Lobsang Sangay: Difference between revisions

Lobsang Sangay བློ་བཟང་སེང་གེ་
Sikyong of the Central Tibetan Administration
Incumbent
Assumed office 8 August 2011
Preceded by	Lobsang Tenzin
Personal details
Born	(1968-09-05) 5 September 1968 (age 55) University of Delhi Harvard University

Lobsang Sangay (Tibetan: བློ་བཟང་སེང་གེ་, "kind-hearted lion"; born September 5, 1968 in Darjeeling) is the president of Tibetan-government-in-Exile officially known as Central Tibetan Administration(CTA). He has been chief executive of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile since 8 August 2011. Following the election, at the request of the 14th Dalai Lama, the Tibetan parliament-in-exile amended the organisation's bylaws to remove the Dalai Lama's role as ceremonial head of state, making Lobsang Sangay its highest leader. In 2012, to reflect this change, Lobsang Sangay's title as chief executive was changed from kalön tripa ("prime minister") to sikyong ("ruler" or "regent").

Early life and education

Sangay was born in a refugee community in

In 2004, he became the first Tibetan to earn a S.J.D. degree from Harvard Law School and was a recipient of the 2004 Yong K. Kim' 95 Prize of excellence for his dissertation Democracy in Distress: Is Exile Polity a Remedy? A Case Study of Tibet's Government-in-exile.^[3] In 2006, Sangay was selected as one of the twenty-four Young Leaders of Asia by the Asia Society, a global organization working to strengthen relationships and promote understanding among the people, leaders and institutions of Asia and the United States. Funded by Hao Ran foundation, Sangay was a Senior Fellow at the East Asian Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School through 2011. He is an expert in Tibetan law and international human rights law.

Governmental career

On 10 March 2011, the 14th Dalai Lama proposed changes to the exile charter to remove his position of authority within the organisation and devolve his political power to the elected leader, thus making the Kalön Tripa (or Chief Minister) the highest-ranking officeholder. These changes were ratified on 29 May 2011,[6] even though, according to Sangay, there was “a high level of anxiety among Tibetans” over the Dalai Lama's decision to relinquish his own political authority.^[5]

On 27 April 2011 Sangay was elected Kalön Tripa of the

In his role as Sikyong, Sangay has emphasized the importance of seeking a peaceful, non-violent resolution of the Tibet issue. He has supported the Dalai Lama's call for a so-called “Middle Way” approach “that would provide for genuine autonomy for Tibet within the framework of Chinese constitution.” Noting that China has established “one country, two systems” mechanisms in Hong Kong and Macau, he has argued that it makes no sense for China to continue to resist a similar solution for Tibet, which, he emphasizes, would be a “win-win” result.[9]

In February 2013, he gave the first annual lecture of the Indian Association of Foreign Affairs Correspondence. Expressing concern about the possible ripple effects of recent acts of armed rebellion in west Asia, he called for the international community to strengthen its endorsement of non-violent approaches to oppression. “If non-violence is the right thing to do,” he emphasized, “we ought to be supported by the international community.” Noting the media attention given to armed Syrian “freedom fighters,” he said: “Tibetans have been democratic and non-violent for the last so many decades, how come we don't receive similar support and attention?”^[10]

Sangay made a statement on 10 March 2013, the 54th anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising Day, in which he paid tribute to the “yearning for freedom” that inspired “the epochal events of March 10, 1959,” and dedicated the anniversary of those events “to all the self-immolators and those who have died for Tibet.” He also restated his dedication to the “Middle Way Approach,” expressing hope that a “speedy resolution” by China of the Tibet issue could “serve as a model for other freedom struggles” and “be a catalyst for moderation of China.”^[11]

In January 2017, outgoing US ambassador to India,

Sangay was awarded Presidential Medal award by Salisbury U, Maryland, USA on 13 October 2015.[14]

He received the Gold Medal of the College Historical Society of Trinity College Dublin for Outstanding Contribution to Public Discourse by the Auditor of the Society, Ms Ursula Ni Choill.^[15]

Controversy

On 7 November 2017, Kashag ( Sangay's government ) has abruptly dismissed a long-serving Tibetan diplomat, Mr.Penpa Tsering, from the latter's post of the coveted chair in Office of Tibet in Washington DC. Former education minister, Ngodup Tsering was appointed to take the position with effect from 1 December 2017. No clear justification for the dismissal and replacement was provided by Kashag. ^[16] On 18.11.2017 Kashag releases 10-point statement of clarification providing details of reasons for Penpa Tsering’s dismissal.^[17] A new-york based Tibetan man writing under the pseudonym 'Mila Rangzen' has called for a mass protest against the Tibetan exile government on 27 November 2017 to demand justice for the ousted diplomat. ^[18] The settlement officer of Dharamsala released a statement urging peace in the street.^[19] Then, on 27 November 2017, the protest took place in Dharamsala. Police have arrived on the scene to avoid potential clashes between supporters of Lobsang Sangay and Penpa Tsering.^[20] This is the first time since the Central Tibetan Administration was established where Tibetan people have shown grievances against their exile government in the form of a protest.

Works

• Tibet: Exiles' Journey, Journal of Democracy – Volume 14, Number 3, July 2003, pp. 119–130 Tibet: Exiles' Journey archived [1]
• We Sing a Song of Sadness Tibetan Political Prisoners Speak Out, Billy Jackson, Publish America, 2004,
  ISBN 1-4137-1677-6
• Lobsang Sangay, China in Tibet: Forty Years of Liberation or Occupation?, Harvard Asia Quarterly, Volume III, No. 3, 1999.
• Human rights and Buddhism : cultural relativism, individualism & universalism, Thesis (LL. M.), Harvard Law School, 1996,
  OCLC 43348085
• Democracy in distress : is exile polity a remedy? : a case study of Tibet's government in exile, Thesis (S.J.D.), Harvard Law School, 2004,
  OCLC 62578261
• A constitutional analysis of the secularization of the Tibetan diaspora : the role of the Dalai Lama, in Theology and the soul of the liberal state, ed. Leonard V Kaplan; Charles Lloyd Cohen, Lanham : Lexington Books, 2010,
  ISBN 978-0-7391-2617-2

• List of foreign ministers in 2016
• List of foreign ministers in 2017
• List of current foreign ministers
• Foreign relations of Tibet

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lobsang Sangay.

• A Review of Lobsang Sangay's Published Scholarly Works
• Interview of Lobsang Sangay as Tibetan Prime Minister in Exile by Asia Times^{[permanent dead link]}
• Dr.Lobsang Sangay • Special Meeting in Dharamsala
• Audio of the Lobsang Sangay HARDtalk BBC interview