By Tenzin Monlam
DHARAMSHALA, September 1: The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) in association with the Tibetan Women’s Association (TWA) today launched a public awareness campaign to improve and strengthen Tibetan democracy.
“We begin this campaign with aim to create a bridge between the lawmakers and the general public. So that public’s suggestions will reach the authorities and subsequently, they will act accordingly to the suggestions,” Tsering Tsomo, Executive Director of TCHRD said, adding that it would help develop the Tibetan democracy.
Describing the Tibetan democracy as a ‘borderless democracy’, Tsering Tsomo said that despite being stateless, Tibetans under the guidance of His Holiness the Dalai Lama have formed a ‘unique’ democratic system in exile. She urged every Tibetan to take part in it and not stay idle pointing out only mistakes.
In July this year, the two NGOs organized a two-week campaign called ‘Mangtso: Tibetan Democracy Awareness Tour’ covering all the major Tibetan settlements to collect suggestions and views on various electoral issues and reforms from the general public through open public discussions.
“We plan to propose these suggestions to our parliamentarians and it would be ideal for us if they present them in the house when and if the debate over electoral reform arises during the upcoming Parliament session,” she said.
Given the failure to reach any consensus over the electoral reforms in the last Parliament, the two Dharamshala-based NGOs hoped that the agreement would be reached during the upcoming session later in the month.
Dolma Yangchen, President of TWA on the occasion said, “Tibetans must recognize that the democracy given to us by His Holiness is not just rights but a responsibility as well. Hence, we must utilize this prize appropriately.”
Spreading baseless rumors and slandering in the name of democracy is failure on our part, said Dolma Yangchen. She also suggested that raising awareness amongst public regarding the candidates is also a responsibility of the Tibetan NGOs.
TCHRD will be publishing a special report based on the campaign on Tibetan democracy tentatively by the end of 2017.
Along with open public discussions, TCHRD also conducted a written survey participated by over 300 people. The survey found that the 74 percent agreed with the continuation of the two-round election of Sikyong and Members of Parliament. However, more than 74 percent of people suggested the time between the two rounds to be shortened.
The survey also found that 54 percent of the respondents think the common date for Sikyong and parliamentary elections is ‘problematic’.
“Many have complained that while casting ballot for parliamentary candidates their mindset is totally inclined towards a particular province and they find it hard to rid that mindset when they later cast their ballot for Sikyong elections,” said Tenzin Dawa, TCRHD official who conducted the survey.
