held after Tibetan New Year (Losar).

According to several sources from the area, police opened fire on Tapey
as he was surrounded by flames. The official Chinese press reported the
incident, but denied reports that police had opened fire on Tapey. Tapey
survived, but was taken into custody and his whereabouts remain unknown.

Updated reports on the incident will be available as information emerges
at www.savetibet.org.

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2. Fiery death of Tibetan monk sparks protests: Activists
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WASHINGTON Mar 17, 2011 (AFP) - A YOUNG Tibetan monk set himself on fire
and died triggering protests in Tibet on Wednesday, marking the third
anniversary of violent anti-government riots there, an activist group said.

Police tried to extinguish the fire when a monk, called Phuntsog, set
himself ablaze, but Tibetan exiles in contact with people in the Ngaba
region said they then beat the 21-year-old who died.

The monk's body was taken back to the Kirti monastery and protests
flared involving hundreds of monks and civilians, the International
Campaign for Tibet said in a statement. Police broke up the
demonstrations, arresting an unknown number of monks, the activist group
alleged.

'I was told that many of the monks at Kirti monastery would rather die
than allow Phuntsog's dead body to be passed onto the Chinese
authorities,' a monk from the monastery who lives in exile in
Dharamsala, India, told the campaign.

'Now, the whole monastery of Kirti is surrounded by armed Chinese
military and I am told that some phone connections have been cut.'

It was the second time that a Kirti monk had set fire to himself since
the crackdown imposed after the 2008 demonstrations, in which hundreds
of monks marched in Lhasa demanding independence for the region,
sparking days of unrest. Parts of the city were burned and looted, and
the violence then spread to neighbouring areas. -- AFP

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3. Tibet Cabinet accepts Dalai Lama's resignation
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VARINDER BHATIA Posted online: Tue Mar 15 2011, 14:32 hrs

Chandigarh : The Tibetan Cabinet today accepted leader Dalai Lama¹s
decision to retire as the political head of the exiled Tibetan government.

Speaking in the House, Prime Minister (Kalon Tripa) of the exiled
Tibetan government, Professor Samdhong Rinpoche said, ³With a heavy
heart, we have to accept His Holiness¹ decision of retirement as
political head of the state².

The seven Cabinet members unanimously accepted Dalai Lama¹s decision to
retire as political head of the exiled Tibetan government.

However, the Tibetan Parliament is still going against the decision
taken by Dalai Lama. Three Members of Parliament, including Dawa
Phunkyi, Gyalrong Dawa Tsering and Karma Choephel, who spoke in the
House, till the tea-break, has outrightly rejected Dalai Lama¹s decision
to retire.

Even after the Cabinet has accepted the decision taken by Dalai Lama,
the Cabinet ministers are still feeling that the decision will not be
passed or accepted by Parliament. ³The Cabinet has always accepted the
wishes and orders of His Holiness (Dalai Lama). This decision, wherein
he has expressed his wish to retire as the political leader of the
Tibetans, has also been accepted by the Cabinet; but since Members of
Parliament are elected representatives of the people, it is unlikely
they will accept this decision. People are not ready to accept Dalai
Lama¹s decision to retire,² Rinpoche said.

³If the Dalai Lama has wished the time has come, when such a change is
required, we all need to think of the best possible ways to implement
such a change,² he said. ³If the Dalai Lama retires as the political
head of the state, it will bring in a major disconnect between the
people inside and outside Tibet. It is not at all acceptable,² said Dawa
Tsering, Member of Parliament, who spoke in the House and refused to
accept Dalai Lama¹s resignation.

Similar sentiments were echoed by two other MPs including Dawa Phyunkyi
and Karma Choephel; who too mentioned that Dalai Lama¹s decision is not
at all acceptable by the Tibetan people.

³How could we accept such a decision? It will gravely affect the ongoing
talks with the Chinese. Such a decision will have grave ramifications at
the international level as well. Moreover, 99 per cent of Tibetans do
not want anyone but the Dalai Lama to head them,² said Karma Choephel,
another exiled government MP.

³More or less, all members of Parliament are going to say the same
thing. We all are representing people and Tibetans inside and outside
Tibet are not accepting this change,² said Karma Yeshi, another exiled
government MP.

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4. Members of Tibetan parliament-in-exile urge Dalai Lama to stay on as
political leader
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By Ashwini Bhatia (CP) March 15, 2011

DHARMSALA, India ‹ The Tibetan parliament-in-exile opened debate Tuesday
on the Dalai Lama's decision to give up his political role with a plea
by some members for the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader to reconsider.

About one-third of the 43 members who participated in the ongoing
discussions proposed that the Nobel Peace laureate stay on as the
political leader, said the Tibetan prime minister-in-exile, Samdhong
Rinpoche.

"It is very likely that parliament does not accept his suggestion to
step down," he told The Associated Press.

Last week, the Dalai Lama said he would give up his political power in
the exile Tibetan government and shift that authority to an elected
representative.

He asked the parliament-in-exile to amend its constitution in the
current session, which ends March 25.

The Dalai Lama made the announcement during the March 10 anniversary of
the failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule in his Himalayan homeland
that sent him into exile. He said the time had come "to devolve my
formal authority to the elected leader."

On Tuesday, Dawa Tsering, a member of parliament, said the Dalai Lama's
withdrawal would affect his emissaries' dialogue with the Chinese
leadership. The leadership in Beijing has dismissed his talk of
retirement as a trick playing into the hands of the international
community.

"He is such an inspiration to the Tibetans in Tibet and in exile, so we
feel that he should stay," Dawa said.

Tenzin Tsundue, a Tibetan activist, said if democracy was a public
mandate, the Dalai Lama was a universal choice of the Tibetans.
"Therefore, his leadership is democratic."

A new prime minister is expected to be elected in the coming weeks. Any
Tibetan who has registered with the exile government is allowed to cast
a ballot. Most of the electorate is made up of exiles.

The 76-year-old Dalai Lama is believed to be in fairly good health, but
China's continued heavy-handed rule over Tibet has made the succession
question all important within the Tibetan community.

Beijing vilifies the Dalai Lama as a political schemer, has negotiated
only fleetingly with his representatives and made clear that it intends
to have the final say in naming his successor when he dies.

The current Dalai Lama has indicated his successor would come from the
exile community. Beijing, though, insists the reincarnation must be
found in China's Tibetan areas, giving the Communist authorities immense
power over who is chosen.

Many observers believe there eventually will be rival Dalai Lamas one
appointed by Beijing, and one by senior monks loyal to the current Dalai
Lama.

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5. Dalai Lama cedes control in hopes of curbing Chinese control
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STEPHANIE NOLEN
NEW DELHI‹ From Friday's Globe and Mail, Canada

Published Thursday, Mar. 10, 2011 12:22AM EST

In a canny move to dodge Beijing¹s efforts to control the direction of
Tibetan politics, the Dalai Lama announced Thursday that he will cede
his role as political leader of Tibetans to the elected
prime-minister-in-exile.

³This is a revolutionary thing that he has suggested,² said Srikanth
Kondapalli, a Tibet expert with Jawaharlal Nehru University in New
Delhi. The Chinese government has been trying to insert itself into
Tibetan succession questions, he said, one factor that no doubt
motivated the move. At the same time, the Dalai Lama has taken note of
both the messiness in other lama succession cases, and is intent on
investing as much authority as possible in an elected leader.

³He¹s trying to suggest a more stable system Š so that there should not
be any confusion if and when he passes away he¹s watched and learned
and he thinks the best way is taking the whole issue to the people.²

Prof. Kondapalli said that Beijing has repeatedly attacked the Dalai
Lama as an individual, calling him a ³bloodsucker² on the Tibetan
people. ³But the Chinese will not have scope to attack the next leader
this way he will have broad-based popular support,² he said.

The Dalai Lama, a famously genial 75-year-old monk, said he would ask
next week¹s session of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile to ³devolve my
formal authority to [an] elected leader.² He spoke at the 52nd
anniversary of the Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule in the Indian
mountaintop town of Dharmsala, the capital of his government-in-exile.

The leading candidate to be the next prime-minister-in-exile is a
Harvard-educated legal scholar who is seen as cosmopolitan and
articulate; he has a huge following among Tibetan youth.

The current exile-Tibetan governing document vests the Dalai Lamai with
both the spiritual authority he inherited as the 14th incarnation of the
Dalai Lamai, and the political authority that he took on when he emerged
as a powerfully eloquent advocate of his people¹s cause after fleeing
Tibet over the mountains into India. However, he has long urged Tibetans
to formalize a democratic political leadership. He noted Thursday that
he has championed the idea since the 1960s.

But Tibetan analysts and other experts on the issue said that he and the
Tibetan people face a critical hurdle. ³One Tibetan told me, ŒCompared
to the Dalai Lama, nobody can shine¹ and that¹s the problem,² said
Trine Brox, an expert on Tibet from the University of Copenhagen¹s Asian
studies department. ³You could argue they have even left it too late,
that they have not made any plan or public decision before now. Tibetans
believe that the success of their struggle is dependent on the Dalai
Lama, the attention and the sympathy they have received from the
international community as the result of his personal charisma. They are
aware that they owe him for their success and they are afraid.²

Historically, the period between the death of one Dalai Lama and the
time that his reincarnation has been ³discovered² (if not identified
before the previous one died) has been ³dangerous,² she noted, sometimes
involving a level of chaos or anarchy. When the Karmapa Lama, head of a
major subschool of Tibetan Buddhism, died in 1981 without identifying a
successor, it set off a bizarre and ongoing power struggle with three
candidates claiming they were the next lama. At the same time, the
atheist government in Beijing has insisted since 2007 that it will
identify the next Dalai Lama. By moving much of the authority to lead
the Tibetan struggle out of the role, the Dalai Lama checks that move on
the part of the Chinese.

There are three candidates on the ballot to take over the prime
ministerial role. The leader is Lobsang Sangay, an articulate legal
expert who has a doctorate from Harvard University in the United States
and who now teaches law there. He shares the Dalai Lama¹s eloquence, and
is an effective communicator of Tibetan issues to a Western audience.

But Prof. Brox noted that he does not speak for all Tibetans. ³He has
charisma,² she said. ³But he does not know Tibetan traditions that well.
Not all Tibetans see him as their representative or from their political
culture that¹s his problem. It would be so difficult for him to unite
Tibetans.²

The other candidates are older, less cosmopolitan and don¹t have the
same appeal with young Tibetans in exile. Prof. Brox also noted that it
is impossible to know what Tibetans inside Tibet want in a leader, as
their political views are effectively silenced by Beijing. The previous
two elected prime ministers were older monks.

Tibetans all over the world will vote in the coming election. Anyone who
could show a Tibetan identity card was able to register last fall, and
there will be ballot boxes in key Tibetan exile communities such as
Toronto, New Delhi and Kathmandu. Prof. Kondapalli said that some 65 per
cent of Tibetans voted in the preliminary round and at least as many
will likely vote in the final round on March 20. ³The Dalai Lama sees
this is a better bet, imposing confidence in the people rather than a
few conservatives or a few head monks.²

The political changes make no difference to the Dalai Lama¹s role as
spiritual leader of Tibetans. ³A political leader, leading people, is
chosen or elected but his spiritual leadership is not done through
election people have great regard for His Holiness as a spiritual
leader and that regard comes through his spiritual practice,² said Kalon
Kesang Takla, Minister of International Relations and Information in the
government-in-exile.

In his address, the Dalai Lama was at pains to emphasize he is stepping
down ³not because I feel disheartened,² but indicated that he understood
the anxiety that this generated among Tibetans and their supporters. ³I
trust that gradually people will come to understand my intention, will
support my decision and, accordingly, let it take effect,² he said.

Tsetan Namgyl, a professor of Tibetan Studies at the Centre for Asian
Studies in Delhi, said the move permanently alters the Tibetan political
landscape. ³It is the end of the lama¹s hegemony now no lama will be
temporal leader of Tibet in exile or in Tibet,² he said.

Thousands of young Tibetans study in Delhi (India has been generous in
sheltering Tibetan refugees) and Prof. Namgyl described an air of
electrified confusion among his students as they wondered how the
Tibetan landscape will now be reshaped.

The leading candidate to be the next prime-minister-in-exile is a
Harvard-educated legal scholar who is seen as cosmopolitan and
articulate; he has a huge following among Tibetan youth.

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6. Opinion: The Dalai Lama steps back, but not down
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The Dalai Lama has been a source of cohesion for Tibetans, and will
continue to play an important role in his political retirement

Barbara O'Brien
guardian.co.uk, Friday 11 March 2011 11.08 GMT

News of the 14th Dalai Lama's retirement from politics was no surprise
to those of us who follow his "career". He has said many times he
planned to relinquish his role in government to democratically elected
leadership. But what took him so long?

For years, detractors have accused the Dalai Lama of scheming to retake
Tibet and restore the old feudal theocracy, in spite of his public
statements in favour of secular, democratic government. If he was so
"democratic", they asked, why did he still assume political authority
over exiled Tibetans? And those of us inclined to defend him could only
say, he's going to step down eventually. It's a relief that eventually
has arrived.

On the other hand, Tibetans aren't sure they are ready to let go of
their political lama. Samdhong Rinpoche, Tibet's prime minister in
exile, told the Hindustan Times that without the Dalai Lama, the
legitimacy of the Tibetan government in exile might be undermined. The
Tibetan exile community, he said, had been functional largely because
its members accepted the Dalai Lama's authority.

Consider the circumstances of Tibetans as a people in diaspora. For
centuries, its geography isolated Tibet from the rest of civilisation.
The Chinese occupation, and China's reaction to the Lhasa uprising of
1959, drove the Dalai Lama and other religious leaders into exile, with
monks and lay people following. And so the long isolation was ruptured,
and Tibetans, their culture and Tibetan Buddhism abruptly spilled out
into the modern world.

Since 1960, the Central Tibetan Authority (CTA) better known as the
Tibetan government in exile has occupied headquarters in the lower
Himalayas of northern India. For some time the CTA has had an elected
parliament and prime minister governing the Tibetan exile community. The
CTA makes no claims of political authority in Tibet, and in the event
freedom is restored to Tibet it is expected to dissolve.

But in the meantime, the exiles are guests of India, not citizens,
occupying a kind of bureaucratic twilight zone. The presence of the
Tibetan community likewise has placed India in an uncomfortable position
with regard to its powerful and contentious neighbour, China. This
awkwardness was on display last month after a police search uncovered
nearly $1.6m in cash stored in boxes in a monastery. The money was in
currencies of several countries, including China, which set off heated
speculation in Indian news media about spy lamas secretly controlled by
Beijing.

But the money was the offerings of faithful visitors, accumulated over
many years. Because of Indian foreign currency laws, the Tibetans could
not deposit the money in a bank without government approval, which never
came. So the cash was stored in a monk's dormitory. "Many typical
transactions, from buying land to depositing foreign currency in Indian
banks, are either illegal or a bureaucratic nightmare for Tibetans,"
Ishan Tharoor wrote in Time magazine.

In these tenuous circumstances, the Dalai Lama's leadership has been a
source of stability and cohesion for the Tibetans. But he is 75. This
week's announcement may be his way of telling the exiles they need to
find stability and cohesion without him, and sooner rather than later.
In any event, "Dalai Lama" is not an occupation from which one can
retire. The role embodies the history, mythology and spirituality of the
Tibetan people, and His Holiness will continue to be a venerated
Buddhist monk and teacher. His political duties may be the least
important part of his job.

The real challenge to Tibetan Buddhism is yet to come. Earlier this
week, the government of China announced a new law, to go into effect
next month, stipulating the procedures by which a lama may reincarnate.
Seriously. Beijing has also ordered that the 15th Dalai Lama must be
born in China and will be recognised by government authority.

When the 14th dies, it is a near certainty that China will give the
title of Dalai Lama to the son of a loyal ethnic Tibetan Communist party
member, and Beijing will pressure western governments to recognise their
boy, and not the child chosen by lamas in India, as the head of Tibetan
Buddhism. What's to become of Tibetan stability and cohesion then is
anyone's guess.

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7. OPINION: The wisdom of surrender (Indian Express)
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Indian Express
Meenakshigopinath
Posted: Wed Mar 16 2011, 02:27 hrs

The Dalai Lama is a rare figure in human history. Celebrated as a
preeminent spiritual leader by millions and respected as a statesman for
our troubled times, he has, on the singular strength of his moral
authority, succeeded in keeping the cause of Tibet alive on the
international scene. This ‹ in the face of ever-growing Chinese
economic, military and political clout ‹ is no mean achievement. The
Dalai Lama is in exile in India as a ³revered spiritual figure² ‹ and
that has been his visiting card at numerous capitals and seats of power.
However, it has also circumscribed his political space.

While still a young man of 28, a product of traditional monastic
education in the isolation of Tibet and newly exiled in India, Tenzin
Gyatso envisioned a democratic Tibet in which he would have no formal
political role. In 1963, he presented to his people and the world a
draft constitution based on the Charter of the United Nations and the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. His recent pronouncements,
relinquishing all formal political authority, are of a piece with that
vision.

For Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, now 75, who describes himself as
a ³simple Buddhist monk², the March 10 announcement is in consonance
with a process that he set in motion nearly five decades ago, not a
³jasmine moment². He has been consistently exhorting the need to nurture
representative democratic institutions, transparent electoral processes
and robust governance structures for the Tibetan community.

In May 1990, the Dalai Lama accelerated reforms that heralded a
democratic administration-in-exile for the Tibetan community. The
Tibetan cabinet, Kashag, which till then had been appointed by him, was
dissolved along with the Tenth Assembly of Tibetan People¹s Deputies,
the parliament in exile. In the same year, exiled Tibetans in India and
over 33 other countries elected 46 members to the expanded Eleventh
Tibetan Assembly on one-person-one-vote basis. The assembly, in its
turn, elected the new members of the cabinet. In September 2001, a
further step in democratisation was taken when the Tibetan electorate
directly chose their prime minister (Kalon Tripa) who happened to be a
senior monk. In Tibet¹s long history, this was the first time that lay
people elected the political leadership of Tibet. The Dalai Lama
assiduously refused to indicate a preference or influence the outcome.

He has stated that his decision to devolve his formal authority to an
elected Kalon Tripa has nothing to do with a ³wish to shirk
responsibility². To see it as abdication or, as in the case of the
former king of Bhutan, a retreat from the domain of political influence
could be shortsighted. On the one hand, it could mean a less fettered
role for him and a space to circumvent the tremulousness of official
protocol the world over, and facilitate more informal tracks for
engagement. The Dalai Lama, after all, has had to contend with visa
denials, regrets from heads of state and last-minute cancellations of
invitations often under pressure from China. He has borne these with
characteristic dignity, always mindful not to embarrass friends and
supporters across the globe. On the other hand, the shedding of key
political functions signals a separation of the secular from the
religious in the formal structures of governance, possibly to also
counter Chinese allegations of feudal obscurantism.

On almost all issues that pertain to the history, mythology and beliefs
of the Tibetan people, the Dalai Lama has been willing to push the
envelope. This includes interrogating the contemporary relevance of the
institution of the Dalai Lama itself, maintaining that it is important
³only so long as it serves the cause of the Tibetan people². As a
possible riposte to the practice of the Chinese government to choose and
appoint ³reincarnations² of senior lamas, he has suggested that he could
choose a qualified spiritual leader to inherit his mantle or appoint one
through a referendum that reflects the will of the Tibetan people. At
any rate, he remains sceptical of the possibility of his ³reincarnating²
in Tibet as long as he and his community are in exile. The vexed issue
of succession will undoubtedly add both strain and complexity to the
Sino-Indian dynamic and will require deft handling by India, as the
recent Karmapa episode has amply demonstrated. Should the Dalai Lama¹s
successor too step back from political authority as he has done, then a
substantially different set of possibilities and calculations will be at
play.

The real challenge now is to find in the current generation of Tibetans
a leadership that is modern and secular with a deep empathy for Tibetan
culture and values, along with the skills needed to negotiate and pilot
the future agenda of Tibet. In the fray for the elections for the Kalon
Tripa scheduled for March 20 are three candidates: Tashi Wangdi, Tenzin
Namgyal Tethong and Lobsang Sangay, all with substantial international
exposure and varying degrees of experience in serving the Tibetan
community in exile. Significantly, none of them is currently resident in
India, where 90 per cent of the community in exile now lives. In fact, a
large proportion of the intellectual and professional elite of the small
talent pool of the Tibetan community in exile has moved to greener
pastures in the US, thanks largely to the generous number of visas and
scholarships that the country has made available.

Will the new political leadership revisit or modify the Dalai Lama¹s
Middle Way approach ‹ ³genuine autonomy² within the People¹s Republic of
China ‹ which radical Tibetans have been impatient with? How will it
position itself to engage with governments and political leaders as the
formal face of the Tibetan community? Or, will the Dalai Lama continue
as the acceptable channel for dialogue even in a changed role? More
important, how will the Tibetans in China, who look to him as the
unifying symbol of their struggle, connect with the new dispensation?
These are valid concerns.

A couple of things are clear: the Dalai Lama¹s decision belongs to a
leadership trajectory that calls for a nuanced understanding of
political power. And it represents a leap of faith in the Tibetan
community¹s potential for democratic responsibility. What remains to be
seen is how it collectively responds to this aspiration.

The writer is principal, Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi, and honorary
director of Women in Security Conflict Management and Peace, which is
funded by the Dalai Lama¹s foundation

------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. Opinion: Compassion Lama (Financial Times)
------------------------------------------------------------------------

RENUKA BISHT, Financial Times, India

Posted: Thursday, Mar 17, 2011 at 2350 hrs IST

Sometimes the brickbats hurled at the Dalai Lama sound exactly the same
as those that Sachin Tendulkar takes. What¹s the value of the Little
Master¹s centuries if they don¹t win a victory for the Indian team?
However extraordinary may have been the accomplishments of His Holiness,
as far as carrying awareness of the Tibet issue across the globe, what¹s
their value if they don¹t yield an autonomous Tibet?

And sometimes the censure is akin to that directed against Aung San Suu
Kyi with increasing frequency these days. She is also admired around the
world, championed by celebrities and has a Nobel Prize in the bag. But
has her long vigil yielded democratic fruit for Myanmar¹s people?
Perhaps the lama and the lady¹s attachment to non-violence has only
served their cause, rather than that of their people.

Even as the above charges were already hanging over his noble pate, the
Dalai Lama went one step further in courting controversy. He announced
retirement from political life, not a small step for someone who is
credited with becoming a world leader without an official political
base. After all, even when India¹s first PM Jawaharlal Nehru welcomed
Tenzin Gyatso into India, the gesture did not mean acknowledging the
latter as a fellow head of state. More recently, PM Manmohan Singh
clarified to the Chinese premier that the Dalai Lama was an honoured
guest in his capacity as a religious leader, rather than a political
agent. The Tibetan government-in-exile¹s Cabinet has accepted the Dalai
Lama¹s decision to retire as its political head, but a majority of the
Parliament members were expressing opposition at the time of writing.

The interesting thing now is that charges 1 and 2 are being turned on
their head to build up charge 3. How does the Dalai Lama expect Tibetan
unity to survive if he abdicates political responsibility? Any new
political leader, likely to be a layperson, will not be able to speak
(a) to Tibetans inside and outside Tibet in the same way as the Dalai
Lama or (b) marshal international sympathy with the same grandeur that
the Dalai Lama has commanded.

The above questions are asked against the backdrop of a popular history
of Tibet, wherein the greatest rupture took place on March 17, 1959,
when consultation with an oracle instructed the Dalai Lama, ³Go
tonight!² This popular narrative boasts a clearly delineated good guy
and bad guy. China is bad, His Holiness is good (even if unable to
really deliver to his people¹s expectations). But we get a very
different picture if the history of the Free Tibet movement is traced
back to an earlier date. Let¹s go back, as an illustration, to the 13th
Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso.

The Great Thirteenth passed away in 1933, and here¹s how his final
testament reads: ³...it may happen that here in Tibet, religion and
government will be attacked both from without and within. Unless we
guard our own country, it will not happen that the Dalai and Panchen
Lamas, the Father and the Son, and all the revered holders of the Faith,
will disappear and become nameless. Monks and their monasteries will be
destroyed ... All beings will be sunk in hardship and overwhelming fear;
the days and nights will drag on slowly in suffering.² This was
prophetic only because it was written against the backdrop of both
bloody, internal divisions and external threats, as much from the
British as the Chinese. Tibet was no Shangri-La even back then. And
surviving popular images of calm were shattered during the Beijing
Olympics.

It¹s time to move beyond popular images, to recognise that after the
14th Dalai Lama¹s ascension, India, the UK, the US and the UN were all
asked to appeal to China on Tibet¹s behalf. No one came through. China
is not the only bad guy. Every head of state that gives the Dalai Lama a
hearing today does this at his own convenience. If His Holiness were to
ask India for asylum today, it would likely not be forthcoming. After
all, we refuse to host Taslima Nasreen.

So, yes, it¹s great that Tendulkar hits centuries. It¹s not his fault if
the South African team turns out to be stronger than the Indian one. The
Dalai Lama has done an extraordinary job of winning global support for a
constituency that wasn¹t making any magazine covers 50 years ago. It¹s
great that, like Suu Kyi, he has firmly held on to pacifist ideals.
Responding to recent events in the Middle East, he said: ³I am a firm
believer in non-violence and people power and these events have shown
once again that determined non-violent action can indeed bring about
positive change.² This is not just a moral or religious position; it has
socio-political implications. Witness the world wondering how the
Japanese are responding to their crisis with such calm. His Holiness
knows that the Tibetan struggle is of the longue durée. That he has kept
it peaceful and will now make it more democratic qualifies him as a
great statesman.

renuka...@expressindia.com

------------------------------------------------------------------------
9. OPINION: Reconciling China and Tibet
------------------------------------------------------------------------

March 16, 2011Wall Street Journal,

Beijing is missing its chance to reinstate Hu Yaobang's successful
policies and win over Tibetans.

By PALDEN GYAL AND ARCHER WANG

There is a Chinese saying, yi rou ke gang‹soft power is stronger than
hard power. It's time for China to apply this in Tibet. If Beijing
continues to treat Tibetans as enemies, they will be enemies.

A year after the Communist Party came to power in 1949, the People's
Liberation Army entered Tibet. Tension increased between China's atheist
Communist leadership and Tibet's devoutly Buddhist society until
conflict erupted on March 10, 1959. More than 87,000 Tibetans died,
according to official Chinese statistics, and the Dalai Lama fled to India.

The decades that followed saw mass arrests and state requisition of all
private land, leading to widespread hunger and famine. The 1950s Great
Leap Forward and 1966-76 Cultural Revolution brought collective
suffering in Tibet along with the rest of China.

After Mao's death in 1976, Deng Xiaoping emerged as China's paramount
leader and entrusted his Long March comrade-in-arms Hu Yaobang to reform
China's Tibet policy. Hu went to Tibet in 1980 and pronounced China's
hardline policy an abject failure. His first reforms were to promote
local Tibetans to leadership positions, require the remaining Han
Chinese officials to learn the Tibetan language and culture, and relax
Beijing's controls over religious worship. These reforms were warmly
welcomed by the local populace, and were deepened and expanded
throughout the early 1980s.

But like many other progressive reforms of that period, this policy was
abruptly terminated after Hu Yaobang's death and the subsequent
democracy protests. A military crackdown followed in Tibet's capital Lhasa.

Fast forward to 2008, and in the politically charged lead-up to the
Beijing Olympics, antigovernment tension again erupted in Lhasa and
quickly spread across the Tibetan plateau. Twenty-two were killed, 623
injured‹including 241 police‹according to the Chinese government. The
number of Tibetan casualties was likely much greater.

In a similar incident in July 2009, the predominantly Muslim region of
Xinjiang in northwestern China witnessed an outbreak of ethnic violence
that resulted in 197 killed and 1,721 injured. Beijing responded by
shutting off all Internet and mobile telephone access to the vast region
for more than six months after the disturbance.

Beijing initially responded to both uprisings with similar heavy-handed
crackdowns, but the divergent policies that followed are noteworthy. In
a surprising gesture of moderation, Beijing sacked hardline Xinjiang
Communist Party chief and military veteran Wang Lequan. He was replaced
by Han Chinese technocrat Zhang Chunxian, a tech-savvy microblogger who
has set out to win the hearts and minds of the local populace as new
party leader in Xinjiang. Beijing deeply fears Islamic fundamentalism
making inroads in its Central Asian frontier and an extreme Han Chinese
nationalistic backlash, hence the political softening.

Contrast this relaxation with the ongoing hardline policy toward Tibet,
populated by largely nonviolent Buddhists instead of potentially
radicalized Muslims. In the wake of the violence, Tibet Governor Qiangba
Puncog was replaced by Padma Choling, a conservative veteran of the
People's Liberation Army. And reactionary Party Secretary Zhang Qingli
remains firmly in charge, continuing to carry out his uncompromising
crackdown on any hint of nationalist separatism and dismissing all
progressive-minded local Tibetan officials.

Before this year's anniversary marked by exiles as March 10 Tibetan
Uprising Day, Communist Party Secretary Zhang barred all foreigners from
entering Tibet. He cited "freezing weather" and "overcrowding" as
reasons for the ban. A more likely reason is the forthcoming 60-year
anniversary of the "peaceful liberation" of Tibet on May 23 and the
third anniversary of the violent events in Lhasa. Beijing's security
apparatus in Tibet always goes on high alert at this politically
sensitive time of year.

The wild card in all this is the Dalai Lama and Beijing's attitude
toward him. He has the potential to resolve the Tibet issue peacefully
and in the best interest of all concerned. It is a mistake for Beijing
to hope that its nationality problem will disappear with the death of
the 76-year-old leader. He is not only a staunch symbol of nonviolence
inside and outside the country, but also the anchor of a Middle Way
approach that has not been given adequate consideration by Beijing since
the death of Hu Yaobang.

In a push for democracy in the Tibetan movement, the Dalai Lama
announced last week that he would relinquish his leadership role in the
Tibetan government based in India. His formal abdication from politics
heightens the credibility of the upcoming popular election to choose
Tibet's third prime minister by popular vote.

This will not resolve the reincarnation dispute between the Dalai Lama
and Chinese authorities who have declared they will choose their own
Dalai Lama when the incumbent dies, as happened in the case of Tibet's
second most-revered religious figure the Panchen Lama in 1995. But the
Dalai Lama's retirement as political leader will diminish Beijing's
opportunity to use politics as an excuse to claim legitimacy in the
religious succession issue.

The failure by Beijing to utilize the Dalai Lama's moderation to resolve
this conflict is not only a sign of lack of political foresight but also
lack of confidence and imagination. An international movement of young
Tibetans and their foreign supporters advocating independence, including
organizations like Students for a Free Tibet and the Tibetan Youth
Congress, is gaining global momentum and is viewed with alarm and as a
threat by the Chinese government. The movement is multiplying in
conviction that violence must be contemplated as a result of impatience
with China's unwillingness to seek a serious settlement of the conflict,
and its conciliatory gestures in Xinjiang as a result of the threatened
and actual violence there.

Throughout this more than half-century-old conflict, the communication
gap between the two populations has perpetuated misunderstanding. But
digital technology has created an environment conducive to youth from
both sides to interact and engage. Young people can create a congenial
atmosphere to yield a solution based on mutual interest and respect,
rather than clinging to blind nationalism.

Soft power is stronger than hard power in resolving a difficult problem
like China's presence in Tibet. The failure of China's Tibet policy is
illustrated by frequent civil unrest against the government's policies
such as its ongoing patriotic re-education campaigns. If China is to
achieve real security and stability in Tibet, it's time to return to the
soft power policies that Hu Yaobang implemented more than three decades
ago. The more China relaxes its grip, the more stable and secure Tibet
will be.

Mr. Wang is a Chinese student and Mr. Gyal is a Tibetan student at Duke
University.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
10. Dalai decision, coming polls put Tibet MPs in a fix
------------------------------------------------------------------------

VARINDER BHATIA, Indian Express
Posted: Tue Mar 15 2011, 13:40 hrs

Dharamshala: With merely five days left to elect the new Members of
Parliament and the new Prime Minister (Kalon Tripa); Tibetan MPs are
caught in a Catch-22 situation.

Many MPs are worried at the decision of the Dalai Lama, announcing his
retirement from political leadership of Tibet and spiritual headship of
Tibetans the world over. They are also anxious on account of the short
time-frame leading to the final round of elections.

While the Dalai Lama is not likely to go back on his decision to retire,
the elected representatives of Tibetans the MPs, who are considered
the voice of the people, have to incorporate Tibetans¹ views into their
course of action.

By afternoon, on the second day of the House, 14 MPs had spoken,
outrightly rejecting the Dalai Lama¹s decision to retire. Citing various
reasons, the MPs unanimously refused to accept the supreme leader¹s
decision, saying it was not feasible for Tibetans to recognise any other
person in place of the Dalai Lama.

³Even if we held elections to elect the political head; His Holiness
will be a unanimous winner,² said Dolma Tsering, while speaking in the
House.

Other prominent MPs including Dolkr Lhamo, Karma S Tharchin, Urgyen
Tobgyal, Sonam Dadul and Yeshi Phuntsok, too refused to accept the Dalai
Lama¹s decision to retire. More MPs are going to speak and are likely to
refuse to accept the Dalai Lama¹s decision, in the post lunch session.

³What can we do? We are caught up in a trivial situation. His Holiness¹
wish is supreme for any Tibetan, but we are the representatives of the
people; we need to take care of their sentiments as well,² said Penpa
Tsering, Speaker of the exiled Tibetan government.

³How can we think of having anybody else in the place of His Holiness?
Every Tibetan wants the Dalai Lama as their leader. Nobody will accept
anybody other than him to head the entire Tibetan community,² said
Urgyen Tobgyal.

The final round of election for new MPs and the new Prime Minister is
scheduled to be held on March 20. A significant number of Tibetans are
going to vote both for the Prime Minister (Kalon Tripa) and the Members
of Parliament on March 20.

The timing of the Dalai Lama¹s decision and the new election is of
crucial importance and many MPs are worried about their political fate.

³We are caught in a messy situation. On one hand, we must adhere to His
Holiness¹ sentiments; on the other hand, thousands of people, who have
reposed their faith in us and elected us, hope that their voice will be
heard. Their sentiments undoubtedly tell us that nobody other than the
Dalai Lama can be the political head of the State,² said another exiled
government MP.

³There has to be a way out. The Parliament, to start with, can very well
keep delaying a decision on the Dalai Lama¹s retirement issue; but for
how long? The time has come, when every Tibetan has to think and find a
new way to decide our future course of action,² added another MP.

The MPs are likely to conclude deliberations on the issue of the Tibetan
supremo¹s retirement by Tuesday evening or before lunch on Wednesday.
³It is most likely that every MP will be of the view, that we should try
and request His Holiness to continue for some more time as the political
and spiritual leader of all the Tibetans. Let¹s see what happens next,²
said Karma Yeshi, another exiled Tibetan MP.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
11. Tibetan polls a money-spinning affair
------------------------------------------------------------------------

2011-03-15 09:50:00

Dharamsala, March 15 (IANS) With posters, pamphlets and other trappings
of a regular campaign, the election for the prime minister of the
Tibetan government-in-exile here is turning out to be a big,
money-spinning affair. And a worried leadership is wondering how to
curtail expenses and keep it low profile.
With Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama announcing his intention to
retire from his political responsibilities and urging parliament to go
for direct elections for the political leader's post, the polls
scheduled for March 20 have become significant.

'This time, many posters have been pasted and pamphlets have been
distributed by the three candidates. They are also holding one-to-one
meetings with the people of the community and are personally visiting
their homes,' said Samdhong Rinpoche, incumbent prime minister (Kalon
Tripa) of the Tibetan government-in-exile here.

'The candidates say the money is being spent by their friends and
supporters. From what we see this year we feel there should be some
regulation or tab on the expenditure during the campaigns,' Rinpoche
told IANS.

Rinpoche said he was surprised by the unusual 'pomp and show which has
not happened earlier'.

'This is obviously not a very healthy thing for a refugee community.'

Rinpoche, who will be completing his second term as prime minister in
May, has enjoyed full confidence of the Dalai Lama during his tenure. He
has been a powerful political figure in Tibetan establishment living in
exile in India.

Members of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile are perplexed over the
unprecedented excitement among candidates and the amount of money being
used in the campaigns. They are now contemplating whether to introduce
some kind of regulation to limit poll expenditure.

Karma Yeshi, a member of the parliament-in-exile, said: 'I strongly feel
that money should not play any role in the elections for the top posts
of the Tibetan government-in-exile. Candidates should be chosen on the
basis of their ideologies and principles and not on their money power.'

He added: 'We should understand that we are living here as refugees and
therefore our elections should be a very low profile affair. We should
be very careful in all our activities.'

'Though there is a provision that the election campaigning should be
stopped two days before the actual polling, there is no limit on the
expenditure made by the candidates during the election,' Penpa Tsering,
speaker of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile, told IANS.

He added: 'This is an important issue and it needs to be discussed in
parliament. Hopefully, we will introduce some regulation to limit the
expenditure during the campaigning.'

The parliament-in-exile has so far been saying that there was no one to
equal the Dalai Lama as a replacement. However, the Dalai Lama has
insisted that any more delay could raise challenges in the future.

Three candidates are in the fray for the top post - Lobsang Sangay,
Tenzin Namgyal Tethong and Tashi Wangdi.

All the three candidates are highly educated and good orators.

Lobsang Sangay is a senior fellow at Harvard Law School in the US,
Tenzin Namgyal Tethong a respected scholar who teaches at Stanford in
the US, and the third candidate, Tashi Wangdi, was the Dalai Lama's
representative in Brussels, New York and New Delhi. He was educated in
India and in Britain.

Rinpoche said: 'All three candidates raise similar issues and offer
similar promises as all of them follow the middle path approach
suggested by His Holiness. So these elections are only the choice of
personalities and not of policies.'

Voters are also feeling the change in the campaigning.

'This year I am going to cast my vote for the third time. This time
things are totally different from the previous elections that were held
in 2001 and 2006. Candidates have become very aggressive, spending money
and are frequently travelling to get public support,' Norzin Norbu, a
Tibetan refugee here, told IANS.

Earlier elections used to be a very personal affair, she said.

The Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 after the Chinese occupation of
Tibet. Over 100,000 Tibetans live in exile in India. The Tibetan
government-in-exile is headquartered in Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh.
There are approximately 85,000 registered Tibetan voters living in exile
in India.

Around 45,000 to 50,000 exiles are expected to cast their votes March
20. The results are likely to come out April 25.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
12. Tibetan exile recalls life as political prisoner in China
------------------------------------------------------------------------

By Tenzin Shakya
San Mateo County Times
Posted: 03/15/2011 06:29:09 PM PDT

Before the era of Twitter and Facebook, political prisoners such as
Ngawang Sangdrol-la recorded songs on tape cassettes to document the
inhumane treatment they experienced in the Drapchi prison of China.

Sangdrol-la (la is used after an elder's name as a title of respect)
shared her story at Amnesty International's office in San Francisco
during her first visit to the Bay Area last week on the eve of the
National Tibetan Uprising Day.

She told the audience that she was only 13 in 1990 when she decided to
join 20 other protesters in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, in a
demonstration aimed at expressing opposition to the oppression she felt
under the Chinese government. She and the other protesters had joined
together to express their desire for a free Tibet.

She remembers the day vividly still, walking through the streets of
Lhasa shouting "Free Tibet" and "Long live His Holiness the 14th Dalai
Lama." The protesters knew they couldn't be in a group together and
decided to spread out individually, shouting and singing their message.

"We knew we would be caught. We had no desire to run or escape. Our plan
was to shout until they (the Chinese police) caught us," she said. And
they did, she said, recalling how Chinese army officials pinned her to
the ground and then dragged her away from the crowd.

"I remember people saying, 'She's so young, please let her go, she's
bleeding,' " said Sangdrol-la. She had violated an official Chinese

governmental policy banning all pictures of the Dalai Lama and the
Tibetan flag.

Sangdrol-la said she did not receive a fair trial and was sent to a
detention center for nine months. Still, prison was better than the fate
of her brother, she said. Chinese police shot him dead when he, too, was
13.

When she was very little, she used to watch movies made in China,
depicting the Chinese army as "kindhearted soldiers," fighting against
the Japanese Army to protect the mother country.

"I remember feeling like the Chinese are our own people because the TV
made me think I was no different. I disliked the Japanese because in the
movies they were the bad soldiers who killed the kindhearted Chinese
soldiers," Sangdrol-la recalled. But "father yelled at me and told me
the real story of my country, and what had happened to my brother."

She said that she suffered terrible interrogations, was beaten and
tortured in prison, kept hungry and in solitary confinement because she
would not denounce the Dalai Lama. She told the audience about the
terror of shock treatments she received.

"One day the authorities brought a strange object that looked like a
telephone. It was actually an electric prod," she said. The officer
asked her if she wanted to call home and when she said her home didn't
have a telephone, she said the officer said he would install one.

"Then he put the object in my shirt and turned it on. My entire body
shook in a way I couldn't control. That was my first electric shock, but
not the last."

She was arrested again in 1992 during a similar protest and sentenced to
three years in prison, but her sentence was increased to 13 years
because she would not renounce her beliefs.

The prison did not allow family members to visit very often but through
surreptitious means, Sangdrol-la and another inmate were able to get
their hands on the cassettes and began recording songs to smuggle
outside of the prison.

"We recorded freedom songs to tell our loved once that we were OK and
even though the conditions were horrible in prison, we still had hope
and we were not going to give up," said Sangdrol-la. "We never thought
it would actually reach the outside world like this."

In 2002, she was released to the U.S. government. She was in critical
health and, upon arrival in America, was taken to a hospital in Chicago.

Yangchen Lhamo, a member of the Students for a Free Tibet, part of the
S.F. Team Tibet coalition, which co-organized the event, said she has
heard this story before but "it never gets any less disturbing."

"I now live in freedom. But, everyday, I worry about those thousands of
Tibetans who are still suffering today, right at this minute, for doing
nothing more than a peaceful protest," said Sangdrol-la.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
13. Tibetan government-in-exile expresses faith in Karmapa
------------------------------------------------------------------------

2011-03-11 17:30:00

Dharamsala (Himachal Pradesh), March 11 (IANS) The Tibetan
government-in-exile Friday reaffirmed its full faith in the 17th
Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, who was at the centre of a controversy
following recovery of a huge amount of foreign currency from his monastery.
'His Holiness (the Dalai Lama) has hundred percent faith in Karmapa. It
is also clear that he is not a Chinese agent and we knew it from day
one. Therefore, the Indian government allowed him to stay here,'
Samdhong Rinpoche, the 'prime minister' of the Tibetan
government-in-exile, told selected media here Friday.

'This was a case of financial irregularities, issue of taxation and
recovery of foreign exchange. Karmapa does not have anything to do with
the financial matters or foreign transactions,' he added.

Karmapa resides at his temporary abode at the Gyuto Tantric University
and Monastery near here.

The total amount linked to the monastery, in foreign currency of 25
countries and over Rs.10 million of Indian currency, was nearly Rs.8
crore (Rs.80 million/$1.8 million).

Rinpoche said this incident happened because of the negligence of the
staff of Karmapa.

'This incident happened just because of the ignorance of the staff that
was dealing with this department (finances). This was the mistake of
workers, managers, who were part of the Karmapa establishment and dealt
with finances,' stated Rinpoche.

'However, legal procedures are taking their course and if they find
anyone guilty, then he should be punished accordingly,' he pointed out.

Karmapa is the third highest ranked Tibetan religious leader after the
Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, who dramatically escaped from the
Tsurphu monastery near Lhasa and arrived here January 2000.

Rinpoche said they have advised other monasteries to streamline their
finances to avoid such incidents in future.

'We have advised all monasteries or high lamas to hire chartered
accountant and lawyers for taxation. Every year income tax return should
be paid and they should maintain proper records of everything. Majority
of them are already doing it,' said Rinpoche.

McLeodganj, a suburb situated near Dharamsala town in Kangra district of
Himachal Pradesh, is one of the prominent tourist destinations of India.
Nearly 25,000 Tibetans are living there in exile. The Tibetan
government-in-exile is also headquartered in Mcleodganj.

Nearly 100,000 Tibetan refugees live in India.

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