Exiled PM Sangay opens renovated Tibetan museum in Dharamsala

Tibetan Prime Minister in-exile Lobsang Sangay has inaugurated a renovated Tibet Museum in a popular Buddhist temple of Dharamsala.

The museum is a part of the Buddhist temple complex called Tsuglagkhang in the Mcleod Ganj area. At the ceremony, Sangay also launched the re-designed version of the Central Tibetan Administration's official website, Tibet.net.

The museum has been revamped with new technologies, including touch screen panels, enlarged photos with higher resolutions, and a completely new section dedicated solely to the wave of self-immolations inside Tibet and the issue of human rights.

"We have lots of tourists coming from all over the world to Dharamsala. We want them to see the display of Tibet's past, its history of being an independent country and our occupation now and repression, the environment destruction, the cultural assimilation that is going on. So that whoever comes here, in this small museum,they get a sense what was Tibet, what is Tibet now and what Tibet should be," said Sangay.

Sangay made a brief remark on the White Paper on Tibet published recently by China's State Council Information Office.

"Through the Tibet.net, we tell the truth. Recently, the Chinese Government issued the 13th White Paper. The fact it was a Chinese leader who said once probing truth for facts and through Tibet.net, through this museum, we will prove what is true and what the facts are. The fact in the white paper of Chinese government, many of them are not true," Sangay said.

The latest white paper on Tibet issued by the Chinese Government has been heavily criticised by the Central Tibetan Administration and Tibet support groups worldwide as another attempt to whitewash the tragic reality in Tibet.

The Tibet Museum, an undertaking of the Department of Information and International Relations, was established in 1998, to serve as a remembrance of the loss of Tibetan culture and lives and present the hopes and aspirations of the Tibetan people through collected photographs and life histories. The museum is comprised of a permanent exhibition, traveling exhibition and an online exhibition on the history of Tibet, the Tibetan community in exile and various Tibet related issues.