Dalai Lama talks about retirement

TOKYO: Describing the Tibet issue as “hopeless”, an anguished Dalai Lama on Monday indicated that he may retire in view of the “failure” to realise his dream of securing “genuine autonomy” for his Himalayan homeland.

“I’m looking forward to complete retirement,” the 73-year-old saffron-clad Tibetan Buddhist leader said, as his envoys were negotiating with Chinese officials in Beijing on the Tibet issue.

“Some people tell me it’s impossible for the Dalai Lama to retire. I tell them my retirement is my human right,” he said while speaking to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan here.

The 1989 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who underwent a surgery in New Delhi to remove gallstones last month, said the situation in Tibet was worsening and criticism among Tibetans of his ‘negotiation’ approach towards China was growing.

“Things are not improving inside Tibet,” he said. “Our approach failed to bring some positive changes inside Tibet. So criticism is also increasing. So, there’s no other alternative except to ask the people,” he said.

On Sunday, the Dalai Lama said in Tokyo that his faith in the Chinese government was “becoming thinner, thinner, thinner.”

Last month, he said he had “given up” hopes of finding a solution to the Tibet issue because there had been no positive response in negotiations with Beijing.

Kasur Lodi Gyaltsen and Kelsang Gyaltsen, envoys of the spiritual leader, arrived in Beijing last Thursday.

As for the approach to take in future negotiations with China, the Dalai Lama said he would leave it to the Tibetans to decide and refrained from indicating his own view on the matter so as to allow them to consider the matter without any bias, the Kyodo news agency reported.

“If I say I prefer this way, then that may become a hindrance or obstacle to different opinions (and) feelings, out of devotion. I don’t want that... so, therefore, I remain completely silent,” the Dalai Lama said.

He reiterated that Tibetans were not seeking separation or independence from China but only “genuine autonomy”.

China, which has ruled Tibet since the People’s Liberation Army occupied it in the 1950s, has repeatedly accused the Dalai Lama of leading a campaign to split the Himalayan region from the rest of the country.

Commenting on the emergency session of Tibetans that he has summoned in Dharamsala from November 17, the Dalai Lama said the meeting would discuss how to approach China to resolve the Tibet issue.

While mixing a sense of humour in his presentation, he noted that Chinese suppression of Tibet has created a situation in which Tibetans born in India are “more Tibetan” than young Tibetans who come from China-ruled Tibet in terms of language and lifestyle.

“Whether intentionally or unintentionally, some kind of cultural genocide is taking place,” he said. “Not exactly genocide, but something like cultural genocide, very subtly.”

Although the Dalai Lama said he thought the Tibet issue was “hopeless” in the short term, he said the matter was “still hopeful” when considering it from a wider perspective as there were a growing number of Chinese who realised that Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan culture were good and useful.

“They understand what we’re talking (about). So I think (Chinese) communist leaders should have more spiritual minds... (rather than thinking only about) money and power,” he said.

The Dalai Lama said that once there is a change in the current political situation caused by fear and ignorance, then a “positive decision, positive agreement can be reached within a few days.”