Each year 2–3000 Tibetans permanently leave Tibet and go to neighbouring countries like Nepal and India. Why do they leave?
Is it a difficult process? Most Tibetans go to India to receive a blessing from his Holiness, the Dalai Lama. Obviously, the Chinese government doesn't want that and tries to stop Tibetans. A lot of people die on the way trying to cross the Himalayas. Most of my friends at my Tibetan school in India came by foot. Some saw people dying on the way of starvation, or because of the harsh weather, or just exhaustion.
In many monasteries, nunneries and schools, it is called “re-education”. Chinese [teachers] will teach you about Mao's philosophy, communism, and distorted Tibetan history [saying that] Tibet has always been a part of China. The problem is that many young Tibetans don't know what happened in 1959 (the year Tibet lost its independence and the Dalai Lama fled to India). Some people who leave Tibet want to have their children better educated, not just [in] Tibetan, but English as well.
In Tibet, you can't study Tibetan as much as you can in India, the same goes with Buddhism. You can't study real Buddhism in Tibet (it's all about being a monk, chanting and prayers). If you go to India it is very serious, not just chanting and everything, but debating [on] Buddhist philosophy. In Tibet, monks are just monks in name, compared to the monks in India. So, people who want to study serious Buddhism, they study in India.
What do you think about the social and economic development China has made in Tibet since they took over?
It wouldn't be true if I said that all the economic development hadn't affected Tibetans in a positive way. Any development has positive and negative sides, just like people have positive and negative aspects. But if you weigh the positives and negatives that have happened from the development, you can see that overall it is negative.
The businesses in Tibet are all owned by the Chinese. Tibetans are the employees, and they only get the worst jobs. Most of the resources being used in Tibet are going to Chinese cities, not Tibetan.
Over 1950–85, about 12% of Tibet's forests were cut down. Pollution is a problem too. In 1996, a lot (about 41 million tonnes) of waste was deposited in Lhasa river, the capital city of Tibet. 47% of the world's population relies on Tibetan water (China, India, Burma, Bangladesh, Nepal and others), so this environmental damage will affect many others too.
The Dalai Lama is visiting Australia in June this year, what do you expect him to say about the Tibet/China relationship?
His Holiness will emphasise autonomy, not independence. China will not accept that because their worst fear is that the Dalai Lama will return to Tibet (it would be like Jesus appearing in the USA; he'd control the population). The Chinese government is more relaxed about religion than it was 15–20 years ago, and there are a lot of Chinese students going to Tibet to study religion. There are Chinese spending millions of dollars in Tibet. So, if the Dalai Lama returned, it's not just the Tibetans he would have influence over, but Chinese too...
So do the Tibetans who move to India and Nepal have asylum status?
No. Only two Tibetans have legal asylum in India, the Dalai Lama and Karmapa (the leader of a part of Tibetan Buddhism). All other Tibetans much apply for a registration certificate each year. So, every year they must go to the registration office to ask to stay for one more year. One day, if they say 'no', you're gone. Tibetans in India don't have any rights. They can't vote or anything like that. So, if India created a very close relationship with China, they could be asked to return to Tibet.
In Nepal it is even more dangerous than in India. Nepal receives a lot of funding from the Chinese government. People can't celebrate the Dalai Lama's birthday in public, and you can't have 10th March protest (Tibetan uprising day that occurred in 1959). It's really bad in Nepal compared to India. At least you in India you have protests, express yourself...
What work does the Australian Tibetan Council do regarding all these issues?
For a long time we have been involved in organising protests. At a recent meeting we decided to create a political platform. Most Tibetans here in Sydney are ex-political prisoners, but their words don't get heard by the majority of the population because of the language barrier, so we decided to have a political wing. One of the things we do is try to contact schools and universities, and have a guest speaker share their experience of what it is like for Tibetans in Tibet and abroad.
The Australian Tibet Council lobbies the Australian Government to support the Dalai Lama's approach towards Tibet and to help set up discussions between the Chinese Government and the Dalai Lama. Also, they aim to spread awareness about what is happening in Tibet, what the current situation is in Tibet, that sort of thing.
How do you think Australians who want to get involved should best go about it?
There are a lot of things people can do. Rather than talk about fashion or Paris Hilton (things that, after a few years wouldn't have any impact on he world), let's discuss matters that will affect our kids. After 50–60 years our kids might say, “Oh, our grandparents have done us proud!” not “Oh, they left us with this huge mess!”. Just discuss. Most people don't—that's the problem.
One of the things that I see as a difference between other countries having ethnic conflicts is that most Tibetans really don't dislike the Chinese. I think that really comes from his Holiness.
His Holiness always stressed on not hating the Chinese and I think that message has to be clear to Australian people who want to get involved in the Tibetan issue—we're not against Chinese people. Some Australian friends of mine ask me “Should I go to the Chinese New Year celebrations?”, and I say “Why not?!”We're not against the Chinese; we're just against government policy.
People really need to discuss, and that's how it should be. Not just based on anger or hate—as his Holiness says: “Analyse”. That's what Australians should realise when they get involved, that they shouldn't bring negative emotions and instead focus on what they can do to connect between the Tibetan community and the Chinese community. Tibetan struggle for so many years has been based on non-violence, truth, love.
In terms of getting sympathy, Tibet would be on the top of the list. But when it comes to action, it is right at the bottom. Of course, sympathy is great, but what really counts is action.
