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China fanning the
flames in Tibet
By Lobsang Sangay
Aug. 8, 2012, is a notable date for Tibet. Last year on this day I was
inaugurated as the first democratically elected Tibetan leader under a new
political system in which the Dalai Lama ceased to have a presiding role.
Last year, despite impassioned appeals by many Tibetans, the Dalai Lama
officially relinquished his political power, including his power to dismiss the
Tibetan parliament, judiciary and executive and to sign or veto bills. The Dalai
Lama remains only as Tibet¡¦s spiritual leader.
Under the new system, a democratically elected ¡§Kalon Tripa¡¨ is the political
leader of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) ¡X the India-based governing
administration of Tibetans in exile.
As the Tibetans commemorate the first anniversary of this democratic transition,
we also look at a very difficult year tragically marked by a wave of Tibetans
self-immolating in protest against Chinese policies.
Self-immolation as a form of protest against Chinese policies has been rare in
Tibet.
However, in recent years, it has reached a scale which is highly disturbing. The
first such protest of recent times occurred in 2009 when a young monk set
himself on fire at a marketplace near Kirti Monastery in eastern Tibet.
This incident was only the beginning. Since August last year, 43 Tibetans have
set themselves on fire while shouting slogans for the return of the Dalai Lama
to Tibet and crying for freedom.
Most were young and included monks, nuns, nomads and students. The majority have
died. These protests have continued despite the fact that the Dalai Lama has
always emphasized the sanctity of human life and despite repeated appeals by the
Central Tibetan Administration to refrain from such drastic actions.
Self-immolation may seem incomprehensible, but such acts must be viewed in their
context. Most of the people who self-immolated were current or former monks and
nuns. It is impossible not to see the repressive policies of the Chinese
government as the root of their despair.
¡§Management Committees,¡¨ dominated by Chinese cadres, have been rigorously
instituted in all monasteries. These committees dictate what monks and nuns
should do, how they should pray and who should be allowed into monasteries.
All monasteries must display pictures of Mao Zedong (¤ò¿AªF) and Chinese President
Hu Jintao (JÀAÀÜ) and fly the Chinese flag. In numerous monasteries, forced
patriotic re-education campaigns are under way.
Monks or nuns refusing to cooperate with Chinese policies are evicted from
monasteries or arrested.
According to the abbot of Kirti Monastery, the government not only installed
surveillance cameras but deployed as many as 800 security officials inside the
monastery last year.
Under the ¡§Strike Hard¡¨ campaign monks and nuns are forced to denounce the Dalai
Lama and to stamp on his photo, which is banned all over Tibet.
Lobsang Sangay, Kalon Tripa of the Tibetan government-in-exile, is the
political head of the Central Tibetan Administration, based in Dharamsala,
India.
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