21. Oct 2009
People's Daily: Tibetan radical exposes "democracy myth"
(People's Daily; Shadow Tibet) Taking up arguments from Tibetan exile writer Jamyang Norbu, the government-controlled People's Daily has exposed what it calls the Dalai Lama's "democracy myth". In the article "Waiting for Mangtso - a reality check of Tibetan exile politics" the first part of which was posted on his website "Shadow Tibet" on 09 September 2009, Mr Norbu compares the Kalon Tripa, or Prime Minister to a ""first minister of the crown" in a pre-democratic monarchy or theocracy", or a "grand eunuch in a decaying Oriental court". He argues that a "religious right" have a stranglehold on exile politics and that the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) itself is merely a tool for the Office of the Dalai Lama rather than a democratic government in any meaningful sense. People's Daily also takes up Mr Norbu's criticism of the representation of support for the Dalai Lama's policies expressed at the Special Meeting of the exiles in November 2008. Jamyang Norbu, who for decades has been a vocal proponent of Tibetan independence as opposed to the Dalai Lama's Middle Way policy, is characterised by People's Daily as a "radical Tibetan independence activist". He himself stated his aim as "to democratise our exile government and society".