Dalai Lama calls for democracy and reform for the future Tibetan leadership

(This is a scheduled post...I'm actually not in Beijing right now, but I believe this is news worth mentioning...And since I'm not going to be posting for a while I have made this a scheduled post...And since my trip is to the "Land of Snows" this news is relevant in a way too...)

Dalai Lama says favours democratic leadership

(Reuters)The Dalai Lama has encouraged Tibetans in exile to embrace the democratic system of electing a leader, saying it was essential to keep step with the larger world and to ensure the continuity of their government.

In a video clip shown to hundreds of monks, nuns and lay people in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamsala late on Saturday, the 73-year-old also said it was no longer essential to thrust spiritual and political leadership on one person.

"The Dalai Lamas held temporal and spiritual leadership over the last 400-500 years. It may have been quite useful. But that period is over," the Nobel Prize winner said in the clip, according to a translated transcript.

"Today, it is clear to the whole world that democracy is the best system despite its minor negativities. That is why it is important that Tibetans also move with the larger world community," he said.

The Dalai Lama has suggested before it is up to Tibetans whether they continue with the spiritual institution after he dies, and could order an election among Tibetans abroad.

"When we put the whole responsibility in the person of the Dalai Lama, it is dangerous ... it is appropriate that a democratically elected leader lead a people's movement," he said.

"In reality, a change is happening in the responsibility of the Dalai Lama as the temporal and spiritual leader. This, I think, is very good ... a religious leader having to assume political leadership, that period is over," he said.
"As election takes place every five years, irrespective of whether the Dalai Lama is there or not, the exiled political system will remain secure, stable and sustainable in the long term," he said in the clip broadcast on Saturday.

See the full Reuters news report at
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20090621/tpl-uk-tibet-dalailama-b3150e0.html
-------------