UNITY LEADS TO PROSPERITY

Prime Minister Mr Patrick Manning has sent the following Message to the National Community on the occasion of Indian Arrival Day 2003 which we celebrate today:

ON behalf of the Government of People of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, I wish to extend greetings to the National Community as we celebrate Indian Arrival Day, 2003.

It is now 158 years since the arrival of the first group of East Indian immigrants aboard the Fatel Al Razak. The subsequent evolution of the East Indian community in Trinidad and Tobago has proven to be a constructive engagement. Our people of East Indian descent continue to make an invaluable contribution to the development of our nation, and we are grateful for the preservation and passing on of various aspects of their traditions, cultural norms and institutions. Appreciably, too, as with other groups among us, there have been many positive adjustments and adaptations, so much so that after more than one and one half centuries our East Indian fellow citizens are as integrated as any other into all aspects of our national life. It is indeed remarkable and to be commended therefore, the extent to which East Indians in Trinidad and Tobago have joined other groups, largely of immigrant background themselves, in working out a model plural society in which for the most part our institutions are increasingly being shared and relations are growing more and more connected and positively inextricable.

Today, rare is the citizen who does not feel or see himself or herself as part of our nation. This is not to say that there are no challenges. Notwithstanding that these are common to groups living in plural societies, the people of Trinidad and Tobago have long been exceptional and exemplary in the manner in which we have been forging before the world one nation out of the disparate social elements bequeathed by our colonial experience. It is therefore to the credit of all in our small but great nation that we continue to evolve as a society which is becoming progressively neutral regarding gender, class, race, religion and the like, and which has been making it possible for all to realise their highest aspirations and ambitions. Even so, it still remains our challenge to build further in this regard. The evidence is that we can, as we have already been doing so. It is imperative that we are to intensify our efforts as we can ill-afford to do otherwise. For, as a nation, the greatest discredit and disservice to which we can subject ourselves is to foster, either as individuals or groups within our society, thoughts, habits or actions that can separate or divide us as a nation. Extremism and fundamentalism are to be avoided in every form, including those that will entreat us to see race or a particular differentiation as the basis behind every action, issue or development.

The people of our beloved country have long been more united than this and we can only sell ourselves short with any such approach, having already progressed far beyond that stage. After so many years of integration and interaction following our various arrivals we are now at that point where our ethnic diversity, for example, should be cherished for the colour, quality, character, resilience and strength that it can and has provided for our nation. Let us therefore celebrate Indian Arrival Day this year as a nation in which all our people have truly come to terms with the fact of our diversity. Let us show ourselves as a nation fully appreciative of the merits of our cosmopolitan makeup and determined to demonstrate to the world that groups of different backgrounds can both live together and progress in peace and harmony, on the basis of genuine understanding, appreciation and love and respect for each other. Does not the Ramayana exhort us as follows?“Jahaa sumatee tahaa sampatee nana.” “Through unity, prosperity and progress flourishes unceasingly.”