By Tenzin Dharpo
DHARAMSHALA, Feb. 7: The Deputy Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile has announced his intention to stand in the 2021 Tibetan Presidential elections known as the Sikyong election. Acharya Yeshi Phuntsok said that he will be standing in the race for the top office of the Tibetan polity having been endorsed and encouraged by his well wishers.
He said that he feels that he has what it takes to run the highest office of the exile government known officially as the Central Tibetan Administration because of his decades long track record for public service especially in the arena of the Tibetan struggle.
The 58-year-old said that his main agendas as the President would be to sustain the Tibetan movement and strengthen it by invigorating global support on political as well as financial level, while keeping with the ground realities of the time. “As my supporters say, I have considerable support from various political players in India where the Tibetan movement is primarily based and I feel that is a very important front,” Acharya Yeshi Phuntsok told VOT.
The veteran Tibetan lawmaker was a former executive programme officer at the Tibetan Parliamentary and Policy Research Centre and has been a legislator since 2006 having been elected in the Utsang constituency. He currently holds the position of Deputy Speaker. He founded the Bharat Tibet Sahyog Manch in 1999 and has been board member and member of various political and academic bodies over the years.
Acharya’s candidacy makes it three in the race after former Ministers Lobsang Nyandak and Gyari Dolma having officially announced their intent for the highest office of the Tibetan polity. Conjectures are brewing of former Speaker of TPiE and NA representative Penpa Tsering and former Minister Dongchung Ngodup also running for the 2021 Sikyong elections.
9 Responses
Minister post in Dolma Gyari or Kaydor kashag assured for his role of dividing Ustang votes. Shrewd move by either of the two .
Any would be candidate running for president election must relinquish their foreign citizenship and adopt ic in addition to green book as basic criteria. While it may not be law yet but candidates should declare their status regarding citizenship or those who are pure ic holder candidates should make it a campaign issue, as a product differentiation, that they are one who is prepared to die in ditch in India for the cause no matter what and chose not to have an insurance to escape to a nice western country should things go pear shape. Clearly foreign based Tibetans are great patriots and source of boundless resource and support, Tibetans with ic living in India must be regarded as the Tibetan national hence only fit for the head of a nation. We can’t have a foreigner, even if in a technical sense, as the head of our nation. It is a symbolic thing but lies at the heart of any nation.
I agree with Sonam Tsomo’s suggestion. She had covered all the issues that our leader is expected to deal with.
TIbet was ruled by grand Lamas from the time of Dogon Choegyal Phakpa till the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. During this long period of time, the wise rulers gave the Tibetan people the most cherished prize in their lives – the holy Dharma. TIbet remained a deeply religious nation since the advent of Buddhism to the country in the mid-seventh century. In exile after the Dalai Lama went into semi-retirement, another Lama was elected for two consecutive terms and Samdong Rinpoche did a good job of keeping the exiles united but also demanding rights for the Tibetans to preserve our religion, culture and language within the ambit of Chinese constitution. SR was succeeded by much touted young lay people who were thought to be the vanguard of the struggle. Unfortunately, the young Turks were over zealous about their ideological moorings that caused much consternation in the camps of those who opposed the “Middle Way” and later the two combatants went on a rampage to prove themselves one better which turned the campaign into a rancorous exercise of “he said”, “I said” monotony. However, the damage was done and there was deep fissures of division and disquiet among the exile population. Since, the Lamas have proved their mettle by working to keep the peace and then work for the cause, it may be that we should try to install another monk to emulate the grand Lamas of the by gone age to bring unity and civility to our community to work unitedly for Tibet’s freedom. Acharya Yeshi Phuntsok has been exemplary in his personal demeanour and has been a quite achiever without much fan fare. He seems to be well connected with many Indian friends of TIbet and with his fluency in Hindi, would serve a firm bridge between Tibetans and Indian supporters of TIbet. Being a monk, he commands respect from the Tibetan community and his penchant for hard work without extravagant claims would go a long way to calm the ruffled feathers in the Tibetan community. I know there will be those who will be howling their disapproval of monks but the fact is, we need people who can further the TIbet cause who ever it may be. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a monk/nun or lay as long as we have somebody, who can keep the peace and further the national goal. A monk at this juncture will also be well placed to speak strongly about the reincarnation of the future Dalai Lamas which will be a recurring topic in the years to come. A monk has all the passion, the knowledge and the understanding of how to explain the reincarnation issue to the world public to garner international support to make sure that the Dalai Lama re-incarnation issue is a prerogative of the TIbet people alone and no one else, least of all the enemies of the faith.
I think it’s time for our Election Commission to introduce party system in Tibetan Politics to devise ourselves from regionalism, sectarianism, and religion-ism. Two party system suite the best for our political scenario – a ruling party and an opposition party on the floor where parties can discuss each and every political, social, financial activities for the mutual benefit of entire Tibetan society.
When is kaydor aukatsang declaring his candidacy? I think he is best placed to lead the Tibetan polity. and when is lukar jam declaring his candidacy? we need someone from Tibetan independence group, even if he won’t end up winning in the end, at least in the preleminaries.
It is good to have many candidates for the Sikyong office. It gives people multiple choice and options for selecting the best candidates on merit basis, but not on any other criterion as considered to be unfriendly to social harmony. I hope the debates amongst all the prospective candidates should be centered on various issues we are facing today and suggest ways and means how best to resolve them realistically.
The Tibetan election commission should issue the strict directions and rules for campaigning, so that personal attack and the character assassination of any candidate do not occur. The debates and discussion should be on major national issues, but not on any personal attack. We also expect all the candidates to be on high moral ground and show the virtue of real Tibetanness as our ancestors are known to have possessed. Their words, behavior and conduct of their debates should do us proud.
The election commission should take note of any candidate using inappropriate words and arguments to create hatred and inciting people to fan regional or sectarian differences in society. Such candidate should be taken the strict action after several issuing warnings and if deemed necessary, the finally disqualify from contesting the election after due process of law.
Least controversial (If any) of all candidates and someone who is a pure Tibetan refugee with valid RC and green book unlike others who are either Indian or American citizens. My vote for him for sure
not agreeing with you about this candidate. have lists of his indecency behavior, would not like to bring out to public like this. just want to tell you that he is not the right candidate to lead us.