By Bryan G. Robinson
Once there, they planned to deliver a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan asking him to pressure the Chinese government to release Gendun Choekyi Nyima, who is recognized as the Panchen Lama by the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan people. They planned to arrive in New York on the Panchen Llama’s 16th birthday on Monday.
The Chinese government imprisoned the Panchen Lama on May 17, 1995, when he was six years old, and then appointed their own candidate, known to most Tibetans as “Panchen Zuma” (fake Panchen) as the atheist government picked him.
Since then, the Panchen Lama has been been held incommunicado, and despite repeated requests from the U.S. and other governments, no international observer has been allowed access to the boy. In addition, the International Campaign for Tibet has submitted a report on the Panchen Lama to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, requesting for a U.N. official to visit Nyima at his 10th anniversary of imprisonment.
“He’s the spirit of Tibet, and next in line to the Dalai Lama,” said Gindin Gyatso on Friday. According to Tibetan tradition, the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama play a key role in the recognition of each other’s reincarnations.
Gyatso is one of the group leaders, and was a monk in Tibet before he fled into exile in 1992. He now lives in Los Angeles, Calif.
Joining Gyatso on the bicycle ride that began at the Chinese Embassy in Washington and that had four other stops on the way to New York, were nine cyclists, two assistants to the bikers and a filmmaker, who was on hand to document the ride.
The nine other bicyclists were Drew Hart, treasurer of the Students for a Free Tibet chapter at New York University; Tyler Magyar, from New Jersey; Jigme Norbu from Bloomington, Ind.; Nyima Tsering, Paljor Dorjee, Rinbo Tenzin, Rabka Rabka and Tenzin Khenrab, all from Minneapolis, Minn., and Phurpha Tsering from West Los Angeles, Calif.
The two assistants were Chiga, from Alexandria, Va. and Michael Pittman, also from Minneapolis, Minn. The filmmaker was Tom Reed, from Pennsylvania, and earlier in the trip, Sam Souharda of Bloomington, Ind. also assisted the group.
Last year, Rinbo Tenzin, along with Gyatso and Norbu, biked from Washington, D.C. to Toronto to raise awareness for Tibetan independence.
“I am Tibetan,” said Rinbo Tenzin, who like Gyatso was born in Tibet. “I have to do it.” He said America is free and so should be his country.
Norbu is son of Takster Rinpoche, the Dalai Lamai’s eldest brother. “It’s a responsibility I have, even though I live in America,” said Norbu. He said it was especially important that he and other younger Tibetans like those on the ride continue making the world aware of what has happened and what is happing in their country.
An example of what has happened since the country was invaded in 1949 is that more than a million Tibetans have died under the Chinese occupation as a result of torture, starvation, and execution, according to the Tibetan Government-in-Exile (www.tibet.net), which since 1959 has operated in northern India.
And what is still happening is as of 1998, 1,083 known Tibetans remain incarcerated in Chinese prisons on account of their political, religious or ethical views, also according to the Tibetan Government-in-Exile. Of those, 246 were women and 12 were juvenile.
But can anything really be done? Posed this question, Norbu said: “We’re still very optimistic. There are six million Tibetans and we still have our rights.”
Gyatso agreed when posed the same question. “We don’t know, but every time we do something, we hope,” he said. “We’re willing to put out the effort and time to bring some little change.”
This year, the Dalai Lama has proclaimed 2005 the International Year for the Panchen Lama, making their quest all the more important.
Realistically, Gyatso said he believes it will be really hard to get independence. However, he said, he believed that Tibetans deserve their rights as human beings to study and practice what they want and have freedom of speech.
With Gyatso as a translater, Tsering said like Norbu and Gyatso he was hopeful that their ride would make a little difference. “He believes it will bring something good,” said Gyatso.
