Harvard legal scholar Lobsang Sangay (42) will be the new prime minister of Tibet government in exile probably from this fall. He will thus don the mantle of first non- ‘reincarnated’ Lama at the helm in a rapidly changing geo-political world.
Beijing, true to its form, dismissed his election which was announced on Wednesday Apr 27. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei at his briefing stuck to the cliché that they (Tibetan exiles) are illegal and unrecognised group. It means Chinese leadership has no intention of dealing with them, notwithstanding the contacts established with the Dalai Lama. This doesn’t come as a surprise. Sooner or later Beijing will have to come to grips with the reality of generational shift in the campaign hitherto dominated by spiritual leader Dalai Lama (75) and his moderate, middle path policies.
Lobsang Sangay rose from the ranks in a manner of speaking. That gives him grassroots touch. And his election, as Thubten Samphel, a government spokesman, says, indicates that democracy has taken firm roots. It is to be seen however whether these democratic structures will hold community together in the years to come.
Sangay worked his way up through the Tibetan Youth Congress, which stands for complete independence for Tibet. So, it is possible that he could go beyond the Dalai Lama’s policy of negotiating for autonomy. And it is bound to strike a responsive chord amongst the Tibetans who are born outside Tibet. The Dalai Lama and many older Tibetan exiles were born inside Tibet and fled in 1959. Sangay himself was born in a refugee camp in Darjeeling in 1968. It is possible that he will not embark on an unchartered voyage when the Dalai Lama is around.
The voting pattern reveals that his thinking has wide support amongst the Tibetans scattered in some 30 countries. He received 55 percent of the roughly 50,000 votes in a three cornered contest. So his every move will be closely watched to see whether he. Sangay can emerge as a force capable of rallying Tibetans in and outside Tibet. Significantly, Sangay has said his victory is a mandate ‘not only from exiled Tibetans but also from those still living inside Tibet under Chinese rule’.
The Dalai Lama cleared the way for the young leadership last month when he announced his retirement plans as political leader and later refused to budge under pressure. The decision is a part of his efforts to put in place a political structure that will last. Also he doesn’t want China to exploit the vacuum after his death and impose a pro-Beijing leadership on Tibetan Buddhists.
Lobsang Sangay will succeed the current prime minister, Samdhong Rinpoche, whose five-year term ends in August. As the first Tibetan ‘Kalon Tripa’ (prime minister) to have been born and brought up in India, he will share the leadership responsibilities with the Karmapa Lama, who will be the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama.
