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Dr Lobsang Sangay-la and the "Obama of China" statement

By Tenzin Nyinjey | Tibet Sun

Tenzin Nyinjey Photographer unknown

Much has been said and written about Dr Lobsang Sangay’s “Obama of China” statement. The respected and influential essayist Jamyang Norbu-la interpreted it as meaning “giving up Tibetan independence,” and even accused him of endorsing the present status quo of Tibet. Jamyang Norbu-la said that Dr Lobsang Sangay-la has made up his mind to secure his own future and career within the framework of Chinese constitution. He even thought Dr Lobsang Sangay-la, despite having been trained in international human rights law and Chinese constitution at the Harvard, is ignorant of China’s autonomy law, which purports to provide autonomy to the Tibetan people.

This clearly shows Jamyang Norbu-la doesn’t understand Dr Lobsang Sangay-la and his ideas of Tibetan struggle too well. After all, Dr Lobsang Sangay-la himself argued quite strongly, in a paper published in a Harvard academic journal, that the so-called autonomy granted to the so-called Tibetan Autonomous Region is nothing but a sham. As pointed out by Dr Lobsang Sangay-la in his response to Jamyang-la, this paper was even quoted by the noted filmmaker and columnist Tenzin Sonam-la in his article criticising the inefficacy of the “Middle-Way” approach and China’s blatant violation of its own constitution, including the regional autonomy law.

Unfortunately, Jamyang-la’s article had an unintended effect on some of his readers. His statement that Dr Lobsang Sangay-la has made up his mind to secure his future within the Chinese set-up has added fuel to the fire of personal dislike many feel for Dr Lobsang Sangay-la. They now accuse him of being a “Chinese communist spy,” but their only “evidence” is Dr Lobsang Sangay-la’s visit to Peking, where he might have met some minor Chinese officials and academic folks — which, if judged by a calm and rational mind, is not so different from what the envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama have been doing for decades. In other words, we can’t say this doesn’t fall in line with the policy of the Tibetan government-in-exile, to reach out to the Chinese in a spirit of reconciliation and dialogue. No wonder the Prime Minister Prof Samdhong Rinpoche defended Dr Lobsang Sangay-la on this issue, when he addressed the Tibetan community in Minnesota, US.

One thing is clear. Dr Lobsang Sangay-la is not a traitor or a communist spy. He’s a smart and pragmatic man, who is politically astute and knows how to deal with his constituencies, a sine qua non for a politician to win election in a democracy. That’s why his statements can be found “inconsistent” and “contradictory” at times, as pointed out by the Tibetan Political Review article.

I’m also concerned by Lhasang-la’s response. Lhasang-la, one of the few Tibetans I deeply respect apart from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, feels that Dr Lobsang Sangay-la is not fully aware of the hellish sufferings Tibetans have been subjected to by the Chinese communist invaders, when the latter said the “Obama statement” was intended as a light joke. Indeed, I share Lhasang-la’s deep sensitivity and pain regarding China’s on-going genocide in Tibet. However, I wish to assert that the Tibetan spirit is strong enough even to crack a “light” joke about our suffering. We must make sure that we don’t succumb to the pathology of victimhood.

Before readers accuse me of being a Lobsang Sangay fanatic, who thinks he will be Tibet’s next Nobel Peace Laureate, I want to end this short piece by endorsing what I feel is a valid question that a reader of Jamyang-la’s blog asked him regarding his travels to Beijing: How did Dr Lobsang Sangay-la secure a Chinese visa on his IC?

Indeed, I am sceptical of Dr Lobsang Sangay-la’s claim that he still travels on IC, although I am fully aware of the fact that in the past Tibetan official delegations did travel on IC to Beijing for talks!

Copyright © 2010 Tenzin Nyinjey

Published in Tibet Sun