The opinion piece below was sent to dorjeshugden.com for publication. We accept submissions from the public, please send in your articles to [email protected].
By: Sashi Kei
Almost 60 years ago, the Dalai Lama escaped from Tibet and about 100,000 Tibetan people followed their God-King into exile. The struggle by the Tibetans to regain their much-romanticised homeland was cause célèbre for the decades that followed, launching the Dalai Lama and his exile-government known euphemistically as the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) onto the world stage.
The Overplayed Victim Card
In 1989, the Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, which in no small part was evidence of how successfully he had managed to organise and amass a diverse international following. In many ways the Tibetan spiritual leader garnered as much if not more global support and did so over a longer period for the Tibetan struggle than Nelson Mendela ever received in his struggle against South Africa’s apartheid; Martin Luther King in his struggle against racial segregation in the US; and Aung San Suu Kyi in her struggle against Burma’s military government. For a long time, the world readily embraced the Tibetan leadership’s ethos and rhetoric but the CTA never did much, even with this high level of attention and support, other than lend its name to another hip live concert, open yet another ‘Tibet house’ to raise funds for yet another Tibet-related campaign, and issue toothless proclamations against China aimed at tugging at the collective heartstrings of the young global left-wingers.
In 1989, the Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In recent years the spiritual leader’s award has come under question as news of the Dalai Lama’s secret CIA-sponsored wars against China are uncovered.
So successful were the many Tibet-related campaigns that the Tibetan people became the world’s most well known refugees. But in retrospect the ‘Tibetan Cause’ was nothing more than a financial enterprise and the people continued to suffer without any improvement in their living standards or direction in their struggle. CTA intra-politics and self-aggrandizement dominated the Tibetan leadership’s minds carelessly, they allowed themselves to forget an important dictum in politics – there are no permanent friends and no permanent enemies, only permanent interests. And so over time, the Tibetan freedom movement was allowed to become dated, outworn and without a firm conviction as to what it truly is, and soon the world moved on to other more serious and pragmatic issues. This is significantly due to the global shift in power towards favouring the nemesis of the CTA, China, but this phenomenon was not an overnight event. Put simply, the CTA failed monumentally in building on the trust and support afforded it for decades and instead overplayed its part as victim and offered virtually no benefits to any nation to continue supporting it.
The World Rejects The CTA
Today there are clear signs that the CTA has missed its boat and far from being the celebrated movement that it had been, the Tibetan cause has now become a great and costly political inconvenience. This is clear on the international front as it becomes de rigueur for nations of the world to distance themselves from having any close association with the Dalai Lama and CTA.
The United Kingdom for instance has for decades welcomed the Dalai Lama and on quite a number of occasions lectured China on her need to change politically and adopt a more Western attitude towards governance. But in the year 2013, that remarkably changed and in the words of No. 10 Downing Street, “We have turned a page on that [Tibetan] issue. It is about the future and how we want to shift UK-China relations up a gear.” The CTA has been dumped by an important ally.
The British Monarchy as well as Government have decided that China is to be a friend to the country.
South Africa was once a nation of people who were disarmed and enslaved, and there was a moral angle for the CTA to seek the support of the South African government. And yet in the year 2014, the South African government denied an application by the Dalai Lama to attend the 14th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates held in Cape Town. That was the third time the country officially blocked the Dalai Lama from setting foot on its soil, the first time being in 2009 and again in 2011 when the Dalai Lama applied for a visa to enter the country to celebrate the 80th birthday of Archbishop Desmond Tutu and was flatly rejected.
India on its part has been the bedrock upon which the CTA, hence the Tibetan freedom movement, has endured for all this time. And as long as India provides a safe home base for the CTA to operate, it has a chance. In 2016 however, after 57 years of friendship, during which time the Tibetan leadership did not hesitate to continually test Sino-Indian relationships by attacking China whilst standing on Indian soil, a secret deal was rumored to have been struck – China agreed to refrain from laying claims to several Indian territories such as Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, and parts of Jammu and Kashmir. In consideration, India would not welcome and provide refuge to any more Tibetan exiles after a certain date. In essence, India had agreed to an expiry date for its support to the Tibetan leadership.
Hosting the Tibetan refugees has come at a great cost to India but a deal has been struck.
The years 2016 and 2017 would mark the beginning of the end for the Tibetan struggle and by default the reason for the CTA to exist. Never before had the need for old allies to distance themselves from the Tibetan leadership been more pronounced than in the case of Mongolia banning the Dalai Lama from ever visiting the country again, at least not during the present government’s administration.
The Mongolian decision was a clear indication as to how much a liability any association with the Tibetan leadership has become. The state religion of Mongolia is deeply rooted in the lineage of the Dalai Lamas and since the 1500’s the Mongols and the Dalai Lamas have maintained a close priest-patron bond, which unraveled in December of 2016 when Mongolia officially turned its back on the Tibetan leadership.
But that would not be the end of the CTA’s woes. For decades, Switzerland, known to be a defender of human rights, and hence a natural ally to the CTA’s anti-China rhetoric, has allowed Tibetans to identify themselves as the citizens of “Tibet” or “Stateless.” The alpine state was in fact home to the largest community of Tibetans-in-exile in Europe. But that all changed in February 2017 when the government’s revision in immigration policy required Tibetans residing in Switzerland to change their nationality to “Chinese”. This was a huge blow to the CTA because under its banner, the Tibetans-in-exile no longer have an identity or validity as a citizen of the world, at least not in Switzerland.
In January 2017, Swiss police detained 32 Tibetan protesters during President Xi Jinping’s visit.
The CTA’s international standing deteriorated even further when in April 2017, Sweden rejected the Tibetan travel document known as the ‘Yellow Book’, issued by the Indian government to Tibetan refuges enabling them to travel abroad. Just as the passport or travel document issued by a government of a country certifies the identity and nationality of the holder, the Swedish government’s rejection of the Tibetan Yellow Book rejects the CTA as a legitimate government and Tibetans-in-exile as having any true and legal nationality.
The ‘Yellow Book’ or Tibetan Identity Card that serves as the exile Tibetan’s travel documents are no longer valid in Sweden.
With each country’s change of policy towards the Tibetan people, the CTA is diminished even more. The biggest blow to the CTA may yet come from its erstwhile friend and strongest supporter, the United States of America. Recent Presidents of the US have been willing to defy Beijing and had not hesitated to meet the Dalai Lama as a head of state. However America, now under the Trump Presidency, seems more interested in building a pragmatic alliance with China than taking an ideological stance on the Tibetan issue. President Trump has openly declared his friendship with Present Xi Jinping and admiration of the Chinese leader. And if that is to be taken to be setting the tone for the US’s attitude towards Tibet, then it is unlikely that America will avail itself as the CTA’s crutch for much longer.
In the meantime the lists of world leaders that are stiff-arming the Tibetan leadership keeps increasing and include the governments of Russia, Denmark and Norway, who have refused to meet with the Dalai Lama. And that is not to mention Pope Francis, the incumbent head of the worldwide Catholic Church. The Dalai Lama is also barred from entering a number of South East Asian countries like Thailand and Malaysia.
Internal Hemorrhaging
If the Tibetan leadership is bleeding from ruptured friendships externally, then it is beginning to hemorrhage internally at the same time. Nothing can disempower the Tibetan leadership more than the loss of trust and confidence of the Tibetan people. And perhaps the clearest indicator that the CTA is fast losing ground is the rising and increasingly open criticisms of the Tibetan leadership by its own disenchanted populace. Culturally the Tibetan people regard a single person, the Dalai Lama, as the greatest benefactor and master without whom there cannot be any secular or spiritual well-being. Unquestioning piety to the Dalai Lama is the norm and expected of all ‘loyal’ Tibetans. Obedience to the spiritual leader and hence his chosen government becomes the highest moral code and, not to swear allegiance to the Dalai Lama and his government is regarded as an act of treason.
Tibetan poster rejecting Sikyong Lobsang Sangay of the CTA.
In the name of the Dalai Lama, the CTA was able to enforce a form of absolutism over the Tibetans-in-exile. It was not at all difficult because Tibet was after all a feudal theocracy prior to 1959 and whilst the CTA publicly promulgated the notion of freedom and democracy, it was able to exact a form of oppression over its own people by the use of physical as well as ideological control at the community level, often enforced by mobs with jingoistic bigotry that the CTA secretly backs.
A good example is the existence of ‘The Secret Society of Eliminators of the External and Internal Enemies of Tibet’ a self-styled taskmaster of the Tibetan leadership’s diktats. In 1996, the Dalai Lama issued an unconstitutional decree banning the worship of a Tibetan Buddhist deity (Dorje Shugden) whose practitioners he regarded to be a nuisance to his control of the Tibetan people. The CTA duly used its Parliament and Cabinet to criminalise the religious practice. And The Secret Society of Eliminators of the External and Internal Enemies of Tibet boldly announced, “Anyone who goes against the policy of the government must be singled out, opposed and given the death penalty”.
These warnings are not merely empty threats and the CTA have been known to resort to violence to subdue critics. Kundeling, a retired Tibetan minister was stabbed multiple times and seriously injured after he publicly voiced his concerns over some of the CTA’s underhanded methods. The attack on Kundeling and other similar cases were constant reminders to all that it is both criminal and blasphemous to question the Dalai Lama and his government.
Earlier on, in 1964 when the Dalai Lama’s brother and members of the Tibetan elite sought to abolish the various Tibetan Buddhist schools as a means of usurping spiritual authority from the heads of these schools, the Tibetan people objected and formed an alliance known as ‘Fourteen Settlements’. A prominent head of the alliance by the name of Gungthang Tsultrim was assassinated at close range and a timely power supply cut aided the assassin’s escape. When caught, the assassin confessed that he was carrying out a job on the orders of the Tibetan cabinet.
When Tsultrim Kalsang Khangkar, a Tibetan academic residing in Japan was accused of criticising the Tibetan leadership, a vicious hate-mail campaign was commissioned to be directed at him. The late Professor Dawa Norbu encountered his fair share of death threats and physical violence for certain views he voiced in the Tibetan Review, deemed uncomplimentary to the Dalai Lama and Tibetan leadership.
Real Democracy Vs CTA’s Absolutism
And so the Tibetan community in exile have every reason to be afraid and this culture of fear has kept the CTA unchecked and unaccountable to anyone since its formation. But if history has taught us anything it is that there comes a time when the people get tired of being pushed around and continually plunged into an abyss of hopelessness and despair. Over half a century of broken promises, unabashed corruption amongst the ruling elite, blatant double standards, gross incompetence of the politicians, and the realisation that the leadership has squandered every opportunity it had to realise the Tibetan dream, has led the Tibetan people to begin openly voicing their disillusionment with the Tibetan leadership, as they have had enough.
Whilst there have been sporadic criticisms of the CTA before by activists such as Jamyang Norbu, the CTA has been quick to neutralize his opinions by stigmatising him as a Dalai Lama hater and that his views make him a traitor to the Tibetans. Essentially the CTA successfully managed to turn Norbu and other critics into outcasts whose ideas and writings are to be rejected by all loyal Tibetans.
It may be easy for the CTA to brand a few critics living away from the exile community as apostates who should be shunned, but when young Tibetans, clearly without any political agenda, question the Tibetan leadership in their naiveté and out of honest curiosity, it is much more difficult for the CTA to demonize them. This was precisely what happened in June 2014 when Sikyong Lobsang Sangay took to a Tibetan school in the Tibetan Children’s Village in what was really a show staged to illustrate the Sikyong’s “openness and liberal mentality”.
Increasing protests against the Dalai Lama and CTA to cease in their oppressive ways and methods to control the Tibetan people.
As the students probed the Sikyong and raised issues of inequality faced by fellow students from households that worshiped Dorje Shugden that the CTA banned but was in denial of, it became clear that even young Tibetan school children could see through the CTA’s veneer and that the CTA’s days of commanding blind obedience was over.
And if anyone needed more evidence for this, then it came in 2017 in response to another hate-campaign the Sikyong Lobsang Sangay instigated against Lukar Jam, a popular candidate for the 2016 Sikyong election whom some say was engineered out of contention. That in turn motivated a member of the Tibetan parliament to call for Lukar to be ostracized as the CTA had done to believers of Dorje Shugden, and many others that the CTA had falsely declared to be enemies of Tibet. See from 1:50:
Or watch on server | download video (right click & save file)
Lukar Jam represented a serious threat to the Tibetan establishment because he was not afraid to voice his thoughts about what needed to change for the Tibetan community. Lukar’s views were different and he had his own opinions, some of which were not complimentary to the old guard. And so when Lukar Jam wrote a harmless poem of farewell to his friend the late Professor Elliot Sperling, Lobsang Sangay, as the CTA had done many times, twisted the eulogy into an anti-Dalai Lama piece.
A Tibetan Parliamentarian using state instruments to persecute the common Tibetan people. Ostracising victims is one of the more common ways for the CTA to deal with its critics. This alone shows that ‘Tibetan democracy’ is a farce.
Another CTA-inspired hate-campaign was spawned and Lukar’s family were threatened and the family car vandalized. But what ensued came as a surprise to all. Instead of recoiling in fear or joining the anti-Lukar chorus, the Tibetan people both in the exile towns as well as those living abroad instead came out in defense of, not so much Lukar, but his right to expression.
Twenty six Tibetan “students and researchers” wrote an Open Letter to politely but firmly condemn the attempt to defame Lukar and stated amongst other things that, “…we are not just particularly concerned about Lukar Jam as an individual per se, which is no less important, rather we feel a sense of responsibility towards the overall democratic space in exile and the global image of HH the Dalai Lama. We urge all Tibetans in general and particularly the members of civil society such as researchers, writers, students and public intellectuals to come forward an engage in safeguarding the democratic space…”
What is noteworthy about the Open Letter is the fact that the Tibetan people are no longer afraid to think for themselves and have decided that they wish to live in liberal society, not the counterfeit democracy that the CTA operates, and that the common people are now ready to accept the responsibility of protecting this freedom. This was a peaceful call to arms to stand up for freedom and democracy, and if democracy is to come about then it must be at the cost of the Tibetan leadership’s often tyrannical autocracy.
Open Letter by Tibetan students calling for the people to safeguard democracy. Click to enlarge
The Open Letter was published on the Tibet Sun website, an English language news portal based in Dharamsala, India, where the Dalai Lama resides and where the CTA is headquartered. A few days later, the news piece mysteriously disappeared from the Tibet Sun website. It is unknown why the Open Letter was taken down but not before the letter set off a string of comments and opinions by Tibetans in India and abroad calling for people’s rights to be upheld. Democracy finally arrived and the people spoke.
Some of the victims of the CTA’s persecutions. From top left, the late Professor Dawa Norbu whose wish for democracy was a threat to the CTA; bottom left, the Tibetan Master Dudjom Rinpoche was declared an enemy of the Tibetan people and imprisoned due to his popularity; bottom middle, Lukar Jam a hero of the Tibetan people and popular candidate of the 2016 Sikyong elections and now the target of the CTA’s attacks; bottom right, the illustrious writer and activist Jamyang Norbu was stigmatized by the CTA for his writings on democracy; and top right, Trijang Choktrul Rinpoche (right) who as a boy had to flee for his life from the CTA.
In response, ‘Students For Lukar Jam’ wrote Are Lukar Jam’s critics trying to damage his reputation?, as a Letter to the Editor of the Tibet Sun website, and in one single letter:
(i) Called out the double standards that the CTA has been practicing:
“Samdhong Rinpoche [ex Prime Minister of the CTA] once said those who make uncalled-for noises carrying Rangzen on their lips were worse than Chinese communists and Shugden followers. Unfortunately, there’s no hue and cry against Rinpoche’s proclamation, which if pronounced in a free society like America, would have garnered torrents of rebuttals. If analysed impartially, there is nothing to suggest that Lukar Jam’s ‘traitor’ comment is in principle any different from Samdhong Rinpoche’s ‘Chinese communist/Shugden’ comment. You have stated Mr Jam’s comment hurt the sentiment of many Tibetans. But by the same token, don’t you believe Samdhong Rinpoche’s comment has similarly hurt many freedom-loving Tibetans and Tibet supporters alike”?
(ii) Alluded to the fact that both the Dalai Lama and the CTA are wrong in the way they banned a religion and have infringed on the people’s human rights in the Dorje Shugden issue:
“The way to deal with the Shugden issue is to guarantee freedom of religion to its practitioners and separate it from politics altogether”.
(iii) Directly compared the Tibetan leadership-in-exile to that of dictatorial regimes:
“What is the difference between ‘attacking’ the Dalai Lama and ‘criticising’ the Dalai Lama? If he means criticism, then the answer to his anguished puzzlement is easy. He is criticising Dalai Lama because he found reasons to criticise. Show me a single democratic nation where criticism of the leaders is not allowed? I will show you a basketful of states banning criticism of its leaders: North Korea, Sudan, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Syria. You get the idea. Just as apostles of the Middle-path policy have the right to speak, and say Rangzen followers are ‘more dangerous than Chinese Communists’, Independence champions have the equal right to speak, and say Middle-path followers are ‘traitors’. Failing to acknowledge this irony and gap in logic is but an indicator of entrenched narcissism”.
Note: What is important to note here is not only that ‘Students For Lukar Jam’ felt compelled to express his views albeit anonymously, but also that Tibet Sun felt it was important to have the views of ‘Students For Lukar Jam’ published in the spirit of freedom of speech.
In Open letter to Sikyong on Mr Lukar Jam’s security, again part of the Letters to the Editor section of Tibet Sun, Sonam, a Tibetan in the USA wrote:
(i) Questioning if the Sikyong will uphold the people’s right to free speech since the CTA purports to be a democracy but in fact does not operate as one:
“Freedom of speech is the cornerstone of democracy. What is the value of free speech if the exile government condemn expressions by the public? What is the point of free speech if we draw a line in the sand and say, “Well, you have free speech. But you don’t have free speech if you say things we don’t like to hear.”?
(ii) Recognising that the CTA has shown no regard for the principles of democracy:
“By and large, what is an ongoing affair of Mr Jam is not an isolated incident, but is symptomatic of a larger, more pervasive trend in the exile diaspora. We want to educate children, we fight against lack of free speech in Tibet, we say we are a great democracy. But the record shows that the Tibetan community continues to have a very poor record in defending the free speech of our intellectuals and thinkers. We have in the past 60 years managed to produce only a handful of intellectuals, but weird as it may sound, the Tibetan government in exile seem to have no respect for any of them. Remember Dawa Norbu. Remember Jamayang Norbu. Remember Lukar Jam. In the western democracies, the governments routinely protect outspoken individuals whose views are at odds with the larger public, and it is deemed the positive obligation of the state to give protection”.
(iii) Stating a fact that those who do not toe the Tibetan leadership’s line are often met with violence and harm:
“But who is going to protect Mr Jam if physical attacks happen against him? Judging by the hue and cry surrounding his controversial Facebook post, a real risk to his life can not be ruled out.
I am writing, your honour, to ask if you could guarantee that Mr Jam’s constitutional freedoms will protected at any cost, and that he be provided personal security against vigilante attacks. In the event that protection is refused, then a group of activists will approach the Indian government for his security”.
Similarly in Jigme Wangchuk’s Lukar Jam Atsok, The ‘People-Elected’ Opponent of The Dalai Lama, on the Tibetan Journal website, he wrote:
(i) That pressure from the CTA is tantamount to gagging free speech which is necessary for the process of democracy to mature:
“Direct criticisms from the Tibetan Prime Minister’s office have not made it easier for critiques and writers to voice their concerns about the movement”.
(ii) That the CTA’s behaviour towards the Tibetan people’s freedom is no different to that of Chinese troops:
“When a writer like Lukar Jam criticizes the Middle Way policy, he has all the rights and sensibilities to share his own opinion on the matter no matter how disagreeable his views are. Criticising the Tibet policy is not anti-Dalai Lama, as is wishing that Sperling had gone on to live 113 years.
Attack on writers and critiques are akin to Chinese troops subjecting ‘separatists’ to imprisonment”.
And the comments go on, each one an erosion of the norms that have enshrined the Tibetan leadership’s oppression of the people for centuries. And so begins the process of evolution of the common Tibetan people, from a silent community living under the long shadows of their past serfdom to a people who are now aware of their rights and have finally found a voice to shatter the silence they have been subjected to by the CTA.
Doors are closing on the Tibetan cause due to half a century of corruption and mismanagement of the CTA.
A government is only potent if it has the trust and confidence of the people, or if it is prepared to subject its people to its will by sheer might and military force, or for as long as it can keep its people living in a hypnotic state and operating on expired hopes and borrowed memories. The third has been the CTA’s method that has worked wonderfully until now. The Tibetans in exile are now progressively third generation refugees who have seen how the people of the world live, how governments are called to account, and the difference between freedom and oppression. They have seen how the Tibetan exile community remain lost and without a recognisable or authentic identity – they are not citizens of Tibet, nor are they Chinese or indeed Indian. Following the CTA has resulted in three generations of loyal Tibetans living in a state of flux as CTA politicians enriched themselves on the gravy train fraudulently labelled the ‘Tibetan cause’. If the Tibetan leadership has failed to be of any value to nations who stand with it against China then it is failing to be of any relevance to its own people. As Sikyong Lobsang Sangay globe trots to peddle old and tired rhetoric, he is looking much less as a hero of a disenfranchised people and more like a ringmaster of a fast emptying menagerie.
English
Indonesia
Tibetan
samayakeeper
May 19, 2017
The CTA may have no one and nothing to depend on when the Dalai Lama decided to take a rebirth. No educated Tibetan with a clear head would want CTA to continuing ruling Tibetans in exile for there is not much aid and improvement for the daily lives of the common people that have been meted out to them by CTA. And with the increasing number of other countries not welcoming the Dalai Lama, it may just a question of time the CTA crumples.
Rangzen for Tibet
May 20, 2017
This is a very well written piece of truth. Thank you for highlighting what Tibetans in exile are really going through. We cannot say much because if we do, we will lose everything. Sometimes I wonder when will there be a new fresh change but never dare to voice it out. Those who are rich, they are the lucky ones, they get out sooner and they leave to another country. Those of us who have no means, we are stuck.
Now with more countries ignoring the CTA and not allowing HH the Dalai Lama to enter, maybe they will start thinking to better their ways and stop creating so many unnecessary issues amongst Tibetans. Why are they so silly to cause so many fights and disharmony internally? Why create disunity amongst us. Tibetans are Tibetans and should not be divided due to our beliefs. That is just nonsense and this is what makes us weak and people laughing at us.
Good leaders will bring peace, harmony and prosperity to their people, not to their own pockets only. I think the world is starting to see how insignificant the CTA is going to be, hence not many are interested in entertaining His Holiness or the CTA. Slowly they will be totally forgotten.
Camillia
May 21, 2017
This is a thorough article with voluminous supporting evidence of the misdeed of the CTA as well as the governance and threadbare popularity of Dharamsala. It is only logical for the nations like Switzerland, UK and India to revise their diplomatic relationship with Dharamsala because one cannot help but felt used and being played out by the six-decades-old victim card. Let’s us put aside for a moment that the recent economy achievement of China is the main reason for the stiff-arm treatment; Dharamsala had been soliciting donations and sponsorships from the West for decades, yet there is no improvement nor progression on the cause of Tibet as well as the welfare of the people.
No sane government will like to see their charity fund goes into the various sinister machinery of the CTA and Dharamsala to fan schism and hatred towards a certain religious sect, like Dorje Shugden only because the Dharamsala has a political advantage to do so. Absolutism has to go.
Kedrub
May 22, 2017
We Tibetan people in America and Euripe are sick of CTA and their politics. They don’t help us but only make more trouble. I am not interested in religion, but they desetroy the religion of the Tibetan peopel.
CTA must close down and resign
Guest
May 29, 2017
I think it just got worse for the Tibetan refugees with Donal Trump proposing to Congress to cut all aid to the Tibetans. Frankly I don’t see Congress going along with it but this is a clear indication that the Tibetan issue is on its last leg. Don’t know how the Dalai Lama is going to turn this around. He has done some amazing things but won’t be able to turn back the tide.
Personally I feel badly for the Tibetan people but they have lame leadership and the Dalai Lama is out of touch.
The Dorje Shugden issue turns out to be a prickly issue that the CTA created and now cannot handle. I think many people including this website would not have gotten involved and stand in opposition of the CTA if they had not persecuted so many people, kept going with their hate propaganda and then obscene lied about it.
The CTA has spent much of its time and effort in dividing and ruling the Tibetans. They lost sight of the fact that everything has repercussions. Or maybe they got too proud.
For me, I am already sick and tired hearing about the Tibetan problem. China did take their country but most countries in the world today have been conquered and besieged one time or another. People have been displaced throughout history and its just a fact. It doesn’t make it right but its a fact.
For example, if a man lost his entire family in a brutal murder and only one child survived, yes he got dealt a bad hand in life but he can pick up the pieces and try and make a life or he can go to ruins and blame the loss of his family forever. the life and future of the surviving child depends on the man’s choices.
But I do agree that in the CTA’s case, being refugee is a trade. Maybe it didn’t start out as that but along the way they gave up real hope and started making money instead.
sierra
June 6, 2017
As all the refugees across the world and throughout history learned that they do have to move forward and assimilate into the country of asylum, the Tibetans should have done so. They cannot squat on someone’s land and wait for deliverance.
After 60 years, they still have not moved on and are still on Indian soil on temporary arrangements to house them. What has the CTA done to change that situation seeing that they now are running out of time.
All this spinning of the Dorje Shugden issue, the divide among the Karmapa issue, the 11th Panchen Lama issue will probably help the Tibetans in exile dig a deeper grave as they focus on nit-picking and not the issue of where they go as a people.
All these posturing by the CTA and blame game must end if the Tibetans wishes to have a future as a race and as a people.
bambi
June 28, 2017
How sad to see the Tibetans in exile are being treated. They don’t have any ‘identity’ to be called their own.
But on the other hand, great to know that the younger generation are learning to question. They see from their own eyes what is happening and they are not afraid to speak up like the older generations. Its healthy to learn and know more so that they will know what is happening within their community. And what they can do to help.
I cannot imagine what it would be like to no have freedom of speech. Just imagine how it feels like not being able to express yourself. The more CTA try to suppress their people, the more they will retaliate and rebel. How many can the CTA shut up? With the age of internet and social media, many will learn and catch up with what is really going on.
CTA, please stop causing disunity. You will have nothing left by the time you realise. Doing more damage to your own people than anything good. Be open. Listen to your people’s needs and wants. Don’t let religion be the cause of disunity and persecution. Take care of your people. Their interests should come before your selfish needs, which has brought nothing good to your people.
Belinda Mae
June 28, 2017
What is happening now for the Tibetan-in-exile? Most of the neighboring countries are rejecting CTA including India itself is setting an expiry date with the CTA. I really cannot imagine what will happen after the expiry date. Will the Tibetans be send back to Tibet or they become refugees in other countries which is a nightmare for the Tibetans. Whatever the CTA is doing at the moment is not helping their people. They are only making it worse. Many countries are also pulling away their funding to CTA and barred Dalai Lama from entering their country. This is totally not a good sign for them. The CTA better bucked up before it’s too late. May this be the end of the Dorje Shugden ban.
Tenzin K
June 28, 2017
The way of how CTA govern the people no longer work. Their ineffectiveness is very obvious and their selfishness and violent act separating their people and not taking care of their people are being question now.
The world no longer buy in with CTA after close to 60 years requesting for support and nothing has been done to their people. Even Tibetan also starting to loose hope and the youth which are educated are questioning on CTA act now.
CTA has only HH Dalai Lama as his last card (sad to say) and did nothing to support HH and fellow Tibetan. Time is running out and more people will question CTA and later I wonder who else will support them.
CTA has shut down democracy, religious freedom, human rights and promote discrimination, violent, segregation for the longest time. Time will show result. Hope they realise and make a good change.
Geraldine Sarie
June 28, 2017
Sad,sad,sad. What CTA have started the negligence on their people needs and here are the caused. The world is into evolution and people are getting smarter by generations. But the growing of CTA is back on time and rigid. Many young Tibetan draws into curiosity in questioning over the issue of Tibetan in exile which virtually a wake-up call to CTA of their leadership misconduct. Should the CTA remain as they are or get a change?
Dondrup Shugden
June 28, 2017
“the CTA failed monumentally in building on the trust and support afforded it for decades and instead overplayed its part as victim and offered virtually no benefits to any nation to continue supporting it.”
I love this quote from the above article by Sashi Kei. It is true that after supporting something that showed no results nor progress, the World supporters are weary of this self inflicted victim story. Instead of any more compassion, the CTA and what it represents has become “high maintenance” especially when donations had been given freely for the last 60 years with no returns to donors on the simple equation to “Human Rights of its people”. An equation all Western governments stand for.
CTA may and can find ways to hide the mess created outside of the Tibetan in exile community, but how can they shield themselves from internal questionings from its own people.
To topple the CTA is not easy but at least congratulations to the new generations of Tibetans who are starting to question. May democracy prevail and the Tibetans in exile have the right of answers from CTA.
No more bullying, no more restrictions to human rights and no more illegal ban against Dorje Shugden.
Anonymous
June 28, 2017
Time is running out for CTA now that support for CTA is also drastically diminishing. US already stopping their financial support and then there is this global economic depression that will further push others away. Situation is even more critical for CTA especially when Dalai Lama passes on. I remember reading one of the article somewhere that Dalai Lama would not be reincarnating again after this life. The citizens look highly onto Dalai Lama and spiritually bonded to His Holiness. Once there is no reincarnation of Dalai Lama, who else are they going to turn to and also then CTA’s way of trying to influence it’s resident Tibetans will be harder. For me, people listen to Dalai Lama and not CTA. CTA’s way of making people listen to them is by using ‘force’ and blackmailing. And then we are reading more Tibetans are heading back to their homeland for greener pastures. The CTA days are really going to be numbered.
vajra-NMD
June 28, 2017
Maybe is time for CTA to going ” down ” , I don’t really like to involve in political issues, Always wish that the Ban of Dorje Shguden realease soon.
Antree Road
June 28, 2017
CTA get money and support from various countries all these years due to their “in exile’ status, but getting the support and money does not make them better, it does not ease the suffering of Tibetan citizen, the money has went into “you know who’s” pocket and CTA used the money to run campaign to defame Dorje Shugden and harm the practitioners, they done so much harm in the name of Tibetan unity and reclaim Tibet, but by doing these can reclaim back their country?
CTA has created great stance on opposing China who took their country, now great, due to the influence of China, many those countries who has been supporting CTA are withdrawing their support towards them, because these countries are getting closer to China.
If CTA have been utilize the money and support well for the past 60 years, if they have been doing what they should be doing, by now, they will be alright even without anymore support or contributions, they will be able to support themselves very well but now… yes, it is a great nightmare to them or should I say it’s a dooms day to them?
Vajra10
June 28, 2017
I hope CTA can think and act wisely as a government of one country, if they really wish to be one.. Make their people as their priority, improve people’s livings, this is the core task of a government, nothing else.
Richard LakTam
June 28, 2017
The world is not blind. 60 years, the world has been funding and supporting Tibetan in exile government (CTA) for 60 years! And yet, they don’t show any result, no improvement, and they still want to do all the things that break up their own people, which is against human rights and democracy. The world is not blind.Yet, CTA is still thinking that they are doing the right thing. I say, Lobsang Sangay is still dreaming.
From the politics point of view, now China is a giant in the world economy. They (China) fork out money to help those countries that are in need. In a way, it can be said, China manipulate it from the financial side. As such, which country would be enemy with China? Maybe a hand full countries still will not befriended China, be how much can a hand full help CTA? Even one of the world giant USA befriended China. What else can India say? It won’t be surprise that one day India put a deadline on the host of Tibetan in exile.
Yes, time is running out for CTA, they are facing deadline. Should I say…. karma ripen?
Wisdommind
June 28, 2017
Different countries has refugee has become an issue of the world this day. Due to protect human right and their freedom. International countries are trying their best to help to settle down the refugee, find suitabal home to stay. Tibetan refugee has received do many help from internation for the pass 60 year already. The gobal refugee issue and turn internstional countries attention to others refugees.
One of the fact, many countries are not willingly to fright again China and look for friendship working with the China because China growth so much and leading economy in the world.
The sad thing is Tibetan Exile gavornment has fail badly to gain refugee trust back to their countries and breaking their own tibetan refugee with the manic politicle to control them. Put down people religion practice freedom. It force them have to separate among them and leaving India and go to different countries.Is time for CTA to realise what mistake they had created and find way to help their people and not create more suffering for their own refugee.
Tianni
June 28, 2017
I like the author said “Tibetan leadership’s minds carelessly, they allowed themselves to forget an important dictum in politics – there are no permanent friends and no permanent enemies, only permanent interests”. Obviously this is an absence of “real” politic parties in CTA, The leader of CTA Lobsang Sangay himself is without experience in government, business or management, too “young” in politic world. As such, CTA still need to rely on HH Dalai Lama. Therefore when HH Dalai Lama decided to take rebirth, CTA has no one to depend on. And the current situation is more and more countries have rejected the Dalai Lama’s visit in order to please China, if HH Dalai Lama was also blocked by so many countries, what is the CTA have to survive in this political world? Lift the ban of Dorje Shugden is a first step to show your democracy that is religious freedom, and unite all Tibetan, no more shugden and non shugden practitioner, everyone is Buddhist, at least this is an opportunity to grow strong to face all challenges for all Tibetan.
Pema
June 28, 2017
It is such a disaster for the Tibetan community that the Tibetans are treated like this! It is quite unbelievable that especially Tibet, with such strong religious background, has to be put on the same level as “North Korea, Sudan, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Syria”.
These are the few countries who are banning criticism of its leaders. And they don’t stop even in front of religion. Banning a beneficial and hundreds of years old practice, Dorje Shugden and destroying so many people’s lifes because of it.
When does this end? May the ban on Dorje Shugden be ended as soon as possible.
Elibuchen
July 1, 2017
This crisis of government not remaining sympathetic to CTA’s causes, has been brewing for sometime now.
As more governments want to engage with a global minded China, CTA has seen at least an 80% reduction of its once support. Whether we call it karma or just reaping what you sow, or just an inept CTA, there are definitely causes that are bringing about such conditions.
China now has charmed the West and is being wooed by all Western Nations, who is making all the right moves, and saying the right things. I hope the Tibetans in exile can start to see, how much CTA’s policies and administration has been to Tibetans and their causes etc.
Pema Norbu
September 15, 2017
This clear video shows His Holiness the Dalai Lama asking the monasteries to expel monks that practice Dorje Shugden. Click here to watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTgYWidYw3U
Tsering Gonkatsang
September 30, 2017
Member of Parliament Tenpa Yarphel is a hero. He is speaking up for free speech and freedom of expression. He is exercising his rights, he is standing up for logical democracy which is the only way forward and not having to contact spirits like Nechung via oracles to make decisions that impact people’s lives. But look how people speak about him in the comments, so rude and nasty. It really represents the Dalai Lama badly as they are supporting Dalai Lama beings so rude: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if2dFMKIr_8
They say we need to believe in Nechung and follow what he says. But in 2009 Nechung said the Dalai Lama would go back to Tibet and that everyone would be happy. A monk from Nechung Monastery is the one that told everyone about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIDZLzXIgW8. But Nechung was wrong. It has been eight years and this has not happened. The Dalai Lama did not return to Tibet. Nechung being consulted by Tibetan government in exile is backwards. No governments do this in the civilized world.
When people like Tenpa Yarphel speak up and are real patriots of the Tibetan people, they are attacked by other people. In fact people even protest like this man who shaves his hair: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M30NL4hG8oA. People like these are actually protesting against Tenpa Yarphel’s democratic rights and freedom of speech. Tibetans by criticizing Tenpa Yarphel shows they are far from democracy. Besides many of the other Kagyu leaders such as Drigung Chetsang Rinpoche, Drukchen Rinpoche, Karmapa Thaye Dorje all did not say anything against Tenpa Yarphel that represents the Kagyus.
Dalai Lama had said that is his minister of cabinet in the government. Even though it is clear that Nechung is unreliable and a spirit, the Dalai Lama continues to rely heavily on Nechung and other oracles who take trance of spirits. He invites Nechung to all his events and allow him to take trance in centre stage always. In fact the Dalai Lama even calls the oracles to his own private bedroom: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x62ocw1.
These practices show how Tibetan government is run.
Tashi, Delhi
October 20, 2017
What is the CTA for a club? Going around pretending to be a democracy and only because of HH Dalai Lama they can make some foreign people believe it but it seems that karma is coming back.
The CTA is suppressing its own people and having a good life with the money originally meant for the Tibetan people. On top, their elections are a farce!
Listen here to Tenpa Yarphel who questions about the reliance of the Tibetan Government to Nechung, an oracle, which is understandable already but on top Nechung’s predictions seem to create more problems than anything else. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuKOjcpLH8A
What happens to Tenpa Yarphel now that he speaks up? Tibetans have started a Facebook page against Tenpa Yarphel and protest against him: http://bit.ly/2ysowTH. They even ask Tenpa Yarphel to resign: http://bit.ly/2zAH2af
So much for the “Democratic” Tibetan Government!!
TseringD, Delhi
October 29, 2017
Nechung is ZUMA 👎 before I m think he is one of d best when I m watch dis video By Geshe Dorjee la but now I m think is not d truth n he is lie to Tibet people we r not back to Tibet yt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIDZLzXIgW8 Chithue Tenpa Yarphel la tq for talk about truth of Nechung . I m watch to this video many time la https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if2dFMKIr_8 n after I hear you talk I m not belief to Nechung
Tenzin Ngawang
November 17, 2017
China knows how to display its power
https://youtu.be/Na3lcejmqZ4
The CTA does not know how to behave themselves and that is why they are weak and powerless
Lhakpa Dhendup
August 11, 2018
What will the all the people around the world and in Tibet do now? Dalai Lama says he is happy that Tibet is a part of China and should remain a part of China. So many Tibetans self-immolated for Tibet to be independent and now Dalai Lama did a 360 degree turn and says he wants to go back to Tibet and China and Tibet should be a part of China. So unbelievable. So many are angry and disappointed.
Dalai Lama should set things right
August 12, 2018
Dear Dalai Lama,
Since you started the cruel ban against the 350 year Dorje Shugden practice, how has it benefit your Tibetan society and Buddhism in the world? Things have become worse and most educated Tibetans can see this. They don’t speak out not because they don’t see your ban as wrong, but you instill fear in them and not respect. It is like fear of a dictator. I am sorry to say so. Everyone is divided. There is no harmony. Before your ban there was more harmony and unity.
By enacting the ban, you split the monasteries, split so many families, split regions in Tibet apart, split your disciples from you, split your own gurus from you, split Tibetan Buddhism apart. You have created so much disharmony.
It is not democratic what you have done to ban a religion within your community. You always talk of tolerance and acceptance and democracy and yet you do not accept and tolerate something different from your beliefs. When people practice Dorje Shugden you ostracize them, ban them from seeing you, ban them from using Tibetan facilities. You know you have done that. There are videos that capture your speech and prove this point. You even had people expelled from monasteries just because they practice Dorje Shugden. Some of the monks you expelled have been in the monastery for over 40 years. Many older monks shed tears because of this.
Many young educated Tibetans lost confidence in you as they saw the damage the Dorje Shugden ban created and they lose hope. Many have become free thinkers. They reject what you have done. So many people in the west left Buddhism because of the confusion you created with this ban against Dorje Shugden which is immoral.
You could of had millions of people who practice Dorje Shugden to support, love and follow you, but you scared them away. They are hurt and very disappointed. They loved you and respected you deeply before the ban. It has been 60 years and you have failed to get Tibet back. Your biggest failure is not getting Tibet back after 57 years in exile. Now you are begging China to allow you to return to Tibet to the disappointment of thousands of people who fought for a free Tibet believing in you. So many self-immolated for a free Tibet and now you want Tibet to be a part of China with no referendum from Tibetans. Just like a dictator, you decide on your own. It was your government and you that lost Tibet in the first place. Your policies and style of doing things do not benefit Tibet and Buddhism. You have been the sole ruler of Tibet your whole life and you still have not gotten our country of Tibet back for us. Our families and us are separated. Yet you create more pain by creating a ban to further divide people. Please have compassion.
No other Buddhist leader has banned or condemned any religion except for you. It looks very bad. You are a Nobel laureate and this is not fitting of a laureate. You should unite people and not separate them by religious differences.
You said Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi did not do right to the Rohingya people in Myanmar due to religious differences, but you are doing the same thing to the Shugden Buddhists within your own society. There is a parallel in this. You separate the Shugden Buddhists from the others in Tibetan society.
You have lost so many people who would have loved and supported you. You have lost so much support around the world. The Shugden Buddhists who love you number in the millions. When you are fast losing support from governments and private people, it will not do you well to lose more.
After you are passed away in the future, the rift you created between the Dorje Shugden and non-Dorje Shugden people will remain for a while and that will be your legacy. Disharmony. You will be remembered for this. Not as a hero but a disharmony creator.
Dorje Shugden will spread and further grow, but you will be no more as you are a human. No one wishes you bad and in fact we hope you have a long and healthy life, but we have lost so much hope and have so much despair because of you. All the hundreds of Dorje Shugden lamas, tulkus and geshes are maturing and there are hundreds of Dorje Shugden monasteries in Tibet who will not give up Dorje Shugden. You have made a mistake. These hundreds of teachers and teachers to be will spread Dorje Shugden further in the future.
The gurus that gave us Dorje Shugden as a spiritual practice and you have called these holy gurus wrong and they are mistaken in giving us Dorje Shugden. How can you insult our gurus whom we respect so much? If they can be wrong, then you can be wrong. Then all gurus can be wrong. So no one needs to listen to any guru? You have created this trend. It is not healthy. Your own gurus practiced Dorje Shugden their whole lives. Your own gurus were exemplary and highly learned.
Dalai Lama you have created so much pain with this ban against so many people due to religion. You are ageing fast. Are you going to do anything about it or stay stubborn, hard and un-moving. You show a smile and preach peace and harmony wherever you go. But will you do the same to your own people? Please rectify the wrong you have done. Please before it is too late. You can create harmony again or you can pass away in the future with this legacy of peace. May you live long and think carefully and admit what was a mistake in having this unethical ban against Dorje Shugden religion.
Ayana
August 16, 2018
Why doesn’t the United States and its allies end Refugee Status for the useless Tibetans? They have been refugees for 60 years now and don’t tell me they still cannot get their lives back in order?
Tibetans really know how to put on a good show and use people, take their money and do nothing in return.
Ojas
August 18, 2018
Supreme Court of India JUSTICE Mr. MARKANDEY KATJU (RETD) writes that Tibet is much better under the Chinese than it was under the lamas who only wanted to make the populace slaves. It was feudal and it will never return to the backwardness again.
Yoezer
August 19, 2018
While the government of Nepal has framed a policy to tighten the noose around non-governmental organisations, they have welcomed 30 Chinese NGOs to enter the country. These NGOs will penetrate the country’s social sector at the grassroots level. This is the first time such a large number of Chinese NGOs have entered Nepal at one time. Nepal is increasingly open to Chinese influence, a sign that ties between both countries are strengthening, while India’s influence is being reduced. The time has passed for India’s monopoly to remain uninterrupted in Nepal as opportunities to engage with China are being welcomed.
Vardaniya
August 24, 2018
The cracks in Tibetan society are starting to show, and it is now coming to the attention of local Indians who have all but identified the Tibetan leadership as the source of the divisions. According to this author, disunity amongst the Tibetans is now creating problems for Indian law enforcement agencies, and this disunity may culminate in young Tibetans holding silent grudges against their host country. It is incredible that after six decades of generosity from India, Indians are now facing the very real possibility Tibetans can be ungrateful towards India. The Tibetan leadership totally failed to impart positive values upon their exiled community, like gratitude for those kindest to them and the need to repay these kindnesses with real, tangible results. It’s also very unlikely that the Tibetan leadership will now start to do this, after six decades of failing to do so. Indians need to realise this, and see that there is no benefit for their nation to align themselves with the Tibetan leadership, and there never will be.
Maya
August 24, 2018
Although the Dalai Lama has offered an apology, the Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) still expressed their disappointment over his controversial comment on Nehru, the Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC). Dalai Lama called Nehru self-centred.
The Congress said Dalai Lama being a foreigner should shun and refrain from interfering in the internal as well as external affairs of India.
Tracy
October 2, 2019
If anyone asks why the Tibetans are still not progressing, this is the reason why they refuse to move on. They know very well that China is getting stronger and more powerful every day, instead of fighting against China, they should cooperate with them. Many countries that are friendly with China have benefitted in some way or another.
The Tibetan leaders have their own agenda for going against China. If the Tibet issue is not resolved, they can continue to get free money from their sponsors. They use the issue to victimise themselves to get more financial support.
Even though the Tibetan leaders act like they are fighting to free Tibet but they are not. After 60 years of struggles, they don’t spend time to really look into why, they put the blame on Dorje Shugden. They distract people from scrutinise their failure by creating many issues within the Tibetan community including the two Karmapas issue.
Drolma
December 1, 2019
After 60 years of struggling, Tibetans are still struggling. The promise from the CTA to bring Tibetans back to Tibet was never fulfilled and the CTA still wants the Tibetans to wait. How effective and efficient is the CTA? They are given so much time to resolve the Tibet issue but until today, the situation between China and the CTA is still the same. Even the Dalai Lama has given up hopes on the CTA. The Dalai Lama sees how China has helped the Tibetans in China, the living conditions in Tibet is so much better than in India. Result is everything, no one has another 60 years to give the CTA to make free Tibet movement a success. It will be better to stay with China.