Sat: Pan replaces Trinity Cross

“It will have a background of a steelpan with the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, according to scale. You will have two hummingbirds on both sides,” Maharaj told Newsday yesterday. The medal, he added, is likely to hang from a bar pinned onto the breast or around the neck. “I suspect the name will be the National Award of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.” Maharaj took issue with all the groups, many Christian, which had started writing letters to the editor in the daily newspapers to protest for the retention of the Trinity Cross as soon as Justice Peter Jamadar had ruled the award discriminatory and Prime Minister Patrick Manning had appointed a committee to investigate.

“The Government had for years requested inputs from the national community but nobody wrote. The IRO (Inter Religious Organisation) said change it. Now that they (ie supporters of the Trinity Cross) are under pressure they are saying ‘keep the Trinity Cross and give Hindus their own,’” he said.

But Maharaj rejected as ridiculous the idea of having separate medals for each individual religious group since he said the IRO is comprised of 15 different religious groups. Pouring more scorn on the proposal, Maharaj asked why this compromise had not been offered before, saying, “We would not have had to go to court or do anything.” Maharaj also criticised the change in arguments made by some supporters of the Trinity Cross.

“All the time they are saying the cross is not a Christian symbol, but now it’s about to be removed they say ‘you are removing a Christian symbol.’”

Maharaj agreed with Jamadar’s call for a secular symbol. “I’m not asking for a Hindu symbol. If I was getting an award I’d want it to be a secular symbol so that it is coming from everybody. It should not be a Hindu award because it is not being given just for service given to Hindus.”

Asked if any new medal could be manufactured in time for the August 31 Independence Day national awards, Maharaj noted that no Trinity Cross was issued last year and so it was also possible that no top national award will be issued this year.