Independent Mauritius Catches Up With One of His Most Brilliant Sons

Greatest Party of Mauritius Turns 85

It gave us so many things. Improvement in worker conditions early on. Followed by a decisive victory against proportional representation. Then the most magic of moments: independence. Along with an excellent constitution and electoral system. Newly-born Mauritius was a left-for-dead country even before the oil crises and terrible cyclones of the 1970s but brilliant policies enabled us to make significant progress providing rapid upward social mobility to the many. 

Since 2005 however it is in its darkest period, furiously betraying its DNA. It’s time for the Labour Party to reconnect to what works.

Three Things to Make National Anthem Ring Truer

 1. Outlaw door-to-door religious proselytism. Freedom of religion includes freedom not be regularly harassed by groups of people of varying size trying to convert you. Religious belief should essentially be a private matter and a good indication of the absence of any hidden agendas is religious groups growing at roughly the same rate. This hasn’t been the case. Plus a citizen should not be allowed to change her religion before she’s 21.

2. Freeze foreign real estate speculation. Prices should be determined by local purchasing power of Mauritians, not by those of the wealthiest foreigners. Especially when we have a serious housing problem in the republic. We can add banning deproclamation of public beaches here.

3. Recall elections and a couple of other tools so we can get rid of lousy MPs between general elections and toxic policies before they hurt our country. This will keep politicians on their toes, improving governance.

Serbi Kalifye Deportasyon Sagosyen Kuma Enn Krim Kont Limanite

Taler la divan ICJ. Tayland usi ti fer enn prezantasyon byen interesan. So reprezantan ti pe dir ki byen ki zot pa ti kolonize zot finn peye enn pri elve pu pa vinn enn koloni. Vanwatu finn sulve bann pwin byen pertinan. Zot finn dir par ekzanp ki pa fasil pu enn ti pei fer Nasyon Ini dimann ICJ so lavi lor enn zafer. De dimunn kinn koz pu Vanwatu ti byen Zen. Mari agreab ekut zot.

Res zis Zanbi ek Linyon Afrikin. Swiv sa bann diskur la dernye kat zur fer nu konpran la lwa internasyonal, listwar ek enn ta lezot zafer pli byen dan enn mari ti letan.

Wai dekolonizasyon se enn size byen konplex. Bizin plizir variab pu analiz li byen.

Why India Missed The Industrial Revolution

A little bit of history doesn't hurt. Funny that some people here who had seen the declassified notes of the British PM Harold Wilson – just like anybody with an internet connection – seem to take them at face value. That is the independence of Mauritius was automatic and SSR loved to be called Premier. They seem to think that the Leader of the LP came to the negotiation table mostly unprepared. SSR and unprepared??? He also took his General Secretary to London even though that guy had lost his seat in the 1963 general elections. By 96 votes. Probably to cheer the latter up as he'd always wanted to go to Trafalgar Square.

Independence General Elections Turn 50

Tomorrow. The appropriately-named Independence Party won all the three seats in riding numbers 4 to 16. Which gave it 39 MPs out of the 62. The PMSD grabbed the remaining seats. The election results appear to contain some fascinating information on the mood of voters 50 years ago. Will need to play with them one of these days. Couldn't stop from reminiscing my meeting with the second member of Belle-Rose/Quatre-Bornes when I saw his name in there. That Independence thing was so big that he refused to obey the retrograde instructions of his leader of not attending the celebrations. That must have been quite easy to resist.

And a week from now partition of the Indian subcontinent will turn 70.

The First 49

Fourteen years of brilliance. Followed by twenty-three of bat-bate. And twelve of crap.

Top Three General Elections

No. 3. July 2005. Labour and allies do something which was thought almost impossible until then: one of the three main parties beating the other two. And that too by a comfortable margin. Ramgoolam is also the first political leader to stage a comeback as PM for 5 years. Without an exit clause. They double up a few months later by winning all five municipalities.

No. 2. December 2014. What a beauty! Against all odds -- and crappy simulations -- Jugnauth rides back to power on strong voter opposition to replacing our iPhone of electoral setup -- God bless our FPTP system -- with the dangerous Sithanen electoral stupidity. Voters collectively stun almost everyone with their intelligence by keeping Ramgoolam, Boolell and many others out of parliament. To also thwart Ramgoolam's silly fantasy of becoming President à la frenchie.

Can't be another one. August 1967. The elections to set Mauritius free. To get our national flag flying high seven months later. And an opportunity for a couple of mavericks to prove Meade wrong. And deliver unprecedented upward social mobility to tens of thousands through the mindful combination of the welfare state, progressive taxation, the FPTP system, the Westminsterian system of government and visionary policy-making.

A Champ de Mars Like No Other

The one we have in Port-Louis should have a little emphasis added to its name: Champ du 12 Mars. Because for so many of us it was on a twelfth of March that we experienced some of the most intense moments of our existence there.

The granddaddy of all being of course 12.3.68. Because when else do you witness so much heart-stopping drama? First, the Union Jack is lowered. That's enough to get your blood pump to beat irregularly. At least a few times. Then our own brand new flag is raised high. If you are still not dead by then you also -- as a bonus -- get to hear a massive crowd of all kinds of tear-eyed people very proudly singing. Or crying. Some of them uncontrollably. To a beautiful piece of music.

We need to hurry with this one for at least two reasons. One because independent Mauritius will turn 50 in a few years and the other to help us forget the ridiculously bland celebrations for the 40th (a year of ferocious bean-counting -- aka bumper crop) and 45th independence anniversaries (a year when we apparently didn't have enough money to have our own A380 land at Plaisance -- thanks PBB!).

Shouldn't be too hard to get this baby out for this year's celebration.

Meeting Yvon St. Guillaume

That happened after leaving the funeral of Sir Satcam Boolell in March 2006. I was walking Lady Jag! back to our car when our path crossed that of an elegant man who was happily introduced as YSG. That gentleman became instantly interesting to me after my mom told me that he had voted for Independence despite being from the PMSD.

Yvon was beaming while I was being briefed. He seemed all set to go right into the National Assembly and second that motion for Independence again. If need be. Or maybe just for the fun of reliving those extraordinary emotions at the Champ de Mars when our flag was raised for the first time.

We left after a nice chat and I took his mobile number promising to get back to him. Mostly to perhaps get a chance of listening to the IMAX version of that beautiful story. I never did. I got busy. Firing katyushas. Non-stop. 

R.I.P. Patriot!

Independent India Turns 65

It's August 15 again. I was looking at my phone when the clock shifted to 00:00 announcing the new day. I immediately thought about Collins and Lapierre's extraordinary book Freedom at Midnight. I also recalled the broad pages that Amritsar-born SKJ used to write on this day first in the Mauritius Times and then in Mauritius Today decades ago. He was already predicting the rise of the elephant. I could not understand then. Because I had not seen India yet.

But when I visited this great country a lot of the things he said hit me right in the face. And everything became a lot clearer. I reckon that it will take me at least 1,000 years to understand her. Because as observed by Mark Twain: So far as I am able to judge, nothing has been left undone, either by man or by nature, to make India the most extraordinary country that the sun visits on his rounds. Nothing seems to have been forgotten, nothing overlooked.

Happy Birthday!

I Love Mauritius

Should Foreign Military Parade on March 12?

Apparently French soldiers from FAZSOI are set to participate in our Independence celebrations at Champ de Mars.

What do you think?

Ex-Governor's Memory Playing Tricks on Him

This is the impression I got on skimming through an interview of Basant Roi that was published in a newsletter earlier this week. In it the guy who was in charge of the Bank of Mauritius for a little over eight years stated that the independence of our central bank had now been thrown out of the window.

Kind of funny to come from the person who was Governor precisely when the independence of the institution he had been entrusted with was murdered during the MCB-NPF saga before being hanged in the second half of 2006 when the rupee was allowed to freefall despite the record FDI.

And the hansard contains interesting replies that will kind of support the view that when it comes to degrading our institutions Berenger has no match. Except maybe Sithanen.

Today of course is a great day to read a few pages of The Great Crash for at least an extra reason: John Kenneth Galbraith would have turned 100.