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After Chinese Re-education, Monk Regrets Action

Date: Friday, 02-July-2010

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By EDWARD WONG
The New York Times
June 29, 2010

LHASA, Tibet -- The young monk once again foundhimself in front of microphones and television cameras.

It was much the same as on March 28, 2008, whenthe monk, Norgye, and dozens of fellow monksbarged into a temple chamber where foreignjournalists were being escorted around by Chinesegovernment officials. The monks had then criedout, ?Tibet is not free.? This time, on Tuesday,Norgye had a different message: he had beenpunished through patriotic re-education, and he had repented.

"I wasn?t beaten or tortured," he said. "We hadto learn more about the law. Through educationabout the law, I realized what we had done in thepast was wrong and was against the law."

Norgye, 29, who like many Tibetans goes by onename, was speaking in the ancient inner sanctumof Lhasa?s Jokhang Temple, the holiest shrine inTibetan Buddhism. During the 10-minute interview,he was watched carefully by government employeesfrom Beijing and Lhasa, as well as by Laba, anolder monk who was the director of the temple?sadministrative office. They were the escorts fora group of foreign journalists who were on atightly scripted, five-day government tour of theTibet Autonomous Region, which is usually closed to foreign journalists.

The manner in which the interview was monitored,with Laba interrupting several times as Norgyespoke, reflected the Chinese government?s anxietyabout anything in Tibet that contradicts the official line.

Norgye was not part of the scripted tour; Labahad called him after the journalists insisted onmeeting with one of the monks who had protestedin the Jokhang on March 28, 2008. That protesthad taken place after deadly ethnic rioting ledby Tibetans had broken out in the large squareoutside the Jokhang, in the middle of thebustling Barkhor market, on March 14. What beganin Lhasa quickly became an uprising across the Tibetan plateau.

"I didn?t know anything at that time," Norgye said of the March 28 protest.

He said the monks protested because securityforces had kept them locked inside the Jokhangduring the March 14 protest. "The authoritiesmade all the monks stay in the temple," he said. "We wanted to go outside."

One monk did complain to the journalists on theMarch 2008 tour that security forces had kept the117 monks of the temple locked up since March 10.On that day, monks around Lhasa, the Tibetancapital, held a rally on the 49th anniversary ofan uprising that had led to the exile of theDalai Lama, Tibet?s spiritual leader. Thosepeaceful protests led to rioting that began four days later.

Then came the journalists? tour, and theincendiary statements by 30 monks in the Jokhangwho had suddenly burst in on the journalists:"The government is telling lies; it?s all lies,"and, "They killed many people," the monks said,according to reporting by an Associated Press correspondent on the trip.

Patriotic re-education -- hours of classes on thelaw and Communist thought -- was ordered for manymonks like Norgye following the March uprising.Monks were told to denounce the Dalai Lama. Theauthorities emptied rebellious monasteries, and some monks fled to India.

On Tuesday, asked by reporters whether Tibetanshave religious freedom, Norgye said, "Yes," with a quiet voice and bowed head.

The Chinese government forbids all worship of theDalai Lama, who lives in India. Photos of the Dalai Lama are banned.

Norgye was asked whether there was freedom toworship the Dalai Lama. He replied, "It?s freedomfor one person to believe or not to believe."