When inconvenient facts are ignored
- By R.A.J. (guest)
- Published 9th April, 2008
Politics is
perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought
necessary - Robert Louis
Stevenson.
The years pass us by and nothing seems to change. We are continuously assailed by the same politicians haranguing us for our votes in order to allow them to do exactly the same things that their opponents in government do; they will try to persuade us by using meaningless slogans without ever presenting any specific details regarding their wonderful aims for the country. Nou pou conbat corription, nou pou aret gaspiyaz, nou pou mars ar le pep, nou pa pou lesse zot saper, etc remain the inane rallying cries of every opposition party since the seventies; and robotic repetition of the same boring mantras has not diminished our angry perception that in the final analysis all the major political partiesare padlocked to the heavy and destructive chains of sectarianism which makes looking after their narrow band of selfish marauders of the national coffers their main priority.
We are in the process of creating an idiot culture, where lack of information, disinformation, and quite often contempt for the truth seems to have overrun our media. The weird, the stupid, and the coarse are becoming our cultural norm and for many have turned into a cultural ideal. Why else would so many people spend a fortune to wait for hours for an arrogant idiot called Sean Paul to turn up and make some weird noise that some people call music and then behave as if he is doing them a favour? Why does the press entertain anything said by Madun Dulloo against the government, when for the last three years his enemies for the last fortnight were his comrade in arms and the huge amounts of per diem he obtained for countless, useless missions made him feel very comfortable? Such a principled man had no problem grabbing the latest brand new limousine that is apparently on offer to any presumptuous idiot who does not feel duty bound to adopt the principles of ser sintir advocated in such a cavalier and hypocritical manner by the Minister of Finance.
This idiot culture is now so endemic that any action that does not conform to the grabbing, self serving, fill-your-pockets environment is ignored or at best merits a couple of lines only in one newspaper. There cannot be many people who would condone the immoral purchase of new limousines for our ministers when there was apparently nothing wrong with the ones they were using. It was an obscene waste of public funds and totally incongruous with the constant message that the country remains severely in debt and that we need to be very careful with the way we spend public money. One minister however stands out for refusing to join the indecent queue frothing at the mouth at luxury cars showrooms in febrile anticipation of the sensation of old, saggy bums touching the new leather seats. Very few of us know the identity of that minister. Why? Because hardly any newspaper mentioned the fact that it was Rama Valayden. Yes, the 'voyou politique', as that paragon of virtue Paul Berenger likes to call him. By the way, has anyone noticed that the criticism from the main opposition parties regarding these limousines has been almost non existent? But then how can you condemn something that you yourself are hankering for should you win power at the next elections?
The list really is endless. Ramgoolam promised with apparent sincerity on 1st May 2005 that "un membre de la Fédération des syndicats du service civil asiz dan PSC pou kapav kone ki pe arive laba;" He would also institute an appeal tribunal to quickly resolve allegations of discrimination: "Mo na pa pou less dimounn atann 4 an", he intoned forcefully, and emphasised the point by saying that "Pas de politique de petits copains dans les organismes parapublics…pou aret gaspillaz fonds piblic..Moris ene ban pei pli coronpi dan le monde". I shall leave the readers to decide whether the policy of ti copins has been abandoned, whether the government no longer wastes public money, and whether the genuine battle against corruption has even started. He also reminded his audience that "Pei la inn devir enba lao", a refrain dutifully parroted by the current opposition in a pathetic display of verbal and intellectual deficit.
On the same day, Berenger gave us his revolutionary winning formula which basically meant that two average individuals with pretensions way beyond their abilities would share the prime ministerial post over the next five years. It is really sad that this nonsense has now become an obsession with him, and it is gratifying to see that Vishnu Lutchmeenaraidoo has taken the initiative by injecting some honesty in that futile debate and told us that Berenger will be the next Prime Minister should the MMM win the next elections. Berenger has every right to aim for the highest post in the land and one can only hope that the cold hands of communalism will not strangle the democratic birth right of anyone irrespective of race, class, or gender to lead his party to power.
Berenger also promised at
that meeting that for the first time ever a woman would be appointed
President of the Republic in 2008, a promise that appears to have been consigned
to the dustbin as we have not heard another word about it since. He then accused
Bachoo of being a vendeur professionel, a description he is working hard
to validate as his efforts to get Bachoo to change sides yet again would appear
to suggest…
It really is quite striking the similarities in the speeches of politicians when in opposition and then in government. The forthcoming May 1st meetings will see Berenger using exactly the same themes and expressions that Ramgoolam used in 2005, i.e corruption, nepotism, ti copins, pei enba lao, (although now apparently, in a remarkable display of imagination, pei lor dife...) law and order, cost of living, inefficiency of the government. And Ramgoolam will use the same themes that Berenger did in 2005, that his government is made up of competent ministers (please don't laugh), that the economy was a mess when he took over, how he has remet pei lor rails,and not to let the other lot win power as they will destroy everything that has been achieved so far.
Most of us know that this is exactly what will happen at those meetings, so why do our journalists insist on treating them as earth shattering events? Out of a population of over 1.2 million inhabitants, a maximum of 30,000 people will attend these meetings and yet we will still be subjected to the farcical game of who had the greatest number of supporters. Who cares really? I can only hope that this time Valayden will not go round counting the number of cigarette stubs as proof of the exact attendance figures…
Wouldn't it be really wonderful if every time a politician says something during the meeting the whole crowd would answer back? For example, whenever Berenger shouts that he will aret gaspillaz fonds piblic, the crowd would shout out couma? to pou aret sa ban missions la? to pou aret asseter limousines? To pou reduire per diems et diman reci pou sac depans? to pou reduire la paye to ban advisers et chairmen/direkters? To pou reduire sa larmee anbassaders et soi disan trade advisers?
And when Ramgoolam says with well rehearsed sincerity that nou bizin ser sintir, the crowd would simply laugh for a good five minutes and point to Sylvio Tang's midriff as evidence of the physical impossibility of translating that policy into practice.
Perhaps it may be useful to use direct methods against these politicians in order to emphasise our precarious situation regarding food supplies. A few well aimed tomatoes may remind them that the whole world is facing its worst food crisis in a generation; Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank, said this week that prices of all staple food had risen 80% in three years, and that 33 countries faced unrest because of the price rises.There have been protests in Guinea, Egypt, Morocco, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Niger, Uzbekistan, Senegal, Haiti, Bolivia and Indonesia. In the last two months Vietnam, Cambodia, Egypt, India, the Philippines and Thailand have stopped crop exports or raised prices to more than $1,200 a tonne to discourage exports. In the Philippines, a moratorium is being considered on converting agricultural land for building housing or golf courses. What are we doing in Paradise Island? The exact opposite. We are converting prime agricultural lands into new residential and industrial cities, and our import bill for many of the things that we could grow ourselves is getting bigger all the time. The short sightedness of this policy is really breathtaking. I don't wish to alarm people, but soon we will no longer complain about the rise in food prices as we will be out of breath trying to find the items first, as very few countries will be exporting food stuff.
But who cares about all that really? We are constantly fed a diet of cheap, puerile propaganda by the MBC that all is best in the best of all possible worlds; the opposition keeps on playing the same old tapes without giving us any hope that they will indeed provide genuine sanzman if we vote for them. And the parasites are still eroding the fragile financial structure of this country by being offered stupendous salaries and expenses by their equally stupid and selfish political masters.
Never mind. We can look forward to another visit by Sean Paul or some DJs who cannot see a record without messing around with it frantically in order to provide us with something they think is original. Apparently, it is called 'remixing', presumably because the end product sounds very much like an old food mixer working desperately to fulfil the function it performed admirably in its pristine condition.
Much like our political parties really. Remixing old slogans that mean nothing will invariably end up with a final product that is as insipid as its original version.
Inconvenient facts will always be ignored as long as we continue to have amateur politicians whose main qualification happens to be the caste or community he/she belongs to, and whose only motivation in politics is to further the interests of that community to the detriment of the nation.
R.A.J.
Email: servipei@yahoo.com
The years pass us by and nothing seems to change. We are continuously assailed by the same politicians haranguing us for our votes in order to allow them to do exactly the same things that their opponents in government do; they will try to persuade us by using meaningless slogans without ever presenting any specific details regarding their wonderful aims for the country. Nou pou conbat corription, nou pou aret gaspiyaz, nou pou mars ar le pep, nou pa pou lesse zot saper, etc remain the inane rallying cries of every opposition party since the seventies; and robotic repetition of the same boring mantras has not diminished our angry perception that in the final analysis all the major political partiesare padlocked to the heavy and destructive chains of sectarianism which makes looking after their narrow band of selfish marauders of the national coffers their main priority.
We are in the process of creating an idiot culture, where lack of information, disinformation, and quite often contempt for the truth seems to have overrun our media. The weird, the stupid, and the coarse are becoming our cultural norm and for many have turned into a cultural ideal. Why else would so many people spend a fortune to wait for hours for an arrogant idiot called Sean Paul to turn up and make some weird noise that some people call music and then behave as if he is doing them a favour? Why does the press entertain anything said by Madun Dulloo against the government, when for the last three years his enemies for the last fortnight were his comrade in arms and the huge amounts of per diem he obtained for countless, useless missions made him feel very comfortable? Such a principled man had no problem grabbing the latest brand new limousine that is apparently on offer to any presumptuous idiot who does not feel duty bound to adopt the principles of ser sintir advocated in such a cavalier and hypocritical manner by the Minister of Finance.
This idiot culture is now so endemic that any action that does not conform to the grabbing, self serving, fill-your-pockets environment is ignored or at best merits a couple of lines only in one newspaper. There cannot be many people who would condone the immoral purchase of new limousines for our ministers when there was apparently nothing wrong with the ones they were using. It was an obscene waste of public funds and totally incongruous with the constant message that the country remains severely in debt and that we need to be very careful with the way we spend public money. One minister however stands out for refusing to join the indecent queue frothing at the mouth at luxury cars showrooms in febrile anticipation of the sensation of old, saggy bums touching the new leather seats. Very few of us know the identity of that minister. Why? Because hardly any newspaper mentioned the fact that it was Rama Valayden. Yes, the 'voyou politique', as that paragon of virtue Paul Berenger likes to call him. By the way, has anyone noticed that the criticism from the main opposition parties regarding these limousines has been almost non existent? But then how can you condemn something that you yourself are hankering for should you win power at the next elections?
The list really is endless. Ramgoolam promised with apparent sincerity on 1st May 2005 that "un membre de la Fédération des syndicats du service civil asiz dan PSC pou kapav kone ki pe arive laba;" He would also institute an appeal tribunal to quickly resolve allegations of discrimination: "Mo na pa pou less dimounn atann 4 an", he intoned forcefully, and emphasised the point by saying that "Pas de politique de petits copains dans les organismes parapublics…pou aret gaspillaz fonds piblic..Moris ene ban pei pli coronpi dan le monde". I shall leave the readers to decide whether the policy of ti copins has been abandoned, whether the government no longer wastes public money, and whether the genuine battle against corruption has even started. He also reminded his audience that "Pei la inn devir enba lao", a refrain dutifully parroted by the current opposition in a pathetic display of verbal and intellectual deficit.
On the same day, Berenger gave us his revolutionary winning formula which basically meant that two average individuals with pretensions way beyond their abilities would share the prime ministerial post over the next five years. It is really sad that this nonsense has now become an obsession with him, and it is gratifying to see that Vishnu Lutchmeenaraidoo has taken the initiative by injecting some honesty in that futile debate and told us that Berenger will be the next Prime Minister should the MMM win the next elections. Berenger has every right to aim for the highest post in the land and one can only hope that the cold hands of communalism will not strangle the democratic birth right of anyone irrespective of race, class, or gender to lead his party to power.
Berenger also promised at
It really is quite striking the similarities in the speeches of politicians when in opposition and then in government. The forthcoming May 1st meetings will see Berenger using exactly the same themes and expressions that Ramgoolam used in 2005, i.e corruption, nepotism, ti copins, pei enba lao, (although now apparently, in a remarkable display of imagination, pei lor dife...) law and order, cost of living, inefficiency of the government. And Ramgoolam will use the same themes that Berenger did in 2005, that his government is made up of competent ministers (please don't laugh), that the economy was a mess when he took over, how he has remet pei lor rails,and not to let the other lot win power as they will destroy everything that has been achieved so far.
Most of us know that this is exactly what will happen at those meetings, so why do our journalists insist on treating them as earth shattering events? Out of a population of over 1.2 million inhabitants, a maximum of 30,000 people will attend these meetings and yet we will still be subjected to the farcical game of who had the greatest number of supporters. Who cares really? I can only hope that this time Valayden will not go round counting the number of cigarette stubs as proof of the exact attendance figures…
Wouldn't it be really wonderful if every time a politician says something during the meeting the whole crowd would answer back? For example, whenever Berenger shouts that he will aret gaspillaz fonds piblic, the crowd would shout out couma? to pou aret sa ban missions la? to pou aret asseter limousines? To pou reduire per diems et diman reci pou sac depans? to pou reduire la paye to ban advisers et chairmen/direkters? To pou reduire sa larmee anbassaders et soi disan trade advisers?
And when Ramgoolam says with well rehearsed sincerity that nou bizin ser sintir, the crowd would simply laugh for a good five minutes and point to Sylvio Tang's midriff as evidence of the physical impossibility of translating that policy into practice.
Perhaps it may be useful to use direct methods against these politicians in order to emphasise our precarious situation regarding food supplies. A few well aimed tomatoes may remind them that the whole world is facing its worst food crisis in a generation; Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank, said this week that prices of all staple food had risen 80% in three years, and that 33 countries faced unrest because of the price rises.There have been protests in Guinea, Egypt, Morocco, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Niger, Uzbekistan, Senegal, Haiti, Bolivia and Indonesia. In the last two months Vietnam, Cambodia, Egypt, India, the Philippines and Thailand have stopped crop exports or raised prices to more than $1,200 a tonne to discourage exports. In the Philippines, a moratorium is being considered on converting agricultural land for building housing or golf courses. What are we doing in Paradise Island? The exact opposite. We are converting prime agricultural lands into new residential and industrial cities, and our import bill for many of the things that we could grow ourselves is getting bigger all the time. The short sightedness of this policy is really breathtaking. I don't wish to alarm people, but soon we will no longer complain about the rise in food prices as we will be out of breath trying to find the items first, as very few countries will be exporting food stuff.
But who cares about all that really? We are constantly fed a diet of cheap, puerile propaganda by the MBC that all is best in the best of all possible worlds; the opposition keeps on playing the same old tapes without giving us any hope that they will indeed provide genuine sanzman if we vote for them. And the parasites are still eroding the fragile financial structure of this country by being offered stupendous salaries and expenses by their equally stupid and selfish political masters.
Never mind. We can look forward to another visit by Sean Paul or some DJs who cannot see a record without messing around with it frantically in order to provide us with something they think is original. Apparently, it is called 'remixing', presumably because the end product sounds very much like an old food mixer working desperately to fulfil the function it performed admirably in its pristine condition.
Much like our political parties really. Remixing old slogans that mean nothing will invariably end up with a final product that is as insipid as its original version.
Inconvenient facts will always be ignored as long as we continue to have amateur politicians whose main qualification happens to be the caste or community he/she belongs to, and whose only motivation in politics is to further the interests of that community to the detriment of the nation.
R.A.J.
Email: servipei@yahoo.com
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11 Responses to "When inconvenient facts are ignored" 
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said this on 26 Apr 2008 2:59:07 AM MUT
R.A.J,I read almost all of your articles,believe me you are one of a kind,if the crowd is 1 mio,Ill see you straight away.
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said this on 15 Apr 2008 4:01:34 AM MUT
Sorry Joy, you are the ignorant who takes for granted everything that Raj says about people and events in Mts. Some of his articles are not devoid of bias in favour of some ministers while he is always criticising the opponents of the government. Use your mind instead of being mesmerized by Raj's language.
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said this on 14 Apr 2008 12:54:59 AM MUT
To Insaf, & kevin ng:
Ignorant der-brains like you, amongst many others, should start a collection R.A.J.'s invaluable articles, and frame them on the walls of your living room to have a better insight of reality in "Nou Pays Nou Fierte". The quality I admire most about R.A.J. is his/her unbias analyses, criticisms and wealth of information, to enlighten this "Le Peuple Admirable". |
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said this on 11 Apr 2008 3:32:18 AM MUT
Je sais que Raj a critiqué les missions ministérielles sans toutefois mentionner nommément des ministres, sauf Dulloo, qui est sa cible préférée. Pourquoi ne mentionne-t-il pas les noms d’autres ministres, dont le Premier ministre ? A-t-il peur de s’attirer les foudres de ces princes ? Puisqu’il semble être si sûr de lui et si averti, je lui propose de faire une analyse comparative des coûts-bénéfices de toutes les missions ministérielles entreprises depuis 2005 pour savoir qui voyage trop et qui rapporte quoi au pays finalement. Je récuse tout jugement à priori. Contrairement à la rhétorique, seule l’évidence empirique sur les résultats des missions permettra de porter un jugement impartial sur les voyages de chaque ministre. Il est trop facile de faire un procès d’intention ou d’imputer des motifs à ceux qui ont une opinion différente.
Mr Raj, sound analysis is based on empirical evidence, not on self-righteous pontification. This is the inconvenient truth. |
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said this on 10 Apr 2008 12:43:25 PM MUT
It is such a pity that Insaf allows his apparent hero worshipping of Madun Dulloo cloud his judgement to such an extent that he overlooks the countless occasions I have lambasted ministers and members of all political parties for the huge amounts of money they have extorted out of the public purse for their useless missions. I don't intend to give a long response to what seems like blind loyalty/affection to one politician. After all, this is not the first time that Insaf has defended Dulloo. I now look forward to Dulloo holding his May 1st meeting on a park bench in order to accommodate all his supporters...
People really should not make stupid allegations, especially when they themselves have provided proof that they have read other papers where I have had a go at those who claim to be servi nou pei by taking the daily amount of Rs30,000 on the numerous, useless missions that they undertake supposedly on our behalf. Only last week, I wrote this about Bheenick and his nominal Rs10 monthly salary because the Rs200,000 monthly salary on offer is apparently beneath him (link here) : "...He forgot to mention that during the year since his appointment, we have given him over Rs3 million in per diem allowances for all those ever so important missions, together with a chauffeur driven, brand new limousine, etc. Let us look at the obscenity of this scenario: 2 missions, each lasting a fortnight, has provided this patriot with over Rs 900,000 whilst those who have lost their lifetime possessions during the floods received in total far less..." Insaf commented on that paper too (whilst again putting a few bons mots on the chap whose greatest achievement remains the amazing ability to find himself in the arms of the same man who for years had demeaned him far more than I ever possibly could by constantly calling him 'pagla mamou'). Kevin Ng had the decency to apologise for his baseless allegation regarding IRS. Will Insaf calibrate his scales of justice sufficiently to acknowledge the fact that nobody has written more about the shameless frittering of public money by all politicians and their faithful supporters on so called missions than I have? |
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said this on 10 Apr 2008 9:31:58 AM MUT
I apologise for the lapse R.A.J but please try to write 600-800 words papers next time to respect the time of readers
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said this on 10 Apr 2008 3:23:57 AM MUT
Pourquoi RAJ critique-t-il seulement les voyages de Dulloo? Autant que je sache, tous les ministres et fonctionnaires qui voyagent au nom de l’Etat reçoivent les mêmes allocations de voyage. Comme ministre des Affaires étrangères, Dulloo avait le devoir de représenter le pays à l’étranger à des conférences ou des négociations où les points de vue et positions du gouvernement sur des questions importantes devaient être exprimés. Cela relevait de la spécificité de ses fonctions. A quoi faut-il s’attendre de la part d’un ministre des Affaires étrangères ? Qu’il reste au pays tout le temps pour faire de la politique locale au lieu de s’occuper des dossiers autrement plus importants, comme le commerce international, les relations ACP-Europe, les relations bilatérales ou encore les accords de partenariat économique. Ce serait enfermer le pays dans l’isolationnisme à l’ère de la mondialisation. Dire que le ministre des Affaires étrangères, chargé expressément de défendre les intérêts du pays à l’étranger en tant que chef de la diplomatie, voyage trop est un non sequitur, pour ne pas dire un non-sens. De par la nature de leurs responsabilités, certains ministres doivent nécessairement voyager pour défendre des dossiers économiques et diplomatiques importants, notamment le ministre des Finances, le ministre des Affaires étrangères et le ministre de l’Agriculture. Il n’est pas juste de critiquer les déplacements d’une seule personne, à moins qu’on veuille la crucifier pour quelque raison inavouable. Que pense RAJ des missions d’autres ministres, y compris le PM ?
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said this on 09 Apr 2008 4:24:43 PM MUT
...and it looks like Kevin Ng had read and even commented on that article of yours, Raj.
Here: " Le proces d'intention fait a Nita est pathetique. Il est vehicule par la meme bande qui voit du racisme partout mais qui au fond preche pour le statut quo et les interets du gros capital. Ce pays est gravement malade. On veut un debat mais des que quelqu'un ose s'exprimer la machine de chararacter assassination demarre. " Hey Kevin, do you have anything against Raj or his articles? |
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said this on 09 Apr 2008 4:00:22 PM MUT
I don't blame Ng for having neither the time nor the inclination to read all my papers. If he had, he would not have made the stupid comment about 'he does not have the guts to challenge the oligarchs'.
I'll give him just one example of many where I have written about the fiscal, moral, and environmental lunacy of our IRS projects. Only six weeks ago, I wrote the following on le defi's blog (link here) : "... it really is therefore inconceivable that the government can accept a measly 25% of the pre realised value( i.e. ignoring the huge windfall aspect of the exercise) of IRS palaces and then claim that a flat rate tax of under Rs 200,000 is a fair amount to take from rich strangers paying anything up to Rs 75 millions in order to buy our best land and a permanent residency status to boot." |
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said this on 11 Apr 2008 12:58:13 AM MUT
Raj, you don't have to justify yourself. Your blog is as interesting as ever and because it is interesting some people will want to shoot you to minimise its impact.
These people are out there to discredit you in order to promote their own agenda. Downplaying limousines to focus on bigger issues....that sounds like a time-tested strategy from a World School of Big Business. |
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said this on 09 Apr 2008 2:25:50 PM MUT
When RAJ says "We are converting prime agricultural lands into new residential and industrial cities, and our import bill for many of the things that we could grow ourselves is getting bigger all the time. The short sightedness of this policy is really breathtaking" he is perfectly right but why does he NEVER mention the IRS projects and their spillovers on food security and land prices? Is it that he does not have the guts to challenge the oligarchs?
Regarding public funds besides the usual per diems, limousines etc which in fact are only the tip of the iceberg. It is on public contracts that the biggest amount of our money is diverted into private dirty hands. Without a close scrutiny by the media and civil society the rip off will only perpetuate. |
