MP Lhagyari Namgyal Dolkar, who was filmed publicly attacking an American-Chinese tourist
In the latest shocking incident to take place in Dharamsala, the member of parliament (MP) Lhagyari Namgyal Dolkar has been filmed violently attacking an American-Chinese tourist, a Ms. Wen Qi Zhu. MP Lhagyari ignored Ms. Zhu’s protestations that she is a student of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, continuing to attack her with her fists after a disagreement arose between the two women on the topic of Tibet’s history.
MP Lhagyari has been in the news quite a lot recently, and never for good reasons. She was seen in August 2017 attending an all-expenses paid rangzen conference in Paris, where she enjoyed nice hotels, cafes and sightseeing whilst gathering with other Tibetan rangzen activists to discuss strategies for a fully independent Tibet. Their meeting was in total opposition to the Dalai Lama’s umaylam approach (meaningful autonomy) which, as everyone knows, the Dalai Lama has strongly advocated for many years.
MP Lhagyari Namgyal Dolkar seen here publicly accosting Ms. Zhu, who was protesting an exhibition about Tibetan history. Ms. Zhu is a student of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and had just come from an audience with His Holiness.
Clearly however, MP Lhagyari has no respect for the Dalai Lama, his advice and his decisions. Her attending the conference put her squarely in the company of the rangzen people whom ex-Prime Minister Samdhong Rinpoche has previously said are the most dangerous in Tibetan society.
So in these shocking images and video above, as first reported by Phayul, MP Lhagyari can be seen attacking a Chinese student of the Dalai Lama. The lady, a Chinese-born American citizen by the name of Wen Qi Zhu, had just had an audience with His Holiness when she was attacked. Ms. Zhu also happens to be a sponsor of the Tibetan leadership, having made financial contributions to the recent teachings given by His Holiness. Despite these facts being made evident to MP Lhagyari, she continued to attack Ms. Zhu. Surely anyone including Ms. Zhu, would have been shocked to attend Dalai Lama’s teachings on forgiveness, tolerance and love towards all beings including enemies and their Chinese brothers and sisters. Then when she walks out, she encounters displays by MP Lhagyari that she disagrees with and MP Lhagyari became violent. Does MP Lhagyari represent the Dalai Lama’s exiled government correctly? The Dalai Lama preaches tolerance but his MP Lhagyari enacts violence on the streets outside his temple where the teachings were just given. People who disagree with exiled government of Tibet hear one thing from the Dalai Lama and experience the opposite from his government members.
Ms. Zhu, circled in red, seen here at an audience with His Holiness the Dalai Lama after receiving teachings from him. MP Lhagyari attacked a student and sponsor of the Dalai Lama.
Questions have been raised about MP Lhagyari’s conduct, as she appears to be against anything the Dalai Lama supports. Not only does she advocate rangzen and gather with people who are against the Dalai Lama’s meaningful autonomy, but now she has also been caught on film attacking supporters and students of the Dalai Lama. Her behavior has been widely condemned as embarrassing of the Tibetan leadership and there are now calls for her resignation.
These are the facts:
- Regardless of whatever Ms. Zhu said, and whether MP Lhagyari agreed with it, her behavior was most unbecoming as a member of parliament and representative of the Dalai Lama’s government. Is this the version of democracy that the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA; Tibetan leadership) espouses, one characterized by intolerance and violence?
- Whatever the disagreement between the two ladies, Ms. Zhu was in India which is a democratic nation. Hence she was well within her rights to protest the exhibition. Likewise, if MP Lhagyari was going to establish an exhibition like that, she should have been prepared for opposition and learned how to deal with it properly. Even if Ms. Zhu did not agree with her, MP Lhagyari as a government official should have remained courteous and polite to someone who is a tourist and guest of India.
- The Tibetan leadership are therefore immature, ill-informed and ill-equipped to deal with dissenting views. If anyone does not agree with the beliefs, their method of dealing with them is arrogant violence.
The brawl was witnessed by many people, who filmed the incident. Rather than helping, they gawked at the sight of their member of parliament attacking a tourist. The news is circulating on Tibetan social media now, with people making fun of MP Lhagyari’s questionable and embarrassing behavior.
- For the Tibetan leaders, democratic principles are only applicable when it suits them. When they want to promote their own ideas, or when it will impress potential sponsors to give them money, then they will roll out the red carpet to show how democratic they are. But when other people have their own, different beliefs, they are not allowed to have them and in that case, there is no democracy. This has been experienced by many in the Tibetan settlements who have seen their freedom of speech stifled and freedom of movement restricted over the years.
- MP Lhagyari’s inability to control her emotions, and to get proper authorities like the police to deal with incidents like these, makes her a poor candidate for any leadership position.
- If this is the type of person who occupies a seat in parliament, as someone with so much latent violence in their character, it is therefore extremely conceivable that the CTA is very capable of organizing the same type of violence against anyone else who does not agree with their views. An example of this are Dorje Shugden practitioners who have been rioted against, stabbed, murdered and segregated against.
- The CTA have so many policies that divide and segregate their own people on the basis of religion. Now they are getting some of their own karma back, why are they upset?
It remains to be seen how China will react to this latest incident but China may just bring up this incident as yet another reason to deny dialogue with the Tibetan leadership. After all, why open dialogue with a group of people who so violently and physically attack Chinese-born individuals?
A composite image featuring the details page of Ms. Zhu’s passport, indicating she is an American citizen born in China.
As for MP Lhagyari herself, she is now in a no-win situation. She is a very bad representative of the Tibetan government-in-exile. As a member of parliament of the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamsala, she should understand and know how to deal politely with people against her views and not retaliate in violence with any member of the public. She can easily ask for the police which are nearby to intervene. The police stations are very nearby. MP Lhagyari and some Tibetans expressed shock that even in the Dalai Lama’s headquarters of Dharamsala, someone ‘dare’ opposes their view of Tibetan history. This shows pure arrogance and ignorance which is reflective of the Tibetan leaders in Dharamsala located in Himachel Pradesh state of North India. The American-Chinese national was not happy that Tibetans paint all Chinese in the wrong light and indeed not all Chinese agreed with the policy and events in Tibet. MP Lhagyari would not hear of this. No one is allowed to question, doubt or be in opposition of MP Lhagyari’s views which represents her exiled government’s views. If they do, violence breaks out as you see here. This is the Tibetan government-in-exile’s version of democracy. It is no wonder after 60 years of being ‘refugees’ they still cannot make any headway with China regarding Tibet. Who stays refugees for 60 years anyway unless staying a ‘refugee’ brings in free sympathy money from ignorant foreigners?
Thanks to MP Lhagyari’s actions, the CTA or exiled Tibetan government is now a laughing stock of the world. The Tibetan leadership has to learn to accept that the world is not going to agree with them on everything anymore. After 60 years of playing the refugee card to gain sympathy, while living the high life in India and immigrating all over the world, there is very little sympathy left for them. MP Lhagyari should resign and or apologize if she wishes to be dignified and represent the Tibetan government-in-exile as civilized and educated.
The Original Article
Click to enlarge. (Source: http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=39600)
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