Penpa Tsering responds to the Cabinet's accusations against him of dereliction of duty, in McLeod Ganj, India, on 5 December 2017. Tibet Sun/Lobsang Wangyal
By Lobsang Wangyal
McLEOD GANJ, India, 6 December 2017
Penpa Tsering responded Tuesday to the Cabinet’s charges against him regarding his termination from the post of Representative of the Dalai Lama in North America. He presented a 97-page document which contained arguments refuting each point, and claimed that the charges were intended to blacken his reputation.
He challenged the Cabinet to prove their allegations with documentation, and said that failing to respond, he will take further action.
“I am a human being. I have family and friends. Even they will be dragged down because of the charges against me. I will not let this issue go scot-free,” Penpa Tsering said during a press conference that took more than three hours.
He said that he didn’t start the fire, and that the current commotion in the Tibetan community was a result of the actions of the Cabinet of the Central Tibetan Administration led by its President Lobsang Sangay.
He repeated his previous statements that although he did not accept the Cabinet’s accusations, he did accept the termination order, as it was the Cabinet’s prerogative to terminate the services of the Representatives.
Penpa Tsering said that Sangay initially approached him for an appointment as the Representative in Belgium, a post the liaises with the European Union. But later, he was told that he has been appointed the North American Representative based in Washington DC.
He felt there was a fissure even before going to DC to take over the position. He said that he met with Sangay in Delhi to seek his guidance, particularly to follow up on any CTA funding intiatives. Previous Representatives had the responsibility to manage the US government funds provided through the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). He felt that Sangay disconnected him from these responsibilities, signalling a lack of trust right from the beginning.
The 10 points and rebuttals
The Cabinet issued a 10-point clarification on 18 November of the reasons for Penpa Tsering’s termination on 7 November. Penpa Tsering said that the ten points were forced to create some reasons for his dismissal.
The first point was an introduction stating that there was a growing trust deficit, under-performance, and insubordination. A few days before issuing the 10-point document, the Kashag said that three warnings were served, but Penpa said that he received only one.
With regard to point two, which accused him of not submitting any formal reports, he said an order had been issued by the Department of Information and International Relations of the CTA to submit reports only on 20 April 2017. He showed documentation proof to that. He further said that the accusation that no reports were sent during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the US was in early April, prior to the DIIR’s letter.
Point three cited as a case of insubordination, his announcement of Kunga Tashi as Chinese Liaison Officer in New York, and he said this lacked any truth. “I didn’t announce him as an appointee. I told the people of New York that approval has been sought from the Cabinet, once approved he will be appointed.”
“I have made this clear through the DIIR, and when they got the picture clear, I never got any further inquiries about that.”
Point four concerned “not following DIIR’s mandatory standing order” and not reporting “Dholgyal-related activities.” He said that the welcome rally by some Dholgyal followers to Xi Jinping had been reported to the Secretary of the Department of Security of the CTA, and further, that the accusation of not following DIIR’s order to send reports was after the event, as Xi was in the US in early April, and DIIR sent the order to all the Representatives on 20 April.
The juxtaposition of the Dholgyal’s welcome to Xi in April and the Dalai Lama’s visit to the US in June are precarious, and raises the question of the coorelation of the two events. “It feels like a design to look for faults in order to terminate me had already been happening.”
The fifth point accused Penpa Tsering of being “unable to schedule any such meetings for Sikyong” with Speaker of the House, or the Majority Leader of the Senate, or even with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
To this, Penpa Tsering stated that the documents would speak for themselves. He showed several documents to prove that he contacted and tried to schedule meetings, but because of scheduling conflicts of the US leaders, no meetings materialised. “We had short notice of Sikyong’s visit, and we were unable to resolve schedule conflicts. Would it be right to blame me for these things which are out of my control.”
He questioned how many of his predecessors from 2011 had scheduled meetings of Sangay with US leaders. “Have they been warned about not arranging meetings?”
Challenging the accusation of “negligence raising funds” in point six of the Cabinet’s reason, Penpa Tsering said that there was a new Donald Trump administration, and many new contacts to be made. But despite that, his requests to State and Foreign Operations ranking members helped to get continued funding assistance for Tibetans from the US government.
To point seven, the “closure of five bank accounts” of the Office of Tibet in Washington, Penpa Tsering said that due to political reasons, CitiBank announced the closure of the five accounts. “There wasn’t anything we could do about the closure.”
“We informed the DIIR Secretary, and acted promptly as per Sikyong’s order to disperse funds to other Offices of Tibet. Sikyong’s claim that a huge loss in tax had occurred was a lie, as there wasn’t any loss in tax. The closure was not due to my negligence. The closure notice came all of a sudden for political reasons.”
He further added that Sikyong was misinforming the public, and providing incomplete information and twisting the facts.
Regarding the 1.5-million-dollar issue raised in point eight, which stated “the amount was not a loan”, but an amount that Tibet Fund had contributed and did not expect to be paid back, Penpa Tsering said that the accounting of Tibet Fund shows the amount as a loan every year.
The Office of Tibet building was purchased for 2.6 million dollars in August 2014, with a contribution of 1.3 million dollars from Ganden Phodrang and a 1.5-million-dollar loan from Tibet Fund.
Penpa Tsering said that Tibet Fund continued to show 1.5 million as a loan, but there wasn’t any documentation showing that the Office of Tibet is liable for repayment of the loan.
During the audit of the accounts of the Office of Tibet, Penpa Tsering asked the auditor how best to solve this issue so that there would not be a problem in the future. The auditor told him that he would ask his senior in Dharamshala about finding a solution.
However, the matter appeared in the audit report. Sikyong then summoned the Auditor General twice for showing the issue in the audit report. Penpa Tsering was charged by Sikyong for instigating the auditor to mention the loan issue in the audit report, failing which he would not sign the report. “I never thought it would become an issue. I was only trying to find a solution. The charge that I will not sign the audit report if the issue was not mentioned was a lie. The auditor could be asked, and what I said to the auditor could be asked to all the staff members of the Office of Tibet.”
“If raising such an issue was seen as insubordination, then why should there be meetings? If we are not able to raise issues and are to just follow orders, wouldn’t that be an autocracy, not a democracy?”
Concerning point nine, Penpa Tsering accepted that he had a long chat one evening with Dhardon Sharling, the DIIR Secretary, but denied the Cabinet’s charge that “he tried hard to convince a female Kalon nominee against working with Sikyong.”
He said, “all those present should be asked about what he had said during the gathering.”
The tenth point was a summary of the firing of Penpa Tsering and of providing for his replacement.
Please careful when you write stuff like this “said that failing to respond, he will take further action”. PT la never said such thing. He said if Kashag refutes his clarification by saying his claims are false, then he will take further actions whatever is needed.
Can we try to calm down the unrest instead of boosting it up? Unfortunately we have too many brainless people in the society.
Very sad to see our people so divided and unhappy. This distrust and chaos will likely not end for a long time, which will further damage our small community. There are moral crises, leadership crises, and crises in every form. An independent commission is necessary to save our democracy and unity.
The rebuttal by Penpa Tsering La is all a smokescreen to prevent us from seeing through his shenanigans! In my opinion, the whole ill feeling among the exiled Tibetan community started with the 2016 Sikyong election. The election has consequences, and Penpa Tsering La and U-tsang Association extremists hate khampa running the show.
I enthusiastically participated in supporting the incumbent Sikyong. Penpa Tsering La showed up at our place (Madison, WI) during the campaign and spoke for two hrs approx (9 to 11 PM), stating that exiled govt under the Sikyong was being run so badly that it may GO BUST very soon. I challenged Penpa Tsering La, if the situation is so serious, why he did not made it known to HH the Dalai Lama, moreover his talk creates discord among Tibetan people, govt, and HH the Dalai Lama. Rather than answering my question, he implied me being a disingenuous sectarian Sikyong supporter. I tried to defend myself being s non-sectarian U-Tsang man, but he denied me the opportunity.
My serious complaint against Penpa Tsering la is that after getting appointed as NA Dhoncoe, his supporters (friends and chamchas) getting phone calls:-informing them that HH the Dalai Lama not the Sikyong gave him the post. Myself heard it (@Deer-Park-Gonpa) before Penpa Tsering la arrived in the USA for the post. It is an open secret all over the Internet now.
This Implies hypocrisy of HH The Dalai Lama: declared fully retired but acting otherwise. PT should know better having privileged confidential.
All Tibetans holding green book, or at least 99%, would wholly trust HH the Dalai Lama to be the final arbitrator for any worst of the worst situation. We don’t need the dog-whistle politics of Penpa Tsering la and U-Tsang Association’s extremist khampa haters. If any commission required this one should take precedent over others.
TRUTH ALONE TRIUMPHS!
In this mudslinging between two factions, the voice of people like us is getting unheard.
The ultimate issue between the two personalities is the trust or lack of it. After what happened during the campaign, a trust deficit is bound to crop up. Hence as PT himself said it would have been the prerogative of the Kashag to replace him with someone they trust. There was of course no need to find not so convincing excuses to terminate the service of PT. But unfortunately it has happened and it can’t be undone. PT has thereafter explained his side of the story which was convincing enough. But both sides don’t have matters grevious enough to lead to resignation of the Kashag. Except for the trust deficit, Kashag too doesn’t have a point strong enough to cause blacklisting of PT for future administrative posts.
Hence why stretch it further? Are we going to intentionally stretch it till His Holiness gets disturbed? Is a single issue more important than the reasons that made us refugees? I dread to think how society could turn out to be when His Holiness is no longer with us. The words used against each other in this ugly episode are something we don’t see our host country indulging in. It’s very ugly. It surely can’t be writings of followers of His Holiness. It surely can’t be writings of someone who loves his/her great nation-Tibet.
Please unite. For heaven’s sake please unite. I urge media to help me in this cause.
In the midst of baring chest to show his ego bruised and attempts to punch back with the help of self important feeling Tibetans in the lap of refugee freedom by entrenching ourselves into two groups to shoot caustic words bomb onto each other camps in social media while completely forgetting how Tibetans in Tibet would feel ashamed and disheartened by fueling and reducing our greater cause of Tibet into LS and PT fractions. Let the law take its course to arrive at truth. While we think of ways of creating more space to have more opinions by having all Tibetans; including all ostricised groups in the process of finding ways out of jammed Tibet issue, and also think ways to cure the intellectual deficit Tibet.
Should not be emotional and biased. Present Sikyong and Kashag are doing marvelous jobs, both international and internal. I have true respect for Tsoktso Surpa Penpa Tsering. But his works as United states representative not up to expectation. Moreover, whenever he gives speech at Tibetan community in Ari, he represents more from Gaden Phodang and kicking to present Kashag. That’s wrong policy.
What was your expectation? And on who did you compare PT’s work as Representative? He has obviously worked more and better than Kaydor who had got that job at the first place only on the virtue of being LS’s best friend. Have never heard or read of this person called Kaydor ever in the community prior to his sudden and shocking appointment. Also not to forget his utter lack of sense of responsibility when he campaigned for LS even being on roll of CTA!!! That’s LS and his henchman for you. Their lack of respect for rules and norms are shocking!
Election has consequences. Sikyong is entitled to appoint his most trusted able man/woman to work for him to be responsible and successful. I am perplexed by people’s jealousy. Kaydor la is a decent and highly educated Tibetan. Unlike Kaydorl a, Penpa Tsering is a alcohol lover and colorful story of betraying Kathak Lama and now his former boss.
Excuse me! Any educated and conscientious Tibetan would know how “decent and highly educated” Kaydor is. If people like Kaydor is all Sangay can find as “trusted” and “able”, it only goes to show Sangay’s standards and motives. That Kaydor is “decent and highly educated” is nothing but propaganda. Kaydor’s contribution to the Tibetan cause is a matter of convenience, really. Before he was suddenly parachuted by Sangay to Dharamsala, he had spent all his life working for himself and his family consisting of his American wife and kids. (He has since divorced and got himself a Tibetan wife, probably part of image building exercise). At the time, he was fleetingly involved in some Tibetan community group in the US but that ended in disgrace for he was accused of financial impropriety. And then suddenly after his best friend Sangay got elected, he again found his way in to fleece the CTA of its hard earned western aid money. This is a serious matter and we cannot brush this off as mere case of jealousy. That is petty thinking! Projecting Penpa Tsering in negative light will not change the facts.
Why hiding your identity or name? Ashamed of being who you are? Penpa Tsering la is your best and Kaydorla is your worst. Comparing the two is fair. You stated worst of Kaydorla, let me do the same for Penpa Tsering la: Kathak lama sought help from Penpa Tseringla, but he took undue advantage of his unfaithful wife. Destroyed his family, business and ruined his life without mercy.
Absolutely, that’s my point!! Have never heard of Kaydor and any of his work before he was suddenly entrusted with this important positions! LS’s nepotism and vendetta against people who didn’t vote for him is very evident. Lest we forget former Health Kalon Tsering Wangchuk (hope I got it right). Didn’t know of him as well before he was rewarded for helping LS campaigns in South and also because he was a relative or something. How he fared speaks loud.
Kaydor’s qualifications and experiences are insignificant to speak of least other than him being LS’s buddy. comments policy
LS has done nothing other than hurting the community.
Today, I am going to challenge Kashag (Sikyong) point # 2 (with regard to under-performance). I feel guilty of writing Kashag in my comment. Everybody knows that this is a personal problem between Sikyong LS and Ex NA Rep PT. Sikyong LS is using Kashag’s name for making public statement on PT. I have full respect to Kashag and will never challenge them at all. I know most of the people working in Kashang have been serving Tibetan people almost their entire life. I respect them wholeheartedly. I am going to refer the 10 point statement as Sikyong LS statement.
Sikyong LS point # 2 is about under-performance of Ex NA Rep PT. I am not questioning Sikyong LS authority in assessing the performance of PT. There is one big problem in including this point in Sikyong’s statement.
In every organization (govt, hospital, business, etc), there is a process in place whereby a high ranking officer or manager will fill out performance evaluation document for each staff working under him/her at the end of each year. After filling out the performance evaluation document, the officer or manager will have a one-on-one meeting with the staff to go through the assessment. With mutual agreement, the staff and the officer will sign the document. The high ranking officer will then forward the document to Human Resource Department (in CTA, I presume it is Public Service Commission) where it will be put under staff individual file and it will be kept in a locked cabinet. Only authorized personnel of Human Resource Department will have access to the staff performance evaluation report. No organization will make their staff performance evaluation report public for legal reasons. Why is Sikyong making his assessment of PT performance public? Is this not a violation of CTA rules and regulation?
This is also a case of “he said she said”. Sikyong LS gave “under-performance” as one of the reason for terminating PT service. But if you listen to PT’s talk, he did a lot of work during his short tenure as NA Rep. We the public are now totally confused and don’t know who to believe. Legally it is not allowed to make staff performance evaluation report public. So I would like to request Sikyong LS to remove point # 2 from his statement.
Stop paying Green Book chatrel to CTA till the end of current Kashag’s term in protest of abuse of power and creating rift in the community. #stoppayingchatrel
Not paying the Green Book is not against LSm but it is against the Tibetan cause. And this will lead to a penalty at the later stage. So decision is yours. KC please don’t tell us who is rifting the community.
How is it against Tibet’s cause? Restart paying once the new Kashag gets elected. I don’t think there will be any penalty and if any then it will be nominal. LS won’t listen and correct his abuse of power except for people protesting in something like this. It will be non-violent civil disobedience. #stoppayingchatrel
Accounting is not my cup of tea. However, I found Tenzin Tsephel’s piece illuminating, to say the least. FYI, it’s comment no.36.
The silver lining here is our gangchenpas of younger generation, are pretty active in the democratic process. Now, that’s my CUPPA.
Can someone please start a petition to the Tibetan Parliament in Exile to constitute an Independent Committee answerable to the Parliament on this issue?
If LS is found guilty of abuse of power then he should be impeached. Likewise, Dhardon and Kaydor.
Also if Penpa Tsering is found guilty in dereliction of his responsibilities then he should be asked to apologise publicly.
I like the idea of public activism and idea of stopping paying Green Book contribution to the current Kashag if it is found guilty by the committee. Save democracy, save credibility.
And then we would have to pay with penalty later?
Just like Arun Jaitley took Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal to court for defamation, Penpa Tsering la also should take LS, his henchmen and snitch to court.
We demand that a parliamentary committee be formed to look into this issue to save the truth and credibility of CTA.
Saw one statement from Tibet Fund on the 1.5 loan issue in Tibetan Journal website. It clearly said that the amount was a loan to purchase office of Tibet in DC. The loan conversion to grant seemed to be conditional on the fact that the CTA honors terms of the loan agreement. No specific timing of the loan-to-grant was discussed or agreed. Words used are “hoped”,”expected” and “willing to consider” with regard to loan-to-grant. From these, I guess there has been an intent for loan-to-grant sometime in the future but it is conditional and the decision has not taken place as yet. Until a loan-to-grant agreement takes place legally, I would believe the nature of the amount remains a loan. This is what I understood from the statement.
We are six million Tibetans and I am one.
What is the Tibetan issue?
We used to say Rangzen but now we say Rangwang.
But clever people say Chigdril or Umaylam: and Tibetans should not speak truth to power and keep quiet on March 10th.
So what is the sacred goal and how does all this promote the Tibetan Issue?
We the Majority Tibetan people are still having more respect and trust in our great leader Sikyong la. Trump is not running for a second term, but our Skiyong is running for the second term. We trust our Ganden Photang and our Kashag. Why aren’t these people using all that energy for our land? We are still refugees! Please people, wake up.
Speak for yourself and of course, for Sangay and his henchmen. You can’t call your biased voice as representing the ‘majority’. Sangay can not run for the second term and that’s the point. He has nothing to lose, so why not he and Kaydor make most out of all the western aid money to secure their future. Milk the cow dry before the term is over!
Lobsang Sangay is doing to Penpa Tsering exactly what Penpa Tsering has done to Lukar Jam. PT pulled strings to kick out Lukar Jam from the Sikyong race in 2016. Now, Lobsang Sangay has pulled strings to get Penpa Tsering out of the 2021 Sikyong election.
Both Lukar Jam and Penpa Tsering now have extremely slim hope to become the next President. They have simply been too controversial and politicised people too much.
Thank you very much Penpa Tsering la for challenging the baseless 10 reasons which Kashag (Sikyong) made public for terminating your service as NA Dhonchoe. Based on your account, we can clearly see that Sikyong does not like you personally and made his own decision to dismiss you. In order to justify his decision, he put together a baseless 10 reasons for Tibetan public. You rightly said that Sikyong is trying to paint a very black picture of your character.
On reading Kashag (Sikyong) statement regarding your dismissal, I also thought all the reasons which Sikyong gave absolutely do not make any sense.
I am going to challenge each of Kashag’s 10 point one by one. To make my comment short, I am going to challenge point #9 (regarding female Kalon nominee) today.
Point #9 is a perfect case of “he said she said”. Sikyong says a female Kalon nominee told him that Penpa Tsering la is discouraging her for working with him. We don’t know if it is true or not. If you are a normal human being, the first logical step is to approach the person and confirm with him whether it is true or not. Once you have the confirmation, then only you can say it to public. I don’t know if Sikyong has approach Penpa Tsering la to confirm whether it is true or not.
For example, if I make a public statement saying Sikyong has transferred US $1.5 million to his personal account because Topgyal told me, then it will be a huge mistake on my part. My logical step is to approach Sikyong and ask him if that is true or not. Without getting a confirmation, I cannot make it public.
What I am trying to say here is point #9 is a “he said she said” case and it cannot be a valid reason for dismissing Penpa Tsering la. Kashag (Sikyong) should withdraw point #9 from their statement. If Kashag (Sikyong) thinks that point #9 is still a valid reason, then my above example is also valid.
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So many empty vessels making lots of noises here. Let’s forget all the points and accusations. Think of how Trump fired Comey. No matter how much Comey claimed his innocence of any wrongdoing, the decision of Mr President was final. PT can use the same power once he becomes the head of exile administration next. Things are taking an interesting turn and lots remain to be seen bigly.
Popcorn is popped now… No more allegation and counter-allegation. Peace to all.
I am not dwelling on what happened between Sikyong and Tsoksur Penpa Tsering la, but here is something I quoted back on Nov 29th about the $1.5 mil in question. Proving that the money is accounted for, and audited statements are available online.
Tenzin Tsephel, from SF Bay Area, says:
on 29 November 2017 at 11:17 pm
In the name of seeking and defending truth, I watched my brothers and sisters on social media, chat groups and various platforms and community gatherings – comment and justify their point of view on the issue of $ 1.5 million loan/grant from Tibet Fund. The CTA and Sikyong Dr. Lobsang Sangay la in particular elaborated in depth about the nature of the loan.
It was extensively commented upon and explained how the tax system works here in the United States. Some sounded like a real tax professional at work, while others sounded more sarcasm than value. I am shocked and dismayed how everyone missed to do their due diligence. In this era of digital information, everything is available out there on the WWW – World Wide Web. As the saying goes “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it’s not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance”.
The white elephant in the room is the $1.5 million in question. An amount that was loaned from Tibet Fund in 2014 to purchase an office building in Washington, DC where the current Office of Tibet is located and functioning. Audited IRS tax statement from Tibet Fund for the years 2014, 2015 & 2016 clearly show $1.5 mil as “RECEIVABLES”. So I am assuming the problem arose when this same amount could not be found anywhere in the record books of OoT, DC.
As the great leader Dr. Martin Luther King stated, “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity”. It is here or from here, my brothers and sisters forgot to do their due diligence. One of the golden rules of accounting is: Debit The Receiver, Credit The Giver. In this case, debit the receiver being TIBETAN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT FUND, INC, 1228 17th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036 established in the year 2000 in NY, and credit the giver being TIBET FUND, 241 East 32nd Street, New York, NY 10016.
If Tibet Fund gave or loaned money to Tibetan Community Development Fund, Inc. how in the world one can find the said amount as payable in the account books of OoT. These are 2 separate entities in the eyes of IRS. The financial statements are available online as required by law for any non-profit entity in the United States.
So, rather than dwell in the mudslinging and causing irreparable damage to our unity and cause, please do your due diligence before commenting or posting misinformation.
Please, please… let’s all work together and stand as united.
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How in the world it was not shown as payable to Tibet Fund in the financial statement of Tibetan Community Development Fund account of OOT Washington DC? Another golden rule of accounting is Debit what comes in and Credit what goes out. In the books of Tibet Fund cash/bank goes out and cash/bank comes in the Tibetan community development Fund book. In a nutshell as per accounting standard in Tibet Fund books Debit Tibetan Community Development Fund (Receiver/borrower) and credit Cash/Bank( What goes out). Likewise in Tibetan Community Development Fund books, Debit Cash/Bank(What comes in) and Credit Tibet Fund(Giver/ lender). The purpose of financial statements is to show the true and fair account of the entity, which is not in the case of Tibetan Community Development Fund account by not accounting loan payable to Tibet Fund.
100% Agree with Tsetan. It should be accounted as Cash/Bank(Dr.) To Loan Payable-Tibet Fund(Cr.) in account book of Office of Tibet.
First of all you must understand what is the point. We have our exile government and our own uncle SAM which is called Office of Auditor General. In their audit report nothing is mention about the $1.5 million transaction. That is what you call (Debit – To Building/ Cash/ Bank, Credit – By Tibet Fund / Loan Payable) “which is very strange” you better listen and watch Penpa La press conference. better write reasonable & for the truth.
Please to know, we are Tibetan and we have also our IRS which is called the Office of Auditor General (CTA). As per their Audit report nothing is mentioned about $1.5 million transaction (Debit – Building/ Cash/ Bank —- Credit – Tibet Fund / Loan Payable)
Listening carefully you can hear this is in the PT press conference.
Thank you, do appreciate you caring about these details!
Along with Sikyong, morally corrupt people like Kaydor Aukatsang and Dhardon Sharling should be removed from CTA. Sikyong is the main culprit. Kaydor is his henchman and Sharling the messenger. Kaydor does all the dirty works for Sikyong to secure their future after Sikyong’s term is over. Sharling is in Sikyong-Kaydor dirty politics to further her political ambition. She informed Sikyong about her friendly talk with PT who in turn made a mountain out of molehill. She informed PT about the extra 3million from the US government that Sikyong and Kaydor hid from PT. This whole incident exposes Sikyong’s autocratic behavior, Kaydor’s dirty henchman role, and Sharling’s loose lips and selfish politicking for one’s political ambition.
Have lost faith completely in the Three Stooges; ’Boo’sang Sangay, Kaydor ‘Auda’sang and snitch DharDon ‘Show’ling.
Penpa Tsering have come out as ‘Den’pa Tsering and have exposed the three stooges and cartoon Karma Gelek ‘Ju’tok.
My family have decided not to pay any Green Book chatrel till this corrupted and dishonest Kashag’s term gets over as an expression of our unhappiness. I am ashamed and hurt that these leading stooges claim to be our leaders. Credibility of Tibetan leadership as a whole, democracy and the community are all destroyed.
So, Trump Sangay and Jared Kushner Kaydor run the CTA like their own private company. Tibet Fund legally and clearly showed the loan as it was signed. Sangay and Kaydor hid loan information from PT, auditing offices from the US and CTA, and lied to the Tibetan public at Toronto. What is the story behind and future mission of Tibetan Community Development Fund under which Office of Tibet is bought? Could Maura Mohniyan’s article https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jul/10/maura-moynihan-tibet-china-same-washington-lobbyis/ shed more light on the mystery?
Tashi Tseten la, I am so glad that you have pointed out the agenda behind of establishing the so-called Tibetan Community Development Fund. Why couldn’t the office space be purchased by Office of Tibet or Tibet Fund directly? How was the money spent while purchasing the office space in Washington DC? Now is the time for Tibetans to ask these hardcore questions.
Holly crap, Penpa has revealed house of senate email address which will lead him to violation of data act and could imprison him or no further in the country. On higher note Senate and house will lose faith in dealing with Tibetans. I have downloaded this document and will be sending over this US Consulate ASAP for further action.
Trying hard to sound like an American and lying like Trump. It’s ‘holy, not ‘holly’. You can’t shut off Penpa Tsering with this panic-mongering and mislead the people.
Please don’t spread lies to cover up more lies. A simple online search will show that the public officials/servants (including US president) in the US are for the people, of the people and by the people, SO they don’t have to hide anything and can be contacted by anyone. IN FACT, their telephone numbers, email addresses and office’s addresses are all publicly available so as to ensure transparency and direct contact with the people they serve.
That’s right! Some in our community including Sangay, Kaydor and company need to get a crash course ASAP on transparent governance before they throw us Tibetans under the bus again.
Truth is revealed, and we the people of Tibet are with truth and with Penpa Tsering La.
We respect and honour you sir; it is true case of in confidence in Sikyong himself and Sikyong dont have guts to tell Penpa Tsering, you are in my way and I can not work with you. The baseless ten points of Sikyong and his chamchas are revealed now. Truth is in front of us all with official correspondence and proof. Why is Sikyong so insecure about Penpa Tsering? Why is he not letting Office Tibet do the work as done during ealier representatives? Why so many secret meetings without a hint to Office of Tibet?
Dear Tibetans, it’s not about Amdo, Khampa, or U-Tsang. It’s about one leader who wants to blacklist a beloved leader of the people, who sacrificed all his life for the Tibetan cause, and his straightforward way of handling the issue of the Dolgyal party, renouncing to share stage with person like Lukhar Jam who speaks against His Holiness Dalai Lama; it’s about an honest leader and speaker of the Tibetan Parliament who handled every controversal issue in our community without any bias based on cholka or choluk.
Now it is in the hand of the Tibetan people whether to support the truth and true leader, or show a don’t-care attitude and continue to support LS.
They came for peasant;
I didn’t speak up. Because I am not a peasant;
Then they came for woman.
I didn’t speak up. Because I am not a woman.
Then they came for capitalist.
I didn’t speak up. Because I am not a capitalist.
Then they came for pope.
I didn’t speak up. Because I am not a pope.
Then they came for me. There is no one left to speak for me!
This is happening in our society now a days.
Thank you kungoe Penpa Tsering la for the clarification. Your termination brings to life what it means to be living under a leadership that lacks morals, values, and ethics. A leadership where the display of honesty is punished and informants are rewarded.
My enthusiasm for the Tibetan administration headed by Lobsang Sangay has evaporated into a more cynical disenchantment.
Sangay’s lies are all exposed now.
There were desperate attempts to censor Penpa. Two Facebook accounts were reported and closed on false charges, and some even tried to shut down power. I would suspect Dhadon Sharling or Kaydor Aukatsang, just because they are the two culprits most responsible for colluding with Sangay. They have no regard for our brothers and sisters in Tibet.
Sikyong lied about the 1.5-million loan. He hid the loan issue from the public to get votes. Remember, during election, he said that he had purchased the Washington building. If you elect me, I have many more buildings to buy for other Dhonchos. He won the election with no regard for US laws.
An election fraud was committed.
Now let’s see what Chief Election Commissioner CEC has to say about the lies, which are captured in Sikyong’s Canada speech and documented clarifications.
Kungo CEC, Kuch sharam tho kar. Every month you draw a portion of our Green Book contribution for your salary. You live in a house, sit on warm chair, and sip on Chapkhol, all paid from the Green Book. You fail to do your duty, Karma will come after you. Ngo Gyap Yong.
Karma will come after Penpa Tsering la too, as you wished for taking salaries but causing all the discords, making hay out of nothing and penny wise pound foolish efforts. Ngo Gyab Yong
Very impressed with Penpa la’s sincere and excellent clarification. He does not deserve such termination, but only award and accolade for his wonderful hard work.
Sikyong LS is a mean man. It is time he sacked his friends Kaydor and Dhardon Sharling for all the problems they brought in the community. They don’t deserve special appointments any more.
I’m still amazed that there are still some people who are able to garner the strength to support LS. Penpa Tsering la has literally replied to and rebutted all the 10 points given by the Kashag for the removal of PT from his office.
The actions of LS have not only been unjustified but somewhat reckless, because not only did he remove an honest public servant from office, he also tried to hide the Tibet Fund’s 1.5-millon-dollar loan. I see PT as a whistle-blower who saw something wrong was happening in the system and was removed from office for uncovering it.
Additionally, please don’t politicise His Holiness’ name by using it to stop people from protesting against LS … you should be ashamed of dragging His Holiness’ name back into politics.
Time to impeach Lobsang before it’s too late!
I am sorry but he is out of law! He stole official file for personnel interest. Because of just being fired by his boss? Not being able to accept the defeat of an election? Not understanding democracy?
You (Lobsang Sangya – RAVAN) arrogance, selfish, no trustable, human of no dignity.
You can’t trust anyone
‘Cause you’re untrustable
You won’t help anyone
‘Cause you’re unusable
This time you messes with the wrong men.
You liar we prefer give you our brothers & sisters Middle fingers up, I’m out,
you are NO more trustable our leader.
You are NOT WELCOME to truth loving people community. You messes with the wrong men. We boycott all your future event.
Free Tibet
You are a supporter of sore loser, and an alcohol lover. Kathak Lama’s unfaithful wife poacher.
No. He understands the law way better than all the present Kalons put together.
The law forbids publicising ‘classified/top secret’ documents, not routine official correspondence. Penpa Tsering explained this in depth at the press conference. Go and listen to his explanation and then comment.
Firing an official without allowing him the chance to explain himself is against democracy. In fact, Penpa Tsering’s detailed explanation at the press conference helped the Tibetan public understand better the workings of Office of Tibet in Washington DC, including the manner in which Sangay and Kaldor used Dhardon to cover up for the unexplained USD 3 lakhs. His explanation was a contribution to transparent governance, an important feature of democracy.
Keep hacking Penpa Tsering’s FB and kill all the truth. That is what you all can do. Shame on you blind Dogs.
Please listen to what PT said during the press conference. He has said that he is using the letters sent to him to his personal email address. It was wrong on the part of the Kashag to send official mails to his personal address. By doing so they have already made official letters public. Anyone else from his family may have access to his personal address.
This is just a frivolous accusation to PT. Come up with better accusations and I am with you.
Hacking of PT’s Facebook account is an attempt to silence truth from the public. Such things happen only in China. What democracy are we living in? One should use such tricks only on China. I request PT la to make another Facebook account and make it more secure.
Truth is definitely on your side, PT la! I salute you for your hard work, honesty and courage. You have my vote of confidence.
Absolutely! I am shocked that some vested interests, hell-bent on covering up for Sangay, Kaldor, and company, stooped to this level by hacking into the Facebook account of Penpa Tsering to stop him from presenting his side of the story.
I heard that Penpa Tsering’s Facebook page was hacked twice — the second one happened while he was addressing the press conference live on his Facebook page. The page simply disappeared a few minutes into the press conference. It was only because of other live feeds from Phayul and U-Tsang Cholkha that people interested in knowing the truth were able to view the entire press conference.
Sick of all the cheap politics, trickery, and gimmickry on the part of Sangay and company.
While I owe full allegiance to the post of honourable Sikyong irrespective of the individual holding the post, I feel the right to hold fair protest against the wrongdoing of the Sikyong should not be overlooked. Otherwise our Democracy shall be restricted to just the voting rights, and our government no different from dictatorship and monarchy. If our elected members start to feel that they have supreme right over their subjects, we are then taking our democracy to its peril.
The attempts of some people to link every opposition to the administration as an opposition to His Holiness is in fact not doing any service to the democracy as envisaged by our dear leader, His Holiness. Just because I don’t agree with the protestors does not necessarily mean they have no right to protest. Just as I feel I am right, they have the right to feel the same and I must respect that. In fact such protests will keep our elected leaders on their toes. After all they are just human beings who could err knowingly or unknowingly.
Our elected leaders too must be gracious enough to own their mistakes if they have made any, rather than making fools of themselves by finding excuses with not much substance. If our democracy is to thrive, both the electorate and the elected members need to grow up. Or has democracy come too early and easily to us?
I am neither anti-PT nor anti-LS. I admire the contributions of both to the Tibetan community. In fact when they worked as Sikyong and Tsoktso together, I felt that we were blessed to have such a perfect combination. Standing against each other during the election, and the manner in which the campaign was run, spoiled the whole atmosphere. Suddenly one became all good and the other all bad.
It is not possible that PT or LS are either all right or all wrong. Both are after all human beings who err sometimes. Bring an end to this issue and move on. We Tibetans have much more important issues to worry about than what somebody said somewhere. Join hands for the wider good of the Tibetans in and outside Tibet. Give ego a rest!
Don’t count me as one of the Sikyong supporters. I supported Sikyong during the election and believed that he is an educated and decent human being. I am not a Khampa. I am just a Tibetan and that’s how I think and believe.
Now, with these lies and power thirst Sikyong, no dignity, trying to accomplish his initial plan which is to send Ngodup Tsering to the DC office. No sense of respect to His Holiness, and deceived HH.
Many hundreds of people like myself are disgusted by what Sikyong just did this time and how he treated Penpa Tsering.
No more Sikyong LS and I am done and utterly disgusted in him.
I am not a supporter of Sikyong LS any more. Done Done Done.
Sikyong LS is a disgusting human being. I have never said or used this word in my life but I had to use it here for the first time.
Evidence certainly shows how hard PT worked for the Tibetan cause. He worked under a frustrating working environment to navigate to do everything right and in a legal manner. It is a great loss for the Tibetan community of a great serviceman in Mr PT.
It is even scarier to understand how the transfer of political authority to Sikyong’s position in our nascent democracy is not complemented by establishment of adequate constitutional and institutional checks and balance. The only available course for justice for anyone standing against Sikyong is in the Parliament (where Sikyong enjoys majority support based on regional affiliations from Dhoto and Cholug) and Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission (which is more symbolic than functional). Despite the debate surrounding the inappropriateness of public protest against one’s Sikyong, the only available court at this time seem to be sadly in the public domain.
When a person of PT’s caliber and stature could go through what he is going through, it raises many uncomfortable questions on the misuse of absolute power vested in Sikyong’s position and the lack of any constitutional and legal mechanisms to address such misuse.
Termination reasons become invalid with PT’s solid clarification where one can easily understand the power misuse by using random reasons to terminate PT including misleading PT and the public about 1.5 million loan as a grant. Sikyong goes on about his usual business of being “the President”. PT remains unfairly terminated and constantly judged. Despotism, nepotism, and injustice become the norm in Tibetan democracy. Life goes on everywhere. After all, it did not happen to me. “It” meaning the monumental abuse of power and misrepresentation of facts to the public by Sikyong in his vindictive strategy to decimate PT from the political scene. Cheers to Tibetan democracy!
How can you claim that Tibetan people lost faith in the Sikyong? The majority of the Tibetan people still have complete faith in the Sikyong. HH has also repeatedly said the same thing. I understand if you are pointing out that PT was not fairly treated. That is your prerogative and I respect that. However, making lofty claims without any basis is not appropriate.
Really do you know LS inside out? of course being an elected leader His Holiness has to have faith in that elected leader, be it you or me. Who else will HH trust? But LS is a little chameleon, so you need to know people inside out but not by his looks or his talks. Some people are good in public speaking. Hitler too was so good at talking or public speaking, but in the end he ruined Germany.
“Majority of the Tibetan people still have complete faith in the Sikyong” where are you getting this from?
Please don’t make claims based on the number of people showing up for the protests? 41% of total vote for PT in the last elections is something to consider!
Sadly, like in many democracies where only the number of votes decides who becomes the leader, the majority in our community got fooled by Sangay’s deception and demagoguery, just like the majority of American public got fooled by Trump.
Thorough explanation — keep fighting, because you have truth on your side and we are with you to the end.
Sikyong accused Penpa Tsering with ten points. Penpa fired back with 1000 points. Let’s do the math, who deserved firing?
After listening to about 4 hours of his talk, the documental evidence, and his impeccable skill as an orator, Lobsang Sangay has not only killed one of the finest young public servants, but an unmatched Tibetan who can lead the nation and take the younger generation in the right direction.
Lobsang Sangay needs to resign right away. He not only lost His Holiness’ faith, but the hopes of the Tibetan people in and outside of Tibet.
You give too much worth to Lobsang Sangay when you say he ‘killed’ Penpa Tsering. Many believe that Penpa Tsering has emerged stronger from the mess created by Lobsang Sangay, and this is most evident from the press conference he addressed. As they say, you can’t keep a good man down for too long.
Besides, Penpa Tsering is the proverbial Phoenix. Take a good look at his more than 20 years of life and experience. There were countless attempts by vested individuals to malign him and to kill of his political career, but he overcame all of them with his self-respect and dignity intact.
The Tibet Fund statement released on 12/06/17 clearly shows that the loan agreement was signed between Tibet Fund and Office of Tibet and the loan amount $1.5 million was taken under the name Office of Tibet. Yet, the money used to purchase a building in DC that is registered under Tibetan Community Development Fund and Kelsang Aukatsang.
The big question is: Was all this explained and clarified to Kungoe Penpa Tsering la at the time of the changeover? Leave alone $1.3 million His Holiness private office. If by any chance, this loan never becomes a grant — who is going be responsible to pay it back? Is it Tibetan Community Development? Or is it going to be Kelsang Aukatsang? It really is fishy!