Tsering Wangyal
US, 6 August 2021
The constitutional crisis caused by the 16th Tibetan Parliament in Exile has dealt the CTA an unprecedented blow that has brought the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) to its proverbial knees. It’s unfortunate that after months of back and forth we are still far from a resolution.
His Holiness has worked tirelessly to build the exiled Tibetan government into this extremely unique and efficacious entity that has served the people of Tibet and its struggle very well since its inception, yet here we are today, deeply mired in a political quagmire of our own creation. Our seeming inability to move past this stalemate is confirmation of a divided community’s deeply polarized politics. While this sort of divide and bellicose rhetoric is not foreign to most political discourse, I have never witnessed or experienced this much distrust and anger directed at one another in my lifetime within the Tibetan diaspora. It’s traumatizing, emotionally.
CTA is not only the strength and security of the Tibetan people, but also the heart and soul that keeps our struggle alive. We as a people simply can not afford to amble along this path of self-destruction any more. We must come together and forge a path forward with the urgency it commands. The risks are too high and rewards (if any) too little for us to perpetuate this exercise in futility any further.
China over the years has done everything in its capacity to effect a failed and fractured CTA and sow discord and chaos within the Tibetan community, but largely to no avail. Thank goodness! However, the current crisis caused by a toxic cocktail of distrust, dithering, and dereliction of due process by the 16th TPIE has done exactly what China couldn’t do despite their repeated attempts, and this painful truth gnaws at my heart.
Sidkyong Pempa Tsering la deserves a kashag at its full functioning capacity, the Tibetan electorate deserves a parliament at its full functioning capacity, we as a people and more so as a struggle needs a functioning government, not one in crisis. Hope we have not become inured to such follies.
Faculty lounge jargon and woke culture smugness will not resolve our political difference, and neither will ideological castigation of one another. If anything, such behavior will further exacerbate the division within our society. For us to recuperate and regain our collective strength as a people, we must be willing to act with reason, rationale, and a deep sense of individual responsibility to do what is best for our cause. Nothing else will set us free of our foibles.
I am sincere in my belief, and cautiously optimistic that we will come out of this better and stronger, sooner rather than later.
Having said that, I realize that optimism alone won’t get us out of this mess, especially when the feuding factions all point to the Tibetan people’s Charter for the justification of their actions, be it for the dismissal of the STJC or for its reinstatement.
I am personally of the belief that it is highly unlikely that a document as important as the Charter of the Tibetan people could be this vague and ambiguous in its interpretation on an issue of this magnitude.
Therefore it is imperative that a non-partisan committee comprised of the best minds in this field, with the wherewithal to revisit and scrutinize the Charter, is formed for the sole purpose of determining the veracity of the two opposing views. Once their work is done, their findings must be made public without ambiguity and equivocation for obvious reasons.
Following the release of the committee’s findings, the faction whose views are found meritless must accept the result and move on for the good of our cause.
I am hopeful that everyone involved in this will do everything in their capacity to move past this stalemate. The stakes are way too high for us not to tackle this issue with utmost urgency. Anything less is a disservice to our cause and struggle that we simply can not afford.
About the author
Tsering Wangyal is a former staff at the Central Tibetan Administration, serving in various capacities from 1968 to 2000. He retired as the Secretary of the Department of Education, CTA, and is currently living in the US.
People have to see this imbroglio in a logical sequence:
If Lobsang Sangay had not fired Penpa Tsering from his Ari Dhonchoe post, of course with spurious charges, he would not have called Penpa Tsering publicly to challenge him at TSJC. If Lobsang Sangay would not have lost unpopular case # 20, his Chitue supporters would not have fired TSJC justices.
A decade ago an important episode happened: Just few days before Lobsang Sangay sworn in as Sikyong in 2011, his house mortgage in the US of more than $ 200,000.00 was mysteriously paid by a Chinese women, who is said to have deep connections with the CCP. This is clearly documented by Maura Moynihan in one of her writings at the time. So people the present imbroglio was in the offing more than a decade ago and we can well connect the dots. Lobsang Sangay doesn’t have a convincing proof to substantiate his true source for such a large sum of money after more than a decade now. So people, the root cause of this present political strive points to Lobsang Sangay and his supporters in Chithue, who are supposed to lead the Tibetan people but instead became cause for this much angst and misery and there is no any foreseeable light until they make dramatic changes to their behavior and objectives.
Forming a non-partisan committee sounds great, but who is going to appoint or decide on the committee members?
In the meantime, to our dear elected but not confirmed Chithues, please try to overcome your vindictiveness and take the oath according to our Constitution. And should you not be able to do this, the only other option is the withdrawal. We are in a freedom struggle…no time to lose. Thank you!
After reading one of the below comments, I looked up and came across a video clip documenting former Sikyong LS la’s arrival in Switzerland: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biLhEhZfGNc
All I could say is OMG.
He has no official role in our exile government and even if so, this reception is exaggerated. Acting in a professional way is one thing, but we don’t need this kind of self-promoting actions. I hope we are not going to have this anymore with our current Sikyong PT.
Also I listened to some of former Sikyong LS’s speeches while on this ‘?farewell trip?’, like informing his audience on how fond His Holiness has been of him or this very special day of his departure. (I felt embarrassed watching it. It felt like watching Trump talking to his followers about himself as the genius.)
Trying to build up a cult of personality around former Sikyong LS? who is ‘celebrating his success’ while our exile government is still struggling with the mess he left behind.
I really wonder how sad His Holiness has been on that day when the Chithues tried to get rid of our ‘supreme court’, the third pillar of our democracy, and especially when he did not see any leadership nor any efforts from our former Sikyong LS’s side in solving this issue, except this half-hearted try to have a Chithue session during the lockdown.
If I was writer of this piece, without any diplomacy, I would just put it straight that the Pandora box of the stupid Tibetan regionalism was opened by our dear ex with that episode. PT was removed with some ten allegations which turned out to be nothing more than just ten points without heads and tails. And then came one disgraceful episode after another. Our sacrifices and endeavour for the cause of Tibet and six million for the last many years have been drained down the gutter.
The virus of regionalism is now the talk and concern of the community. It’s now a very sensitive issue, even those NGOs, whatever their names are took greatest caution as they gave their statement on the matter. I am 100 percentage sure ccp has biggest hand in churning the harmony of exiled Tibetans with a little help from local tibetan friends.
It is now or never, we do away with our present mentality or Tibetan issue is doomed. win win for ccp.
Or perhaps the price of our Democracy is long overdue. We all know there is nothing like phokat ka maal.
Tibetans in Tibet please ignore the doings of people in free country as they have proved time and again that they have failed to get rid of their slave mentality. They can’t be trusted.
United we are Tibet
Divided we nothing
Tsering Wangyal at least accepts the “vague and ambiguous” nature of the Tibetan charter which is actually the very basis of the confusion. Owing to its vagueness, Pema Jungney and SR have interpreted in different ways. There is not much hope for a fair resolution unless EC Pesur Wangdu Tsering and his ilk accept that the illegal usurpation of SJC portfolio is uncalled for. Pesur seems to have an air of conceit about him and doesn’t look like a man who can do business in a fair manner.
Pesur feels he has the back of Sikyong elect PT and is at ease with himself in the thought that he can coerce the 22 chithues into submission by hook or crook. He and his cohorts are used to the སྐུ་ངོ་ treatment. He is hoping that after breaking the will of the 22 chithues, they will come grovelling for forgiveness! This seems to be the expectation of all the supporters of three impeached SJCs.
Unfortunately, this is not going to happen. Either there is a level playing field where both parties have mutually beneficial understanding to overcome the crises or it will only deteriorate further. This is because it’s to do with MORAL PRINCIPLE! The 22 chithues would not have their respect and dignity trampled by people who have zero respect for them. Every men and women stand for their dignity.
The chithues including Ex-Speaker PJ and Acharya are making no apologies whatsoever for what transpired. They feel they have done everything right from their point of view according to the charter. Besides, if there was anything amiss, why on earth the three judges protest for their removal? Why did they have to wait for SR to cause the insurrection?
After all, they should have been cognisant of their own rights and duties. The whole ruckus exploded after SR’s misinterpretation!
The main point is the so-called impeachment of the three justice commissioners was illegal and this is why many chithues later admitted their mistake and took oath from the pro-tem speaker. Those chithues who refuse to follow the Charter in taking oath from the pro-tem speaker are apparently not working in the Tibetan national interest. Otherwise why would they go to Bir to meet with Ugyen Topgyal who has spoken critically about His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
But in the first place the current Tibetan chithue mess could have been prevented if ex-Sikyong Lobsang Sangay had not failed in his duty to show good leadership. The irony is instead of fulfilling his election promise to restore His Holiness in the Potala Palace in Tibet, he ended his term destroying the very Democracy that His Holiness had given to the Tibetan people. What a shame.
The time has come for the Tibetans to focus on our common enemy – CCP of China, and demand honest chithues who will follow the law and Charter to truthfully serve the Tibetan people and lead the Tibetan freedom struggle against the totalitarian Chinese regime.
We are in such a dire situation where in a group of 22 chithues pledges their allegiance to Orgyen Topgyal, who is Tibetan public enemy number one and who has gall to criticize our supreme leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama. If these chithues ostensibly opposes His Holiness and their antics specially the monk chithues disgusting utterances during the past Chithue sessions is any indication, then there is no hope of resolving this imbroglio for any foreseeable future.
If we connect the dots there is clear indication Orgyen Topgyal and his accomplices have connection with some other outside force in play here. The host Indian government intelligence agencies in Dharamshala and the Tibetan security office must be cognizant of their nefarious activities and tentacles of law would eventually put them in their right place. Otherwise these people would not care for any common sense and always create havoc in the community and look for transient benefits.
The world puts His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the highest pedestal and we have our own scums instead of showing devotion and respect, putting all his life time achievements into the garbage. But they would not succeed at all as we have time immemorial saying a hand can not block sun rays.
This whole thing is nothing new in the eyes of a good mathematician towards the inevitable last existential formula. The core Tibetan issue played very important role in programming the current parliamentary “unexpected” episode. In real absolute sense no one is to be blamed as everybody played an important role knowingly or not knowingly. The end result if there is any and I am sure there is one and that could be the only one which will force us to take the final ultimate stand: “One for All and All for one”
During the call for a Special Session, there was still opportunity to hold the meeting and there was no severe restrictions. Among the three people whom the Sikyong selected, Jadur Sangpo, Tsering Phuntsok and Pema Chhonjor, P Chhonjor was able to fly from New York to India!
In Dharamshala, the local police had given verbal permission to hold the meeting but the forces to wreck it had other ideas. Their supporters, including a reporter of Radio Free Asia went with camera and mike, to ask the police specifically, if he had given permission. Since, officially, there was a lock down he couldn’t say “yes” on the camera.
It was a deliberate tactic to scuttle the Special Session by design in cahoots with the plotters. The conspirators were determined to wreck it at any cost. It was non-cooperation at all levels with Dawa Phunkyi who lives in Dharamshala refusing to attend it. They sabotaged it by creating conspiracy theories of the Sikyong usurping the CTA for good!
The most galling aspect of this episode is not a word of protest was uttered when the three Justice Commissioners were impeached. However, when SR appeared unexpectedly after a hiatus of ten years from hibernation and claimed that the CTA outfit of three pillars had crumbled, he insinuated recourse to be taken by the public! There was pandemonium and hysterical mobsters and lunatics reigned supreme. They trashed the Chithues and bayed for their blood!
As always, the mob mentality was lawlessness. After creating mass hysteria came the denigration of the Chithues and then the mob decided “they were wrong”! In this climate, the rogue conspirators conveniently asked organisations to write letters of support for their constitutional coup d’état and reinstalled the three impeached commissioners!!!
Pema Jungney is an expert on the Tibetan charter who is as good as SR if not better. SR has clearly contradicted himself when he says, གྲོས་ཚོགས་ནས་ཐག་གཅོད་ཟིན་ན་ མི་མང་གི་འདོད་ཀྱང་མི་འདོད་ཀྱང་དེ་ལ་འགྱུར་བ་གཏོང་རྒྱུ་ཡོད་མ་རེད་ He then goes onto give a different commentary during the interview which caused the present crises.
PJ definitely has an encyclopaedic memory of the charter and he had been doing courses on the charter with TYC Members. He has steadfastly contested SR’s version of commentary.
We have a saying, མཁས་པའི་བཤད་ན་ཅི་ཡང་བདེན་ སྙན་ངག་པ་ལ་ཅི་ཡང་རྒྱན་ SR lost memory of how he had explained when he was the Kalon Tripa and then had another version after ten long years of absence from politics. This proves that PJ version is correct since PJ had quoted SR few times at the time of impeachment. PJ resigned not because he felt he was wrong but because he was APPALLED by SR’s interpretation during the interview!!!
The public has no clue about the workings of the charter but always follow rather than seek the truth. Through hubris and ignorance the whole nay sayers whined like a pack of jackals and hyenas in blood curdling ferocity for the head of PJ and Acharya Y Phuntsok and maliciously attacked the chithue Lhankhang. This is mobocracy! They were instigated by those who were supposed to be the guardians of the CTA.
They have betrayed the Tibetan people in this most precarious stage where the Dalai Lama has aged and the devolution of power from an iconic figure to a lesser mortal has yet to get proper footing. Instead of taking the bigger picture into consideration, they indulged in petty politics and got the better of their inherent prejudices.
It has created a rift that has the potential to widen which will be catastrophic for the Tibetan…
So according to you, “They only had a verbal approval from local police, but regardless, elected representatives of a refugee administration should violate a countrywide lockdown, just because LS summoned them. It was only a wink-nod approval, but journalists are troublemakers for doing due diligence and investigating the veracity of such a hearsay approval, just because LS said so.” Just hear yourself talk, pal, and reflect on the extent to which you’re ready to sacrifice your common sense judgment in defence of your clansman. As for that brave soul who flew into India risking his own life, sometimes their kind have coronaphobia when the pandemic is at its lowest ebb, other times they may even swim across the Atlantic, unthinking partisans do be fickle like that.
The agenda of the meeting was to appoint a new judicial committee, LS didn’t even deign to set an open bipartisan plan for reconciliation, but bulldozed ahead with the next step in supplanting the evicted judges. WHY would parliamentarians who deemed the impeachment illegal even agree to such a meeting.
Notwithstanding the obvious vendetta behind the impeachment, if those 31 idiots could’ve actually followed the proper process, I would hesitate before supporting the reinstatement. But as it stands the impeachment was NOT undertaken with due process — no investigation, no committee report, a hasty secret ballot and collective dismissal — all contravene the law. As the act itself was illegal the resolution on paper has no legitimacy as per article 5, and an article enshrined in the constitution trumps over any parliamentary resolution, especially an illegal one. As for your rant on SR, and opportunistic deference for PJ, ‘who said what’ maybe a yardstick for you, but I only go by what’s written in the…
Yes, we can confirm the divided community in Exile is seen and felt. The most important is to amend the Charter of Tibetan people which should be also having place of exceptionals which will occur any time.
Now one group is protesting in Gangchen Kyishong and another group is busy celebrating the victory with LS in Switzerland, Belgium and New York.
where is the sympathy and responsibility of stability for CTA…?
The celebration viral video goes and ALAS many ccp tibetans are seen!
This is why LS joining any parties invited, thus getting his image misused, unless he wanted this.
We are very shocked to watch online that Nelung Tsering Topden (Tomla) celebrating LS victory, why? Whereas he was against LS victory ! he is a double headed man.
PT must be informed that he should walk forward and not stay remaking the existing CTA works. It is a waste of time. He should have good consultants, also to present himself with more preparations for interviews and talks with decent dress, it is his duty to represent us in nice dress and clean.
All the Chithues are now getting ready to decide live or die. If they compromise our parliament will live, if they stay stubborn then our parliament will die.
PT will rule alone for 5 years! and the next Sikyong may also want to rule alone without chithues…
we are speechless without any idea how it should run now…
although i have not voted for PT but i wish him a successful Sikyong years for the sake of Tibetans in and outside, which is very important for us tibetans. Good Luck Sikyong PT la.
Apart from the unflinching partisans, there are now two other camps:
1. Compromise with the charter: let the offending chithues take the oath whichever way they want, never mind their perpetual temper tantrums and persistent indiscipline.
2. Charter is unclear: overlooking the fact that the charter is absolutely clear that the judiciary didn’t interfere with an internal proceeding of the parliament but took suo moto cognisance when the parliament violated an article within the charter that mandates a bi-annual session.
While I am inclined to grouping this letter in the second group, my respectful question to the elderly author is whether he has considered the repercussions if his suggestion of instituting an enquiry were taken up. Wouldn’t that open the floodgates to another controversy? There would be squabbles over the persons appointed, unending mudslinging on experts each camp dislikes, and even if a judgment were delivered, what is the guarantee that people who cannot even judge a clear-and cut-case as it’s now will accept the judgment.
If people like you and Ngodup Dorje had cooperated with the previous administration of Sikyong Lobsang Sangay and encouraged to hold the Special Session of the parliament on 20th May, the present impasse wouldn’t have occurred. It was people like yourself and like minded U-Tsang supremacists who deliberately torpedoed the meeting in order to retain the ousted Justice Commissioners.
The Sikyong warned of dire consequences if the meeting didn’t take place including the prospect of prolonging his stay in office. However as the Tibetan saying goes དྲང་པོ་སྨས་ལ་ལོག་པར་གོ people like you misinterpreted his warning and instead conjured bizarre scenarios like that of Trump’s attempt to hang on to power! What a shameful act from people who should have known better!
Now, we are saddled with an irreconcilable logjam which has no way out. In order to disentangle this Gordian knot, both sides must discard self righteous claims of abiding by the charter. The illegal reinstatement of the three impeached Justice Commissioners makes the call to abide by article 47 as hollow as a didgeridoo!
You can’t reinstate expelled officials without any due process and claim the high moral ground and demand respect for the law from others when you have trampled over the law by yourself. This is not a dictatorship but a fledgling democracy. The rogue ex-officials like yourself have dealt an unsuspecting blow to the CTA in your eagerness to follow the narrow, blind and parochial mindset that has beset the generation who still harbour regional bias.
Such bias and bigotry has brought only disrepute to U-Tsang and did nothing to advance U-Tsang’s interest. In this mindless tussle, the best of U-Tsang are send to the gallows such as Dhadon Sharling, Pema Jungney and Acharya Yeshi.
Yes! How dare they disobey the May meeting call. Who cares if the local police would’ve jailed them for violating the curfew-like lockdown when India was reeling under the worst death toll, who cares if road and air travel across India and Nepal were restricted. They should have come running on their feet to the call of our Caesar Lobsang Sangay. Who is scared of covid? It’s only a disease of the mind. Look at how the Bir-chithues suddenly developed a bout of coronaphobia and refused to hold the mandated meeting in Sep2020, when the Indian parliament was sitting in session in Delhi and the US was in full election mode. But in May 2021 they were not only fully recovered, them and their supporters like you are now shaming others for being too afraid of covid.
As for the backstory to this whole fiasco, it has been discussed ad nauseum on this forum. The charter specifies that impeachment is meant to address cases of gross misdemeanour or corruption, and is to be approved with an open show of hands after tabling a committee report finding just cause. Even if we overlook the obvious vendetta behind it, the chithues were so stupid they didn’t even follow the due process for impeachment. Only recourse was to reinstitute the judges and pretend that this never happened because of the magnitude of the stupidity of those involved.
Also, there can’t be a legal mechanism for reinstatement because it would intrude upon the right of the parliament to conduct an impeachment in the future for a just cause by due process. The charter cannot authorise a reinstatement clause empowering judges to overstep the parliament’s decision, it would violate the basic principle of division of powers and the right of the legislature to hold the judiciary in check.