Dalai Lama says Tibetan tradition will determine successorーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS
The 14th Dalai Lama said on Wednesday that his successor will be chosen based on Tibetan tradition without any interference from others. The move goes against Beijing’s insistence that it will make the selection. The video statement came during a meeting of Buddhist monks in the northern Indian city of Damsula, the seat of the Tibetan government in exile. The Dalai Lama said that the garden pot trust or the office of his holiness the Dalai Lama will have the sole authority to recognize his future reincarnation. Tibetan Buddhists believe that when a high-ranking monk dies, the reincarnated child will be found and become the successor. An official of the trust said the Nobel Peace Prize laurate is in good health. He turns 90 on Sunday. He fled to India in 1959 after China’s suppression of an uprising in Tibet. China’s foreign ministry quickly responded to a statement. The reincarnation of the Dalai Lama must adhere to the principle of a domestic search and approval by the central government. Beijing considers the Dalai Lama a separatist and has shown that it intends to intervene in the succession process. The Thai government is being plunged deeper into uncertainty. The country’s constitutional court is weighing whether to remove Prime Minister Pat Hongan Chinowat after suspending her from her duties. Pat Hongan was suspended on Tuesday after the court decided to proceed with a petition demanding her resignation. It came amid a controversy over a leaked phone call with Cambodian Senate President Hunen. Deputy Prime Minister Surya Tingum Runit stepped in as acting prime minister. He’s also the transport minister and a member of Pat Hong Tan’s Pu Thai party. The party leads a coalition government with a thin majority. Time report that it’s expected to take around a month or longer for a verdict to be handed down. Analysts believe the outcome could bring more political turmoil. Protest leaders who demanded Patongan’s resignation have welcomed the suspension. They plan to hold another major demonstration in August. One of the top policy priorities of Indonesian President Pobo Sububanto is an initiative to serve free meals at schools and to pregnant women. The government has allocated nearly 5% of this year’s national budget to the new program. The aim is to tackle poverty especially in rural areas. NHK World Cecilia Cena Bariba reports. This is Nusa Tangara, one of Indonesia’s poorest provinces. 11year-old Scholastica Mutimo lives with her family of seven. When I tell my mother I’m bored of eating vegetables, she says, “We don’t have the money yet.”
Most of Mut’s meals are rice with stir fried vegetables. She eats meat only once every few months. Her parents combined earnings of about $140 a month make this a lowincome household. It’s hard. Everything is expensive. Even when buying vegetables, we have to think carefully. Nearly 30% of Indonesia’s elementary school students are malnourished. The school began providing free meals in January. Today’s menu includes chicken and fruit. The school is already seeing benefits. The number of absentees and those who come late or leave early due to illness is falling.
I’m excited to go to school. I’m more into it. The head of the National Nutrition Agency calls the program an investment in the future leaders of a country where one in three people is 19 or younger. If this program is not implemented now, we would end up with lowquality human resources. With the nutritious meal program, it is hoped the children will get adequate intake and grow up to be smart and we can compete with other countries. This meal center in Jakarta prepares 3,000 meals a day. A senior agency official, Tigor Pangaribuan, is inspecting its operations. Before the program was launched, he researched the situation in Japan where school meals have a long history. He visited elementary schools and meal centers. Tigor thinks that compared with Japan, Indonesia has a long way to go.
Giving food to 82.9 million populations is really challenging. From one, you need to prepare the infrastructure. uh we have to prepare 30,000 of kitchen. We are also having the the challenge to recruit young Indonesians who wants to support this.
Some experts say the free mill’s initiative is also aimed at maintaining the approval rating of President PBO during his 5-year term. Meanwhile, local media say 17 cases of food poisoning had been reported nationwide as of May, highlighting challenges in hygiene management. Observers wonder about the program’s visibility, noting its large expense and fiscal burden. Cecilia Sinabariba and HK World Jakarta wraps up our bulletin. I’m Chola Pansanula in Bangkok.
July 2 NEWSROOM TOKYO Bangkok Live Lineup:
00:00 Dalai Lama says Tibetan tradition will determine successor
01:20 Thai court weighs removing PM Paetongtarn
02:19 Free meals for Indonesian schoolkids
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