Last year, Indian Arrival Day was a mere six days following the general election and as a result it was not a good measure to ascertain the Government's multiculturalism policy. Following the one-year anniversary celebration, it was hoped that the Government's multiculturalism policy would be one year advanced in its development. Sadly, this is not being manifested or developed by the Minister of Arts and Multiculturalism, Winston Peters. It did not escape the attention of many that Minister Peters was absent from many of the Indian Arrival Day celebrations. This selec- tive appearance at certain cultural and religious events was one of the issues that the people of the nation voted against in the 2010 general election.
The nation bitterly remembers that then Prime Minister Patrick Manning refused to attend Indian Arrival Day celebrations or even acknowledge the "Indian" suffix and was equally absent from Divali celebrations. It was hoped that the People's Partnership Government would have seen the end of that type of exclusion. Manning had unceremoniously removed the jhandis (Hindu prayer flags) from the compound of the Prime Minister's residence when he beat Basdeo Panday at the polls. He even had a new $250,000 million Prime Minister's residence built because of the jhandis' overpowering influence. No other explanation was offered to the tax-paying public. Minister Peters did not attend the annual Maha Sabha's Indian Arrival Day dinner or the massive street procession on Indian Arrival Day.
The Maha Sabha understands that Minister Peters selected to attend a function of another cultural tradition instead of Indian Arrival Day events. Minister Peters was also absent from the unveiling of the Sundar Popo statue in Debe. It is as if Minister Peters selected to ignore this aspect of the national community as the PNM had done for the past decade and more. Over the past year, what the Maha Sabha observed is that the Ministry of Arts and Multiculturalism is essentially functioning as the old Ministry of Culture. It is clear that Minister Peters does not care to understand nor implement or advance a multicultural policy. In fact, at a meeting between the Maha Sabha and Minister Peters, it was clear to us that Peters has no appreciation of what is entailed in developing a Ministry of Multiculturalism. To this end the change from Culture to Multiculturalism is just a name change.
Given this disturbing development of lack of appreciation of multiculturalism, the Maha Sabha wrote Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar on June 1 proposing that the People's Partnership Government enacts a multiculturalism act. The letter reads as follows: "At the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha's 2010 Annual Indian Arrival Day Dinner, you made public the policy position of the People's Partnership Government of inclusiveness with regards to the cultural policy of the State. To this end you renamed the Ministry of Culture the Ministry of Arts and Multiculturalism. "The Maha Sabha applauded you then for this bold policy decision and your Government's continued adherence to the principles of equality of treatment to all groups in the nation. This singular act in the early hours of your administration was defining as it telegraphed to the nation your Government's philosophical values of equality of treatment by the State to all citizens regardless of their background.
"Multiculturalism teaches the citizens of a democratic society to value diversity and differences, helping to integrate diverse cultures into the larger society without cutting them off from their past. "This, in turn, helps store in force the polity because citizens are willing to make sacrifices for those with whom they share a common project. Multiculturalism is perfectly in keeping with liberal democracies which are, of themselves, pluralistic. "Given the advantages which are self-evident from multiculturalism, the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha Inc wishes to respectfully but strongly recommend that your Government enacts a multiculturalism act so as to ensure that what begun with your administration is not reversed should there be any political changes in the future because, as it stand, there has merely been a name change.
"Under such an act, no longer will culture be a political weapon. Such an act will also serve as an empirical guideline and not subject to interpretation. "The Maha Sabha again wishes to draw your attention to the fact that one of our nationals, Dr Dennison Moore, was part of the development of the pioneering Canadian Multiculturalism Act which many nations followed. Our discussions with Dr Moore indicated that he is willing and ready to assist his homeland in developing a similar policy. "Documents and legislation on multiculturalism have been passed by the Maha Sabha to the Attorney General, Senator Anand Ramlogan, and the Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, Colin Partap, to assist in the process of considering a multiculturalism act for our nation. "A delegation from the Maha Sabha will be pleased to discuss this further with you or your nominee."
Satnarayan Maharaj is the
secretary general of the
Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha