Friday, 29 January 2010 21:26 Salai Han Thar San
New Delhi (Mizzima) - Mrs. Dolma Gyari, the Deputy Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament has urged the Burmese military junta to hold free and fair general elections in 2010.
She said this while talking to Burmese democracy activists on January 25 during their three-day tour of Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh in India, the seat of the Tibetan government in exile. The Burmese activists were visiting Dharamsala at the invitation of Tibetan students.
“Elections are crucial for a democratic State. So, we would like to urge the military junta to ensure free and fair polls. The regime ought to give its people a chance to elect leaders they like,” Dolma Gyari told Mizzima.
But given that the junta is a repressive regime, it might manipulate people’s votes by pressurizing them, Dolma Gyari added.
“The Tibetan people and Tibetan parliament believe in free and fair elections. The people have the right to vote for the party they want to without fear. They have the right to choose. And the regime known to be repressive should not force the people to cast their vote in fear,” she said.
MPs of the Tibetan Parliament were elected by the popular vote of the Tibetan people in exile. Dolma Gyari was elected the first woman Deputy Speaker in 2001 and re-elected in 2006. The tenure of the current Parliament is from 2006 to 2011.
Min Ko, a Burmese youth delegate said, “For a free and fair election, the regime must free all political prisoners including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and allow them to contest the 2010 election”.
New Delhi based Burma Centre Delhi (BCD) organized the trip by the Burmese team comprising of 16 people including two Buddhist monks from Burma. They visited Dharamsala from January 24 to 26 and met Tibetan political leaders, MPs, members of Tibetan women’s organizations and student organizations and discussed Burma affairs.
They showed the Burma VJ documentary video film to the Tibetan people including students. This film reveals how the junta brutally cracked down on the 2007 saffron revolution led by monks and how Burmese "underground" reporters exposed the brutality to the world at large.
The junta is yet to announce its electoral law and the law related to registration of political parties till now, though they announced that elections would be held this year.
However, pro-junta and junta backed organizations like the National Unity Party (NUP), Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) and some political parties, who have a good rapport with the junta are conducting election campaigns since the end of last year. Political parties like Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy are not being allowed to campaign yet.
After the Chinese government occupied Tibet, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama led a section of Tibetan people and left for India in 1959. The Indian government settled them in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh. The Tibetan people are now struggling for self-determination in Tibet.
The Tibetan population in exile accounts for over 140,000 people and most of them live in India. Some are living in other countries, according to a statement issued by the Tibetan government in 2009.
(Edited by Ye Yint Aung)
Saturday, January 30, 2010
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