The political head of the Tibetan government in-exile is called the Sikyong. This democratically elected position was established in 2011 when the Dalai Lama relinquished his political responsibilities. The current Sikyong, Penpa Tsering, was born in a Tibetan settlement in Bylakuppe in Karnataka and now works out of the Central Tibetan Administration ( CTA) office in McLeodganj, Himachal Pradesh. In a conversation with Nirmal John, Tsering, a fan of South Indian cuisine, especially parotta and fish curry, details his plans to counter the many problems facing the Tibetan community. Edited excerpts
Q: It is nearly 15 years since the decoupling of the political and spiritual parts of the Tibetan administration. How has it worked out so far?
A: His Holiness (the Dalai Lama) knows he will live up to a certain point. So, he has prepared the Tibetans to take care of themselves. It took a long time. Our people had no idea of what democracy meant and the organs of democracy needed. We started slowly. In 1991, he made our parliament a fully legislative body. In 2001 we had a direct election of the head of government. Then in 2011, he devolved all his political responsibilities. I feel we have grown over the years. I spent a lot of time visiting every single community, bringing in more efficiency, building databases. I am also committed to making sure His Holiness is not unduly bothered by small issues happening within the community.
Q: His statement on Wednesday emphasised tradition in the process of finding the next Dalai Lama. One impact of that would be the long wait for what would be a small kid to grow up. In the interim, the office of the Sikyong will become even more critical.
A: That’s a question we are always asked—if there is a reincarnation in future, wouldn’t things be difficult in the interim period? Of course, it’ll be. But as the leadership of the Tibetan community, we are trying. Now His Holiness is there, so we get some respect from governments, parliamentarians, foreign officers and all that. We have to now start institutionalising our relationship with governments and others so that the same dignity, the same recognition that we are given right now when His Holiness is present, may continue when he is not there. I don’t want to praise our own administration, but I think we have done pretty well in the last four years, reaching out to the international community, keeping our people together.
Q: One of the problems you are facing is young people moving out, thereby diluting the community’s fightback.
A: Young people moving out is a problem. We have started a big project called BBCC—building back compact communities. Since people moving out causes problems for the sustainability of compact communities here, we are trying to provide housing to those who don’t have it. Many people who came from Tibet over the last 30-40 years don’t have housing. The idea is to address the immediate need of housing, and then the long-term sustainability of the community. Many have become citizens of other countries. They speak the language, they understand the system. Now, if they understand what’s happening in China, what’s happening in Tibet, then as Tibetans for Tibet, they could be the best advocates for Tibet. But the downside is that the next generation will be born in a totally different environment. We are just beginning to explore having compact communities globally, starting with a project in Minnesota. I’m speaking with 100 young Tibetan students flown in from around the world at the International Youth Forum here. If we do this for 10 years, we’ll have more than 1,000 young Tibetans, who will be the next generation of Tibetan leadership.
Q: How has US President Donald Trump’s USAID cuts affected your budget?
A: The total US funding is around $14 million. $2 million is for PRM—population, refugees, migration—and for health issues, which is directly under the State Department, so it was not cut. Of the remaining $12 million, $5 million is for two specific projects—$3 million to build the capacity of institutions and individuals at CTA, which is a five-year project and we are on year four, so we need to mobilise to finish this. Another project is the digitisation of all Tibetan scriptures. $7 million is for education, health, rehabilitation—it is connected with so many departments here. That has been restored. For the other two specific projects we have reached out to other governments; they are interested in supporting. Our sources are not just countries, there are organisations and individuals too. But for the last seven months it has been a setback, from January to now.
Q: Which governments are interested in supporting?
A: Germany is one. And, of course, the Indian government is the largest benefactor. If it was not for the government of India, we wouldn’t exist.
Q: What more can India do?
A: What more can India do? On humanitarian grounds, there is no other country that has done as much. Of course culturally, linguistically, we feel part of India in that sense. The Tibetan script, Devanagari, came from India. The Nalanda system of Buddhism came from India. All these historical connections are there, and perhaps for all these reasons India has been kind. We never had a war, in that sense, having been neighbours for centuries. Politically, of course, we would like the Indian government to take a more visible stand, but we also understand there are so many things on the table between India and China. If there has to be a resolution (on the issues between India and China), it is better to resolve the Sino-Tibet dispute first. That can contribute more trust between China and India. If you look at the larger geopolitical scenario also, if there is better trust between India and China after the resolution of the Tibet conflict, then would China need to maintain such a relationship with Pakistan to contain India?
Q: You mentioned back-channel diplomacy with the Chinese in a presser. Do you see common grounds?
A: There is no common ground. It’s just to convey messages. Like this time, to say don’t do anything during the 90th birthday that will spoil the mood of the Chinese government. During the earthquake, I asked them whether there’s anything we can do from outside. At least some messaging here and there, but we are not very keen right now to push this, because you don’t have a leadership that is willing to listen.
Q: What do you see is happening in the political circles in China?
A: There are symptoms of a bigger malaise in the political circles now, and I think his (Xi Jinping’s) friends are shrinking as he’s removing the very people he appointed. That also questions his choice of people. If you look at the last one and a half years, there have been a lot of signs of things not being well in the political circles.
Q: I have heard that the office of the Dalai Lama and CTA see some of the most cyberattacks.
A: We have an organisation in Canada that helps us with internet security, and several people work pro bono. According to them, we are one of the most attacked websites, or whatever platform, from the Chinese side. We have no issues because we have nothing to hide. We have always said we are transparent.
Q: Is there infiltration?
A: That has always been there. They themselves admit they have sleepers. They have people listening. They are on social media; they listen to what the community is saying as we have a very vibrant social media community
Q: It is nearly 15 years since the decoupling of the political and spiritual parts of the Tibetan administration. How has it worked out so far?
A: His Holiness (the Dalai Lama) knows he will live up to a certain point. So, he has prepared the Tibetans to take care of themselves. It took a long time. Our people had no idea of what democracy meant and the organs of democracy needed. We started slowly. In 1991, he made our parliament a fully legislative body. In 2001 we had a direct election of the head of government. Then in 2011, he devolved all his political responsibilities. I feel we have grown over the years. I spent a lot of time visiting every single community, bringing in more efficiency, building databases. I am also committed to making sure His Holiness is not unduly bothered by small issues happening within the community.
Q: His statement on Wednesday emphasised tradition in the process of finding the next Dalai Lama. One impact of that would be the long wait for what would be a small kid to grow up. In the interim, the office of the Sikyong will become even more critical.
A: That’s a question we are always asked—if there is a reincarnation in future, wouldn’t things be difficult in the interim period? Of course, it’ll be. But as the leadership of the Tibetan community, we are trying. Now His Holiness is there, so we get some respect from governments, parliamentarians, foreign officers and all that. We have to now start institutionalising our relationship with governments and others so that the same dignity, the same recognition that we are given right now when His Holiness is present, may continue when he is not there. I don’t want to praise our own administration, but I think we have done pretty well in the last four years, reaching out to the international community, keeping our people together.
Q: One of the problems you are facing is young people moving out, thereby diluting the community’s fightback.
A: Young people moving out is a problem. We have started a big project called BBCC—building back compact communities. Since people moving out causes problems for the sustainability of compact communities here, we are trying to provide housing to those who don’t have it. Many people who came from Tibet over the last 30-40 years don’t have housing. The idea is to address the immediate need of housing, and then the long-term sustainability of the community. Many have become citizens of other countries. They speak the language, they understand the system. Now, if they understand what’s happening in China, what’s happening in Tibet, then as Tibetans for Tibet, they could be the best advocates for Tibet. But the downside is that the next generation will be born in a totally different environment. We are just beginning to explore having compact communities globally, starting with a project in Minnesota. I’m speaking with 100 young Tibetan students flown in from around the world at the International Youth Forum here. If we do this for 10 years, we’ll have more than 1,000 young Tibetans, who will be the next generation of Tibetan leadership.
Q: How has US President Donald Trump’s USAID cuts affected your budget?
A: The total US funding is around $14 million. $2 million is for PRM—population, refugees, migration—and for health issues, which is directly under the State Department, so it was not cut. Of the remaining $12 million, $5 million is for two specific projects—$3 million to build the capacity of institutions and individuals at CTA, which is a five-year project and we are on year four, so we need to mobilise to finish this. Another project is the digitisation of all Tibetan scriptures. $7 million is for education, health, rehabilitation—it is connected with so many departments here. That has been restored. For the other two specific projects we have reached out to other governments; they are interested in supporting. Our sources are not just countries, there are organisations and individuals too. But for the last seven months it has been a setback, from January to now.
Q: Which governments are interested in supporting?
A: Germany is one. And, of course, the Indian government is the largest benefactor. If it was not for the government of India, we wouldn’t exist.
Q: What more can India do?
A: What more can India do? On humanitarian grounds, there is no other country that has done as much. Of course culturally, linguistically, we feel part of India in that sense. The Tibetan script, Devanagari, came from India. The Nalanda system of Buddhism came from India. All these historical connections are there, and perhaps for all these reasons India has been kind. We never had a war, in that sense, having been neighbours for centuries. Politically, of course, we would like the Indian government to take a more visible stand, but we also understand there are so many things on the table between India and China. If there has to be a resolution (on the issues between India and China), it is better to resolve the Sino-Tibet dispute first. That can contribute more trust between China and India. If you look at the larger geopolitical scenario also, if there is better trust between India and China after the resolution of the Tibet conflict, then would China need to maintain such a relationship with Pakistan to contain India?
Q: You mentioned back-channel diplomacy with the Chinese in a presser. Do you see common grounds?
A: There is no common ground. It’s just to convey messages. Like this time, to say don’t do anything during the 90th birthday that will spoil the mood of the Chinese government. During the earthquake, I asked them whether there’s anything we can do from outside. At least some messaging here and there, but we are not very keen right now to push this, because you don’t have a leadership that is willing to listen.
Q: What do you see is happening in the political circles in China?
A: There are symptoms of a bigger malaise in the political circles now, and I think his (Xi Jinping’s) friends are shrinking as he’s removing the very people he appointed. That also questions his choice of people. If you look at the last one and a half years, there have been a lot of signs of things not being well in the political circles.
Q: I have heard that the office of the Dalai Lama and CTA see some of the most cyberattacks.
A: We have an organisation in Canada that helps us with internet security, and several people work pro bono. According to them, we are one of the most attacked websites, or whatever platform, from the Chinese side. We have no issues because we have nothing to hide. We have always said we are transparent.
Q: Is there infiltration?
A: That has always been there. They themselves admit they have sleepers. They have people listening. They are on social media; they listen to what the community is saying as we have a very vibrant social media community
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