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Welcome to our Letters Page for
Monday, January 27, 2003
More is
necessary
I HAVE not made up my mind about the merits of power
sharing and if it's the best political system for Guyana.
There
has been much written and said in the media but unfortunately I have not been
able to understand much of the debate because much of it has been above my
head.
I feel that analysts assume that many of us are
knowledgeable about many of the concepts used such as
democracy.
To give an example: Mr. Moses Bhagwan wrote in a
newspaper "Letter to the editor" that "the entrenchment of a majority ethnic
group yields neither democracy or justice".
Now, I don't know what
Mr. Bhagwan meant by democracy and justice. So I asked my nephew to explain what
these concepts meant. He surfed the Internet and it came up with hundreds of
thousands of websites.
One definition states that democracy
exists when there is free, fair and periodical elections. Another definition
challenged that meaning stating that elections are necessary but not
sufficient.
What then is the gentleman's definition and why
does he accept this definition over other definitions?
Also he
needs to tell us why ethnic entrenchment leads to neither democracy or justice.
That is, he has to provide reasons. If not he is asking us to accept his
position simply because he said so.
In attempting to understand
why Guyana needs new policies I favour an approach, which follows the following
steps: (1) Attempt to determine what the problem really is. (2) Try to trace the
cause of the problem and (3) search for a solution which will reduce or
eliminate the cause.
To return to Mr. Bhagwan's letter. Some of the
problems he states are corruption, criminality, racial confrontation, drug
trafficking, cultural and economic decline. I am assuming that he is suggesting
that these problems have been caused by the "winner take all" political system
and I further assume that when we have power sharing these problems will be
reduced or eliminated.
Really? The problems he listed also
occurred, to a lesser degree, during the Hoyte
Administration.
How will merging these two parties in the
government result in significant reductions in these problems? Advocates of
power sharing have the burden to explain the process by which the new
arrangement will eliminate or reduce the problems of Guyana. Merely stating that
it will is not sufficient. More is necessary.
"Ethnic security" has
been given by many analysts as one of the problems, which is caused by the
"winner take all" system. For example, Mr. Ellis and Mr. Phillips say this is
the problem and power sharing will eradicate it.
Mr. Ellis' and
Mr. Phillips' article is on Professor David Hinds' excellent website. These
gentlemen tell us that Mr. Sidney King in 1961 said that East Indians do not
want to be ruled by Blacks nor do Blacks want to be ruled by East
Indians.
Other analysts, including Professor Hinds, also quote
Mr. King's analysis. Although Mr. King's analysis was not based on any
scientific survey but merely speculation I will grudgingly accept that Mr. King
might have known what Blacks felt.
But could he have really
known what East Indians felt? Was Mr. King that good? Also has anything changed
in the feelings of these two groups since 196l?
What is disturbing to
me about this debate is not Mr. King's statement but that very educated people
are repeating or quoting statements without any critical analyses. It seems that
many simply favour power sharing because it feels good and it seems the right
way to go and then grab wildly at anything that seems to support their
preference.
Do East Indians feel ethnically insecure? Every East
Indian I have spoken to feels that way and I sense that the vast majority does.
They feel so even under this PPP (Indian?) government.
Almost every
day East Indians are being targeted and beaten up by Black gangs many of whom
run into Buxton. Annandale is the classical example. The evidence is there for
anyone to read.
I don't see too much evidence of Indian gangs
beating up Blacks during this PPP (Indian?) administration.
My
Indian friends stay away from the East Coast area and areas where there are
concentrations of Blacks, for example Stabroek Market. Blacks can move around
Guyana without feeling that they will be beaten up by
Indians.
Indians feel almost the same psychological terror as
they did when Hoyte (yes) was in power. And this is under a PPP (Indian?)
Government.
If a Black government gets into power Indians will feel,
based on the past, that they will again become second class citizens and easier
targets of Black hooligans who will feel that they have the support of their
government. That government will focus on its supporters.
The
current situation is a case study of the PNC's concern and strategy. The party
has spoken out when it felt its Black constituent is being attacked. When
Indians have been brutally murdered that party's response has been very tame and
general.
So East Indians do not have too much to look forward
to. How then will East Indians feel more secure under a merger of the PPP
(Indian?), which currently does not protect them from Black thugs and the PNC
which has not shown any concern for them?
Some advocates of
power sharing don't even bother to tell us what the problems in Guyana are, what
are the causes and how power sharing will solve them.
The PNC
has, for example, in its power sharing document merely described the mechanism
of how power will be shared. I had expected that party to tell us why it has
dropped a political system that it had fought so hard for, for this new system.
Is the party telling us something about the way they intend to
govern?
To help me understand the benefits of power sharing will the
proponents of power sharing tell us how power sharing will:
1. stop
the beatings of East Indians
2. stop the
kidnapping of Indian businessmen
3. stop the burning of Indian businesses
4. stop the killing of Policemen
5. the digging up of the highways on the East
Coast
6. reduce ethnic insecurity of East Indians?
Please explain
how the power sharing process will achieve these
objectives.
STANISLAUS
LUCKHOO
