This Week`s Highlights

This Week’s Highlights
Mauritius Times
This Week’s Highlights
• Editorial
L’Alliance Lepep: Decisive Win
Voters gave a decisive victory to l’Alliance Lepep in the municipal elections of Sunday last. In an
unprecedented win, the political alliance secured all the 120 seats in the five municipal councils
of the country. This should be a moment of satisfaction for the party leaders, namely those of
the MSM, the PMSD and the Muvman Liberater (ML). It could just as well provide an
opportunity for the national government headed by the same alliance to launch itself into a fresh
constructive action at the national level.
***
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This Week’s Highlights
• Interview : Lindsay Rivière
« Aucun leader ne s’en va définitivement à Maurice, ni Gaëtan Duval, ni Navin
Ramgoolam, ni Bérenger, ni SAJ. Nos leaders meurent leaders »
* « Le PTr se condamne à l’immobilisme pour plusieurs années encore… C’est d’ailleurs
ce que veut le MMM : le monopole de l’Opposition pour mieux remonter »
Extraits :
« Le ‘nettoyage’ et les interpellations ont très largement dominé ces six premiers mois du
gouvernement. Sans doute fallait-il faire le ménage, nettoyer et le Gouvernement est en train de
le faire. Mais le gouvernement a établi son ‘case’. Il voulait prouver qu’il y a eu d’inacceptables
abus, d’énormes scandales en tous genres. C’est fait. Le Gouvernement ‘has made its point’. Il
lui faut maintenant laisser au Judiciaire et aux autres institutions le soin de poursuivre les
coupables, de continuer à mener discrètement ses enquêtes et sa mission de remise en ordre,
pour passer à la deuxième plateforme : le deuxième miracle économique… »
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« Nettoyez, ‘by all means’, dans le cadre de la légalité mais on en a un peu assez. Il n’est pas
important de savoir chaque détail de chaque scandale ou de chacun des 100 interrogatoires
aux Casernes Centrales de chaque suspect. Il faut projeter au monde extérieur l’image d’un
pays en mouvement, pas d’un pays qui croule sous les scandales. Le monde extérieur risque
de ne retenir que les scandales à répétition. Maurice vaut mieux que cela… »
***
• Opinion & Comments
-- Re-inventing Urban living
by Mrinal Roy
“The municipal election results also amplify the disavowal of both the leaders of the MMM and
the Labour Party and their condemnable rhetoric. Their position has been untenable for quite
some time. Yet, in total disregard of the people’s sanction at the December 2014 polls, they
have with the support of faithful apparatchiks quashed rumbles and dissent within their parties
to doggedly hold on to their posts. Will they now realise that they no longer have the people’s
trust? Will they finally understand that they should go as they have become heavy liabilities for
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their respective parties and that their persistence in holding on with their heads buried in the
sand, profoundly undermines the future of the two parties?…”
“Now that there is going to be an obvious synergy between the government and the
municipalities, isn’t it time to urgently set up an able team of town planners, urban developers,
landscape architects, elected councillors and representatives of civil society, etc., to brainstorm
an imaginative blue print to transform the five municipalities into eco-friendly and convivial smart
cities providing a wide range of facilities and activities for the benefit of not only the townsfolk
but the people at large. Our towns are relatively small which renders the realisation and
management of such a venture feasible…”
***
Nine Year Schooling On The Table Again
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This Week’s Highlights
Any reform must be just and equitable and should be seen
to be so
by Sada Reddi
“Nine-year schooling is once again on the agenda and the basic outline of reform is not unlike
the schemes proposed in the 1990s. For many, nine-year schooling per se is irrelevant given
that all pupils have already 11 to 14 years of schooling. What still remains the priority is the
abolition of the CPE as a selective examination, the broadening of basic general education for
all, reducing the inefficiency of the system by improving literacy and numeracy for all and
preparing all our children to lead useful and meaningful lives. These are formidable challenges
for any government and it is wise to proceed with caution…”
“In the middle of 70s, the UNESCO Report ‘Educational Development, Institute of Education,
Mauritius’ fully subscribed to nine-year schooling and even underlined that we were producing
too many School Certificate and Higher School Certificate holders. The view was that pupils
should be channelled after nine years of schooling and a Form III examination to the world of
work, in other terms in the factories. Fortunately this class approach to educational reform was
not implemented: had we done so, we would have headed for disaster. The Report might have
been realistic in its prognosis, but it overlooked the educational aspirations of the population
which have their roots in the history of slavery and indenture, and the resourcefulness of
Mauritians to invent a new future…”
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“While it is generally acknowledged that the Form VI colleges was a mistake and regional
colleges merely transferred competition from State star colleges to emerging regional colleges,
what is not acknowledged is that it was the transformation of State star colleges into Form VI
institutions while the star confessional colleges were left untouched which invited the charge of
discrimination against State colleges. Whether the indictment was justified or not or simply the
result following the failure to get the confessional schools to join the reform, the perception of
discrimination and injustice became deeply ingrained in an important section of the population.
It was this perception which propelled the government to restore the State star colleges, and
consequently the CPE as a selective examination…”
***
Why Voting is a Civic Obligation
by Rajiv Servansingh
“The defeat of the MMM with the tacit support of the Labour Party or not has been thorough
and, to use the much abused cliché, “historic”. It’s for the first time since it has been
participating in local elections in 1977 that the MMM will find itself without a single elected
Municipal Councillor. This in itself is a remarkable event which could prove a real game changer
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of the future political landscape in the country…”
“At the forefront of the battle for women’s right to vote, the Suffragettes were regarded as
outcasts of society and had to suffer all sorts of humiliation. Thus, GM Trevelyan, a most
respected British historian writes in the first edition of the ‘Illustrated History of England’ (1926):
‘The prevailing spirit of the day was wrath and violence; many even of the female advocates of
Votes for Women -- the most important of the many political cross-currents of that distracted era
-- resorted to organized outrage on persons and property to advertise their cause, with the
result that their cause lost ground. The women who made outrage a method of persuasion were
distinguished by the title of ‘Suffragettes’…”
***
Greece and the Euro zone: When governments go bankrupt
by Anil Gujadhur
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This Week’s Highlights
« Since the Greek crisis began, pensions have been drastically reduced. Jobs in the public
sector have been slashed. Welfare expenditures have been curtailed. The rate of joblessness in
the country has increased. Greece has the highest rate of unemployment in the euro zone in
excess of 25% of its workforce. More than 50% of the young have no jobs. Taxes are difficult to
collect in an economy that has kept receding. Worried that the government will sooner or later
have no alternative than to introduce capital controls, i.e., depositors cannot withdraw all that
they need from their bank accounts, savings have been going down. There is hardly any
investment to increase economic production… »
« Mauritius faced an acute economic problem in the 1970s and early 1980s. As it is the case
today, our exports of goods kept underperforming while our imports kept increasing. The
resulting trade deficit produced an unsustainable external balance of payments condition. There
were scarcely any inflows of capital. Consequently, we borrowed externally to sustain
ourselves. The terms on which the debt was raised were tough but we had no alternative. The
borrowed money did not all go into productive investments; they helped extinguish previous
external debts, a good part of which had been incurred to meet welfare payments. The saving
grace was that we did not go bankrupt… »
***
The Wisdom of The Body
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This Week’s Highlights
by Dr R Neerunjun Gopee
“I have borrowed his title (‘The Wisdom of the Body’) for want of a better one to express the
awe that some of us who deal directly with the body feel when we take the time to contemplate
deeply about its intricate structure and precise functioning. Even when we batter it – with fast
food, alcohol, tobacco and such other poisons – it has a remarkable capacity to withstand the
onslaughts and keep ticking for dear life, as it were, for a good while until, of course, we have
wrecked it so much that it no longer can sustain itself and prefers to go back to Mother Earth.
But this premature scenario notwithstanding, however, our body is a really wonderful entity
whose fascinating layers continue to be uncovered by the advancing frontiers of knowledge for
the keener appreciation of those of us so inclined…”
“Based on both reasoning from first principles and following upon the ongoing discoveries about
brain-mind correlations, it appears that there is sufficient justification for seeking the physical
basis, in the brain, that may underlie the several common elements that go into a definition of
wisdom. These elements include: ‘rational decision making based on general knowledge of life;
prosocial behaviours involving empathy, compassion, and altruism; emotional stability; insight or
self-reflection; decisiveness in the face of uncertainty; and tolerance of divergent value
systems.’ It is no longer odd to speak about the ‘neurobiology of wisdom’…”
***
Will the New Municipal Councillors Fulfill Expectations they have created?
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This Week’s Highlights
by TP Saran
“Fraud and corruption in governance processes implicating the corporate-political nexus, and
allegedly illegal massive money transactions (transfers, laundering) are the targets of the
large-sweeping official broom that has been called into play. While this is at the central level of
government, it must be underlined that over the years spanning several decades, similar
allegations have been made about what goes on in municipalities. And the issues that these
allegations concern are only too well-known…”
“Successive regimes have made allegations and counter-allegations, but at the end of the day
the citizens cannot but doubt whether there is a genuine desire to change things, since these ills
are evoked at every election, which surely means that the irregularities are still present? And
that they need to be eliminated? In other words, that just as at the central level, at the municipal
level also there is an imperative and urgent need for an equally grand nettoyage…”
***
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The Peace Within
by Nita Chicooree-Mercier
« Whatever be the size of the huge rallies that will be organized in India in several states and
more than 30 000 people expected on New York Yoga Day, what matters is the awareness of
the physical and mental balance that yoga can bring, and that it comprises simple exercises and
breathing techniques one can do at home on a daily basis. The other significant point is that by
‘logging in’ to your inner self, you release energy to different parts of the body and it helps you
to realize that the same energy unites the world in different forms of expression - a vision that
underlines the fundamental Indian thought that the world is one family…”
« The benefit of self-control one can get through breathing exercises at an individual level is
indispensable for balance between mind and body. Needless to say to what extent unnecessary
medical expenses will be avoided if an increasing number of people find the solution to a
healthy body in an age-old tradition. If the self-control and peace derived from yoga can be
extended to the greatest number of people, we will certainly be living in a much saner world…”
***
Corruption On Trial
by Dr Rajagopala Soondron
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This Week’s Highlights
« More power does not only give more opportunities to deal in underhand cheating, but it also
influences how we think. Lammers quoted the work of his colleagues from Erasmus university in
Rotterdam. He talks of moral myopia – power, like alcohol, removes certain inhibitory pathways
in a certain part of the brain; subjects being primed to feel powerful (while under brain scanning)
have their disinhibition areas glowing with activity: they become ‘hyper confident, and hyper
assertive’, just as after alcohol consumption… »
« The only way to diminish cheating is to beef up the deterrents; to be held accountable for any
suspicious dealings may incite us to refrain from cheating. Experimental work in the laboratory
proves this point. In real life, ostracism, social disapproval and incarceration may serve as
deterrents (5 British politicians were imprisoned for fiddling their expenses). Strong social
mobilization, frequent auditing will help a lot, whereas grassroots measures do not succeed as
expected. But anonymous complaints – whistle blowing? -- would stir many workers and
officials to better sense… »
***
Elections municipales: 65% disent NON !
by Shakuntala Boolell
D’une élection à une autre, le comportement de l’électorat et le verdict des urnes nous
interpellent. Chaque expérience, que ce soit pour les élections municipales ou pour les
élections législatives, devient une source de questionnement et de réflexion. Mais l’écoute est
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bien importante. Les uns se disent choqués, les autres disent tout cru : « bagasse vote bagasse
!»
***
From the Pages of History - MT 60 Years Ago
Deux Mauriciens expulsés de la Réunion
La Police réunionnaise emploie des méthodes peu civilisées
Par JESSE
Dans notre feuille du 15 avril dernier, nous avons informé nos lecteurs des mesures de
refoulement prises contre deux Mauriciens domiciliés à la Réunion depuis de nombreuses
années. Il s’agit, comme on le sait, de MM Khemlall Loljeeh et Manilall Jalabhay…
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(M.Times – 13th May 1955)
***
London Letter
Mauritius in the House of Commons
by Peter Ibbotson
After the Colonial Secretary’s answer in the House of Commons on Wednesday on the subject
of the Constitution of Mauritius, a Colonial Office spokesman said that there was no immediate
intention of publishing as a White Paper the memorandum forwarded to the Colonial Office by
Sir Robert Scott.
(M.Times – 6th May 1955)
***
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This Week’s Highlights
Hindi Pracharini Sabha’s Yeoman Contribution to Hindi
by Sarita Boodhoo
“It would be significant and meaningful to pay tribute to the selfless pioneers of those early
days. The main persons involved in the 1920s behind the establishment of the Tilak Vidyalaya
were Muktaram Boloram Chaterjee, Lekhman Mungur and his family. But it was under the name
of his younger brother Shri Ramlall Mungur Bhagat that it was registered. Shri Lekhman also
donated the Bhawan. Nine years later the Tilak Vidyalaya was registered on 24th December
1935 under a new name: Hindi Pracharini Sabha as the demand for the learning of Hindi went
on increasing. Lekhman Mungur Bhagat did not wish his name to be taken…”
“It was the inseparable trio of notable figures, Oomah Shankar Geerjanan, Srinivas Jugdutt and
Jay Narain Roy which consolidated the position of the Hindi Pracharini Sabha. They were all
young graduates from India bubbling with ideas to serve the community. They were very well
versed in Hindi as well as in English and French. They would spend all their Sundays for years,
going from village to village urging people to learn Hindi, opening new pathshalas and collecting
funds to build more schools. Soon, Hindi schools or baithkas or pathshalas mushroomed in
every village…“
***
Chagos Solidarity Trust Fund: Open Letter
Magna Carta, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Return of the Chagossians
to Chagos their Homeland
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