What follows leans towards fiction, has been inspired by political intrigue, spiced sufficiently with conspiracy, yet is based upon factual events. Recently Tibetans world-wide have been sent a Tibetan Demographic Survey in Exile to complete, Requiring a range of personal, employment, educational, residence and family origin information, it has been received with mixed-feelings from Tibetans, including concerns about security of such information, and if it’s parallel purpose is to assist other Governments.
Dr. Kunchok Tsondue-Chief Planning Officer Launches the Survey
Source: nvo
According to the Tibetan Government in Exile (TGIE) the objectives of this survey is to assist in the future provision of better services to the exiled community, and to enable more efficient administration, yet questions are already being asked in what meaningful way the gathering of such sensitive material can tangibly realise such objectives. Although a novel experience for Tibetans, national surveys of this nature are viewed with a wearisome cynicism by many in the west, and often considered unwelcome government interference. Others argue that such exercises, though claiming to provide a benefit to society at large, are evidence of intrusive government http://tibettruth.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/database-state-executive-summary1.pdf
National data-bases are something of a hot-topic within Britain, a country that is probably the most observed (with a reported 20 million plus CCTV cameras) and recorded state on the planet. There are few personal details that the Government does not hold, including a National DNA Database holding samples of approximately 4 million men, women and children. Every facet of individual life is held on a huge array of computers and servers, key Government bodies, military, health, education, security and social services and benefits maintain countless files. Some of this activity has resulted in cases being brought to the European Court of Human Rights as an illegal infringement of civil liberties; http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1091880/One-million-innocent-people-profiles-wiped-Britains-DNA-database-court-ruling.html a disturbing trend in a society gripped and manipulated by perceptions of terrorism.
Equally worrying is the fact that such confidential data can, even with the most advanced system of secure storage, be lost, disclosed or stolen. On November 24, 2007 Her Majesty’s [sic] Revenue and Customs (British Government Tax Department) was forced to issue a public apology, when it had to confess that it had ‘mislaid’ http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2007/nov/21/immigrationpolicy.economy3 the private personal information of 7.25 million families! There have been many other such cases that has resulted in private information being disclosed publicly:
- HM Revenue Customs, which infamously lost the details of 25 million child benefits claimants
- Department of Justice admitted it had lost 45,000 people’s details throughout the year
- Home Office announced it had lost the data of 3,000 seasonal agricultural workers
- Department for Transport lost the data of three million learner drivers
- Foreign Office, which lost 190 people’s data in five incidents
- Ministry of Defence said it had lost a laptop containing the details of 620,000 recruits and potential recruits, and some information on 450,000 referees for job applicants.
- UK government revealed over 11,000 military ID cards have been lost or stolen
- Two NHS trusts lost unencrypted laptops containing 31,000 patient records. In May, 2008 some 38,000 patient records on tape were lost
Given such a staggering loss of confidential information and the obvious vulnerability of mass data storage the Tibetan Demographic Survey raises some understandable security concerns. Only recently the TGIE announced that highly confidential files and information had been effectively hijacked from within its secure computer systems by communist China. Similar espionage has happened previously of course, and the Tibetan Administration has raised concerns about confidential information being compromised by cyber-attacks.
Certainly the collection, analysis and identification of social information does afford less principled governments an opportunity to more effectively manipulate and control. Information is power. Which brings us to the door of conspiratorial matters.Which other nation states would benefit from having at their disposal such highly detailed information on the Tibetan Disapora? There are two major candidates of course.
Firstly as a nation hosting the largest number of Tibetan refugees, India is extremely interested in monitoring Tibetans, not only within its own territory but overseas too. Reports emerged some years ago that the Office of Tibet in London apparently held regular meetings with the Indian High Commission, at which its was required to brief the Indian authorities on a range of information, including political activities of Tibetans in Britain. If that is the case, it would not be too difficult to imagine that a similar obligation is placed upon other Tibet Offices too. Having such a data-base would service a number of central functions of government in India, most notably departments with responsibility for immigration, emigration, visa control and issuance being key areas. Nor must we forget how valuable such information would be for India’s Intelligence Bureau http://www.fas.org/irp/world/india/ib/index.html which would relish an opportunity to scrutinize the results of this survey.
Before the days of hi-tech operations the Office of Tibet London was the target of a forced intrusion, and there was a controversial and curious incident involving a female friend of Mr. Tseten Samdup, formerly of Tibet House London. A Chinese national who it appears was in residence above the very same building. This arrangement coincided with the private addresses and family names (held only by the Tibet Office and Tibetan Community) being made publicly available. Tibetans in Britain suddenly began to receive pro-Christian correspondence, some from France, carrying names only previously known to themselves, and of course Tibet House! The security of personal details belonging to Tibetans was not afforded any great urgency or consideration, as proved by the lukewarm and indifferent response, of the then Representative of the Dalai Lama, Mrs Takla.
Alarming then to consider that the TGIE, target of persistent espionage and unwelcome cyber-attention http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/world/bal-dalai-lama-0331,0,7576778.story will become a guardian of such extensive personal data, that would be of considerable interest to China. Through subterfuge, corruption (yes it does happen) or most likely administrative ineptitude the personal details of over a hundred thousand Tibetans and the extended families outside and inside Tibet could be exposed. What an incalculable risk that poses to families across Tibet and beyond.
Now to another element in this cauldron of dark suspicions, the other prime beneficiary of the Tibetan Demographic Survey, communist China. First we must remind ourselves that throughout its futile efforts to negotiate with Beijing the Tibetan Administration has not been entirely frank and transparent, as to the fine details of its exchanges with communist China. Apart from generalised statements issued at press conferences, in-the-main Tibetans remain worryingly unaware of what has actually been conceded or agreed in their name during such negotiations. A demand was probably imposed upon Tibetan representatives, and the Tibetan Administration, to maintain a silence. That being so, it has complied with a troubling enthusiasm, continuing to ignore the political aspirations of its own people, casting an indifferent eye upon the uprisings for Tibetan independence, and insisting that Tibetans are firmly supportive of its policy of surrender and appeasement,
At such meetings presumably some attention has been given to the thorny issue of agreeing a definition of what constitutes ‘Tibet’, on one hand, Chol-ka- Sum (although the Tibetan Administration may have covertly acknowledged to Beijing that Tibetan territory will comprise the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region only) and communist China insisting upon the truncated territory of the so-called ‘Tibet Autonomous Region‘. Another fraught and related subject would no doubt concern the potential return of the exiled Tibetan community. A sizeable immigration, if the majority of overseas Tibetans decided to accept Chinese rule, that would pose considerable risks and demand urgent and secure administration for the occupying Chinese authorities. Given that totalitarian regimes are partly defined by a psychotic obsession with controlling information, it would not be unreasonable to surmise that Beijing would make a number of demands regarding the influx of educated, politically motivated and articulate Tibetans, into what would remain a volatile situation.
China's Ministry of State Security-Eventual Home of the Tibetan Demographic Survey?
To ensure a tightly controlled management of such a population intake, identification would be a critical component of such a process. As would advanced planning. In light of the potential numbers involved and the acute political and security sensitivity which would accompany such an event, China’s Ministry of Public Security (CMPS) and the Ministry of Justice would demand information of a highly detailed nature. The Ministry of Public Security is communist China’s national police force, charged with collecting and organizing information about the populace and is the main domestic security agency. Currently regional and local stations of the CMPS maintain a a huge data-base of all persons living in the area. births, deaths, marriages, and divorces are recorded and confirmed through random household checks. Access to personal information identifying each exiled Tibetan, his family, region, occupation, marital status and education would serve their purpose very well and be logged onto its ‘National Citizen Identity Inquiring System’.
However, despite the formidable activities of China’s espionage activities http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/19/exclusive-chinese-spy-who-defected-tells-all/ (which has a central aim of controlling the Chinese people, and the occupied peoples of Tibet and East Turkestan) to maintain the dominance of the Communist Party, it is unlikely that Beijing has a definitive and detailed data-base for the Tibetan Diaspora, such a project would not be attainable without the willing participation of exiled Tibetans, such a collaboration with China is not a likely prospect. No, that undertaking could only be realised by the Exiled Tibetan Administration, which despite its shameful record of betraying the political birth-right of its people still exerts (due entirely to the collective feelings for the Dalai Lama) influence over the exiled community. This fact introduces one last speculation.
During the various meetings between representatives of the Dalai Lama (regrettably they do not act as officials of the Tibetan Government) and communist Chinese officials, have preparatory talks explored a managed return of exiled Tibetans? Surely as a responsible government administration, one striving for a return to Tibet, the Tibetan Administration is obligated to map-out plans for such an eventuality, while compliant to the security demands of communist China. In its efforts to appease China might there have been agreed a number of controversial measures, all to the advantage of the communist Regime, which included a demand to establish a demographic survey of exiled Tibetans? Are the results of this census to exclusively assist the exiled Tibetan community, or do they share a darker goal, to serve the political and security apparatus of China? We have no evidence of such a treacherous deception, yet as Tibetans reach for pens to loyally complete this survey, can such a nightmare be entirely dismissed?
