Sangay picks up exiled Tibetans'
hopes By Saransh Sehgal
DHARAMSALA, India - Hopes are high among
the Tibetan community that Lobsang Sangay, their
newly elected political leader, will deliver
results in their struggle with China for greater
autonomy. As the first Kalon tripa (prime
minister of the Tibetan government in power) since
the Dalai Lama retired from politics, Sangay
yields significant new powers.
Beijing has
denounced the election of the Indian-born, United
States-based international law expert, saying it
will never deal with the exiled Tibetan
government, which it calls an "illegal
organization". China earlier slammed the Dalai
Lama's retirement plan as a "trick" to cheat the
world.
In March, the Dalai Lama retired as
head of state and administrative chief, ending an
institution of spiritual and political leadership
that dates from 1642. The shock announcement was
made just days before some
50,000 exiled Tibetans cast their votes in the
final round of elections.
"Sangay won 55%
of the total - 49,184 votes in over 30 countries
across the globe", Election Commissioner Jamphel
Choesang announced on April 27 in the exiled
government's home of Dharamsala, India.
The 43-year-old Sangay easily beat two
other candidates, both veteran officials from the
Central Tibetan Administration, with Tenzin
Namgyal Tethong and Tashi Wangdi winning just 37%
and 8% of the vote respectively. Sangay will
succeed the two-term incumbent Samdhong Rinpoche,
becoming only the second directly elected Kalon
Tripa since the post was created in 2001.
In a victory message delivered from
Washington, Sangay thanked voters. "I am really
overwhelmed by the support extended to me by the
[exiled] Tibetan community. I am really humbled
and I will do my utmost to live up to the
expectations of exiled Tibetans ... I urge every
Tibetan and friends of Tibet to join me in our
common cause to alleviate the suffering of
Tibetans in occupied Tibet and to return His
Holiness [the Dalai Lama] to his rightful place in
the Potala Palace [former chief residence of the
Dalai Lama in Lhasa]," he said. Sangay is said to
be inspired by the Dalai Lama's vision of a
"secular, democratic, Tibetan society".
Neither China nor any other country
officially recognizes the Tibetan
government-in-exile, which has been based in
Dharamsala since the Dalai Lama and thousands of
his followers fled Tibet to India in 1959 after a
failed armed uprising against Chinese military
occupation.
"The so-called Tibetan
government-in-exile is an illegal political
organization established by the Dalai Lama to
engage in independence and separatist activities,"
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a
regular news briefing on April 28 in Beijing's
first official reaction to the election.
Xu Zhitao, an official with the CCP's
Central United Front Work Department, told China's
state-run English-language daily Global Times,
"This kind of show happens almost every year
without any political significance. The Dalai Lama
and his clique lost political power ever since he
went to India in 1959. He and his followers cannot
represent Tibet."
The United Front Work
Department is responsible for dialogue with the
Dalai Lama. Beijing always insists the dialogue is
held with the Dalai Lama "personally" instead of
him representing the exiled Tibetan government.
In Dharamsala, exiled Tibetans have
welcomed Sangay's win, seeing it as a new phase in
their history. Younger generations say they have
been looking forward to the election of a young,
dynamic leader.
"It is a win for
democracy, we have abided by His Holiness's [the
Dalai Lama] decision to vote for our future, and
today the results have proved us right. Sangay, as
a dynamic figure with Kalon Tripa status,
should worry China," said Chemi Dolkar, an exiled
Tibetan woman.
Exiles are placing a lot of
hope in Sangay, believing his victory is historic
and that he will play a ground-breaking role in
the future of the Tibetan movement. Many hope he
and his new parliament will make some real policy
changes in direct engagement with China.
An ethnic Tibetan, Sangay was born in
Darjeeling in India and has never been to Tibet.
Having studied at Delhi University for a law
degree, he became the first Tibetan to obtain a
Masters Degree and doctorate in law from Harvard
Law School. Due to his Western exposure, many
Tibetan exiles believe Sangay represents the
younger generation of Tibetans. Followers describe
him as a dynamic leader with a global network
cultivated at Harvard. His expertise is
international law, democratic constitutions, and
contemporary China. It is known that Sangay has
been holding international conferences with
Chinese expatriates on Tibetan issues.
"The majority of Tibetans knew it would be
a landslide win for Lobsang Sangay. The votes of
the young Tibetans are not wasted. Sangay's
credentials are not only limited to being an
international law expert, he also has great
leadership qualities and valuable global
contacts," Tashi Rupten, a young Tibetan, told
Asia Times Online.
Sangay's election
victory has been greeted by Rinpoche. "I and my
fellow members of the Kashag (cabinet)
would like to extend our congratulations to Sangay
for winning the election with an overwhelming
majority."
Support also came from outside
the Tibetan community, with Sangay's election
victory also welcomed by Taiwan's opposition
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). "The DDP
congratulates elected leader Dr Lobsang Sangay,
and it also pleased to see that the government
head is democratically elected by the Tibetan
people. The election result is not only a victory
for the Tibetan government in exile; it is also a
victory for all the Tibetan people. The DPP is
looking forward to have the Prime Minister Dr
Lobsang Sangay visit Taiwan and to a more firmly
based friendship."
But in Beijing, where
the government has in past months keep a close
watch on Sangay's growing influence among Tibetan
exiles, he has been described in state-run media
as a "terrorist" for his part in the Tibetan Youth
Congress (TYC), a radical group that advocates
full independence for Tibet.
Sangay's
association with the TYC even once landed him
behind bars. He was locked up in India's Tihar
jail for a few days in the late 1990s after being
picked up during an anti-Chinese government
demonstration while he was a student in Delhi.
However, in his election campaign, Sangay made it
clear that he fully supports the Dalai Lama's
"Middle Way", which seeks "meaningful autonomy"
for Tibet.
"In my 16 years at Harvard, I
organized conferences and met hundreds of Chinese
scholars. I would like to continue the dialogue at
the people level, and if the Chinese government is
willing, also at the government level," Sangay
told the Wall Street Journal in a phone interview.
"More moderate policies and attitudes will serve
their interests, too. Tibet is under occupation
and there is ongoing repression, cultural
assimilation and economic marginalization," he
said.
Despite his words, observers expect
Sangay to take a tougher line with Beijing. His
added political powers since the Dalai Lama's
retirement are leading to higher expectations than
were placed on his predecessors.
Sangay
will also face pressure because of frustration in
the Tibetan movement, whose younger activists have
pressed for a more assertive campaign to seek
Tibet's outright independence, Srikanth
Kondapalli, a Chinese Studies professor at
Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, told
Bloomberg.
The Dalai Lama has welcomed the
election results, stating that they validate his
decision, "Now the conditions are sort of right,
so I now decide to hand over all my legitimate
political authority to the elected political
leadership," the Dalai said during a tour in
Japan. "Now the majority of them [Tibetans]
understand my decision is timely."
However, Tibet experts say that despite
the election, the government-in-exile's political
legitimacy may suffer without the Dalai Lama's
patronage.
"The problem for any prime
minister is that, compared to the Dalai Lama, he
enjoys little name recognition outside the exiled
Tibetan circle, and that will be a difficult
dynamic to shift," said Barry Sautman, a Tibet
expert at the Hong Kong University of Science and
Technology told Agence France Presse.
"This was not necessarily a welcome change
but [it was] an inevitable change," Penpa Tsering,
who serves as speaker of the Tibetan parliament in
exile, told the Christian Science Monitor.
Chinese observers say the Dalai Lama will
continue to pull the strings of power. "Sangay is
young and active, but the Dalai Lama is still the
mastermind of the group," Lian Xiangmin, a
research fellow at the China Tibetology Research
Center, told Global Times. "In recent years, we
have seen conflicts increasing among different
stakeholders within the clique. With the Dalai
Lama holding religious power, Sangay really
doesn't have too many options to ease the
discord."
Sangay has already showed some
firmness, asking Beijing to review its "hardline"
Tibet policy and take a more moderate and liberal
approach. He said that if China wanted to become a
new world superpower, it could not do so through
economic or military might, but would need to
exercise moral authority.
Saransh
Sehgal is a contributor based in Dharamsala,
India, who can be reached at info@mcllo.com.
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