TAR Authorities Held First Award Ceremony for ‘Harmony Model Monasteries’ and ‘Law Abiding Monks and Nuns/ENG

2012. április 20./TCHRD/ITN/TibetPress

According to the ChinaTibetnews.com report [1] posted today, the first award ceremony for the Harmonious Model Monasteries and “law-abiding, patriotic and advanced monks and nuns” was held on 19 April 2012 in Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region. The recipients of the award include 59 monasteries and nunneries, 58 Monastery Management Committees, 6,773 monks and nuns, and 200 ‘outstanding cadres’ posted in monasteries in recognition of their “good works”.
 
As a reward, the ‘law-abiding advanced monks and nuns’ of the Harmonious Modal Monasteries shall be awarded with government subsidies. These subsidies include free pension, medical insurance. An annual free health check up will also be done, the report said.
 
The Party Secretary of TAR, Chen Quanguo in his address, said that the monks and nuns should “effectively recognize the politics of the Dalai Clique’s reactionary, religious hypocrisy, deceptive means” and separate themselves from separatist activities by “draw[ing] a line with the Dalai Clique” and not participating in separatist activities to “disrupt social order”, according to the news report.
 
Since October 2011, the ‘work teams’ have started intense ‘Patriotic re-education’ sessions in various Tibetan monasteries and nunneries in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). Repressions on Tibetan Buddhist institution are accompanied by China’s patriotic re-education policies like Nine Must Haves, The Six Ones, creating Harmonious Model Monastery and “law-abiding, patriotic and advanced monks and nuns”. The work teams have also taken over the monastic authorities and management which until then the monks themselves have been taking care of. Monks and nuns are punished and arrested for not cooperating with the work teams which resulted in closure of many monasteries. Many monks also left the monastery to escape from these patriotic sessions and ran away to the nearby hills.
 
The management of monasteries has been taken over by the ‘Monastery Management Committees’ (which were earlier called Discipline Management Committees). This move was to keep a check on the activities of the monasteries in order to avoid or any political activities. This has also enabled the Chinese authorities to keep a tighter vigilance and control of the Tibetan monasteries. Repressive policies like the Six Ones and Nine Must Haves are now becoming a usual/common/normal practice in Tibet.  The Monastery Management Committee (MMC) comes directly under the Chinese authorities and is staffed with their cadres. A party branch is also set up in the MMC.
 
Police stations are set up in all major monasteries. At the three biggest monasteries of Tibet, Drepung, Gaden and Sera, People’s Armed Police camps called as the Armed Police Fire Brigade are also constructed.
 
The Tibetan monks and nuns are forced to attend patriotic sessions, to hang portraits of Chinese leaders and to hoist the Chinese national flag. When the monks and nuns reject to such actions it often resulted in their arrest and closure of monastery and even causing death of monks.
 
In the beginning of April 2012, when the work teams forcibly put up the portraits of the four Chinese Leaders and hoisted a Chinese flag in Denchokor Monastery, Jodha County, Chamdo TAR, an elderly monk got so angry that he died of heart attack. Most of the monks left the monastery which now remains vacant.
 
In February 2012, in Diru County, Nagchu TAR, the work teams again conducted pre. In this county there are around 22 monasteries and nunneries but most of them had to close because of no monks.
 
In March 2012, Lhundhing Monastery in Ngamring County, Dachu Township, Shigatse TAR work teams ordered to put up flag. Monks protested saying these are politics and not related to religion. This protest led to the arrest of five monks. After the arrest the work teams forced the monks to hoist the Chinese flag.
 
TCHRD had earlier reported of the introduction of the ‘Harmonious Modal Monastery’ Policy  http://www.tchrd.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=141:law-abiding-model-monastery-in-tar-&catid=34:2011-news&Itemid=83 and
 ‘Increased Religious Repression..’ http://www.tchrd.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=170:increased-religious-repression-forces-monks-to-flee-monasteries-to-close-&catid=70:2012-news&Itemid=162
 
 
Footnote:
[1] http://www.chinatibetnews.com/zhengfuzaixian/2012-04/20/content_945525.htm