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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