What ‘Flame of truth’?

As a news reporter for a Tibetan media outlet, the most boring experience for the past few months has been reporting the global ‘Flame of Truth’ torch relay initiated by Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile. The only thing I have to do is replace the ‘Where, When and Who’ while keeping rest of the report almost literally intact wherever it goes. I have sincerely and rightfully so, personally speaking, lost patience to cover monotonous events such as this.

Well, I have never seen a political act so dumb and yet so costly in terms of financial and human resources. The flame, despite its claim of truth, clearly lacks imagination, intelligence and creativity coming as it does from a high office. The flame is timid, weak and directionless in the context of Tibetan freedom struggle to say the least. What a sheer waste on all fronts!

On a lighter note, I heard funny comments from people that the torch looks like an ice-cream. Well, it does. Worst of all, I have the fear people might take this torch as having something to do with Olympic while it is being paraded around the world. Our MPs need to get some tips on political activism from highly active organizations like Students for a Free Tibet and Tibetan Youth Congress for instance. Such organizations have strategy, knowledge and clear-cut action plans all the while attempting to hit the target of every activity they initiate. Get schooled first but don’t waste time, money and manpower for such strategy of fighting the so-called ‘cause of Tibet.’

The only thing I see the travelling Flame does is that it makes our MP happy to see some reports here and there in the insignificant media outlets. Did media giants like BBC, CNN, AP, AFP, ABC etc ever covered the event once? Throw me light if I have been wrong on this. The fact that we have truth doesn’t guarantee that it will lead us to victory however mighty a truth can be said of if we are not smart to assert and present that truth. For me, parading this Flame of truth is not at all a way to go about it.

Given the alarming frequency with which Tibetans inside Tibet are resorting to killing themselves by setting themselves ablaze to highlight the grim political and social life under Beijing’s rule, can this ‘flame of truth,’ perhaps the most sustained response from TPiE, be considered an act enough to live up to the expectation of those immolators? Well, whose idea is this to carry around this torch, first of all? Where is the power it should generate given so much resources it has and is consuming? I am angry because all I can think of this ‘Flame of Truth’ torch relay is that it looks simply childish and a joke.

Written on October 30, 2012.