Indeed, the Dalai Lama is a controversial man. The last place one expects to find the exiled ‘spiritual’ and sacred leader of the Tibetan people, ‘His Holiness’ Tenzin Gyatso, is at the Universal Studios in Los Angeles, California. Yet, there I saw him in April 2001, clad in his customary maroon robes, accompanied by Buddhist monks, as he toured the famous Hollywood theme park.
‘His Holiness’ Tenzin Gyatso was 2 years old, when after the death of the 13th Dalai Lama in 1937, was identified as the 14th reincarnation of the ‘Buddha of Compassion’. And when South Africa denied him a visa to attend a peace conference in Johannesburg, the uproar was unprecedented.
The conference initially scheduled to start on 27 March 2009, was postponed after Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Fredrick William de Klerk, South Africa’s last white president, who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela in 1993, said they would boycott the peace conference if the Dalai Lama was kept out of the country, as did the executive director of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Geir Lundestad.
South Africa’s intentions in barring the Dalai Lama were unclear considering it would have been his third visit to South Africa. His first visit was in 1996 followed by another in 1999. The official statement issued by Thabo Mabese, government spokesperson, said the Tibetan leader’s presence “would not be in South Africa’s best interests.”
The issue was confounded by the fact that the decision barring the Dalai Lama entry into South Africa came as ethnic Tibetans prepared for the 50th anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule that led to his predecessor’s flight into exile in India. China accuses the 14th Dalai Lama of pursuing independence for Tibet, while he maintains that he is seeking only self-government, not separation. China has sent thousands of troops to the Tibetan region to quell any repeat of the anti-Chinese riots that broke out in 2008 in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital.
When the Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1989, this had less to do with his Buddhist orientation than it had to do with the political situation in Tibet and above all, the bloody events of 4 June 1989, in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. At least 2,000 Chinese students and workers protesting against the Chinese government were ruthlessly gunned down by government security forces.
And yet - the issue of Tibet’s international legal status continues to evoke little resonance among South African authorities. Instead, most government officials echo China’s position that there is “only one China in the world and it does not recognize the so-called independence of Tibet.”
The Chinese people are prevented from making free use of the Internet to find out what happened in Tiananmen Square in Beijing and other Chinese cities. Any attempt to search for "Liu Si," the Chinese short form for 4 June, on the Baidu or Sohu search engines is completely blocked inside China.
At present - China imports iron ore, gold, copper, chrome, timber and paper pulp from South Africa. The fact that South Africa exports un-beneficiated minerals to China, while Chinese imports comprise value added products, such as appliances, has caused concern over that country's penetration of the South African market.
Academics, politicians, economists and lobby groups are working up to the fact that Chinese companies are taking out of Africa more than they put in. According to World Atlas Trade Data, the major African trading partners with China for 2008 were Angola (24 %); South Africa (17 %); Sudan (8 %); Nigeria (7 %) and Egypt (6 %) in terms of total trade. Trade with these countries signifies 62 % of China’s total trade with Africa.
Of-course, the Dalai Lama is a complex man. He has a close and problematic relationship, including financial interests, with Shoko Asahara, founder of the Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo (Supreme Truth), alleged mastermind of the 1994 biological attack that killed 7 people, and 1995 sarin gas subway attack that killed 12, and injured more than 5,000 in Tokyo Japan.
Arguably, the Tibetan issue has a higher profile today than at any time since the 1959 flight of his predecessor, the 13th Dalai Lama, which is owed in no small part to the secret assistance channeled by the United States of America. In October 1998, the Dalai Lama's administration acknowledged that it received $1.7 million a year in the 1960s from the U.S. Government through the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and also trained a resistance movement in Colorado (USA).
When the Dalai Lama was quizzed by the New York Times on 3 November 1993 – concerning his brother who was involved in leading a CIA sponsored guerrilla movement against the Chinese from the late 1950's until the early 1970's, he quipped. “I'm always against violence. But the Tibetan guerrillas were very dedicated people. They were willing to sacrifice their own lives for the Tibetan nation. And they found a way to receive help from the C.I.A”.
He added, “Now, the CIA.'s motivation for helping was entirely political. They did not help out of genuine sympathy, not out of support for a just cause. That was not very healthy”.
Admittedly, Dalai Lama’s response signified a mutual back scratching. In the US cold war against China, the CIA found an ally in the Dalai Lama Group. Thubtan Norbu, the Dalai Lama’s eldest brother played an active role in the guerrilla group, while his second-eldest brother, Gyalo Thondup, reportedly established an intelligence operation with the CIA.
Facts granted; could it be that the South African government intelligentsia is concerned that the enthusiasm for the 14th Dalai Lama’s ‘holy cloak’ may impinge on the country’s strategic economic and political interests? And assuming this is the case; who then is to say Tibetans will not witness the march into their territory by South African companies assisting and collaborating with the Chinese government to further marginalise the indigenous people?
Further, is the protest by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Laureates and ‘self-determination activists’ world over, out of sympathy and human compassion for the Tibetan people? Perhaps, yes. Needless to say the answer would have been emphatic, had it not been for the fact that the respectable Archbishop Tutu was honoured on 01 June 2006 with a ‘Light of Truth’ Award, given by the Dalai Lama.
Small wonder the hullabaloo.
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