With joy, sorrow and a few surprises, a Taiwan Friends of Tibet (TFOT) student delegation yesterday shared their experiences and discoveries from a two-week trip to Dharamsala, India, the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile.
Sitting in a room at a coffee shop near the MRT Zhongshan Station in Taipei, members of the student delegation and their friends shared pictures, video clips and new discoveries from their trip last month.
The room was sometimes filled with laughter, cheers and applause, and sometimes with a more serious atmosphere when discussions were focused on issues relating to the political situation in the exiled community.
“The most interesting finding was that, in the past, we’ve always viewed the Tibetans as a whole, we see the structural problems, and we know that they are being repressed by the Chinese Communist Party [CCP] regime,” said Hsiao Hui-chung (蕭惠中), an Academia Sinica research fellow who accompanied the delegation of mostly college and graduate students on the trip.
“However, when we were there and talked to individual Tibetans, we found that they are not a people as a collective, but rather individuals with different stories, backgrounds, ideas and expectations,” he said.
Hsiao said that for most people who are concerned about the Tibet issue, it is the voice of the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama that stands out most, “but once we were in Dharamsala, we heard different voices and there are also voices critical of the government-in-exile.”
Wu Ju-mei (吳如媚), a graduate student from National Taitung University’s Graduate Institute of Regional Policy and Development Research who has interviewed several Tibetan public figures in Dharamsala, said she was also surprised by the different views expressed by different people.
“Former political prisoner Lukar Jam is very critical of the exiled government and believes that all governments will eventually become interest-driven groups. He even went so far as to remind the exiled government not to become a new problem for Tibetans,” she said. “On the other hand, Gang Lhamo, a member of the exiled parliament and also a former political prisoner, believes a government could serve as a symbol of legitimacy and the struggle for the Tibetan cause may be harder without the exiled government.”
Wu said that while the Dalai Lama is a much-respected figure among Tibetans, “there are also Tibetans who think that the status the Dalai Lama enjoys is not positive for the development of democracy in the exiled Tibetan community.”
While Tibetans may hold different views about their government and on current events, the delegation found that independence for Tibet is a shared objective for all exiled Tibetans, despite the government-in-exile’s insistence on gaining genial autonomy under Chinese rule in recent years.
“The living conditions and the environment in Dharamsala are much harsher than I have expected, but no matter how challenging life is for the Tibetans, most of them are very positive-minded and optimistic,” Nanhua University student Peter Hu (胡家銘) said.
“I think this is a lesson we should learn from them when we face so many social injustices in Taiwan,” he added.
The TFOT organizes trips to Dharamsala every year, hoping to promote exchanges between Taiwanese and exiled Tibetans, as well as to help Taiwanese understand the Tibetan issue better.
EVA Airways today confirmed the death of a flight attendant on Saturday upon their return to Taiwan and said an internal investigation has been launched, as criticism mounted over a social media post accusing the airline of failing to offer sufficient employee protections. According to the post, the flight attendant complained of feeling sick on board a flight, but was unable to take sick leave or access medical care. The crew member allegedly did not receive assistance from the chief purser, who failed to heed their requests for medical attention or call an ambulance once the flight landed, the post said. As sick
A drunk woman was sexually assaulted inside a crowded concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Thursday last week before a foreign tourist notified police, leading to calls for better education on bystander intervention and review of security infrastructure. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was taken into custody on charges of sexual assault, taking advantage of the woman’s condition and public indecency. Police discovered that Chiu was a fugitive with prior convictions for vehicle theft. He has been taken into custody and is to complete his unserved six-month sentence, police said. On Thursday last week, Chiu was seen wearing a white
EVA Airways, one of the leading international carriers in Taiwan, yesterday said that it was investigating reports that a cabin crew manager had ignored the condition of a sick flight attendant, who died on Saturday. The airline made the statement in response to a post circulating on social media that said that the flight attendant on an outbound flight was feeling sick and notified the cabin crew manager. Although the flight attendant grew increasingly ill on the return flight, the manager did not contact Medlink — a system that connects the aircraft to doctors on the ground for treatment advice during medical
The Taichung District Court yesterday confirmed its final ruling that the marriage between teenage heir Lai (賴) and a man surnamed Hsia (夏) was legally invalid, preventing Hsia from inheriting Lai’s NT$500 million (US$16.37 million) estate. The court confirmed that Hsia chose not to appeal the civil judgement after the court handed down its ruling in June, making the decision final. In the June ruling, the court said that Lai, 18, and Hsia, 26, showed “no mutual admiration before the marriage” and that their interactions were “distant and unfamiliar.” The judge concluded that the couple lacked the “true intention of
RSS