Dalai Lama, Lobsang Sangay

Washington/Boston, April 28 (PTI): The newly elected Prime Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, Lobsang Sangay, has said his top priority is to restore freedom in Tibet and asked China to review its “hard-line” policy.

Sangay said the 76-year-old Dalai Lama would return during his lifetime to the Potala Palace he fled nearly 50 years ago.

The 43-year-old Harvard law researcher, with roots in Darjeeling, won 55 per cent votes in the March 20 election held around the world for the selection of the Prime Minister. Sangay’s nearest rival was Tethong Tenzin Namgyal, who also went to a Darjeeling school.

Sangay who was born in Lamhatta in Darjeeling, had attended the Central school for Tibetans in Sonada followed by a stint in St Joseph’s College. The third contender for the post of Prime Minister was Tashi Wangdi.

“We are already facing immense challenges including a critical situation in Nags and Andi with Tibetans being killed and arrested by the Chinese government. I urge every Tibetan and friends of Tibet to join me in our common cause to alleviate the suffering of Tibetans in occupied Tibet and to return His Holiness to his rightful place in the Potable Palace,” Sangay said in a statement after the election results were announced yesterday in Dharamsala, the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile.

Asking Beijing to review its “hard-line” Tibet policy and take a “more moderate and liberal approach”, he said if China wanted to become a new world superpower, it could not do so through economic or military might but would need to exercise moral authority in how it treats people. He said the decision of the Dalai Lama to transfer his political powers needs to be respected. “The Dalai Lama has decided to transfer political power to the Tibetan people by entrusting whom they have magnanimously chosen as the head of their exiled government,” Sangay said in an interview to the Tibetan service of Radio Free Asia.

“We must respect the wishes and wisdom of His Holiness and find ways to implement his decision,” he said in his first ever interview after he was declared the Prime Minister. In an address at Harvard two days before the election result was announced, Sangay had said his “number one priority is always and will always remain to restore freedom in Tibet...Domestically, improving education will be my number one priority”.

On the issue of Chinese rule of Tibet, Sangay said he advocates a “middle way,” or autonomy for Tibet within Chinese sovereignty.“That is the Tibetan government's policy, and if I get elected, I must abide by the policy, and I will do so,” Sangay had said in a Harvard release.

Sangay believes the election will give him legitimacy on the world stage as a Tibetan leader in a now-secular government, but China is unlikely to recognise his authority with some Chinese newspapers even labelling him a “terrorist”. Sangay said he expects the Dalai Lama, who will “always be my spiritual leader and source of inspiration”, to play the role of an “elder statesman”.

“It’s not so much to replace him, but rather to live up to his expectation and fulfill his vision which is that when elected, I should be the head of the government and become the political face and spokesman for the Tibetan people.”

Sangay, who is currently in the US, will relocate in May to Dharamsala. He is expected to select his cabinet and hold office from August 15.