SECOND INTERNATIONAL TIBET SUPPORT GROUPS CONFERENCE

Panel Session I

Democracy and Future Tibet

Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche,

Chairman, Assembly of Tibetan People's Deputies

Wasserwerk, Bonn 14th-17th June 1996

As an elected representative of the Tibetan diaspora I welcome you all to the Second International Conference of Tibet Support Groups here in Germany. I am also taking this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to the Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung for hosting this conference. We are beholden to the people of Germany in particular, for their love and support for our cause.

We are aware of the fact that there are numerous people all over the world including the People's Republic of China who are pro-justice and moral values are in support of the Tibet's genuine cause. Selfless Supporters of Tibet are dispersed all over the globe. Many are organised in groups and initiatives but, many are carrying the crusade as individuals.

The Tibet Support Groups present here are those who are organised in groups. But many active support groups, could not be represented here due to various limitations. We acknowledge, appreciate and express our gratefulneess toward all-present or absent, equally and indiscrimately. Wherever possible, please carry our word of sincere appreciation to friends who could not come.

I must acknowledge that I often receive two major complaints from our kind and spirited supporters, namely :

i) that Tibet Government-in-exile is unresponsive; it does not promptly attend to various enquires; and

ii) the government-in-exile is discriminative towards the Support groups.

May I mention here with all the emphasis at my command that we respect and value each and every group and individual supporter on equal footing and we have absolutely no bias or prejudices in this regard.

I do admit our inefficiency in maintaining prompt communication. Sometimes inconsistencies in our dealings may also appear but these are inadvertent or due to lack of human and material resources. Yet, I crave your indulgencies and understanding for these errors and omissions. I am overwhelmed to note that inspite of these failings on our part, you are present here in such a large number from practically every nook and corner of the globe.

The organisers have assigned me the task of speaking to you on 'Democracy and Future Tibet'. let me confess that I am neithera political scientist nor a fortune teller. Please do not therefore, anticipate any significant contribution from me on any of these two topics. I would, however, like to share my experiences and visions about the Tibetan model of democracy and the future vision of Tibet.

Democracy:

For the people of Tibet, democracy was not a new principle or system. Neither, our apparent opening up to democratic functioning was prompted by the Chinese occupation of Tibet nor our interface with the outside influence. His Holiness the 14th Dalai lama, since his childhood and long before taking before over the temporal power had unmistakable will to democratise Tibet. But, unfortunately, he was given the reins of the country when half of its territory was already occupied by Chinese authorities. Inspite of this, for 9 long years he tried his utmost to introduce many measures and reforms towards democratisation but every time the Chinese military Junta systematically frustrated these moves. It is only in exile that he got the freedom and a freehand to implement his vision.

There was but an uniqueness about this transformation so characteristic of the Leader and his people. In our case, the Head of the State advocated democratisation and consequent relinquishing of his authority but the people refused to accept it. During the last 37 years of exile life, His Holiness gradually persuaded and educated his people to adopt a democratic way of life and translate the ideals into implementation so that what is achieved is genuine democracy and not mere lip service.

In June 1991, a Charter for governance of Tibetan diaspora received the assent of His Holiness after it was duly approved by the Xlth Assembly. The Charter made the people sovereign and every organ of the government-executive, legislative, judiciary and even the authority of His Holiness derived its power through the provisions enshrined in the Charter.

The model of Tibetan democracy is fundamentally different from the modern democratic principles. Ours is based on basic principles of equality of all sentient beings on the basis of their potential of unlimited development. Such equality can be established in the day to day living only through co-operation and not through competition. Competition invariably leads to a form of confrontation or struggle. love and equality cannot be achieved through competition. Whether it may be in political system or economic system, it prevents genuine co-operation and collaboration. Realising the phenomena of human behaviour, the Buddha had recommended a democracy free from sense of competition.

Truly speaking, awakening of human intelligence is the ultimate objective of the society. It creates a level of rationality which leads to unanimity - a state of chocelessness.

Therefore, a partyless democracy is possible in which each individual has freedom to deal with every issue according to his or her wisdom without imposition of any conditions from groups or ideologies. The Tibetan parliament in exile is a livingexample of partyless democracy. It represents all the Tibetan equally - there are no group ideologies, programmes, majority or minority, Domination of majority over minority is also a kind of imposition of views against the will of the minority which is not an ideal situation in democracy.

Decentralisation of decision making processes and implementation processes make each individual responsible and sovereign to act. It enables the individual to think globally and act locally. In our view, when a few persons live on the cost of others it is totalitarianism. On the other hand the principle of 'live and let live' is ordinary democracy. But, where everyone lives for others is that model of democracy which we are trying to adopt.

An ideal democracy has to have three basic components

1. An enlightened leader

2. Right philosophical ideology, and

3. An enlightened people

We, Tibetans fortunately possess the first two components and we are striving hard to meet the third criteria. Plato spoke of 'philosophicall king' and Betrand Russel talked about 'common will'. Both these factors are embodied in essence in the person of the present Dalai lama, and in the Buddhist philosophy of independent origination presenting the perfect right view. Now, the people alone need to mature to usher in the ideal democracy.

Our Charter of governance and day to day functioning of government in exile can be found in various documents distributed here, particularly the booklet on 'The Democratic Vision', brought out by the Tibetan Parliamentary and Policy Reseearch Centre (TPPRC).

To-day, the Tibetan parliament in exile is a recognised institution as it finds reference in resolutions passed by the European Parliament, World Parliamentary Convention on Tibet and various other representative bodies. A history of Tibet's Parliament in exile has also been published by TPPRC which narrates the saga of its inspired origin, growth and development over a period of 36 years. The XIth parliament has just ended and the XIIth parliament has been duly elected and constituted.

Future Tibet:

Future Tibet is to be shaped and built through genuine and sustained efforts of all of us. I have no ready made solutions for you, but I wish to put forth three points for your consideration :

1. In to-day's world interdependence has increased to such an extent that future of any country could not be considered in an isolated manner. It is true of Tibet also. The future of Tibet is bound to affect the future of the world in general and the future of its immediate neighbours - China and India in particular. Tibet's geopolitical situation is such that it is inseparable from the course of history of India and China. In political analysts' view, civilizational conflict between these two biggest populated countries of the world will always position them as tough competitors or worst enemies. There is no potentialof genuine friendship amongst these two neighbours. Therefore, the status of Tibet as a buffer state between India and China will be the determining factor for establishment of peace, stability and security in Asia. Geographically, also, Tibet being the Roof of the World, from where most of the large rivers of Asia originate, will be the decisive factor for the environmental and ecological bala

nce of the world. The scientists of the world are concluding that Tibetan Plateau will always have a role in forcing global climatic changes.

To-day, Tibet is one of the testing groungs for the efficacy of the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights. If it does not succeed in Tibet, it will not be worth the paper on which the declaration is printed. Therefore, it has to be realised that the future of Tibet is inseparably interlinked with the future of its neighbouring countries and globe as a whole. The future of Tibet is to be viewed from this perspective and integrated way.

2. The future of Tibet could be considered in two parts:

(i) immediate future and

(ii) distant future, or, in other words, the question of its survival from extinction and development of its, if it survives. For an imaginary vision of the distant future, we have already articulated some vision on the lines of His Holiness' guidelines for Future Tibet as published in a book form by TPPRC. Otherwise also there is ample time to think and discuss for a vision of Tibet but in my view the immediate future i.e. how to save it from total annihilation is much more important and therefore this gathering should address itself to the question.

3. The political status of Tibet in terms of sovereignity or autonomy, separation or association, have been debated for more than a decade but the situation in Tibet is deteriorating day by day. Our basic concern about the immediate future is how to save this country and its unique culture from total destruction. It will only be possible if the population transfer is stopped forth with and Chinese civil occupation is vacated immediately. Violation of human culture, language and the religious rights must also be ended. Indiscriminate sanction of destruction of Tibet's environment and ecosystem is to cease at once.

The question of Future Tibet is related with these three issues mentioned in the preceding paragraphs. Therefore, we should concentrate on how to materialise the above mentioned objectives. It is high time to evolve a clear cut policy. in my own humble way, I propose a programme for launching the 'Satyagraha' as a movement. The concept and plan of implementation is explained in a small booklet which will be available to interested persons.

Most of you are aware that His Holiness has already initiated a Referendum amongst the Tibetan diaspora, to decide the future course of action and we are awaiting its result. But, I am personally not very optimistic about the outcome of this exercise. Only two options are open before us :

(i) negotiations with an unwilling party or, (ii) resistance.

Negotiations have been tried for over 40 years but it has leed us nowhere. Precious time has ' been lost. There is no sign of China's willingness to open a dialogue inspite of His Holiness' genuine openness of middle path approach.

Let us realise the ground realities now and formulate our strategies accordingly. We have no future if we are not prepared to make supreme sacrifice for restoring the dignity and security of our people in Tibet. Posterity will never forgive us. Therefore, every plan of action has to be a well conceived and well considered one and set within a time frame. Time is running out. It never stops for anyone. It never looks back. We have to run faster to keep pace with the times, otherwise our goal will prove to be a mirage.

China has failed to perform the functions of a state, which are - (i) the protection of the people, (ii) the promotion of their social, economic and cultural welfare, and (iii) representation of their interests externally. Instead, China lacks legal, moral, or political legitimacy to govern Tibet due to its indulgence in violent aggression and continued forcible occupation of Tibet; its persistent violations of the human rights of the Tibetans' ; its repression of their religious freedom and its planned gradual destruction of the national identity of the Tibetan people. It is persistently pursuing a policy of misrepresentation of the Tibet's situation and the Tibetan people's aspirations.

This is the hard reality. Not to believe in it will be living in a fool's paradise. Action Plans, strategies, campaigns for restoring the pre-1951 status of Tibet need to be chalked out by taking the present grim situation on its face.

The situation, therefore calls for supreme sacrifice - Do and Die. let us resolve to make one final attempt. But it requires voluntary co-operation, full and unquestioned co-ordiantion, tightening of all loose ends at all levels, whether individual, or at group level or state level. Each one of us has to be clear about our objectives and also about the means to achieve our target. Every action and programme has to be set within a time frame.

Efforts have to be persistently persuasive. We need not deter from our principled commitments but let commitment to peace and non-violence be also not taken as our weakness. There is no power stronger than moral and spiritual force. We have the examples of Martin Luther Kind, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela to name only a few.

We are fortunate to have His Holiness the Dalai Lama as our leader. His sense of direction has been clear. His commitment to democracy and non-violence has been consistent. In spite of prolonged frustration, he has infused the exiles with his own confidence that they will return to Tibet. 'Tibet belongs to Tibetans and especially to those who are in Tibet'. His guidelines about Future Tibet go into considerable details and need not be repeated here as it is already known. We have only to recall these expressions and resolve to accomplish it as fully and as early as possible.let us not fail our leader and our commitment to truth and non-violence. When Gandhi gave a call to 'Do or Die', there was no other choice. As I call my people to 'Do or Die' there is no other choice.

The return journey back to homeland must commence here and now. Only then we can say, 'Next year in Lhasa'.