
Having followed the situation in
Tibet in the last few weeks, here are some of my thoughts on the issue.
The situation firstly reminds me of the main theme of Thomas Friedman’s book “Lexus and the Olive Tree”. In his book, he talks about two opposing forces in this era of globalization: the drive for prosperity and development, symbolized by the Lexus, and the desire to retain identity and traditions, symbolized by the olive tree. He contends that although the Lexus are getting stronger with globalization, but the need for olive tree will not disappear from us, human beings; we will always need to feel our roots, our identity and our traditional culture. He concludes on this point that a healthy global society is one which can balance the Lexus and the olive tree all the time. It seems to be true, looking at Tibet now.
In Tibet case, since it occupation, the Chinese government has tried to use material development to calm down the opposing Tibetans. They try to unify Tibet into mainland via economic development, as they do with other occupied provinces. Although Tibet's economy has grown on average of more than 10% per year from 2000 to 2007 and although they floods Lhasa with night clubs, shopping centers, brothels and karaoke, the strategy still fails. Look at what happened last week. The resentment of Tibetan people still exploded in the street of Lhasa. It is the proof that Chinese government cannot replace Tibetans’ need for their cultural freedom, their roots, with merely material well-being. The Chinese government forgets to balance Lexus with olive tree. As Dalai Lama might put it, material wealth cannot help if we are heartbroken. People cannot be happy when they are denied the most basic of freedoms of expressing who they are.
The second thought is that if the Chinese really think that dealing with Tibet will be easier after this Dalai Lama is gone, they are wrong—it would be harder. Chinese government considers the Dalai Lama an enemy, calling him “splittist” or something along that line. Maybe they wish the Dalai Lama disappeared or removed from the scene. But once he is gone, the Chinese government will have no legitimate person to talk to, one who can truly represent Tibetans as whole. He is the one who people in Tibet listen to and can represent them with authority. He is the best channel of communication the Chinese have to reach the Tibetans. And I ams sure that the Chinese government will not be able find a more single peaceful, realistic and logical leader of Tibet to engage, once this Dalai Lama is gone. So, if anything, the chance of China to effectively unify Tibet into mainland will be harder. Put simply, it is strategically wiser for the Chinese to engage the 14th Dalai Lama in negotiation when they still can.
As an ending note, whatever your religion is, I recommend you to read any books of the Dalai Lama. His massage is universal and base on simple logic. Here is one of his massages;
“I believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy. From the very core of our being, we desire contentment. In my own limited experience I have found that the more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being. Cultivating a close, warmhearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease. It helps remove whatever fears or insecurities we may have and gives us the strength to cope with any obstacles we encounter. It is the principal source of success in life. Since we are not solely material creatures, it is a mistake to place all our hopes for happiness on external development alone. The key is to develop inner peace.”~the 14th Dalai Lama
-Photo from Eton Melo@flickr.com
Phir is a graduate law student from Thailand. He has been educated in Thailand, the U.S. and Singapore. He is interested in international law and politics. He likes sports,
music, travelling as well as foods and wines. He also studies and practices Buddhism in his free time.