There are high hopes for the new prime minister. I just hope it won't be like Afghanistan's prime minister, a token puppet in place to satisfy international concerns and keep the situation under wraps and control.
You don't here anything about Afghanistan anymore do you? Would this be any different?
It sounds promising for now, but i were China I would be very concerned as the Tibetans generation today is very far removed from a spiritual background, they have influence of what other cultures and religions are doing for their causes (suicide bombing, international terrorism) all it takes is for them to just get more aggressive and they have a whole new ball game to deal with.
This is a very interesting discussion as CHANGE is set in motion as we speak with the installation of a new Prime Minister, Lobsang Sangay.
This is what I have found about Lobsang Sangay from [url]http://www.kalontripa.org/endorse/see-all-nominees/76.html[/url]
Lobsang Sangay la grew up in a Tibetan settlement and attended CST in Darjeeling. He completed his B.A. (Honors) and LLB from Delhi University. In 1992, he was elected as the youngest executive member of the Tibetan Youth Congress (CENTREX).
In 1996, as a Fulbright Scholar, he obtained Masters degree and in 2004, Doctorate in Law from Harvard Law School, the first Tibetan to receive this degree and his dissertation, Democracy and History of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile from 1959-2004 was awarded the Yong K. Kim' 95 Prize for Excellence. In 2005, he was granted waiver by the Department of Education to continue his academic work in the US.
Mr. Sangay is an expert on International Law, Democratic Constitutionalism, and Conflict Resolution. He has spoken in hundreds of seminars around the world and debated with renowned Chinese scholars from top universities in China and is well versed in contemporary Chinese politics and legal issues. He organized seven major conferences among Chinese, Tibetan, Indian and Western scholars including two unprecedented meeting between H.H. the Dalai Lama and Chinese scholars in 2003, and in 2009 at Harvard University.
In 2007, he was selected as one of the twenty-four Young Leaders of Asia by the Asia Society and a delegate to the World Justice Forum in Vienna, Austria, where top legal experts and judges from around the world congregate.
In 2008, he testified as an expert before the US Senate Foreign Relations Sub-committee on East Asia and Pacific Affairs, along with the United States Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte.
He regularly visits Dharamsala and interacts with Tibetan government officials at every level. He has given numerous lectures and workshops in and around Dharamsala and visited many of the Tibetan refugee settlements, monasteries and schools in India. He coordinates the Tibetan Nutritional Project aiding dozen schools in India through Sherig Lekhung.
There are high hopes for the new prime minister. I just hope it won't be like Afghanistan's prime minister, a token puppet in place to satisfy international concerns and keep the situation under wraps and control.
You don't here anything about Afghanistan anymore do you? Would this be any different?
It sounds promising for now, but i were China I would be very concerned as the Tibetans generation today is very far removed from a spiritual background, they have influence of what other cultures and religions are doing for their causes (suicide bombing, international terrorism) all it takes is for them to just get more aggressive and they have a whole new ball game to deal with.
Yes i have heard that actually the Dalai Lama is the one keeping the aggression of the Tibetan independence movement under control. So when the Dalai Lama steps down - now on the secular level and then spiritually when he passes - there is speculation that the leash on the pro-independence rebels will be released and there could be violent repercussions. Let's hope that Dorje Shugden protects Tibetans so that there are no casualties due to wrong views.
There are groups within the Exiled Tibetan communities who wish to be more violent or more virulent in their approach to Tibetan Independence, but it is ill founded.
They are too little in number, no financial backing and no backing from any government in the world. What government will benefit from a Free Tibet? No one. Why would anyone put resources towards this? Not practical.
What everyone wants now is a stable China. If Dalai Lama passes and Tibetans try their hands at violence, it will be pure suicide and no one will come to their aid. It is better to work with the Chinese within Tibet to preserve the religion, culture and unique way of life. After all a preserved Tibetan culture will benefit China also. I do not agree with China taking over Tibet decades ago, but we have to work with the current situation and the actual circumstances. Reality is important to face now. I am sorry for the many Tibetans that have suffered, but we must work a solution that no more will suffer in the future.
There are groups within the Exiled Tibetan communities who wish to be more violent or more virulent in their approach to Tibetan Independence, but it is ill founded.
They are too little in number, no financial backing and no backing from any government in the world. What government will benefit from a Free Tibet? No one. Why would anyone put resources towards this? Not practical.
What everyone wants now is a stable China. If Dalai Lama passes and Tibetans try their hands at violence, it will be pure suicide and no one will come to their aid. It is better to work with the Chinese within Tibet to preserve the religion, culture and unique way of life. After all a preserved Tibetan culture will benefit China also. I do not agree with China taking over Tibet decades ago, but we have to work with the current situation and the actual circumstances. Reality is important to face now. I am sorry for the many Tibetans that have suffered, but we must work a solution that no more will suffer in the future.
Mr. Sangay is an expert on International Law, Democratic Constitutionalism, and Conflict Resolution. He has spoken in hundreds of seminars around the world and debated with renowned Chinese scholars from top universities in China and is well versed in contemporary Chinese politics and legal issues. He organized seven major conferences among Chinese, Tibetan, Indian and Western scholars including two unprecedented meeting between H.H. the Dalai Lama and Chinese scholars in 2003, and in 2009 at Harvard University.
[/b][/color]
Almost 83,400 Tibetan exiles were eligible to vote and more than 49,000 ballots were cast, he said.
Tenzin Tethong, a former representative of the Dalai Lama in the US, got 37.4% of the vote and Tashi Wangdi, a government-in-exile bureaucrat, received 6.4%.
The 42-year-old winner is an Indian-born legal expert who has never lived in Tibet. His father fled Tibet in 1959, the same year as the Dalai Lama.
He says he will move to Dharamsala to serve as prime minister and that he supports the Dalai Lama's stance on ties with China.
His win in the elections did not please most of the Tibetan Govt people. Lobsang Sangay is very outspoken and direct. The old stalwarts in the current Tibetan Govt do not like this style. They do not like to be criticized in any way although they have failed in such a dismal manner. So it is a open dislike of him. If you visit the various Tibetan forums, they criticize Lobsang Sangay vehemently and he didn't even take office yet.
It will not be easy for the Tibetans to switch to democracy. They have no idea what real democracy really is. They have been under a Monarchy for hundreds of years. Sometimes brutal. Even till now they have made no progress in autonomy with China. China has given no concessions whatsoever. Even if after the Dalai Lama passes away and the remaining handful of Tibetans go violent, they will be crushed immediately and silenced forever. Tibetans are not very capable to run a real govt, if they were, they would not have lost their country and immersed the world in so many Tibetan Buddhist controversies such as two karmapas, Shugden ban, Panchen kidnap, Chushi Gangdruk, Serpom, Shar Gaden and so on and on.
Nevertheless it will be interesting to see how the new prime minister of Tibet's saga unfolds.
TK
His win in the elections did not please most of the Tibetan Govt people. Lobsang Sangay is very outspoken and direct. The old stalwarts in the current Tibetan Govt do not like this style. They do not like to be criticized in any way although they have failed in such a dismal manner. So it is a open dislike of him. If you visit the various Tibetan forums, they criticize Lobsang Sangay vehemently and he didn't even take office yet.
It will not be easy for the Tibetans to switch to democracy. They have no idea what real democracy really is. They have been under a Monarchy for hundreds of years. Sometimes brutal. Even till now they have made no progress in autonomy with China. China has given no concessions whatsoever. Even if after the Dalai Lama passes away and the remaining handful of Tibetans go violent, they will be crushed immediately and silenced forever. Tibetans are not very capable to run a real govt, if they were, they would not have lost their country and immersed the world in so many Tibetan Buddhist controversies such as two karmapas, Shugden ban, Panchen kidnap, Chushi Gangdruk, Serpom, Shar Gaden and so on and on.
Nevertheless it will be interesting to see how the new prime minister of Tibet's saga unfolds.
TK
That sounds so daft. Surely he was elected because he won the majority vote...but the majority don't like him? So why did they vote for him? So it really does mean they have no idea what real democracy is...they're complaining about their own choice!
Come on - even Barack had a year before the hounds closed in.
I just came across this article which says that Lobsang Sangay "will share the leadership of the Tibetan exiles with the Karmapa Lama, who will replace the Dalai Lama as the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism following his death."
This is the first I have heard of it - did Dean Nelson get his facts wrong??
[url]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/tibet/8476717/Harvard-academic-elected-Tibets-first-non-Lama-political-leader.html[/url]
Harvard academic elected Tibet's first non-Lama political leader
A Harvard academic and law expert has been elected as Tibet's political leader, becoming the first non 'reincarnated' Lama to carry out the role.
By Dean Nelson, New Delhi 4:16PM BST 27 Apr 2011
Lobsang Sangay's election, with 55 per cent of the votes cast by Tibetans around the world, follows the Dalai Lama's announcement of his plans to retire earlier this year and his determination to avoid creating a leadership vacuum. He had feared China would exploit his future death and seek to impose a pro-Beijing leadership on Tibetan Buddhists.
The 43-year-old will be the first Tibetan 'Kalon Tripa' or prime minister to have been raised in India. According to China and Tibet analysts, he will share the leadership of the Tibetan exiles with the Karmapa Lama, who will replace the Dalai Lama as the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism following his death.
Mr Sangay was raised in Darjeeling, the former British colonial hill station, and has worked as a fellow at Harvard Law School for the last 15 years.
He is seen as a follower of the Dalai Lama's pursuit of "meaningful autonomy" for Tibet within a Chinese state, but some suspect he may have more radical ambitions as a former member of the pro-Independence Tibetan Youth Congress.
Mohan Guruswamy, director of New Delhi's Centre for Policy Alternatives, said the election of Mr Sangay and the rise of the Karmapa Lama marked a division of the two roles, both of which have until now been carried out by the Dalai Lama. It is also an attempt to counter Chinese claims that the Tibetan exiles favour a return to feudal rule by Buddhist lamas.
Ok, ok so this is gossip but i couldn't resist: I read this interesting news from another forum 9http://forums2.phayul.com/forums/index.php?/topic/19760-dr-lobsang-sangay-is-a-pure-khampa/page__st__20) which says that Lobsang Sangay is a "Khampa Lithang, whose ancestors like other Lithangpas are Shugden followers but he (Lobsang Sangay) left Shugden worshipping 3 years ago so he is now clean":
Another forum participant replied, "As you said that Lobsang Sangay is Shugden follower and he left 3years ago, why too late His Holiness has requested to stop Shugden practice almost three decades. In 1996 onward His Holiness urged urgently all the Tibetan not to practice because it is bad for the cause of Tibet and if you till wish to do so then do do not come to any blessing from him. Till there is more question arises whether Lobsang Sangay has stopped the practice or he has just pretended too. And I have never hard him talking about Shugden."
This is disputed hotly by other Tibetans in this discussion but there is a video ([url]http://youtu.be/E84KXGkNE3c[/url]) where Lobsang Sangay does declare himself to be aligned with Lithang although of course he supports HH Dalai Lama.
If Lobsang Sangay was a Shugden practitioner 3 years ago and he has either stopped or is still continuing privately - this bodes well for Shugden practice in the future. Well, I am just indulging in wishful thinking because all this is just hearsay... but if anyone else has any other news to verify this, it would be very welcome!
New Tibetan leader open to talks with China
[url]http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/05/12/general-as-india-tibet_8462871.html[/url] ([url]http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/05/12/general-as-india-tibet_8462871.html[/url])
It is highly doubtful China will hold talks with the Lobsang Sangay. If China speaks to him, it would acknowledge he is the newly elected leader of the Tibetans. That would be awkward since China does not recognize Tibet as a sovereign state.
If they do not wish to speak to the Dalai Lama, why would they speak to him? He has no actual power. He will be considered clearly as a Dalai Lama puppet.
China's grip on Tibet is complete. China has the whole world agreeing with them Tibet is an inalienable part of China. Why hold talks with 'leaders' of a renegade province?
Lobsang Sangay and the Tibetan Govt is of no threat or worry to China. China is just playing the waiting game for Dalai Lama to pass to honourable fields.