Published: April 27, 2011
NEW DELHI — Tibet’s exiled government announced the election of a Harvard legal scholar as its new prime minister on Wednesday, a choice signaling a generational shift within the Tibetan movement as the Dalai Lama moves to relinquish political power.
The Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, has pursued a “middle way” strategy in which he seeks “genuine autonomy” for Tibet under Chinese rule, though many younger Tibetans want outright independence. It remains to be seen whether Mr. Sangay can emerge as an independent political force capable of rallying Tibetans inside and outside Tibet.
Last month, the Dalai Lama, 75, announced his desire to relinquish his role as political leader of the exile government. For years he has pushed to strengthen the democratic structure of the Tibetan movement, partly to build institutions capable of guiding the movement after his death. His “retirement” last month seemed timed to lend greater legitimacy to the new prime minister.
“A new generation born in exile has been elected,” said Thubten Samphel, a government spokesman. “It indicates that democracy has taken firm roots. These democratic structures will hold our community together for years to come.”
Mr. Samphel added that the Dalai Lama intended to fulfill his pledge to step away from his political role. “He will relinquish all his remaining links with the administration,” he said.
The Dalai Lama and many older Tibetan exiles were born inside Tibet and fled in 1959, after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. But Mr. Sangay is part of the younger generation born outside Tibet, many of whom are eager for a more confrontational approach with China.
Mukesh Gupta/ReutersLobsang Sangay, a senior fellow at Harvard Law School, was elected prime minister of the Tibetan government in exile. He will probably take his post this fall in Dharamsala, India.
According to his campaign Web site, Mr. Sangay was born in 1968 in a Tibetan refugee settlement in Darjeeling, India, the son of parents who fled Tibet in 1959. He attended the prestigious Delhi University in New Delhi, where he joined the local branch of the Tibetan Youth Congress, a student group that promotes Tibetan independence rather than the more moderate autonomy sought by the Dalai Lama.
Mr. Sangay has since embraced the Dalai Lama’s approach, though some analysts wonder whether he will try to change tack, even subtly. In 1995, Mr. Sangay moved to the United States as a Fulbright scholar and received graduate degrees at Harvard, where he is a senior fellow at Harvard Law School.
During the campaign, Mr. Sangay traveled to numerous countries to solicit votes and made stops at Tibetan refugee settlements across India. He will replace the current prime minister, Samdhong Rinpoche, whose five-year term is expected to end in August.
In his victory statement, Mr. Sangay framed his election as a mandate not only from exiled Tibetans but also from those still living inside Tibet under Chinese rule.
“Tibetans inside Tibet followed the elections closely,” he wrote, “and I heard accounts of Tibetans lighting butter lamps, praying and celebrating by bursting firecrackers.”
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