TT, largest insane asylum?

THE EDITOR: Just when I thought that the society in Trinidad and Tobago had reached the peak of fragmentation by racial division, up comes a brand new plan to further divide the society on religious grounds. In the Trinidad and Tobago in which I was born and in which my parents were born and where I have resided for all of my 81 years, all persons who were born in this twin island country were Trinidadians and Tobagonians regardless of the colour of their skin or the origin of their forefathers. The few foreigners such as the Governor and other British officials attached to the public service along with a few nationals of other countries who migrated to this country to establish businesses were referred to as Portuguese, Syrians, Chinese and so on but their offspring who were born here were generally referred to as Trinidadians and Tobagonians.

With the advent of Eric Eustace Williams and Rudranath Capildeo in the 1960s however, all that changed drastically and locally born and bred persons of African and Indian descent began to identify themselves with their birth place of their forefathers, Africa and India, becoming foreigners in the land of their birth and with no sense of national identity or pride. What truly amazes me is how third and fourth generation locally born persons of African and Indian descent whose forefathers probably came from distant countries in Africa and distant provinces in India can honestly identify with distant places of birth of both paternal and maternal foreparents. Do they have the faintest notion of where they would return to if they ever decided to travel home? And would they be any happier or better off when they know nothing of or cannot speak the language?

Returning to my opening paragraph, as if the society is not already fragmented beyond repair, it is now being suggested that Muslim Villages be established in Trinidad and Tobago with population of 200 to 300 persons further dividing the Indian segment of the population into two distinct parts. But hold on, that will be only the beginning of the end, from there on we could have Hindu villages, Baptist villages, Anglican villages, Catholic villages, Presbyterian villages, Seven Days villages, Mormon villages and a host of other villages of various other religious denominations. Perhaps those of us who are still of sane and sound mine should give serious consideration to getting out of TT before it becomes the largest insane asylum on the planet earth.

MARTIN KAVANAGH
La Romaine