Thupten Wangchen in a video grab image on 2 April 2020. Facebook/Thupten Wangchen
Tibet Sun Online News
ON THE WEB, 4 April 2020
The Tibetan Parliament-in-exile has relieved one of the European Tibetan representatives in the House Thubten Wangchen for failing to attend two successive sessions, and has announced the next-in-line Wangpo Tethong as his replacement.
Wangchen in a video message posted on his Facebook explained that he was unable to attend the Budget Session of exile Parliament in March due to India’s closure for travellers from European countries.
“I had everything ready to travel — Indian visa and confirmed ticket, but the day I was to fly, India banned travellers from Spain and other European countries because of coronavirus problem. I immediately contacted the Indian embassy to grant me special permit to enter India, but that wasn’t granted.”
The ten-day Budget Session was planned for 17 to 27 March, but was reduced to one day due to the orders by the Himachal Pradesh state government making any gathering of four or more people in one place as illegal, in order to fight the spread of coronavirus. Representatives from other countries such as Australia and the US, were also not able to attend the session, including the second Parliament representative Jampa from Switzerland.
The exile Parliament’s rule has it that any member not attending two sessions consecutively shall be relieved of the post.
During the September 2019 session, Wangchen, was also absent, with permission from the Speaker of the House. He was campaigning for “Dialogue for Peace” touring 30 different countries in Europe, seeking support for calling on China to enter into dialogue to resolve the Tibetan issue.
It was Wangchen’s second term as the elected representative of Tibetans in Europe, and he had more than one year to go before the term ends in May 2021. He lives in Bercelona, Spain, running the Casa Del Tibet, which he founded.
Wangchen congratulated his replacement Wangpo Tethong, and pledged to work for the Tibetan cause as before.
“Wangchen congratulated his replacement Wangpo Tethong, and pledged to work for the Tibetan cause as before.”
End of the story.
We understand that the rules are meant to be followed and respected by all people, irrespective of their social status. But there are situations in life when it becomes almost impossible for one to stick with a rule due to reasons that are beyond anybody’s control.
I think a similar thing happened to Venerable Wangchen due to the shutdown of the international airlines by the governments of several nations. Given his past track record, the exile Parliament should review its decision and ask him to produce relevant documents to verify the facts.
Our Parliament should be flexible and able to adjust to the evolving situation at such a critical time. We will sound stupid and highly rigid if our Parliament doesn’t show the wisdom of making a fair judgment on this particular case. The person in question is very respected and useful asset to the community. Why lose him and discourage him from doing a better job tomorrow?
There are other important issues to take up, like the Health department’s response to assist Tibetans in such difficult time. There are many cases of Mentseekhang being closed and not providing medicine to its patients in many places including Nepal. There is no government order to close hospitals and health clinics anywhere in the world. Why our Mentseekhang clinics are ordered to close? Please reply.
I understand rules have to be followed. This is at times when things are normal, just like when the rules were made. When the environment is not conducive to be followed owing to the prevailing circumstances, there has to be an exemption on either compassionate grounds or incompatibility grounds.
It’s said that the rules the Buddha made for the monks have to be followed without ever transgressing even at the cost of their lives. Even so there are exemptions. The monks are not allowed to drink alcohol but if the monk is sick, the Buddha made a special exemption to have boiled alcohol in order to save the life of the monk.
Venerable Thubten Wangchen missed the first Parliament session while campaigning for Tibet in Europe. This was his second campaign across Europe. He wasn’t sitting idle or playing truant. He missed the second one owing to unprecedented and catastrophic world events owing to the Coronavirus that is rampaging the world. He found himself caught in the eye of the storm and has been a victim of unforeseen events that are wreaking havoc around the world. Surely, there could and should have been a sense of understanding and compassion for his plight.
He is a strong advocate for Tibet in Europe. It is thanks to him for being able to take CCP leaders like Li Peng, Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin to the Spanish court for their genocidal policies in Tibet. The flip side of this is, it might boost his chances of being elected again in 2021 on a sympathy wave.
This is the stupidest decision made by the Tibetan exile Parliament. The decision made by the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman of the Tibetan Assembly must be based on personal dislike of Kusho Wangchen la.
Our MP Wangchen has given perfect legitimate reason beyond his control why he couldn’t attend the meeting. Don’t the politicians in Gangkyi know that the government of India has banned anyone coming from abroad? How did the Chairman of Assembly expect Kusho Wanghcen to arrive in India when the government of India has banned all the flights and revoked visas? There is no way Kusho Wangchen could have come.
Also, the Assembly itself was cancelled and met only for half a day. What did he miss?
The Tibetan people should demand the immediate resignation of Speaker Pema Jungney and Deputy Speaker Acharya Yeshi Phuntsok for lack of judgment and share stupidity of the decision, and we demand the immediate reinstatement of Kusho Wangchen la.
This decision is involved with the working committee members of the Tibetan exile Parliament which consists of 5 religious deputies from each of 5 religious sects and 2 deputies from 3 Cholkhas.
It is known to the public for many years now that the religious and Khampa deputies are in one faction (5+2), and U-Tsang and Amdo deputies (2+2) are in another faction. So it is always the Khampa faction that is in the majority in the Chitue working committee, and they make all the decisions when Chitue is not in session. It is not the Chairman or the Vice-Chairman who makes the decision.
Unless the Chitues do away with these factional politics, this weakness or dysfunction will continue in the future. This is a curse to all Tibetans. Please don’t blame anybody without knowing the inner workings of the Chitue.