Nice new short piece out by our latest op-ed contributor, Jangchup Wangmo. Wangmola hails from Vancouver and has been observing the Tibetan situation for many years with a lot of frustration for the lack of progress that has been made. Though personally not a Shugden practitioner, Wangmola agrees with some of the views on this site (and disagrees with some of them too) and wanted to contribute to it.
In contributing an op-ed piece and speaking up for the Tibetan people, Wangmola hopes to encourage more Tibetan youths to set aside the divisions that their elders have imposed on them, to objectively consider the future they now have to wrestle with, and to add to the growing chorus of voices who are increasingly dissatisfied with their leadership and want to make a change. The world today is very different to the post-exile life that awaited their grandparents and parents, it is time the Tibetan youth take active charge of their future.
We hope to receive more articles like this from Wangmola, and from other Tibetan sources in the future. Submissions are accepted from the public and can be sent to [email protected] for consideration.
CUTS hero questions Tibetan Prime Minister
By: Jangchup Wangmo
On July 14, 2017, the Tibetan Prime Minister Sikyong Lobsang Sangay visited the Central University of Tibetan Studies (CUTS) in Varanasi, India. Varanasi is known throughout the world to be an intellectual powerhouse; many of India’s political and philosophical greats spent time there studying or teaching.
For many students, this visit has become memorable and regardless of who you ask, it is mostly for the wrong reasons. The Sikyong’s visit to the university was marked by two incidents. The first was news that a 20-year-old CUTS student, Tenzin Choeying, had attempted to self-immolate. Saying that it was for the Tibetan cause, he also made it a point to state it was not the Prime Minister’s fault and that he was doing a good job. This statement however, has drawn doubt and ire from many quarters of the Tibetan community, who question why he even felt the need to utter a statement like that. If someone is doing a good job, if there is no possibility of them being blamed for it, then there would be no reason to bring it up at all. Sadly, the Tibetan community lost another brother when Choeyingla finally succumbed to his injuries six days later, with 90% burns all over his body.
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This young man asked three questions of the Sikyong. It was a very brave move considering students at the Tibetan Children’s Village (TCV) School in Dharamsala had previously suffered an interrogation session after they questioned their Prime Minister too. Or perhaps being young and not an adult protects him to a certain degree, since Tibetan adults who have spoken their minds have frequently found themselves on the receiving end of violent repercussions for doing so.
The second incident that has been said to have marred Sikyongla’s visit is when students had an opportunity to question their Prime Minister. One young man in particular, stepped up to the podium and asked the Prime Minister some tough but fair questions. This is not the first time the Sikyong has had to field such questions from the youth. In 2014, while visiting the Tibetan Children’s Village (TCV) in Dharamsala, teenagers questioned the Sikyong’s policies and actions towards Dorje Shugden worship.
Instead of being rewarded for fair and open-minded thinking, the TCV students were hauled up in front of the authorities and interrogated as to why they had questioned the Sikyong in such a manner. Imagine if the leader of any other democratic nation did that to their children, and the kind of uproar that would ensue. Imagine the uproar that would ensue if former US President Barack Obama arranged for students to be interrogated each time they asked him difficult questions at town hall meetings. In a real democratic country, bullying and intimidating the youth would never be accepted. Yet, under the Tibetan regime, this is commonplace to the point it takes place without question.
This latest incident at CUTS however, proves that when exposed to more and different sources of information, Tibetan youths are just as capable as any other nation’s youths in arriving at logical conclusions and asking the right questions. They just need to be given a chance to learn about everything and anything without repercussions, and not be penalized each time they want to explore other avenues of thought or viewpoints, as their elders so often experience. For Tibetan adults like Lukar Jam and Jamyang Norbu, they know all too well the price a Tibetan pays for speaking their mind, and for speaking the truth, especially if that truth has not been sanctioned by the leadership. Vandalized property, being run out of the settlements, being dangerously labelled as anti-Dalai Lama and anti-Tibet, and having a smear campaign launched against you is just a start.[/size]
Translation
That student says that “I have many questions but I am going to ask my three main questions to Sikyong. With great respect, my first question is to Sikyong that a few years ago, I think I heard from Radio Free Asia that you said, “I went to all the [Tibetan] settlements, to all the universities but I’ve never been to Varanasi [University].” So, today you are here. Are you complete now?
My second question is that it seems like you [Sikyong] are interested in external territories more than internal territories. You go abroad to many places for Tibet’s projects and therefore you are like Samdhong Rinpoche, and that is affecting and harming our internal territory. So what I wanted to tell you is, a few months ago, there was a meeting between the Parliament and the Sikyong and many other members about the serious topic of Tibet. All the members and you yourself are chosen by the public.
The public has hopes in and believes all of you to be good members of parliament. That is why the public voted for you and put you all in this position. So the public were watching that meeting but in the meeting, members of Parliament were so disrespectful to each other. Some were sleeping while others were speaking. Some people just walked away. Even you walked away during meeting and I saw that in the video. That’s what I found is very disrespectful to others as well as to the public, who support you to be their leader.
Third, in brief, you previously said that you will invite His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the Potala Palace. Now you have four years left [to the end of your term]. When will you invite His Holiness to the Potala Palace? Do you have any plans for this?”
For those who are familiar with the Tibetan language, they will immediately recognize the humor present in the young man’s style of questioning... read more: [url]http://www.dorjeshugden.com/all-articles/features/cuts-questions-tibetan-prime-minister-not-ready[/url] ([url]http://www.dorjeshugden.com/all-articles/features/cuts-questions-tibetan-prime-minister-not-ready[/url])