Baby democracy still long way to go to be matured and true democratic Tibet.

Choni Tsultrim

What is our (Tibetan)democracy and how far we are about to be true practical democratic soceity?

Mr. Chime pointed out problems that we are facing:

Our exile democracy is still on its way to becoming fully democratic,
so that is why sometimes it looks strange. When we talk to people from
other democratic countries they laugh at some of our ways of
democracy, such as double voting for monks, and being limited to
representation based on provinces but not on population. We have
enfranchisement but it is limited, so we are still on our way. Our
status and structure of democracy are outdated; now it no longer works
properly. Our democratic government has to progress to a new
structure.

Currently we only have one house in parliament, without political
parties and with representation based on Tibetan provinces. Other
democratic governments have bicameral legislatures and multi-party
systems. If we adopted these institutions, it would solve several of
the problems we have in our system.

One problem is that our parliament does not have proportional
representation. Tibetans in exile vote according to the province in
Tibet they originate from, not according to where they presently live.
Currently, provinces with big populations get the same number of
seats as provinces with small populations. This sort of system leads
to inadequate representation of the people because those in big
provinces are underrepresented. Moreover, this system prevents
promising leaders from big provinces from becoming members of
parliament because the competition is so tough. If we switch to a
bicameral parliament, the problem would be solved. We would still
maintain representation of the provinces, but we would also more
accurately represent the people. With a new house of parliament,
Tibetans could directly elect individuals or vote for a political
party regardless of where the candidate is from.

Another problem with our democracy is the date of election day. Too
often, elections are held in the winter. The problem with this is
that many young voters leave settlements during the winter in order to
pursue seasonal business, leaving them unable to vote. This leaves
only the older generation in the settlements on election day, which is
one of the reasons why it is so difficult for new people to be elected
to parliament. In order to ensure that all Tibetans have the
opportunity to participate, we need to hold elections in more
appropriate times of the year. Although the last elections were
postponed until May, this is an issue that must be fixed with an
amendment in the Charter.

Related to this is the problem faced by university students. Since
they are away from home during elections, many students would have to
travel back to the settlements in order to cast their votes.
Unfortunately, this is expensive to do and most students cannot afford
it. Moreover, their schedules do not allow them to take time off from
classes in order to come home to vote. We should rectify this
injustice by allowing voting at the universities that have the most
Tibetan students. Allowing students to cast their ballots at
university would increase political participation and lead to a
parliament that is more representative of the Tibetan community.

We speak a lot about educating the Tibetan people about democracy and
democratic values. This work is important in order to build a
stronger, better democracy and to encourage people to vote. But
voting loses its meaning if you are uninformed and have never met,
heard or seen any of the candidates. As such, we must increase
campaigning. Candidates for parliament have to visit the settlements,
speak to the people, have debates and make their views known if voters
are to make informed, responsible choices. Through campaigning,
Tibetans will be able to choose the best person for the job. I think
there should be more campaigning and education for Tibetans who live
in the settlements: they are the most likely voters.

At the moment in our exile we lack leadership because of a lack of
political parties. The one political party we do have is not
recognized by the government because we do not have any rules and
regulations for this in our exile charter. Political parties are
useful for many reasons, but one of the more important reasons is the
development of people to become leaders. Currently, it is up to the
community to develop leaders. However, one of the roles of political
parties is to develop leaders and ideas. The future of democracy in
Tibet depends on a multi-party system that will create tomorrow’s
leaders.

It should also be a priority to produce more leaders in exile and
abroad. Many Tibetan students are studying political science in
different universities and colleges. We should support those students
and encourage them to be the future leaders of Tibet . I think the
Tibetan international law students are also very important for the
future of Tibet because without background knowledge of political
science and international law they can’t be good leaders.

We need to think about the current situation and the long term goals
of Tibet . If our previous generation had done this kind of
preparation 20 years ago, we wouldn’t have a shortage of leadership
today. Anyway, the past is the past; let us think about the future.
If we work strongly for the future we can make a difference and
produce many good leaders.

The problems noted above are difficult, but I do not think it will be
very hard to pass a bill in our parliament about a political party
system and bicameral parliament. For the upcoming elections, the NDPT
will endorse many candidates. These candidates should then feel a
responsibility to carry forth NDPT goals of reforming the system if
they are elected. Should the NDPT win a majority of seats in
parliament, we will definitely change the system for the better. By
uniting in the upcoming campaign for Prime Minister and Parliament, we
can perfect our democracy.

All the big changes in our democracy have come from His Holiness Dalai
Lama. He gave us our democratic system and then later reformed it.
As we all know, His Holiness Dalai Lama carries the entire weight of
the Tibetan struggle on his shoulders. We must begin to help carry
the load, to take responsibility for ourselves. One way to do this is
to reform our democracy and progress to a stronger one. Through
learning about democracy and taking an active participatory role, the
Tibetan people will lessen the burden of His Holiness Dalai Lama.

Our main concern is what happens after His Holiness Dalai Lama. I
believe if we have a bicameral parliament instead of a one house
system, we can definitely survive and continue the struggle. Otherwise
I do not believe in the current structure because it is not
democratically proper. Parliament represents the provinces, not all
Tibetans democratically. Parliament has also stopped working as it
should; new voices and ideas are shut out. The way to change is to
have direct representation of people and not of provinces in a
multi-party system where true democratic deliberation can take place.
If we can change our structure and election process, then we can make
a difference and have a better mangtso for the people of Tibet .

Finally, all the members of parliament should read as many books on
international politics as they can, as well as maintain a practical
attitude in office.

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Comments by Choni Tsutrim


What we lack and what are not doing enough?

1) Democracy not allow two votes for nobody
2) Vote has to be based on population
3) there are still power holders in office based family history.
4) Nobdy should put up any position without vote.
5) Our people still confused what system that we are in.
6) Most of people don't care about vote or don't know about vote, how it vote and when it vote take place....... No idea...? that is why others laughing at us.
7) No political parties.
8) None of candidate be able to go down to place to place to hunt for vote.
9) All the candidate wait for somebody vote for them.
10) Votors are in dark and don't know who the hell canddidates are and what they can do.
11) Most of the votors are by chance not throughly involved in political or vote.
12) Our people sees money then abviously totally forget to vote.
13) Tibetans hite read and learn from others but pretend know something.
14) much more......