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What I want from my Kalon Tripa candidate

By Tashi Phuntsok | Tibet Sun

Tashi Phuntsok Photographer unknown

This Kalon Tripa election has raised our democratic process to a different level. The cyber campaigns and live debates have generated unprecedented responses from the Tibetan exile population around the globe. Supporters of the candidates appear to be even more charged up than the candidates themselves, attacking and counter-attacking opposition candidates and then accusing each other of mudslinging.

In the midst of this, we seem to forget what we want from our candidate if he becomes the next Kalon Tripa. We are not just electing a Prime Minister of the Tibetan Government-in-exile; we are electing a leader who should be able to lead the Tibetan masses in the Tibetan freedom movement.

I was unable to attend the debate hosted in New York City, but did manage to watch it online. There were a few questions I intended to ask the candidates if I had been able to attend. Then I realised, considering the time limit I might not have been able to ask more than one question.

My first concern was, that during the debate all three candidates pledged to uphold His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Middle-way Policy without providing any explanation of what they would do to help him to win ground for the Middle-way.

Then, in spite of the spectacular campaign display, the candidates’ rhetoric sounded familiar, with no new ideas or fervour to answer some of the fundamental questions that we face at this point of our freedom struggle.

Our struggle is not just a struggle for religious and political freedom. Our struggle is one for the survival of the Tibetan race. China’s shrewd ethnic cleansing policies — promoting a massive Han population transfer into Tibet in their attempt to turn the Tibetans into an insignificant minority in their own country, and eliminating the original Tibetan names of places in Tibet — are more dangerous than denying political and religious freedom. If the Han migration to Tibet continues at the present rate, it won’t be too long before our struggle from exile will become meaningless. The closest comparison in history that I can think of is the struggle of the indigenous people of the two American continents. The world knows what happened to them. None of the candidates, however, have mentioned this issue as an agenda in their manifestos. I wanted to ask the candidates how we can stop or at least slow down this systematic, massive population transport in Tibet.

It’s evident that our campaign against China during the past five decades has not been effective. The Middle-way policy has failed to counter China’s relentless repression inside Tibet, nine years of dialogue with China has brought us nowhere, and despite all our efforts we have been unable to muster a single country in the world to recognise Tibet as an occupied country or the Tibetan Government-in-exile as a legitimate government representing the Tibetan people. We have held meetings and passed resolutions, but failed to come up with effective action plans involving the Tibetan masses, either inside Tibet or in exile, to resist the Chinese occupation.

Successful freedom movements in history were those that involved the masses. Gandhi could not have overthrown the British and Dr Martin Luther King could not have succeeded in the Civil Rights Movement in America without mobilising the masses behind them. In my humble opinion, the Tibetan Government-in-exile has failed to engage the Tibetan masses in the freedom struggle process, but instead often becomes a stumbling block to the Tibetan Youth Congress’ effort to turn the Tibetan freedom movement into a mass movement.

Our kalons (ministers) act like leaders of a free nation, giving speeches and sending deputations with little or no direct interaction with the Tibetan masses. When was the last time any kalon participated with the Tibetan people in Tibetan Uprising demonstrations? Have you ever heard of any one kalon who was incarcerated in an Indian jail for participating in the demonstration against China? Nelson Mandela reminded us in his autobiography that the freedom struggle was not merely a question of making speeches, holding meetings, passing resolutions, and sending deputations, but of meticulous organisation, militant mass action, and above all a willingness to suffer and sacrifice. I wanted to ask the candidates if they are willing to lead us in the peaceful demonstration on the 10 March uprising day next year.

Our non-violent method in some ways varies from what Gandhi had preached and practiced, even though we claim we follow his path. The incumbent Kalon Tripa, Samdhong Rinpoche, did not approve the hunger strikes unto death organised by the Tibetan Youth Congress, because it was equivalent to taking one’s own life and that was against the Buddhist tenet. Gandhi undertook hunger strikes unto death for the freedom of India; he believed the hunger strike was an effective weapon for non-violent resistance against tyranny. I wanted to ask the candidates if they are willing to use hunger strikes as a political tool to protest against China’s repression in Tibet or at least endorse the hunger strikes organised by the Tibetan masses.

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the president of the Indian National Congress, once declared that the non-violent method adopted by the Indian National Congress to fight against the British was a policy, not a creed. He said, “Our decision to fight non-violently was compelled by circumstances. It was not a matter of creed for me and for many other Indians.” He further asserted that the Indian National Congress was not a pacifist organisation but an instrument for achieving India’s freedom. I wanted to ask the candidates if they consider the non-violent approach we have adopted to fight against China a policy, or a creed. Policy can be changed if circumstances demand, but not a creed.

Copyright © 2011 Tashi Phuntsok

Published in Tibet Sun