(TibetanReview.net, Apr21’25) – As both China and Vietnam continued to remain tight-lipped over the arrest and custodial death under suspicious circumstances on Mar 29 of a highly respected fugitive Tibetan lama and the secretive and hasty cremation on Apr 20 of his remains under tight security in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Tibetans have expressed outrage and demanded an international investigation of the whole incident.
In the exile Tibetan heartland of Dharamshala, India, five Tibetan NGO’s have come together to hold a press conference on Apr 21, accusing the two counties of cremating the remains of Tulku Hungkar Dorje, the highly respected abbot of Lung-ngon Monastery in Gade County of Golok Prefecture, Qinghai Province, in such an outrageous manner without the consent of his family. They have called the circumstance of his death suspicious and called for a proper investigation.
They have said the secretive and hasty cremation without a proper investigation raised suspicions about the role of the two countries in the unaccounted death of the revered Tibetan lama who had taken secret refuge in Vietnam since Aug 2024 due to Chinese persecution, including fears of abduction, in his homeland for his Tibetan language and culture preservation efforts, for angering China by seemingly snubbing its appointed 11th Panchen Lama Gyaincain Norbu last year, and for other indefensible allegations of wrong-doing.
Ju Tenkyong, Director of Amnye Machen Institute, who has been closely monitoring the developments has said the lama’s body was taken in the middle of the night under tight security from Vinmec Central Park International Hospital to the Long Tho Cremation Park, located near the Sakya Buddhist temple, in Ho Chi Minh City and cremated at 1 am, local time, on Apr 20.
He has also said visiting monks from Lung ngon Monastery were not permitted to attend the cremation, or photograph or confirm the body, leaving room for doubts as to whether the body really belonged to the deceased lama.
After the cremation, the visiting monks from Tibet’s Lung-ngon Monastery were stated to have been escorted to the temple, where Chinese officials allegedly confiscated their mobile phones in the presence of over 30 Chinese officials and 40 Vietnamese police officers.
The coalition – the Tibetan Youth Congress, Tibetan Women’s Association, National Democratic Party of Tibet, Students for a Free Tibet-India and the International Tibet Network – have now demanded that the cremated remains of the lama’s body be handed over to his family and a thorough and transparent investigation carried out on the whole episode.
They have urged international pressure on the two governments on these issues.