02/02/2026

MONDAY | FEB 2, 2026

7

Exiled Tibetans choose leaders for lost homeland

Jakarta lifts Grok ban

JAKARTA: Indonesia has allowed Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot to resume services, lifting a ban over sexualised images on the app, after X Corp committed to improving compliance with the country’s laws, according to a government statement. Indonesia suspended Grok from operating in the Southeast Asian nation three weeks ago, citing the risk of AI-generated pornographic content, becoming the first country to deny access to the AI tool. The statement from the Ministry of Communication and Digital Affairs, seen by Reuters yesterday, said the government was processing the resumption of access on “a conditional basis and under strict supervision”. X and xAI, which operates Grok, did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment outside business hours. Governments and regulators from Europe to Asia have condemned sexualised content generated by Grok and some have opened inquiries. “The normalisation of access to Grok services is being carried out conditionally after X Corp submitted a written commitment containing concrete steps for service improvement and prevention of abuse. This commitment is the basis for evaluation, not the end of the supervision process,” senior ministry official Alexander Sabar said in the statement. He said X had implemented a number of “layered” measures to address the misuse of Grok services, and that these would be continuously verified. – Reuters Cambodia steps up scam raids PHNOM PENH: Cambodia has arrested a total of 2,044 foreigners in its latest crackdown on online scams, said an Interior Ministry spokesperson. The suspects from eight countries were apprehended during a raid on a casino with 22 buildings on its premises in southeastern Svay Rieng province’s Bavet City, which borders Vietnam, on Saturday. Spokesperson Touch Sokhak said the Cambodian government will not stop pursuing online scam criminals. He said that Cambodia is “not a safe haven, but a hell for criminals”. The Southeast Asian country has launched a nationwide crackdown on cyber scam networks to maintain security, public order and social safety. According to a report from Cambodia’s Ad-Hoc Committee to Combat Online Scams last week, the kingdom arrested 5,106 online scam suspects from 23 countries over the last seven months, with 4,534 of them deported. – Bernama

has many more years to live, but Tibetans are preparing for a future without him. China insists it will have the final say over who succeeds him. Elections come as the diaspora community grapples with changing identities driven by generational shift and geographic dispersion, as well as geopolitical change. While punishing US aid cuts last year were partially reversed, concerns about donor dependence persist, including reliance on host India and how this intersects with New Delhi’s relationship with China. More than half of voters, about 56,000, live in India, Nepal and Bhutan. The remaining 34,000 are scattered around the world, including roughly 12,000 in North America – including New York and Toronto – and 8,000 in Europe, including Paris, Geneva, Zurich and London. “The stakes are too high to risk choosing ineffective leadership,” said Kunga Choekey, 24, a voter based in India’s town of Dehradun. Voters will also elect the government’s “sikyong”, or leader. Incumbent sikyong , Penpa Tsering, is seeking a second term. Like many, he does not seek full independence for Tibet, in line with the Dalai Lama’s long-standing “Middle Way” policy seeking autonomy. But Australia-based lawmaker Doring Tenzin Phuntsok, 40, campaigning for reelection, wants the vote to send a message to Beijing. He said: “The election ... forms a major counter to China’s autocratic one-party rule. It is part of the freedom struggle.” – AFP

Many see the vote as the most consequential democratic moment for them since their revered spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who celebrated his 90th birthday last year, fled Chinese rule in 1959. “These elections show that political agency exists even without a state, especially when democratic participation is denied inside Tibet,” said Sonam Palmo, 38, from Switzerland’s University of Zurich, who helps run Smartvote Tibet, a website helping the diaspora select candidates. “They underscore the resilience and shared purpose of the exile community at a decisive moment.” Exiled voters represent only a fraction of ethnic Tibetans, whom the CTA estimates at six million worldwide, compared with more than seven million China counted in its 2020 census. The five-year parliament, which sits twice a year, has 45 members: 30 representing three traditional provinces, 10 representing five religious traditions, and five representing the diaspora. Yesterday’s vote will select candidates ahead of a final round on April 26, with results due on May 13. Voters will cast paper ballots, with Election Commission chief Lobsang Yeshi alleging “past attempts by China to interfere with and disrupt Tibetan elections”, including “cyber-espionage”. It is a key institution for the exiles, especially after the Dalai Lama handed over political power in 2011. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate insists he

o Parliament without a state sits twice a year DEHRADUN: Exiled Tibetans began a unique global election yesterday for a government representing a homeland many have never seen, as part of a democratic exercise voters say carries great weight. From red-robed Buddhist monks in the snowy Himalayas, to political exiles in cities across South Asia, to refugees in Australia, Europe and North America, voting will take place in 27 countries but not China. “Elections ... show that the struggle for Tibet’s freedom and independence continues from generation to generation,” said candidate Gyaltsen Chokye, 33, based in the Indian hill town of Dharamsala, headquarters of the government-in-exile, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). It is an electoral system unlike any other, a vote for a parliament without a state. Beijing, which in 1950 sent troops to the vast high-altitude plateau it calls an integral part of China, condemned the elections as a “farce”. “The ‘Tibetan government-in-exile’ is nothing but a separatist political group,” China’s Foreign Ministry said in a written statement. “It is an illegal organisation that completely violates the Chinese constitution and laws.” The 91,000 registered voters reject that view.

Buddhist monks preparing to cast their ballots at a polling station in Dharamsala yesterday. – AFPPIC

Myanmar recalls disgruntled civil servants YANGON: Myanmar called yesterday for ex-civil servants who quit their jobs in protest over the coup five years ago to report back to work, pledging to remove absent state employees from “blacklists”. others joined pro-democracy rebels defying the military in a civil war that has killed tens of thousands on all sides. Last week, the government completed a month-long election it has touted as a return to civilian rule.

After the coup, in which the military ousted the elected government, tens of thousands of striking public workers joined the “Civil Disobedience Movement” in protest. The government responded with a crackdown on demonstrators, relying on tips from informers and surprise raids to round up those on strike. Today, more than 22,000 people are languishing in jails, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. – AFP

“Following verification, employees found not to have committed any offence, as well as those who had committed offences but have already served their sentences and whose names still appear on the blacklists, are being removed from the blacklists,” the council said in a statement published in the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper. Public employees who had been absent from work were placed on blacklists, “leading some to remain in hiding”, it said.

After the military snatched power in a coup on Feb 1, 2021, tens of thousands of public workers, including doctors and government administrators, left their posts in a surge of civil disobedience. Some found private employment, while

The National Defence and Security Council said civil servants who “left their workplaces without permission” since February 2021 should “report to the offices of their former departments”.