"Democracy" claimed by "exiled Tibetan government"

The book said, after the Dalai Lama fled abroad in 1959, the political framework of the theocratic system had been preserved. The "Constitution of the Tibetan government-in-exile" clearly stipulates that "theocracy will continued to be carried out, the Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader and has the final say in all major issues". Important posts of the "exiled government" are always held by senior lamas, including the Dalai Lama’s siblings, who control the political, economic, educational and military authorities.

In the recent years, the Dalai Lama followed the western political system of checks and balances among the three branches of government, by which he established the "Gagxa administration", "Tibetan people’s parliament" and the "Supreme court". However, on the issue of former director of Radio Free Asia Ngabo Jigme’s sudden dismissal, the Dalai Lama, who had declared his "retirement" in 2011 "decided to exploit his authority to appease the discontent," said an American Tibetologist from the Indiana University. And an Tibetan American writer Jamyang Norbu said that "the disputes over Jigme’s dismissal has exposed a lack of transparency in the politics of the "exiled Tibetan government".

As an online report disclosed in June 2013, many Tibetan refugees who have lived in the areas near the Himalayas cannot live a normal life for lack of necessary birth certificates.

"Without the birth certificate, I don’t know where I belong to. I don’t have a future here," a refugee named Paden said.

The dream of refugees like Paden is to apply for the nationalities of the countries they reside in for a sense of security. However, such common desire has been impeded by the "exiled Tibetan government". In 2012, the head of the "exiled parliament" repeated that "the refugees should keep their status because the Tibetans in Tibet would lose their confidence otherwise."

As the website phayul reported in March 2013, most of the exiled Tibetans are distressed by unemployment, poverty and insufficient education resources. Most children of the exiled families become street children or orphans, who can only receive education by funding from overseas.

Drakpa Tenzin, a Tibetan who is living in the U.S. said to the RFA, he witnessed "dire poverty" on his visit to a refugee camp in October 2013. "I saw many people suffering from cataract and tuberculosis. Rats and pests are everywhere. People have no food and job, and they don’t get enough help only with the permits of residence."

An adviser to the RFA disclosed in his article that the census issued by the "exiled Tibetan government" in 2012 showed that the big majority of the exiled Tibetans lived near the poverty line although they were somewhat supported by the local government, NGOs and emergency relief from overseas. However, the leaders of the "exiled Tibetan government" all hold citizenships of the foreign countries themselves, including the head, whose relatives have owned property in the U.S. And he himself had got the permit to apply for the "green card" or American citizenship any time he wants.

In terms of the "democratic election in the settlements", only four of them had elected officials by the end of 2011, according to a report issued by the "Tibet human rights and democracy center" in September 2013. Instead, some settlements demanded to appoint an official instead of "electing" one for fear of the official as well as for fear of the representative of the Dalai Lama."

Maxime Vivas, a French writer analyzed the Dalai group’s "checks and balances" in his book "Not so Zen" published in September 2011, saying that “ Buddha dharma and Buddhist Commandments are always superior to the secular law (if this happened in France, it would incur strong protest)…The bills of the "exiled parliament" could not become law unless being approved by the Dalai Lama…The administrative authority also went to the Dalai Lama himself." Maxime indicated that the "exiled Constitution" could only be enforced within the "exiled kingdom”, but not in Tibet.

Zhu Xiaoming also pointed out in his book that no matter how much camouflage the Dalai Lama and his followers has put on for his claim of "democracy", essentially, the "exiled Tibetan government" remains a theocratic institution ruled by the upper class lamas and aristocrats. Has there been a "democracy" under theocracy in the world?

He emphasized that compared with the wishful "democracy" preached by the Dalai Lama, the separation of politics and religion, the democratic reform carried out in Tibet as well as the power of regional ethnic autonomy established, "His ‘democracy’ is merely a fraud to deceive the world."