Bhuchung K. Tsering: Promoting healthy competition among Tibetans (July 1999)

Promoting healthy competition among Tibetans
Article by Bhuchung K. Tsering (issue July 1999)

Between July and September (I think) Dharamsala will be announcing the best civil servant of the year. This award was instituted some years back. Also, those who graduated from Central Schools for Tibetans since the late seventies would remember that the Tibetan Department of Education also presents the Bum-kyon-sum-del ("Vase Devoid of Three Defects") award to the best student in each school every year. I am sure the awards are still being presented today. These, as also other awards like the Tibetan Youth Congress' Rangzen Award (for social works, etc), I believe, are well intentioned to generate a healthy competition among the Tibetan people. Competition of the right kind, as we know, is an incentive to do better. The awards, thus, were established to recognise the achievement of certain individuals and thereby be an incentive for others to follow that path.

So how have these awards fared? Let us take the case of the Bum-kyon-sum-del laureates, if you will. Except for the 15 minutes of fame the students may have received on the day of the announcement of the awards, they seem to be non-entities thereafter. The medal that symbolises their award does not seem to have any value once the students leave the schools. In fact, my educated guess would be that very few among the officials in Gangchen Kyishong, leave alone the average Tibetan refugee, would be able to identify some of these Bum-kyon-sum-del laureates. There is thus no recognition of the individual within the community, which in turn is not any encouragement for others to aspire to reach that position.

As for the best civil servant award, it has been mired in unwanted controversy from the very beginning, thus negating the very purpose of its institution. Although it has been some years since its inception, this award has failed to find a place for itself in the psyche of the civil servants. One reason for this is that except for the monetary reward (5,000 Indian rupees to be exact), the award recipients do not have any other practical gain.

How about changing the system and making these awards fulfil the objectives for which they were established? In order to achieve this, we Tibetans need to learn the art of effective management: You should not only perform an action well, but should be seen doing so. In other words, presentation is important (I am not advocating here symbolism without substance). To give a culinary example, we Tibetans do prepare delicious dishes, but do we present them well? We know the answer.

Give these awards a little bit of high profile. Currently, the best civil servant award is announced in conjunction with some other ceremony. Oftentimes, it may be that the award recipient himself or herself is stationed outside of Dharamsala and so is not present when he or she is being honoured. Why not make the award ceremony an important annual event in itself and arrange it so that the recipient is present. Make the recipient share his/her experience to the rest of the civil servants. Project the awardees in the publications so that others get to know about them. Consider the award as a positive factor for promoting the recipient to the next grade. Similarly, currently, the best student medal is just that, just a medal. It does not seem to have any further significance. How about taking into consideration the medals when providing scholarships or jobs, or even promotions. In short, do whatever it takes to make people want these awards.

China and its public image - Bhuchung K. Tsering (June 1999)

China and its public image
Article by Bhuchung K. Tsering (issue June 1999) 

At the end of April I was in Geneva in connection with a rally held on the birthday of the Panchen Lama, the hunger strike by the Tibetan Youth Congress and the session of the Comission on Human Rights. I arrived there the day after China was once again able to block a resolution condemning its human rights practices in China and Tibet.

Enter the meeting room of the Comission - I had last stepped into it six years ago - I experienced once again the harsh reality concerning the UN and issues like ours. In that room, the suffering of opressed people is a product, with the NGOs primarily playing the role of sales agents. The product's value is not based on its own merit but on how countries feel it has use for them. Since the mid-eighties Tibetan officials and NGOs have been adapting themselves to this situation and lounching a vigorous campaign at the Commission to sell the Tibetan product. Occasionally they have been successful - sometimes they have faced setbacks. Nevertheless, today the Tibetan brand name enjoys very favourable recognition within the Commission and is used as a model for success by other human rights advocates. But then, it is a crazy market out there.

A case in point is the China resolution proposed by the United States during this session of the Commission. Even the European Union failed to co-sponsor it. Eventually, only Poland became a co-sponsor. China, however, had to seek recourse to its usual procedural tactic to prevent this resolution from being discussed. While China may think it won this round, observers in Geneva feel otherwise. There were more countries, significantly from Afrika, abstaining this time. This is a clear writing on the wall. 

Today, China is desperate to do anything to prevent countries from reminding it about Tibet. The undiplomatic outburst of President Jiang Zemin during his visit to the Swiss Capital, Bern, in late March is an indication of how far the Chinese are willing to go on this. President Jiang literally scolded the Swiss leadership for permitting Tibetans and Tibet-supporters in Switzerland to exercise their democratic right to freedom of speech during his visit to the Swiss Parliament.

I took a short trip to Bern from Geneva and specifically went to the square before the Swiss Parliament House. Loten Namling, who was my host, showed me the location where the demonstrators stationed themselves. Is this the building that made President Jiang launch his thousand tirades? I wondered. As I stood in the square I tried to visualise the development that day. While the demonstrators may certainly have embarrassed President Jiang, there was no justifiable reason for his extreme outburst. This led me to wonder whether there were other reasons for his attitude. Could it be that he has been facing the heat from others in the Chinese leadership concerning Tibet since his non-negative statements during the press conference with President Clinton in June of 1998? Would this mean that President Jiang has really not been able to consolidate power and authority? 

Bhuchung K. Tsering is a commentator based in Washinton, DC. He currently works with the International Campaign for Tibet.

And Nangma for you - Bhuchung K. Tsering (June 1999)

And Nangma for you

Article by Bhuchung K. Tsering (issue June 1999) 

I have always felt that some Tibetan artistes do not recognise their own value. At worst they not only underestimate themselves, but also the art. One former TIPA artiste when asked to do a performance is said to have remarked, ‘I have had enough to do with monkeyacting.’

On the other side there are Tibetans, not professional artistes, who take up Tibetan music for their sheer love of it. The members of the Nangma group in Switzerland falls into this category. Nangma initially began as a section of the Tibetan Youth Association in Europe, but today has an identity of its own. Its members work in banks and airlines during the weekday. They spend their leisure hours immersed in Tibetan music. I have had the occasion to see some of their performances in the early Nineties.

Nangma has come out with a new CD titled ‘Sonam Yangchen’, a conglomeration of classical and popular numbers. Among these are Sonam Yangchen (Nangma), Acho Sotop (Toeshey), Tse Potala (an Amdo number popularised by TIPA), a Namthar and a Chang song titled ‘Arokla Nachung’. My favourite is the collage of instrumental music, which begins the album. Performers play the Flute, Dramnyen, Gyumang, and Piwang, which compose Tibetan music, one after another thus giving us a taste of their individuality.

While I certainly welcome Sonam Yangchen as one more choice of Tibetan music on CD, I wish Tibetan artistes would start coming out with specialised albums, whether on Nangma, Toeshey, Changshey, Gorshey, Namthar, etc. instead of mixing them together. There is a good market, commercially speaking, for such albums if they get the right promotion. Unfortunately, Nangma (the group) has not done much to promote this CD. Unless one accidentally comes across it (as I did) one may not even be aware of its existence. I went to a music store the other day. There were over a dozen Tibetan CDs, mostly religious chants, on the Tibet section in the world music department. Sonam Yangchen (the CD) was nowhere in sight although TIPA’s ‘Dhama Suna’ was there. In this regard artistes like Nawang Khechog and Yungchen Lhamo have learnt the tricks of the trade.

Leave alone promoting the CD; Nangma artistes have not even promoted themselves in the CD. No names are given of the performers of the individual numbers. Since I knew some of the performers like Tsering Topgyal Nelung (‘Acho Tom’) and Tsering Tethong, I could identify their voices. Nangma’s album, ‘Trunglha Yarsoel’, released in 1996, lists its artistes as follows: Lobsang Gangshontsang, Kalsang Dhidugong, Norbu Lhakhang, Kunga Tethong, Tsering Topgyal Nelung and Lhakpa Tsering. The listener is left wondering who among them played some of the instruments.

Anyway, for anyone wishing to get a copy of this CD try contacting Kalsang Dhidugong, Zugerstrasse 24, 8810 Horgen, Switzerland (this address is given on the CD). 

Bhuchung K. Tsering is a commentator based in Washinton, DC. He currently works with the International Campaign for Tibet.

Studying 'Tibetans' or 'Tibetan' studies? - Bhuchung K. Tsering (September 1998)

Studying 'Tibetans' or 'Tibetan' studies?
Article by Bhuchung K. Tsering (issue September 1998)


The 8^th ‘Seminar of the Intenational Association for Tibetan Studies’ took place between July 25 and 31, 1998 in Bloomingto, Indiana, in the United States. Thirty-six years ago, a ‘Conference on Tibet’ took place in the Italian town of Bellagio. That conference, held from July 2 to 8, 1962, was attended by 15 Western and Japanese Tibetologists. A comparative study of the two meetings reveals the extent of development in the field of Tibetan studies.

Compared to the 15 attendees in the 1962 meeting, the Indiana meeting attracted nearly 200 scholars. In 1962 Tibetans scholars (the current president of the Association of Tibetan Studies, Samten Karmay, being one of them) were regarded more as raw materials rather than finished products and merely served as sources of information which were then packaged by Western and other scholars. In the Indiana conference, 33 participants were Tibetan (17 of them in fact came from Tibet).

The ‘general opinion’ of the 1962 conference, reported by Turell V Wylie, was that ‘Tibetan culture has no chance of survival in Tibet proper where change is being made by force, and it will not long survive the acculturation process in other countries.’. the latter, I assume, is a nice way of saying that Tibetans in exile will not be able to preserve our culture. Indiana has proved Bellagio wrong on both counts. While Tibetans inside Tibet have shown tremendous resilience in the face of challenge, those in exile have shown the world that Tibetan culture, altough aged, is living and well, thank you.

However, Indiana revealed a few other challenges. First, although there was increased recognition of ‘Tibetan’ scholars, the assumption appears to be that you have to be involved with ‘modern’ academic institutions to be considered a scholar. There was hardly a participant from the traditional Tibetan monastic institutions. Were invitations issued to them?

Secondly, the seminar was not open to the Voice of America and Radio Free Asia. I would have thought that the Association would have gladly seized the opportunity to relay to the Tibetan people issues which concern them. After all, Tibetan studies is about a still living people.

There is an interesting footnote to this. In the light of the media ban, it appears that one of the radio stations asked some poeple to observe (most likely so that they can broaden their horizon and be able to provide better service to the Tibetan listeners). The response was negative: only scholars who present papers were being invited as delegates and no one else. I do not know whether the response given by this member of the organising committee was a collective decision or his own personal action.

I later learn that there indeed were observers, even if they were not called as such. Out of the nearly 200 participants only 150 or so presented papers. Also, among the delegates was an official from Chinese United Front Works Department whose sole qualification appears to be his ability to monitor the delegation from Tibet rather than displaying any scholarship.

Who said the academic world is free from biased actions?

Bhuchung K. Tsering is a commentator based in Washington, DC. He currently works with the International Campaign for Tibet.