Regional Xenophobia Continues
After many years of controversy, changes are now announced in the election procedure of the Assembly of Tibetan People’s Deputies. So far members of the Tibetan “Parliament in exile” were being elected strictly on regional basis. Both the electorate and the candidates are divided according to which of the three regions of Tibet they come from, and one may vote only for a candidate of his own region. Protests have been made against this sytem as it tended to emphasize the regional differences thereby causing disunity in the exile community. The new system is intended to allow the voter to elect any candidate irrespective of where he hails from. However, many seem to believe this will further antagonise people from the Kham and Amdo regions since those from central Tibet vastly outnumber them and, as a result, the next Assembly will surely be dominated by member from central Tibet. Under the existing system, they argue, at lesat there have been equal representation for all three regions.
It is clear that whatever the mechanics of the election procedure this problem will persist. If, for instance, the electorate is divided equally according to their location in exile, say, one deputy for every 10,000 Tibetans, chances are that most of the winners will still emerge from central Tibet.
As the exiled population is predominantly composed of central Tibetans, there is no way of formulating a “fair” system of election. The problem will only vanish if the idea of regionalism disappears. A Tibetan simply will have to learn to think of himself as a Tibetan, and not as a Khampa or Amdo or Lhasawa. When that miracle takes place, a system of election based on equal division of the refugee population as suggested above will have a strong chance of working. People need not worry anymore about how many of the elected member hail from which region.
It will be very difficult to overcome the regional feeling, but it is not an impossible dream. Most ordinary Tibetans do not squabble much about regional differences. Unfortunately, they are prompted to do so from time to time by various groups, some of which even have young Tibetan with modern education, who insist on keeping the regionalistic flame burning by forming associations not only of each of the three traditional regions but even creating new groups from within single region. Shot of putting a complete ban on the formation of any association on regional basis, there is not much hope for a satisfactory solution to the problem.
After many years of controversy, changes are now announced in the election procedure of the Assembly of Tibetan People’s Deputies. So far members of the Tibetan “Parliament in exile” were being elected strictly on regional basis. Both the electorate and the candidates are divided according to which of the three regions of Tibet they come from, and one may vote only for a candidate of his own region. Protests have been made against this sytem as it tended to emphasize the regional differences thereby causing disunity in the exile community. The new system is intended to allow the voter to elect any candidate irrespective of where he hails from. However, many seem to believe this will further antagonise people from the Kham and Amdo regions since those from central Tibet vastly outnumber them and, as a result, the next Assembly will surely be dominated by member from central Tibet. Under the existing system, they argue, at lesat there have been equal representation for all three regions.
It is clear that whatever the mechanics of the election procedure this problem will persist. If, for instance, the electorate is divided equally according to their location in exile, say, one deputy for every 10,000 Tibetans, chances are that most of the winners will still emerge from central Tibet.
As the exiled population is predominantly composed of central Tibetans, there is no way of formulating a “fair” system of election. The problem will only vanish if the idea of regionalism disappears. A Tibetan simply will have to learn to think of himself as a Tibetan, and not as a Khampa or Amdo or Lhasawa. When that miracle takes place, a system of election based on equal division of the refugee population as suggested above will have a strong chance of working. People need not worry anymore about how many of the elected member hail from which region.
It will be very difficult to overcome the regional feeling, but it is not an impossible dream. Most ordinary Tibetans do not squabble much about regional differences. Unfortunately, they are prompted to do so from time to time by various groups, some of which even have young Tibetan with modern education, who insist on keeping the regionalistic flame burning by forming associations not only of each of the three traditional regions but even creating new groups from within single region. Shot of putting a complete ban on the formation of any association on regional basis, there is not much hope for a satisfactory solution to the problem.
posted by editorla at
9:05 PM
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