THE EDITOR: Now that the Minister of Sport has announced the Boxing Board, I would like to advise that the board should concentrate on the communities and not the schools for apprentice boxers. Boxing carries a stigma and no parent would want their school attending children to get involved in boxing. Perhaps the juvenile homes could be approached. It appears as though the board wishes to reinvent the wheel, based on what I have read. I do hope that one of the board members is man enough to tell the minister that he can make a better contribution as the national trainer/coach than to attend meetings and process applications for contests.
I cannot see how another member who has a legal leaning can honestly assist when he is involved in close to fifty committees and bodies in this country. (He definitely will not have the time to be effective.) Now, how can the youth be encouraged when the government does not have one single gym of its own? I feel the life of the board should be extended by two years, and at least ten million dollars provided and consultants far and wide be attached to the Board. In conclusion, I recommend that the chairman be sent on a management training course in boxing in the USA and that Claude Noel be appointed as a board member. Good luck to the board.
THOMAS METCAFFE
Pt Cumana
THE EDITOR: Permit me a space in your daily newspaper to share my views on an article dated Friday May 16, page 36… headed “Slave drivers in Chaguanas.” First of all, I would like to thank you and your staff for all the good work you are doing, keep it up. Second of all, I would like to thank Mr Abdool Mohammed for highlighting the plight of workers of this country. I hope more people would take a stand for other citizens of our country. I would like to address this letter to other citizens especially the government of our nation who sits in parliament and discusses ways in which to stop crime in our country.
Who are criminals? People who rob one another, kidnap business people and their children, bank robbers and whatever else the police call a crime. Now I want to tell you of another crime that is taking place in our country and no one is doing anything about it. The government is closing its eyes to business people who rob their workers every day. I want to ask the Prime Minister this question. To whom does the minimal wage apply? Is it only to government workers, bank employees and whatever established business place there is? What about the groceries, stores, hardware and other places that conduct business and have people employed by them to service their customers?
Is it not the right of these workers, who work from 8 — 6 and sometimes have to stay back late because of a holiday or the boss just feels like opening late, to be paid an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work? So why is it that these employers are paying their workers less than $5 an hour with NIS being taken out of their pay and not even sure if it is being paid for them, and also no overtime, no sick leave, no vacation, and even if they get vacation, it is without pay. Their bosses threaten them with loss of job, loss of wages. So tell me, is that not a crime that is being committed by business people? I am sure if employers treat their workers the proper way, people will not turn to crime. With prices for food going up all the time in the groceries, even when it’s not supposed to, people are being paid less than nothing. How does the government expect to solve crime?
Take a hint Mr Prime Minister, start to stop crime from being committed by first looking in the right direction. Put a stop to employers, as Mr Abdool said, exploiting their workers. People would not be so frustrated but want to work. Crime will eventually lessen if you go out there and talk to people. You would hear just what they have to put up with. Please help them so they can help themselves. And I am putting it to other citizens who are being exploited to write to this newspaper so that other people will know of your plight and our government will take action against these law breakers. We need this type of 21st century slavery abolished.
SHAFFINA ALI
San Fernando
BY NOW the country must be asking, what does the Opposition United National Congress hope to achieve by its obvious strategy of non-cooperation, confrontation and cuss-out? Last Friday’s emotional display by Mr Kelvin Ramnath in the House seems only the latest in a series of incidents which create the distinct impression that the UNC is now set upon a policy of disruptive outbursts that can do the country no good. Mr Ramnath’s angry and totally unjustified defiance of the Speaker made no sense unless, of course, it was part of an orchestrated plan to sow confusion. The member for Couva South is an experienced parliamentarian who should know that the Speaker has no authority to stop a member from quoting the facts contained in any report. If Mr Ramnath wanted to deny Minister Robinson-Regis’s statement that, during the coup attempt, he had taken the amnesty from the House for acting President Emmanuel Carter to sign, then he could have done so on a point of order and even later re-emphasise his refutation when it was his turn to speak.
Instead Mr Ramnath chose to defy the Speaker in a most obnoxious way, standing up and shouting at him, daring the Speaker to suspend him and declaring his contempt for the Standing Orders. Mr Ramnath’s conduct in the nation’s parliament sets the worst possible example for the rest of the country. It was the kind of abusive behaviour which should have been severely dealt with by the Speaker who, in fact, proved to be disappointingly inept, reducing himself to a cypher begging the unruly member to behave. Speaker Sinanan must understand his responsibility to maintain order and decorum in the House, and if he does not have the courage and determination to do so, to enforce requirements of the Standing Orders, then our advice to him is to seek another job. Barring good-humoured banter and picong, sessions of our parliament, where the nation’s business is conducted, must uphold the highest standards of conduct among members, otherwise we would be undermining the good order of the entire society.
Mr Ramnath’s outburst in the House followed another unseemly display in the Senate last Tuesday when a heated shouting match between Leader of Opposition Business Wade Mark and Minister of Science Danny Montano caused the session to be suspended. Whatever grouses Mr Mark may have had in the government’s last minute changes in bills to be debated, it could hardly have justified his disrespect to the President by addressing her while sitting down and in hurling racial slurs at Minister Montano. What really is this all about? The spectacle of senior UNC representatives being unable to contain themselves in Parliament, lapsing into personal abuse and rejecting the opportunity to score their points in a responsible fashion, must provoke disturbing questions. Now we have Opposition Chief Whip Mr Ganga Singh declaring that if the Lindquist investigation into the Waterfarms affair does not reveal any corruption in WASA it would then mean a cover-up by the Government.
Even before he has presented his “evidence” to the independent inquiry — which he, himself, has called for — Mr Singh is determined to have it both ways, by talking about a cover-up. Instead of taking the “evidence” he claims to have about this questionable $51 million payout by WASA to the Police or the DPP or the Attorney General, Mr Singh uses the privilege he enjoys in the House to publicly accuse a number of prominent persons, two of them closely associated with the PNM, of complicity in a conspiracy to defraud WASA of $29 million. It will be recalled that when charges of corruption were made against the UNC government under Mr Basdeo Panday, the stock reply was “take the evidence to the Police.” Now, as they say, the shoe is on the other foot. Will Mr Singh follow the advice of his leader, will he cooperate with the investigation that he himself had wanted? The country will have to wait and see.
Ananda Coomaraswamy’s writings have a vital message for men and nations everywhere who are interested to preserve their moral and cultural integrity and in particular Indians in Trinidad presently. Ananda Coomaraswamy had an utter contempt of Europeanised Indians and he once remarked that these Europeanised Indians were Indian only by name. One of his essays, ‘Borrowed Plumes’ first published in Kandy in 1905 was his maiden literary effort. In this essay he describes very movingly the destruction of native life under foreign domination. This is an interesting essay which should be read and re-read now specially in view of the serious efforts being presently made to protect and reactivate this country’s Indian cultural heritage.
This idea of protecting Indian culture and all that was Indian as articulated by Ananda Coomaraswamy it can be said was the idea that essentially drove those who many years ago began to organise Indian Arrival Day Celebrations in Trinidad. Indeed it is this very idea that sustains those who continue to defend the inclusion of ‘Indian’ added to Arrival Day. Ramdath Jagessar of the Indian Revival and Reform Association who revived the Indian Arrival Day celebrations commenting on the thinking that eventually gave birth to Indian Arrival Day celebrations stated “That day in early 1978, we were like many other Indians in Trinidad, in a state of agony about the condition of Indian culture and the Indian heritage.
The government of the day, and most other people in Trinidad, saw Indian culture as a foreign culture that should be removed as soon as possible. For them there was no Indian heritage worth preserving, no Indian history worth remembering. Calypso, steelband, carnival and other black forms of culture were seen as the culture of Trinidad. Hinduism and Islam were seen as no more than temporary obstructions, soon to be replaced by other faiths. Hindi, Sanskrit and Urdu languages were openly scorned. Nothing Indian was considered to be of value.” Ramdath Jagessar went on to elaborate in his reflections “And this policy was working. A worrisome number of Indians were buying into this garbage. They were abandoning their Indian culture and taking up black and western culture and values. They were taking Christian names and dropping their Indian names, filling up the calypso tents and mas bands and fetes.
It was becoming fashionable to scorn Indian values and praise non-Indian ones. Some Indians would say openly that they were “not Indians, but Trinidadians”, as if you couldn’t be both at the same time. Our Indian identity was in serious danger of going down the drain.” Therefore the need to preserve and promote Indian culture was integral in the development of Indian Arrival Day celebrations. This unwritten mission found resonance within each and every Indian organisation within Trinidad and Tobago. Thus regardless of differences a variety of groups quickly joined in to make Indian Arrival Day Celebrations a celebration that grew annually from the grass-roots upwards. This celebration gained momentum and eventually Indian Arrival Day celebrations caused the politicians to sit up and take notice. The lobby to make May 30 a public holiday grew and eventually the historic motion to make May 30 was entered in to Hansard by Member of Parliament Trevor Sudama.
The Historic Hansard entry began: “Mr Trevor Sudama: Mr Speaker, I rise today to put an historic motion before this august House and as I proceed in my contribution I will point out how this motion acquires this significance that I am attaching to it this evening. Let me, for the benefit of Members if this House, who seem to think that this is quite flippant matter from their responses, let me, for their benefit, as well as for the benefit of the Press and the country at large, read this motion into the records of the House. WHEREAS May 30, 1845, is a highly significant day in the history of Trinidad and Tobago in that it was the day on which the very first group of indentured immigrants from India arrived in this country, AND WHEREAS May 30, is now widely celebrated and commemorated as a day of historical importance especially among the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago who are descendants of the indentured immigrants; AND WHEREAS the recognition of May 30, by public authority as a day of national significance, would serve the interest of the national integration and patriotism; BE IT RESOLVED that this House recommend to the Government that May 30 be declared a National Public Holiday to be known as INDIAN ARRIVAL DAY. Mr Speaker, that is the text of the motion. I want to give a little background as to why this motion was brought to the attention of this House. First of all, Mr. Speaker, there have been numerous requests by various groups in the country which have commemorated the day May 30 as Indian Arrival Day.
These commemorative events are becoming bigger and bigger as the years go by, and more and more people are being attracted to the celebration of this day and to the historical significance which is attached to it. I myself have had requests made to me, personally, when I have attended these various functions throughout Trinidad and Tobago, and in my own constituency, that this day should be declared a public holiday, so that the significance of the day should not be confined merely to one ethnic group in society but it should have significance for all citizens of Trinidad and Tobago.” The introduction of this historic statement that eventually culminated in the creation of a public holiday called “Indian Arrival Day” is deserving of reproduction during this celebration of Indian Arrival 2003. The ideas of Ananda Coomaraswamy in essence were enacted by the actions of all those who was involved in the creation of Indian Arrival Day.
THE EDITOR: I would be grateful if you would print the attached letter in your daily newspaper. I live outside of the Republic and would be grateful to know that the excellent service of this young lady is duly recorded in a tangible manner. Congratulations on an excellent publication. May God richly bless you and yours.
Store Manager
Bang Bang Limited
Dress Better For Less
Level 1, Trincity Mall
Trinidad
May 14, 2003
Dear Sir/Madam,
Because of my avid interest in the recognition of good customer service, I feel duty-bound to do my bit from the vantage point of a civic-minded person. In this regard, it would be remiss of me if I failed to record the excellent service which I received from one of your sales clerk — Wendy — on Saturday, May 10 at the above mentioned enterprise. (Bill No 004993, item #3042). I would like to commend her on her pleasantness and her willingness to serve without being overbearing. She was so graceful that both my husband and I commented on her service immediately upon leaving the store. So strong were my feelings that I returned to the store to commend her and I feel compelled to pen this letter. Her gentleness exuded from the service which she rendered and she thoroughly enjoyed being helpful. A dearth of good customer service abounds and when per chance one encounters such quality, it ought to be duly recorded. The experience was enriching and I wish only good things for her and that she continues along the path of quality service. Kindly extend richly deserved plaudits to her. May God richly bless you and yours.
DIANNE MARSHALL-HOLDIP
Not disabled but
differently abled
Basseterre, St Kitts
The Editor: Government’s decision to build houses on the most fertile land in Trinidad, in St Joseph, is yet another example of our collective short-sightedness. We are again fooling ourselves into believing that we do not need to produce our own food once we have a supply of oil and gas. The bulldozing of crops and carting away of topsoil as “overburden” sends a clear signal that food security is of little importance here. Housing Minister Martin Joseph, Agricultural Minister John Rahael, Prime Minister Patrick Manning and others would probably be still alive to hear the curses of future hungry generations who would have not benefitted from the gas boom; who would have empty bellies and equally empty pockets; unable to buy costly imported food and unable to plant even a kitchen garden as all the fertile soil was carted off or locked away forever, beneath concrete and asphalt. If this folly is indeed part of the much touted Vision 2020, then the entire cabinet should book sessions at the optician. It is not too late to rethink this stupid move.
Mc Donald James
Couva
THE EDITOR: I had actually thought of giving up completely, writing to the newspapers, it seemed that all I was really doing was knocking my head against a brick wall, and maybe this is still the case…we shall see. The CEPEP’s role in this country is surely just put there to amuse the public. There have been 9 (yes 9) people working on a private road, which is no longer than 150 yds long, twice for the past two weeks. This private road must be the cleanest road in all Christendom!
Now, the time has come for the rains to fall, what has been done about clearing the waterways, drains etc? Nada. Zilch, nothing. But the CEPEP has been religiously painting stones, either white or blue, and planting pretty flowers in little gardens of their own making. They have not been doing any serious work, and the dry season was long and hot and really dry, and they had ample time to devote to this chore. Now of course, if there is heavy flooding in the country, the government is going to make every excuse under the sun for this, but will make no effort to put the blame fairly and squarely where the blame should be put.What a price to pay for “payback time” indeed.
Wendy Ramcharan
St Augustine
TRINIDAD and Tobago footballers have been assured of tight security for their upcoming two-match tour of Kenya. This assurance was given by the Kenya Sports, Gender, Culture and Services Minister Nnajim Balala, in the light of terrorist bombings in Nairobi. During the past two weeks there were suicide bombings in nearby Riyadh, in Saudi Arabia and in Algiers, Morocco, which killed 41 people including eight Americans. There have also been threats of attacks in Kenya, which recently caused Britain to stop all flights to that country. The 20-man Trinidad and Tobago football team left yesterday for Kenya where they will play two matches against the Harambee Stars, the first of which is on Saturday.
In a letter addressed to Jack Warner as Caribbean Football Union president,, Minister Balala gave the assurance that there will be adequate police, private security (EARS) and the GSU to ensure the safety of the Trinidad and Tobago team at the stadium. Minister Balala thanked Warner for not cancelling the trip because of security announcements by the United Kingdom and the United States. “We believe the security threat is aimed at UK and USA targets,” stated the Kenyan minister. “We are being very vigilant and cautious at this time, and wish to confirm our undivided attention and efforts to the security of your team and personnel at all times during your stay,” Minister Balala said.
Warner in reply told the minister: “Assurance that there will be adequate security provided for both matches is most welcome and appreciated. “I always endeavour to do whatever I can to establish and strengthen bonds of friendship among peoples and nations through football.” Warner is also a FIFA vice-president. Trinidad and Tobago will be making their first overseas trip since the recent appointment of St Lucian Stuart Charles-Fevrier as coach. Only one week ago, the Trinidad and Tobago team was edged 1-0 by top T&T Pro League team W Connection in a match used as preparation for the Kenya tour. The Trinidad and Tobago team is: Reynold Carrington (capt), Silvio Spann, Jan-Michael Williams, Kerwyn Jemmott, Nigel Pierre, Keyeno Thomas, Derek King, Nigel Daniel, Travis Mulraine, Peter Ramon-Fortune, Conrod Smith, Anton Pierre, Dale Saunders, Jason Scotland, Avery John, Clayton Ince, Carlos Edwards, Hector Sam, Collin Samuel and Brent Sancho.
Captain Brian Lara has said West Indies had exceeded all of their expectations in putting an end to Australia’s 21-match winning streak in Trinidad. The Caribbean side downed the tourists by 39 runs in the fifth One-Day International, although Australia still hold a 4-1 lead with two matches remaining. “We met and exceeded all our targets today. To beat such a great team is very, very special,” said Lara. What they have achieved is historic. All cricket aficionados will remember that for a very long time.” The previous record of 11 consecutive wins was held by Clive Lloyd’s West Indies side of 1984-85.
It took a 178-run partnership between Lara and Wavell Hinds — the West Indies’ second-highest one-day stand against Australia — to set up a winning total of 290. Brisk innings from Ramnaresh Sarwan and Marlon Samuels maintained the momentum and the duo later shared three wickets as Australia were restricted to 251. “It was a great team performance,” Lara went on. “We got a good total, myself and Wavell batted very well and set up the game for Sarwan and Samuels and we bowled really tight.” There was plenty to celebrate for the Windies on Sunday. “Number three is the right position to bat for me — you have a lot more overs and I’m accustomed to batting through the innings and today it showed.”
Australia skipper Ricky Ponting said he was disappointed to see the streak end, but proud of his side’s achievement. “The more I think about the more unbelievable I think it is,” he went on. “I’m really proud and happy with what the players have done and how they have gone about it. I’d like to think that it is a record that will stand for a very long time.” Ponting identified three early wickets, two of which fell to Corey Collymore, as the turning point in the match. “Full credit to the West Indies,” he said. “They played really well, they batted well and then took three early wickets with the new ball where probably the match changed.” The teams now move to Grenada, where the final two matches are on Friday and Sunday.
OLD TRAFFORD: Carl Hooper’s Lancashire suffered an upset loss to surprise team Scotland in England’s National Cricket League (NCL) Division Two limited overs championship at Old Trafford on Sunday. Scotland posted a moderate 192 for eight off their 45 overs and Lancashire tumbled to 151 all out off 42.1 overs, losing by 41 runs. In their debut season in the NCL, the Scots continued their astounding run as Lancashire became the third county side — after Durham and Somerset — to fall to them.
Scotland’s gritty total — after they were sent in — was built around excellent innings of 60 from Greig Williamson and Colin Smith. Medium Sajid Mahmood starred with three wickets in his third NCL outing, while Hooper’s off-spin returned none for 30 off nine overs. The Lancashire reply was fairly steady with Mal Loye (38) and Alec Swann taking the total to 61 for one, before Swann was dislodged for 17 by off spinner Majid Haq. Then Loye departed and Hooper (2) was run out by a direct hit as Lancashire dipped to 73 for four and never recovered.
