Labour’s Huo on Dalai Llama

I presume Phil Goff will be refusing to meet with the Dalai Llama in future. In fact according to one of his MPs, the Dalai Llama is an evil torturing dictator. Raymond Huo blogged:

China established what is now known as Tibetan Autonomous Region in the early 1950s, which put an end to the notoriously cruel system of serfdom on Tibet.

There are two versions of the Dalai Lama. For those of his followers his Holiness is a saint. For others, he is viewed as the leader who supported a system of slavery in Tibet which the Chinese authorities put an end to in the 1950s.

What Westerners do not know, or do not want to know, as argued by the other party, is what level of cruelty the Theocratic Serfdom under Dalai Lama had to offer. An exhibition in New Lynn in 2009 displayed:

• Tibetan Lamaism instruments for worship ceremony made by human parts including human skin drum and a necklace made of finger bones,

• A “gandong” (a flute made of human leg bone)

• Skin from serfs (including children) for religious purpose

• Serf’s eyes gouged out for punishment

What an evil man the Dalai Llama is. I am surprised Raymond is not calling for him to be prosecuted in the International Court of Justice.

As Danyl points out:

How fortunate the people of Tibet were to be liberated from their cruel rulers and taken under the wise and benevolent protection of Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, who then went on to kill over a million Tibetans through various purges and famines, replacing the dead with ethnic Han Chinese migrants who now rule Tibet as an apartheid regime.

(The current Dalai Lama was fifteen at the time of the Chinese invasion. He’s subsequently been a harsh critic of the feudal society of pre-occupation Tibet.)

I would also point out that while I am not exactly a devoted fan of the Dalai Llama, he has won the Nobel Peace Prize. Yeah I know Obama has won it also, but back in 1989 it actually was meaningful. He also have been given 100 or so honours and awards from various governments.

Now to be fair to Labour, other MPs have disagreed with Raymond Huo in the comments on the post. But it is still extraordinary to see a New Zealand MP repeat such propaganda.