Revealing the real ways of Tibetan govt in exile through an anonymous friend

By Rajiv Shah

Recently, I received an email from from a person who introduced himself as Ronny Krier, claiming to be an American cultural researcher. He said, he visits Counterview in a regular basis to read news about India, and thinks, “It's a great platform to break the information filter bubbles and hear different voice.” Then Kreir, who is on Twitter and Facebook, and calls himself “independent investigator, religion-politics researcher,” refers to a friend whom he does not name to point out how the Tibetan government in exile is failing to take care of refugees.

Says Krier, “Under the pandemic, my friend, a Tibetan refugee who lived in Dharmsāla, had something to talk about the CTA (Central Tibetan Administration) in dealing with Covid-19 and current issues in the Tibetan community. I met him when I was travelling India, and recently he reached me and talked about it. He really wants to be heard by the Indian public and the global audience. However, he's still a bit cautious about his personal info(Tibetan community is not big), so he would like to talk anonymously at this stage(I will try to convince him to be brave and speak out loud).”
He adds, “I think his story really needs to be heard in the Indian public, for it's about refugees ' human rights and the actual functions of the Tibetan exile government. And I think Counterview is a great platform to publish his opinion. So if you are interested in his story, please email me back and I will give you his whole story.”
I asked Krier to send a story, and this is what he sent to me along with a couple of photographs, revealing the ways of CTA:

***

Thanks for your reply. Then I directly sent his words to you...
"It is clear that the coronavirus in Dharmsāla has not been effectively controlled, as any Tibetan can see. Being a Buddhist, I practice every day. But in this situation, I always want to look back to see what led to such a bad situation. CTA is the elected government of Tibetans. Lobsang Sangay was the Sikyong that we voted for. But under his leadership, the pandemic was out of control and he seems to know himself as a local mayor under the Indian bureaucracy rather than our Sikyong. Looking through the news of the CTA, Lobsang Sangay seems to be busy soliciting international support on behalf of the Tibetan community. He has made a historic visit to the White House, he has met with some high-rank Indian officials, and he has written a letter to some important person... But I think he should have led the CTA to take stronger actions in dealing with coronavirus and focus on our Tibetan.
By contrast, I really appreciate the dedication of community health workers. Even though they are not scientifically trained, they are still doing something realistic. As for vaccines, they have been available in India for a long time and even have been exported to other countries, but how many people in Dharmsāla have been vaccinated? I read the news that hundreds of thousands of Indians vaccinated, but only 10 Tibetan health workers have been vaccinated. Isn't it what we CTA should have worked on harder?

Not to mention the economy under the pandemic, I know that if we want to build a strong settlement, we also need to develop our economy, at least to meet the basic living standard of our Tibetan. But the truth is that many people around me have lost their jobs because of the coronavirus, and we would rather see the CTA as a democratically elected government to give the Tibetans more tangible benefits than stay at home in despair and watch Dr. Lobsang socialize everywhere.
What's worse, His Holiness Dalai Lama is also facing the threat of coronavirus, he is over 80 years old, one of the high-risk groups to get this horrible virus. If the vaccine is really effective, why don't they give His Holiness Dalai Lama the vaccine first?
I am very worried about the safety of HH Dalai Lama, especially near where he lives. I heard that there are some new cases in the nursing home around there, and the number of deaths.
What most depressed me with the CTA government right now, like the @Tibetans said, is Lobsang Sangay. He did not respect the promise of Tibetan democracy. He broke the rules and did the campaign for Kelsang Dorjee Aukatsang, trying to interfere in our democratic elections, Sikyong 2021. I really don't want our democratic election to fall into party politics, since it's been a tough time getting here. I can only hope that the next government will improve our living standards and really focus on our benefits."
... And he still wants to speak anonymously, thanks for your understanding.

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