Jigme Namgyal (also known as Jiming Nanjia) is the current vice-mayor of

Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Region in Southwest China. The inner urban area of Lhas ...

. He is more concerned with the cultural preservation of Lhasa, than the growth-oriented mayor Doje Cezhug. However, he shares Cezhug's anti-

Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current D ...

sympathies.

2008 riots

On the second anniversary of the riots, Namgyal delivered a response to a speech by the

, alleged by the Chinese government to have fomented the

2008 Lhasa violence The 2008 Lhasa riots, also referred to as the March 14 riots or March 14 incident ( zh, c=三·一四事件) in Chinese media,

. He said that the Lama was "a separatist who uses religion as a cloak", and reports that contrary to the Lama's allegations, the
Buddhist monks A ''bhikkhu'' (Pali: भिक्खु, Sanskrit: भिक्षु, ''bhikṣu'') is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. Male and female monastics ("nun", ''bhikkhunī'', Sanskrit ''bhikṣuṇī'') are members of the Sangha (Buddhist ...
in Lhasa are doing well, focused on improving their qualities of life.

Culture
He has helped to earmark 205 million yuan for the renovation of the
Potala Palace The Potala Palace is a ''dzong'' fortress in Lhasa, Tibet. It was the winter palace of the Dalai Lamas from 1649 to 1959, has been a museum since then, and a World Heritage Site since 1994. The palace is named after Mount Potalaka, the mythic ...
and other major monasteries. All the government documents he issues are bilingual, in
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
and Tibetan. Mr. Namgyal takes a relatively liberal stand on
religious freedom Freedom of religion or religious liberty is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also includes the freedom ...
: "In Tibet, people can believe whatever they want as long as it is legal. The government won't interfere. Instead it will help people solve problems along the way," he was quoted as saying.

References
Political office-holders in Lhasa Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{tibet-bio-stub