World Tibet Network News Tuesday, May 05, 1998 (II)

Soepa Gyatso

Minister, Department of Finance of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, and Director, Social and Resource Development Fund (SARD)

For over 2000 year, Tibetan civilization has undergone a unique development. Living in harmony with nature and guided by the Buddhist belief in interdependence for both living and non-living beings, the Tibetan people existed as a separate. linguistic, cultural and religious community.

Situated in the heart of Asia, Tibet is one of the most environmentally strategic areas in the world. It is the source of many of Asia's major rivers which sustain the live of almost half of the world's population. Researchers are already concluding that it is inevitable that the Tibetan plateau will influence global climatic change. Tibet is widely known to contain mineral resources, including gold, lithium, copper and the world's largest deposit of uranium.

However, Tibet's treasure house contains far more than its abundant material wealth. As Tibet developed, its culture evolved, specifically in the fields of religion, medicine, astrology and language.

Tibet's earliest and original religion, Bon, was developed by the Tibetan people as part of our effort to achieve internal and external harmony. Subsequently, with the spread of Buddhism, the two religion had a mutually beneficial co-existence in the Tibetan community. The Buddhist philosophy and the Bon values have together combined to form the backbone for the Tibetan civilization as we know it today.

Tibetan medical system borrowed the best of different existing medical tradition of India, Persia and China and combined them with Tibet's own system to develop a new system. Today, Tibetan medicine is greatly contributing to improving the overall wellbeing of the world.

This medical system has been harmoniously blended with the science of astronomy and astrology. In fact, the truly effective Tibetan medical practitioner would have studied both medicine and astro-science. The Astro-practitioner continues to occupy an important role in the Tibetan community.

The development of Tibetan religion, medicine and astro-science has been possible by the development of Tibetan language and script. The development of the script has particularly ensured that the details of the Tibetan culture are preserved.

Preservation

In recent times this unique Tibetan culture had to face a threat of extinction in the wake of Chinese takeover of Tibet which included the destruction of almost 6,000 Tibetan religious institutions, the death of vary many scholars and learned religious leaders and the sinocization of Tibetan society. Therefore, it has been the special responsibility of H.H. the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan refugees to preserve and promote Tibetan culture in exile.

In the last 40 yearn in exile, the Tibetan Government-in-Exile led by H.H. the Dalai Lama, has been successful in laying a firm foundation for the continuation of the Tibetan culture. Today, a robust Tibetan monastic system thrives in exile with over 200 monasteries and nunneries having been re-established in the Indian sub-continent. Nearly a hundred schools have been set up specifically to educate Tibetan children not only in the Tibetan education system, but also along modern lines. This has resulted in several hundred Tibetans graduating in different fields. Today, over 90 per cent of Tibetans holding responsibilities at different levels in the exile community are people who have been educated in exile.

The Central Tibetan Administration, as the Tibetan Government-in-Exile is known, is the backbone of the Tibetan refugee community. Headquarters in Dharamsala, India, CAT seeks to promote and maintain sustainable socio-economic and political development within the Tibetan refugee community. At the same, as the Government-in-Exile it strives to undertake activities for a political solution to the Tibetan issue. Along the way, CTA seeks to meet the growing financial commitments of the governance of the Tibetan community.

Starting initially in a one-cottage complex with a few dozen official, today the CTA structure has expanded greatly with over one thousand officials. Through an administrative structure which includes all three pillar of democracy, namely judiciary (in the form of the Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission with a Justice Commissioner and two associate justices), Legislative (in the form of the Assembly of Tibetan People's Deputies with 46 parliamentarian, directly elected by the people for a five-year term) and Executive (in the form of the Kashag, the Tibetan cabinet, with eight ministers elected by the Parliament for a five-year term). There are seven departments dealing with religion & culture, resettlement of refugees, finance, education1 information & international relation., etc. which provide services to the Tibetan community. CTA is represented worldwide through the 12 offices of Tibet which act as virtual embassies for Tibet.

We have set up institutions like Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts, Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, Tibetan Medical & Astro. Institute, Tibet House, Central institute of Higher Tibetan Studies to promote, preserve and propagate the different aspects of our cultural tradition.

In short, while Tibetan culture faces a threat within Tibet, it survives in exile. While the preservation and promotion of our culture and identity has been vitally necessary, the process of undertaking the task has been proving expensive. We feel the need for a more comprehensive approach with strong foundation to sustain the socio-economic and political development of the Tibetan community.

Restoration

We Tibetans do not look at our cultural heritage as something obsolete. Rather, it is part of our living experience. H.H. the Dalai Lama puts it succinctly when he said, "The Tibetan culture is not only an ancient culture, but it is a culture which is very relevant to the 20th century and which has the potential to contribute something concrete for the next century."

While Tibetan organizations and individuals have contributed much to the successful preservation of our culture, it is the guidance and the coordination that the Tibetan Government-in-Exile has provided which has led to our overall success. The time has come for CTA to be able to face the future with great certainty and plan for the exigencies more realistically.

We have reached a critical period in our endeavor and feel it imperative that all efforts for the preservation and promotion of the distinct culture of Tibet be channelized in a way which will assure that they are put to the best use possible. For the CTA to continue to play a meaningful role, its financial situation needs to be on a sound, secure and sustainable base. This should not, however, be construed to infer any lack of gratitude to the many existing philanthropic individuals and organizations whose assistance have played a significant role in the development of the Tibetan community. But it is vital that the CTA be based on a more firm and sound financial footing.

CTA has to function in the face of several challenges which are diverse and spread across the entire socio-economic and political framework. There has been a never-ending flow of Tibetan refugees from Tibet in recent years. CTA has to take care of increased over the years (reflecting the expanding nature or our activities), so much so that we function on a deficit budget. Given our exile situation, we cannot seek recourse to taxes nor do we have the means to engage in major income-generating enterprises. Our only regular source of income is the generous donation from H.H. the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan community as well as from sympathetic organizations and individuals.

We now need a creative system which can provide a stable and planned source of funding to implement the different projects. We need to see that individual projects implemented in different areas of Tibetan residence all go towards a common objective and contribute in achieving the overall development of the Tibetan community. To fulfil this objective, CTA has come out with two Integrated Development plans (IDP) so far which provide donor agencies with information on our priorities in the different aspects of the Tibetan community. The third IOP is in the process of preparation and we will gladly make it available to all.

We have now established the Social and Resource Development Fund (SARD), a

non-profit society, to take care of coordinating the project proposals between existing major bilateral donor agencies and the departments and branches of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile. SARD will be the umbrella organization through which the Tibetan Government-in-Exile will provide planned assistance to the entire Tibetan community. Through this process, assistance will be able to flow down to the grassroot level of the Tibetan community, including to those living in remote and far-flung areas.

Therefore, I sincerely request everyone to lend a supporting hand to the restoration and, more importantly, preservation of Tibetan culture and identity.

(The above statement was issued at the inauguration of the Tibet House in New York by His Holiness the Dalai Lama on 4 May 1998)