Dalai Lama Calls for Referendum

Photo of Dalai Lama

By Juliana Chan
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

AMRITSAR, India - The Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader who has been a symbol of resistance to Chinese rule in Tibet, proposed on Tuesday a fundamental change to the selection of his successor. He said the new incumbent should be chosen by ballot rather than the current system of a series of arbitrary tests.

The Dalai Lama, 72, said serious preparations should be made to find his successor by a referendum among all the traditional Tibetan Buddhists along the Himalayan range and into Mongolia. This comes in defiance to China's claim two months ago that it has the right to select the next spiritual leader of the Tibetans, who must be approved by Beijing.

In response the Chinese Foreign Ministry called the Nobel Peace prize laureate's proposal a "blatant violation of religious practice and historical procedure."

His proposal is said to be a fundamental change to the 600-year old system for picking a Dalai Lama. The current Dalai Lama, born Tenzin Gyatso, is the 14th Dalai Lama. Like his predecessors, he was chosen as a child by monks who identified him as the reincarnation of his recently deceased predecessor.

At a gathering of religious leaders in Amritsar, northern India, the Dalai Lama said to reporters that "if people feel that the institution of the Dalai Lama is still necessary, it will continue."

After the Chinese authorities claimed to have the right to approve all appointments in September, there are fears that the central government will select a pro-Beijing leader when the current Dalai Lama dies. Beijing has already exerted its authority over the choice of the Panchen Lama, the second most senior figure in Tibetan Buddhism.

In 1995, when the Dalai Lama named a successor to the 10th Panchen Lama, China arrested the boy and named its own candidate. The boy's whereabouts are unknown, with human rights groups calling him the "world's youngest political prisoner."

China has ruled Tibet since its communist-led forces invaded in 1951. China has accused the Dalai Lama of defying its sovereignty by advocating for Tibetan independence.

For more information, please see:

BBC News - 'Tibetans' must pick Dalai Lama - 27 November 2007

AP - Vote to Be Held on Next Tibetan Leader - 27 November 2007

AFP - Dalai Lama rankles China with succession warning - 27 November 2007