Let Cooler Heads Prevail…
Chetan RAMCHURN
I have always been fascinated by those who had the courage to go against the system for the powerless… and in my pantheon of martyrs, the likes of Biko ( whose murder was incidentally covered up as being death caused from self- inflicted injuries arising from a prolonged hunger strike) and Bhagat Singh have always been held in high esteem. Over the years I learned about the non violent path of combating an oppressor… how the Mahatma or Boitel would choose not to feed themselves to be heard and heeded. And to those who have the opportunity of going through the accounts of these hunger strikes, there is nothing quite as moving as a man with honest intentions who chooses the only recourse left to him.
Still, I fail to be deeply enthused by the Mauritian version of hunger strikes with the latest of them being that of Riche Terre planters. Not because I believe that their fight is unjust but simply because they have chosen a weapon that threatens to halt a country’s further development.
Diffi cult to make any sense out of the present mess. An issue that was already convoluted in 2007 fi nds itself further exacerbated with both sides claiming to be right. And since one of the sides in this slugfest is led by the Made in Mauritius Lee Kuan Yew, expect him to use these circumstances to project the image of a bold leader on a take no prisoners stance.
This new image can only be instilled by using some deeply philosophical lines such as “ To pa koner kan to pas manger to pou crever”. For once, I can’t even blame the country’s leader on his impatience with what he believes are hurdles to the country’s greater progress and prosperity.
However, we wish that our great helmsman were as bold and vocal against white collar criminals, corruption and malpractices.
The original sin The pecuniary demands of the planters might appear nonsensical to many. Still, they had an agreement that allowed them to use the land up to 2015 and have justifi ed their claims by evaluating the annual income garnered from these lands and multiplying it by the number of years left on their lease. To what extent are these people right or wrong, I do not know. But having associated themselves with l’enfant terrible of No. 5, they have made this a battleground for political interests and by using hunger strikes as bargaining chips, they have demeaned their own pursuit.
Something went dreadfully wrong at the beginning of the present year. The masses sided with Jayen Chellum, a man who had acted irresponsibly on a day where the fate of so many young souls is decided. Unlike many, I chose not to join the cohort of Government bashers and saw in this “ fight for justice” a heavy farcical touch. Most of my peers disagreed with me back then. But the repercussions are now very much real with a precedent that confi rms that in an electoral year, everything is tolerated. Now is the time to close Pandora’s box.
Today, as the concept of hunger strike is being fi rmly imprinted in the Mauritian psyche, my only wish would be to have an independent commission or fact- finding committee on the matter where the extent of truths and lies would be gauged and questions such as the following tackled: Have these lands effectively been occupied by all planters? Have the alternative terrains promised to growers already been provided to them? What would amount to a just and fair compensation to all parties concerned? Till these be answered, let cooler heads prevail.
“ In an electoral year, everything is tolerated.
Now is the time to close Pandora’s box.”
Showing posts with label Mauritius. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mauritius. Show all posts
Friday, February 26, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
Robots apres tout/L'Express/19/02/2010
Robots après tout…
School used to bore me. For most of the time I spent there, I considered it to be a prison confining young bodies and minds within four walls for seemingly endless hours where we would be trained to learn everything by heart. This suited most of those around me perfectly but the idea of being a parrot never tempted me much, so I chose to remain human.
This meant that I was often the only carefree soul amidst frenzied ones which allowed me to keep my mind fully functional, or on a more comparative style, to paraphrase Kipling’s opening line of If, I was keeping my head when all about me were losing theirs. In my high school years, my understanding of the academic world had not changed.
I was in one of the “Star Colleges” where “la crème de la crème” was pooled and subsequently pitched against each other. Throughout these formative years, I witnessed some humorous incidents that still bring a smile to my face as I pen this column learners crying because they were not in the premier position in class, mindless competition between my peers resulting in depression or the greater belief in God.
As from the age of 16, the uncompetitive nature of my world seemed too appealing to make the journey to cold Curepipe every morning. Instead, I read everything that I could find at home. Luckily for me, my parents being both teachers, I had innumerable classics to choose from. And thus I discovered Poe and Faulkner among others. And I was happy being as I was… doing what I loved to do.
Not everyone shared my happiness though. I quickly learned that the system treated ‘nonchalant’ beings who were disenchanted with the memorised learning process as ‘rebellious misfi ts’ that had to be reformed. And who else to carry this noble task of administering the cold verdict than some unthinking teachers who had decided that if you did well you were intelligent and if you could not be moulded into a robot, you had to be treated with such encouraging lines that would do wonders to your confidence ‘Sa sujet la pou ban intelligents sa. Ou pou fail ou’.
No longer do I bear any grudge against those instructors. This so-called tradition of excellence which consists solely in the transforming of children into trained monkeys has been perpetuating itself long before my passage in academia and unless we get serious about it, shall continue in the future.
The myriad of issues that is correlated to the appropriateness of a country’s education system is daunting. The creation of mechanical beings that are only concerned about themselves and who like modern Daedaluses are proud of their own attainments and whose sole satisfaction in life consists in adorning some copies of paper credentials on their walls while remaining indifferent as the world around them sinks further into decadence.
An absence of interest in active citizenship where many prefer dowsing themselves in networking on Friday evenings exchanging visiting cards in vain attempts of avoiding what they loathe most: anonymity. Instead of thinking how we could do something for that country of ours and reject the status quo. I look at this young democracy of ours with its ever-increasing number of educated citizens but few of them bothering to think and question issues. Unconcerned about what is happening around them, only preoccupied about climbing the corporate ladder.
All we need is a bit of soul in our lives…and it starts with the way we raise our children.
Chetan Ramchurn
School used to bore me. For most of the time I spent there, I considered it to be a prison confining young bodies and minds within four walls for seemingly endless hours where we would be trained to learn everything by heart. This suited most of those around me perfectly but the idea of being a parrot never tempted me much, so I chose to remain human.
This meant that I was often the only carefree soul amidst frenzied ones which allowed me to keep my mind fully functional, or on a more comparative style, to paraphrase Kipling’s opening line of If, I was keeping my head when all about me were losing theirs. In my high school years, my understanding of the academic world had not changed.
I was in one of the “Star Colleges” where “la crème de la crème” was pooled and subsequently pitched against each other. Throughout these formative years, I witnessed some humorous incidents that still bring a smile to my face as I pen this column learners crying because they were not in the premier position in class, mindless competition between my peers resulting in depression or the greater belief in God.
As from the age of 16, the uncompetitive nature of my world seemed too appealing to make the journey to cold Curepipe every morning. Instead, I read everything that I could find at home. Luckily for me, my parents being both teachers, I had innumerable classics to choose from. And thus I discovered Poe and Faulkner among others. And I was happy being as I was… doing what I loved to do.
Not everyone shared my happiness though. I quickly learned that the system treated ‘nonchalant’ beings who were disenchanted with the memorised learning process as ‘rebellious misfi ts’ that had to be reformed. And who else to carry this noble task of administering the cold verdict than some unthinking teachers who had decided that if you did well you were intelligent and if you could not be moulded into a robot, you had to be treated with such encouraging lines that would do wonders to your confidence ‘Sa sujet la pou ban intelligents sa. Ou pou fail ou’.
No longer do I bear any grudge against those instructors. This so-called tradition of excellence which consists solely in the transforming of children into trained monkeys has been perpetuating itself long before my passage in academia and unless we get serious about it, shall continue in the future.
The myriad of issues that is correlated to the appropriateness of a country’s education system is daunting. The creation of mechanical beings that are only concerned about themselves and who like modern Daedaluses are proud of their own attainments and whose sole satisfaction in life consists in adorning some copies of paper credentials on their walls while remaining indifferent as the world around them sinks further into decadence.
An absence of interest in active citizenship where many prefer dowsing themselves in networking on Friday evenings exchanging visiting cards in vain attempts of avoiding what they loathe most: anonymity. Instead of thinking how we could do something for that country of ours and reject the status quo. I look at this young democracy of ours with its ever-increasing number of educated citizens but few of them bothering to think and question issues. Unconcerned about what is happening around them, only preoccupied about climbing the corporate ladder.
All we need is a bit of soul in our lives…and it starts with the way we raise our children.
Chetan Ramchurn
Friday, February 12, 2010
Let the production of freaks continue (L'Express 12.02.2010)
Education : Let the production of freaks continue
Chetan Ramchurn
PONDERING on my scholastic journey, I now look at how things could have been better. I won’t indulge in any profound critique of what the past few Ministers of Education have tried to accomplish. Most of the endeavours initiated by them being inspired from Scandinavian best practices and going in the right direction, I would rather offer insights as a product of the system and my suggestions on how to improve the current state of affairs.
Scrap the elitist system: Finland, which is the benchmark as far as educational excellence is concerned, has a structure that thrives on equality whereby it willingly chooses to put those that do well and those that do not do so well together up to the age of 16. This form of impartiality which allows children to remain with the same cohort of friends also leads to the creation of a more humane cadre.
Rightly dubbed by experts as a “ philosophy of inclusion”, this is in line with the nine- year schooling principle. However, to achieve this, there is the need to eliminate our sordid obsession with assessments and as importantly to stop the public disclosure of results. Our discriminatory system, which in its state, is purely based on getting egos as infl ated as possible has been crippling our society for all too long.
Value teachers: Another vital condition for a novel knowledge system would be to enhance the value attached to knowledge imparters. Better salaries would be the fi rst step. This would act as a supplementary source of motivation for existing teachers and it would help attract high calibre candidates to teaching jobs. Greater accountability would also be required to ensure that corrective action is taken to help teachers.
In my own eyes and based on my personal experience, few teachers stood out. Beside being exceptionally good and creative at teaching, these educators treated pupils as human beings and not as mere machines trained to memorise everything.
While others were ever so ready to sound the hallali against those children that were not meeting their expected standards, these good instructors genuinely cared about their pupils.
Time for a mentality change for parents: this is a request to the parents reading this article. I would urge each and every one of you to accept your wards as they are and encourage them in order to nurture in them the desire to continuously discover new things and not be zombielike fi gures with no emotions at all who live and die by that all too limited book knowledge.
Another appeal would be to refrain from using children as a means of achieving your ambition. If you do so, you are
helping create future members of an unthinking majority where academic education is considered as an end in itself.
Limit the number of hours in class: While the Enhancement Programme is an attempt to cure the tuition issue, having students confi ned till 1730 does not bode anything good in the long term. Shorter timed classes are a must if we want to create a more conducive atmosphere to learning. Children cannot be expected to stay focused for this long. Cramming up minds has never been the best of ways to create educated citizens. Foster creativity in the classroom: The use of games, role play, storytelling and at secondary level the renditions of thought leaders are to be promulgated as early as possible. The dearth of moral education could in this way be addressed and greater profoundness given to academia.
Education cannot be the battleground for vested interests: the debate on the education of tomorrow cannot be perverted to cater for the vested interests of some people or ethnic organisations. This area is about our shared future. Kindly do not mess it up.
I’ll end my piece by quoting Socrates, “ I know that I am intelligent because I know that I know nothing”. Till this be understood, let the production of ‘ freaks’ continue.
Chetan Ramchurn
PONDERING on my scholastic journey, I now look at how things could have been better. I won’t indulge in any profound critique of what the past few Ministers of Education have tried to accomplish. Most of the endeavours initiated by them being inspired from Scandinavian best practices and going in the right direction, I would rather offer insights as a product of the system and my suggestions on how to improve the current state of affairs.
Scrap the elitist system: Finland, which is the benchmark as far as educational excellence is concerned, has a structure that thrives on equality whereby it willingly chooses to put those that do well and those that do not do so well together up to the age of 16. This form of impartiality which allows children to remain with the same cohort of friends also leads to the creation of a more humane cadre.
Rightly dubbed by experts as a “ philosophy of inclusion”, this is in line with the nine- year schooling principle. However, to achieve this, there is the need to eliminate our sordid obsession with assessments and as importantly to stop the public disclosure of results. Our discriminatory system, which in its state, is purely based on getting egos as infl ated as possible has been crippling our society for all too long.
Value teachers: Another vital condition for a novel knowledge system would be to enhance the value attached to knowledge imparters. Better salaries would be the fi rst step. This would act as a supplementary source of motivation for existing teachers and it would help attract high calibre candidates to teaching jobs. Greater accountability would also be required to ensure that corrective action is taken to help teachers.
In my own eyes and based on my personal experience, few teachers stood out. Beside being exceptionally good and creative at teaching, these educators treated pupils as human beings and not as mere machines trained to memorise everything.
While others were ever so ready to sound the hallali against those children that were not meeting their expected standards, these good instructors genuinely cared about their pupils.
Time for a mentality change for parents: this is a request to the parents reading this article. I would urge each and every one of you to accept your wards as they are and encourage them in order to nurture in them the desire to continuously discover new things and not be zombielike fi gures with no emotions at all who live and die by that all too limited book knowledge.
Another appeal would be to refrain from using children as a means of achieving your ambition. If you do so, you are
helping create future members of an unthinking majority where academic education is considered as an end in itself.
Limit the number of hours in class: While the Enhancement Programme is an attempt to cure the tuition issue, having students confi ned till 1730 does not bode anything good in the long term. Shorter timed classes are a must if we want to create a more conducive atmosphere to learning. Children cannot be expected to stay focused for this long. Cramming up minds has never been the best of ways to create educated citizens. Foster creativity in the classroom: The use of games, role play, storytelling and at secondary level the renditions of thought leaders are to be promulgated as early as possible. The dearth of moral education could in this way be addressed and greater profoundness given to academia.
Education cannot be the battleground for vested interests: the debate on the education of tomorrow cannot be perverted to cater for the vested interests of some people or ethnic organisations. This area is about our shared future. Kindly do not mess it up.
I’ll end my piece by quoting Socrates, “ I know that I am intelligent because I know that I know nothing”. Till this be understood, let the production of ‘ freaks’ continue.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Far From the Madding Crowd/Chetan Ramchurn/Le Mauricien/10/09/09
OF MASS CONSUMPTION, CULTURE AND US
Far from the madding crowd
Port Louis can be distressing… had Descartes been through its hectic streets on a normal day, no further proof would be required for him to proclaim that mind had effectively lost against matter. A cauldron humming with very important people with very important files on their very important laptops, accents so fabricated you would swear there must be some kind of oral deficiency with those using them, discussions so very important you would think the future of the world must be depending on their outcomes, characters so shallow and pavlovian in their fabric that you would bet they were plucked from Huxley's influential work. Come Friday, the noise slowly dies… the sanctuary of consumption leaves behind desolate and desert streets.
When the HRDC haughtily announced its idea to have this concrete Mecca buzzing for 24 hours ; where there would be no noticeable difference between night and day, I shuddered. Port Louis can be excruciatingly boring during daytime, why bother replicating ennui to night time. Some say the 24/7 was all good, it showed the resilience of the Mauritian economy to the crisis, it demonstrated that Mauritians are still avid consumers and no longer fettered by the ambient economic morosity. Consumption is well and truly our soma, a blissful, self-gratifying activity that entangles us in a world where we are reduced to what we consume.
A New Mauritius cannot be built on those consumerist ideals ; certainly there must be other ways of uplifting Mauritian souls than by having them engaged in buyer-seller relationships. Would our government not be more inspired to organise a 24/7 of culture next time as opposed to last time's 24/7 of consumption ? This would give the ideal platform to creators and thinkers to show the richness of our society.
Ateliers would be on hand for aspiring entertainers, reading sessions of masters of prose like Cabon, Poe, Joyce and Balzac would allow whole generations to discover the power of words, historians would tell of the unique destinies of our land and its people, live musicians would confirm the greatness of our diversity, street theatre performers would demonstrate the mettle of our artists, local filmmakers would get to show us creations inspired by Mauritian life, contemporary sages would interact with various audiences offering a rich blend of ideas… ultimately creating an atmosphere that would make us grow as human beings.
Let us set our minds free…
Chetan Ramchurn
Far from the madding crowd
Port Louis can be distressing… had Descartes been through its hectic streets on a normal day, no further proof would be required for him to proclaim that mind had effectively lost against matter. A cauldron humming with very important people with very important files on their very important laptops, accents so fabricated you would swear there must be some kind of oral deficiency with those using them, discussions so very important you would think the future of the world must be depending on their outcomes, characters so shallow and pavlovian in their fabric that you would bet they were plucked from Huxley's influential work. Come Friday, the noise slowly dies… the sanctuary of consumption leaves behind desolate and desert streets.
When the HRDC haughtily announced its idea to have this concrete Mecca buzzing for 24 hours ; where there would be no noticeable difference between night and day, I shuddered. Port Louis can be excruciatingly boring during daytime, why bother replicating ennui to night time. Some say the 24/7 was all good, it showed the resilience of the Mauritian economy to the crisis, it demonstrated that Mauritians are still avid consumers and no longer fettered by the ambient economic morosity. Consumption is well and truly our soma, a blissful, self-gratifying activity that entangles us in a world where we are reduced to what we consume.
A New Mauritius cannot be built on those consumerist ideals ; certainly there must be other ways of uplifting Mauritian souls than by having them engaged in buyer-seller relationships. Would our government not be more inspired to organise a 24/7 of culture next time as opposed to last time's 24/7 of consumption ? This would give the ideal platform to creators and thinkers to show the richness of our society.
Ateliers would be on hand for aspiring entertainers, reading sessions of masters of prose like Cabon, Poe, Joyce and Balzac would allow whole generations to discover the power of words, historians would tell of the unique destinies of our land and its people, live musicians would confirm the greatness of our diversity, street theatre performers would demonstrate the mettle of our artists, local filmmakers would get to show us creations inspired by Mauritian life, contemporary sages would interact with various audiences offering a rich blend of ideas… ultimately creating an atmosphere that would make us grow as human beings.
Let us set our minds free…
Chetan Ramchurn
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Rethinking Mauritius (L'Express 07/07/09/Le Mauricien 10/07/09)
C’est l’histoire d’un homme qui tombe d’un immeuble de cinquante étages.
Le mec, au fur et à mesure de sa chute se répète sans cesse pour se rassurer : jusqu’ici tout va bien, jusqu’ici tout va bien, jusqu’ici tout va bien.
Mais l’important ce n’est pas la chute, c’est l’atterrissage.
(”La Haine” de Mathieu Kassovitz)
Rethinking Mauritius
Like most of you reading this column, it pains us to see our nation trapped in a tortuous downward spiral with no one bothering to send even so much as a lifesaver to it. We should all be worried, lest there should not be any sand left in the hourglass to salvage the destiny our motherland from what awaits it.
No need to be a modern day Pythia to see what lies ahead; the greater divide between the wealthy and the needy, the complete loss of trust in our political leaders (government and opposition alike, even more now when distinguishing them would require a combination of Sherlock Holmes’s and Miss Marple’s sharp minds), the burying of meritocracy, the absence of thinkers in the future (A country without thinkers is one that is bereft of a moral compass, it sails aimlessly towards an illusory destination) and the death of Mauritianism.
Those enjoying the benefits of this flawed system (the political nominees, the hardened capitalists and the conformists) will choose to believe that the views of the ones penning this article are grossly exaggerated and offer an Orwellian portrayal of our society. Yet the advocates of progressionism will recognize that if we fail to act now, we run the risk of reaching a point de non retour…For this is not only about us; this has to do with what we bequeath to the upcoming generations. Either we leave them with a society in a state of advanced moral decomposition or we choose to act now.
Here are two young idealists’ take on issues that warrant our urgent attention.
·
For a transparent political finance regime: The creation of a truly balanced mixed economy with a government that can act as the champion of the oppressed can only materialise if and when our decision makers are no longer mere puppets of financial juggernauts. In the same vein, the democratization of the economy, a must go through path to create a better society, will be translated into reality when power is effectively placed in the hands of the people and where their representatives in the Legislative Assembly are truly concerned about the lives of the masses instead of the bank accounts of their financial benefactors. The need for a truly independent political finance regulator is a must for a more prosperous nation.
·
Where education would no longer be about, what Einstein has dubbed, “the crippling of individuals”: No longer can children be mere robots trained to puke what they’ve memorised. Now is the time for young souls to finally experience the joys of learning; where one’s desire would be fueled by curiosity and where imagination and creativity would no longer be banned from classrooms. Education, if limited to the mere amassing of paper credentials, defeats its purpose. It is only when moral and ethical values gain prominence in schools and universities that we shall have a nation of responsible citizens. Another negative trait of the present Mauritian society lies in the way those that fail to achieve academically are treated. A truly humane society thrives on giving those outcasts other paths than academia where they would feel valued and respected. The makings of an ‘intelligent’ society would require that we do away with an archaic method and embrace an educational system that would reap thinking individuals.
· The creation of a real rainbow nation:.. Where strength to love shall be possessed by one and all where we would learn to understand and tolerate the differences that exist between us and celebrate the common traits that bind us. Of equal importance is the understanding that until we ostracize religious leaders that have at heart only their personal gratification and create a laical society where socio-cultural organizations would not dictate the future of a country, we will remain divided.
·
Ode to meritocracy: With clear examples of those at the end of the ladder having to foot the bill for the poor decisions of unmeritorious people grabbing headlines on a daily basis, our country can no longer afford to let those who have failed be entrusted with new positions of power. No more can the private and public sectors be allowed to operate opaquely. Herein lies our doom…
To those that share our hellish view of the present situation, now is the time for them to come forward and start making a telling difference. Yes a Sisyphean task awaits us, but there is still hope. Together, we definitely can.
Chetan Ramchurn & Arnaud
Le mec, au fur et à mesure de sa chute se répète sans cesse pour se rassurer : jusqu’ici tout va bien, jusqu’ici tout va bien, jusqu’ici tout va bien.
Mais l’important ce n’est pas la chute, c’est l’atterrissage.
(”La Haine” de Mathieu Kassovitz)
Rethinking Mauritius
Like most of you reading this column, it pains us to see our nation trapped in a tortuous downward spiral with no one bothering to send even so much as a lifesaver to it. We should all be worried, lest there should not be any sand left in the hourglass to salvage the destiny our motherland from what awaits it.
No need to be a modern day Pythia to see what lies ahead; the greater divide between the wealthy and the needy, the complete loss of trust in our political leaders (government and opposition alike, even more now when distinguishing them would require a combination of Sherlock Holmes’s and Miss Marple’s sharp minds), the burying of meritocracy, the absence of thinkers in the future (A country without thinkers is one that is bereft of a moral compass, it sails aimlessly towards an illusory destination) and the death of Mauritianism.
Those enjoying the benefits of this flawed system (the political nominees, the hardened capitalists and the conformists) will choose to believe that the views of the ones penning this article are grossly exaggerated and offer an Orwellian portrayal of our society. Yet the advocates of progressionism will recognize that if we fail to act now, we run the risk of reaching a point de non retour…For this is not only about us; this has to do with what we bequeath to the upcoming generations. Either we leave them with a society in a state of advanced moral decomposition or we choose to act now.
Here are two young idealists’ take on issues that warrant our urgent attention.
·
For a transparent political finance regime: The creation of a truly balanced mixed economy with a government that can act as the champion of the oppressed can only materialise if and when our decision makers are no longer mere puppets of financial juggernauts. In the same vein, the democratization of the economy, a must go through path to create a better society, will be translated into reality when power is effectively placed in the hands of the people and where their representatives in the Legislative Assembly are truly concerned about the lives of the masses instead of the bank accounts of their financial benefactors. The need for a truly independent political finance regulator is a must for a more prosperous nation.
·
Where education would no longer be about, what Einstein has dubbed, “the crippling of individuals”: No longer can children be mere robots trained to puke what they’ve memorised. Now is the time for young souls to finally experience the joys of learning; where one’s desire would be fueled by curiosity and where imagination and creativity would no longer be banned from classrooms. Education, if limited to the mere amassing of paper credentials, defeats its purpose. It is only when moral and ethical values gain prominence in schools and universities that we shall have a nation of responsible citizens. Another negative trait of the present Mauritian society lies in the way those that fail to achieve academically are treated. A truly humane society thrives on giving those outcasts other paths than academia where they would feel valued and respected. The makings of an ‘intelligent’ society would require that we do away with an archaic method and embrace an educational system that would reap thinking individuals.
· The creation of a real rainbow nation:.. Where strength to love shall be possessed by one and all where we would learn to understand and tolerate the differences that exist between us and celebrate the common traits that bind us. Of equal importance is the understanding that until we ostracize religious leaders that have at heart only their personal gratification and create a laical society where socio-cultural organizations would not dictate the future of a country, we will remain divided.
·
Ode to meritocracy: With clear examples of those at the end of the ladder having to foot the bill for the poor decisions of unmeritorious people grabbing headlines on a daily basis, our country can no longer afford to let those who have failed be entrusted with new positions of power. No more can the private and public sectors be allowed to operate opaquely. Herein lies our doom…
To those that share our hellish view of the present situation, now is the time for them to come forward and start making a telling difference. Yes a Sisyphean task awaits us, but there is still hope. Together, we definitely can.
Chetan Ramchurn & Arnaud
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Paradise Lost by Chetan Ramchurn (12/09/08 Le Mauricien/ 03/09/08 L'Express)
“Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world and all our woe…”
Paradise Lost
John Milton
Paradise Lost
Mark Twain’s now famous quote linking Mauritius to paradise now sounds like a bitter remembrance of what our fledgling democracy used to be. The state of moral decay that is gangrening our nation leads us to one conclusion; our motherland deserves a better class of leaders.
All guilty
Who should take the blame for further soiling our moral values? All of us are equal partners in crime. We, the “peuple admirable” for having and continuing to bear with hoards of self-centered egomaniacs that have and continue to fool us with lofty words and false pledges. Religious leaders for stooping to unknown levels of immorality in their quest for personal power. Political leaders from successive governments who failed to understand the nobility of serving of one’s country.
Dr Navin Mr Ramgoolam
Navin Ramgoolam, in the role of the greatest agent of chaos and now renowned for his inability to take bold decisions, has helped further tarnish the moral sanctity of our society. Our P.M carries the role of the incompetent leader with such aplomb that he makes the case for his cohort of even more ineffectual bootlickers. Navin is together with all those around him the silent culprits responsible for creating a system that thrives on incompetence and corruption.
From someone who represented change back in the mid 1990s to the master manipulator that he now is, Navin symbolises the degeneration of moral values our country has experienced over the last decade. Declared politically dead in 2000, he has managed a tour de force return to power heavily infused with newly acquired communication skills that focused on an all talk and no action stance .
The leader of the Labour Party has mastered the art of communication and understood that image is everything. Case in point: a scandal filled month with the Boskalis case, Cindy Legallant, Sada Curpen, Valayden’s resignation, Cunningham’s sudden departure, Bel Ombre S.E all making headlines and the only image that will be left in the voter’s mind will be Navin’s sega dancing skills at Le Morne.
Call to arms
The successive list of scams involving bearers of power is a cause for concern but what is even more distressing is that corruption and incompetence are now an ingrained part of our culture. There is no secret mantra to end this but only the will to stand for what is right. Dear co victims, let us extirpate ourselves from our lethargic state and bury those who have repeatedly failed us. Let us not be confined to a state of slumber, lulled in a sense of comfort and security by propagandists. Let us rise above the muck before it is too late.
Chetan Ramchurn
Brought death into the world and all our woe…”
Paradise Lost
John Milton
Paradise Lost
Mark Twain’s now famous quote linking Mauritius to paradise now sounds like a bitter remembrance of what our fledgling democracy used to be. The state of moral decay that is gangrening our nation leads us to one conclusion; our motherland deserves a better class of leaders.
All guilty
Who should take the blame for further soiling our moral values? All of us are equal partners in crime. We, the “peuple admirable” for having and continuing to bear with hoards of self-centered egomaniacs that have and continue to fool us with lofty words and false pledges. Religious leaders for stooping to unknown levels of immorality in their quest for personal power. Political leaders from successive governments who failed to understand the nobility of serving of one’s country.
Dr Navin Mr Ramgoolam
Navin Ramgoolam, in the role of the greatest agent of chaos and now renowned for his inability to take bold decisions, has helped further tarnish the moral sanctity of our society. Our P.M carries the role of the incompetent leader with such aplomb that he makes the case for his cohort of even more ineffectual bootlickers. Navin is together with all those around him the silent culprits responsible for creating a system that thrives on incompetence and corruption.
From someone who represented change back in the mid 1990s to the master manipulator that he now is, Navin symbolises the degeneration of moral values our country has experienced over the last decade. Declared politically dead in 2000, he has managed a tour de force return to power heavily infused with newly acquired communication skills that focused on an all talk and no action stance .
The leader of the Labour Party has mastered the art of communication and understood that image is everything. Case in point: a scandal filled month with the Boskalis case, Cindy Legallant, Sada Curpen, Valayden’s resignation, Cunningham’s sudden departure, Bel Ombre S.E all making headlines and the only image that will be left in the voter’s mind will be Navin’s sega dancing skills at Le Morne.
Call to arms
The successive list of scams involving bearers of power is a cause for concern but what is even more distressing is that corruption and incompetence are now an ingrained part of our culture. There is no secret mantra to end this but only the will to stand for what is right. Dear co victims, let us extirpate ourselves from our lethargic state and bury those who have repeatedly failed us. Let us not be confined to a state of slumber, lulled in a sense of comfort and security by propagandists. Let us rise above the muck before it is too late.
Chetan Ramchurn
Who shot our Phaeton Rubicola? by Chetan Ramchurn ( Le Mauricien 27/01/09)
Air Mauritius
Who shot our Phaeton Rubicola?
Dubbed the “Soul of Mauritius”, the much hyped ambassador of Mauritius, our premier company, our very own national airline is in deep mire. Amidst rumours of takeovers, leaked secret conversations and XLD’s almost too little too late attempts to turn back the tide, lies a venerable institution in tatters.
Welcome to Navinland
While some have sniffed blood and are now on the prowl for further damning evidence against the architects of Air Mauritius’s doom, we watch once again with awe the appalling absence of leadership at the head of the state. While the first rats have begun to leave the sinking ship, the much hoped sanctions against those who have failed have yet to come. In truth, in Navinland, the axe never seems to fall on those who are guilty of sacrilegious wrongs…
This latest saga will be remembered as yet another Ramgoolam botched moment, yet another missed opportunity to rise to the occasion and soothe a scandal-weary population. In times of chaos, we turn to those who wield power to show us the way forward; or as Faye Wattleton says “The only safe ship in a storm is leadership.” Alone we stand in these troubled times…
Arrogant fools
Accessorius sequitur comes to mind when deciding on who should be punished. The blame should first and foremost be attributed to those that were at the gambling table with our money. The absence of any exit clause attached to a hedging contract of that magnitude is a gaffe that deserves no clemency. And what do we have instead of unequivocal professions of guilt? Interviews of arrogant fools that abound in our newspapers where all claim to have made the right decisions regardless of evidence to the contrary. What terrifies us is the sight of those who have previously given glaring demonstrations of their incompetence who are rewarded with hefty paychecks and renewed positions of power. No doubt Cunningham had to leave…
In these times of economic and financial havoc, what we need more that anything is a guiding figure in whom we trust. These are defining times for our country… times where real leaders emerge and fake ones crumble…
Chets Ramchurn
Who shot our Phaeton Rubicola?
Dubbed the “Soul of Mauritius”, the much hyped ambassador of Mauritius, our premier company, our very own national airline is in deep mire. Amidst rumours of takeovers, leaked secret conversations and XLD’s almost too little too late attempts to turn back the tide, lies a venerable institution in tatters.
Welcome to Navinland
While some have sniffed blood and are now on the prowl for further damning evidence against the architects of Air Mauritius’s doom, we watch once again with awe the appalling absence of leadership at the head of the state. While the first rats have begun to leave the sinking ship, the much hoped sanctions against those who have failed have yet to come. In truth, in Navinland, the axe never seems to fall on those who are guilty of sacrilegious wrongs…
This latest saga will be remembered as yet another Ramgoolam botched moment, yet another missed opportunity to rise to the occasion and soothe a scandal-weary population. In times of chaos, we turn to those who wield power to show us the way forward; or as Faye Wattleton says “The only safe ship in a storm is leadership.” Alone we stand in these troubled times…
Arrogant fools
Accessorius sequitur comes to mind when deciding on who should be punished. The blame should first and foremost be attributed to those that were at the gambling table with our money. The absence of any exit clause attached to a hedging contract of that magnitude is a gaffe that deserves no clemency. And what do we have instead of unequivocal professions of guilt? Interviews of arrogant fools that abound in our newspapers where all claim to have made the right decisions regardless of evidence to the contrary. What terrifies us is the sight of those who have previously given glaring demonstrations of their incompetence who are rewarded with hefty paychecks and renewed positions of power. No doubt Cunningham had to leave…
In these times of economic and financial havoc, what we need more that anything is a guiding figure in whom we trust. These are defining times for our country… times where real leaders emerge and fake ones crumble…
Chets Ramchurn
The Navin Show by Chetan Ramchurn (L’Express 06.02.09/ Le Mauricien 07.02.09)
THE NAVIN SHOW
And thus spake the Great One…
Citizens of Mauritius, feel blessed to have been addressed by the Chosen One. Our hardworking Prime Minister, in his great benevolence, took some of the precious time he usually spends discussing with the likes of Chirac and Sarkozy to deal with the trivial Mauritian issues.
Revealing his misery and loneliness, the compassionate Navin also disclosed that he will be gracing President Obama with that great intelligence of his and we certainly believe that he will seize this opportunity to teach him a trick or two about how bold decisions are taken in tough times. Our leader talked at length about the fruits of his intelligent decisions using references spanning from the Bible to Kissinger and admitted that the No.8 elections were of little interest to him for he is now more than ever focused on the economy.
When our beloved P.M highlighted the hassles of holding his much coveted title, all of us sympathised with him. How can we let this often betrayed great ruler stay in such conditions with hardly any friends and suspicions on the few that he has? No, we cannot and should not let Ramgoolam Junior suffer more than he has already endured for our sake. We should relieve him of his great distress and it is now our moral duty to offer him salvation in the coming general elections.
Hubris
Last Thursday’s marathon speech which was nothing more than an unsavoury potpourri of quotes, examples from other failed hedging experiments and incoherent ramblings clearly smacked of hubris. So much arrogance from a man who has so lamentably failed time and time again should have irked most of us. But, nothing of that sort happened as a sizeable proportion of the “peuple admirable” chose to put style over substance and saw in SSR’s heir’s insufferable mumbo jumbo some kind of verbal prowess that the rest of us must have missed.
Ramgoolam’s power ride has been a bumpy one and the grotesque masquerade that this public relations exercise was proved once again that his all talk and no action attitude is likely to continue…until we finally decide to punish him…
Yeshwant Ramchurn
And thus spake the Great One…
Citizens of Mauritius, feel blessed to have been addressed by the Chosen One. Our hardworking Prime Minister, in his great benevolence, took some of the precious time he usually spends discussing with the likes of Chirac and Sarkozy to deal with the trivial Mauritian issues.
Revealing his misery and loneliness, the compassionate Navin also disclosed that he will be gracing President Obama with that great intelligence of his and we certainly believe that he will seize this opportunity to teach him a trick or two about how bold decisions are taken in tough times. Our leader talked at length about the fruits of his intelligent decisions using references spanning from the Bible to Kissinger and admitted that the No.8 elections were of little interest to him for he is now more than ever focused on the economy.
When our beloved P.M highlighted the hassles of holding his much coveted title, all of us sympathised with him. How can we let this often betrayed great ruler stay in such conditions with hardly any friends and suspicions on the few that he has? No, we cannot and should not let Ramgoolam Junior suffer more than he has already endured for our sake. We should relieve him of his great distress and it is now our moral duty to offer him salvation in the coming general elections.
Hubris
Last Thursday’s marathon speech which was nothing more than an unsavoury potpourri of quotes, examples from other failed hedging experiments and incoherent ramblings clearly smacked of hubris. So much arrogance from a man who has so lamentably failed time and time again should have irked most of us. But, nothing of that sort happened as a sizeable proportion of the “peuple admirable” chose to put style over substance and saw in SSR’s heir’s insufferable mumbo jumbo some kind of verbal prowess that the rest of us must have missed.
Ramgoolam’s power ride has been a bumpy one and the grotesque masquerade that this public relations exercise was proved once again that his all talk and no action attitude is likely to continue…until we finally decide to punish him…
Yeshwant Ramchurn
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