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Published on November 5, 2007

It complained that the Dalai Lama is seeking independence for Tibet.

But in his remarks at this award ceremony, the Dalai Lama reiterated his desire for the Tibetan people to have meaningful autonomy within China, which should have reasonably allayed the fears of China.

But that does not mean that Tibetans will now automatically achieve autonomy. Rather, on the contrary, they are likely to remain frustrated on this count for the simple reason Tibetans are not doing anything worthwhile for it.

Tibetans can succeed in their mission for meaningful autonomy only when they shed their lethargy and mobilise India and the international community. Apart from having and showing faith and trust in China's leadership, they need to bring about a paradigm shift and change in strategy.

India since the 1950s has never questioned the assimilation of Tibet as part of China. Therefore China is bound to have trust in India's intentions in regard to the territorial integrity of China and the instrumentality of India in bringing about a peaceful and just solution to the Tibet problem.

India has been the home for the Dalai Lama and other Tibetans for the last half a century therefore Tibetans are also bound to have faith in India's role as a mediator between China and Tibetans.

Time is running out fast for Tibetan autonomy in view of the large scale demographic transformation which is taking place in Tibet due to massive civilian and military infrastructure projects being implemented there by China.

The ageing leadership of the Dalai Lama, though it is very useful for generating international goodwill and respect for the Tibetan cause, alone is not enough to realise the goal of an autonomous Tibet. This was made evident from the fact that last week Sonia Gandhi, the president of the Indian National Congress, visited China but Tibetans did nothing worthwhile to utilise her visit to promote the cause of Tibetan autonomy.

Therefore collective leadership is imperative. Tibetans should evolve some organisational mechanism where younger elements in joint leadership assist the Dalai Lama to take the struggle further in order to realise the mission of an autonomous Tibet.

Also, in view of the US's appeal to China's leaders to open talks with the Dalai Lama, it is an opportune time to mobilise the international community/UN in the interest of realising the mission of an autonomous Tibet.

For this, Tibetans would be well advised to launch a forum (having membership also from well meaning Indians and persons from other countries) that will work with Tibetans in realising their goal for an autonomous Tibet.

This forum may have its head office in India and branch offices in other countries and could carry out its work also through wide and concerted international media coverage of its various programmes like seminars, delegations, demonstrations, debates, meetings, etc, in India, China and in other countries.

Hem Raj Jain

India

Childhood obesity has disastrous repercussions

Re: "Why the failure to promote vegetarianism?" Letters, November 3.

Recently published studies have concluded what was already becoming pretty obvious:

l Fast food is as dangerous, if not more dangerous, than smoking or alcohol.

l "Global fattening" is as great a threat as global warming.

l Child obesity is every bit as threatening to us as terrorism.

l Children will increasingly die before their parents if drastic action is not taken.

While smoking reduces the average person's lifespan by an average of 10 years, new research suggests that being seriously overweight can cut life expectancy by as much as 13 years. Over one-third of the whole child population of Europe, and almost half of young people in North and South America, will be overweight by 2012, the International Association for the Study of Obesity says. Obesity estimates are even more disturbing. Be quite sure, the people of Thailand are in just as much danger.

In that coercion and enticement are a major element of their sales techniques, I contend that the international fast food companies, and their local equivalents, are mainly responsible for this trend, and it is about time they were recognised and described as such. Consequently, they should at the very least, be penalised along with the tobacco and alcohol manufacturers.

John Shepherd

Bangkok

'Western' doctors give poor nutritional advice

Eric Bahrt correctly indicts the medical profession for failing to give information to patients concerning the dangers of present day meat, fish and dairy produce, but the following facts may help readers understand the situation:

1) It is only the allopathic "Western" doctors who support meat eating. Ayurvedic doctors and naturopaths almost never do and homeopaths, osteopaths, chiropractors and many others have an entirely different attitude towards this matter. Allopathic doctors seldom have more than elementary training in nutrition.

2) The politics of the allopathic profession is dominated by the pharmaceutical industry, which thrives on people being ill. Anyone who doubts their ruthlessness and intransigence should read "Thalidomide and the Power of the Drug Companies".

3) Within the allopathic profession it is professional suicide to espouse any heterodox thinking or practice. The profession still supports the totally discredited dogma that vegetable protein is second class. This is mainly why there is much more cancer, osteoporosis and kidney disease in the West.

4) Medico-legal constraints ensure that allopathic doctors only give advice and treatment within a narrow range of options within the approved system. Anything else renders them liable to being sued by a patient.

5) Nearly all doctors are meat eaters and are no more likely to advise against it than a tobacco addict is to support anti-smoking efforts.

Dr M Nightingale

Chon Buri

Burmese junta's end written in the stars

A Burmese refugee family recently resettled in America was interviewed last week relating to recent developments in Burma. The seven-year-old daughter, acting as interpreter for the family, replied "My government is bad, they hurt people".

The international community watched the video of the murder of a Japanese journalist by a Burmese soldier wearing flip-flop scandals. The military junta denied murdering the Japanese journalist, and also denied stealing his camera.

What the world did not witness was the midnight raids on Buddhist monasteries in Rangoon when monks and civilians trying to defend them were murdered by Than Shwe's thugs. These thugs also stole property and donated cash from the Buddhist monasteries.

Even passive and generally tolerant Buddhists in Burma will fight when their religion is violated. Than Shwe will soon find out that killing monks is not the same thing as killing civilians.

Burmese astrologers play a role similar to public opinion polls in America. On October 30, Burmese astrologers predicted that Than Shwe's regime will be toppled by a military coup in the third week of November 2007. This prediction is posted on www.flamingpeacocks.blogspot.com

Myint Thein

Senior Adviser to the Burmese Resistance

dallas, texas