Bas, Mas, Mash and Coalitions

Jun 05, 2010 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Your recent editorial on coalitions was instructive. I felt compelled to add a few light punches as the political heavyweights do their analyses.
It is quite likely that the divisiveness played out in Guyana is not as acute in Trinidad because of oil and gas, but I wish to add the historical, evolutionary political formations as a contributor.
If we recall that in Guyana the process began in earnest with the PAC, then the PPP. As my father would say in those days, the whole of Guyana chirped like ‘turkey chicken’-Pee Pee Pee.
Ambitions and political chivalry led to dissolution of this mass movement with the resultant splits, cleavages and ethnic encampments.
The Trinidad mass movement formation was equally strident but did not suffer the fractures before consolidation had set in.
For example Bas did not come on the scene as a force until after ‘Dr. Politics’ was well entrenched. As such Eric’s main rivals in the early day were his ‘co-ethnics’ as in Karl and ANR.
Others challenged certain actions and walked when they felt they had committed political suicide.
Yet, I cannot question the impact of oil (don’t spoil) and gas because these have been the bedrock and major pillars of support for a nation known for squandermania and scandals from way back, yet to be rescued time and again by the black gold.
Some people proffer that T&T should have been further along the road to industrialisation like the Asian tigers because of its wealth, population size and democratic culture.
So let us compare the balance sheets. In Guyana the PPP victories are assured because of the polarized voting strictures.
In Trinidad there have been several regime changes over the years with many entering with coalitions.
On all these counts of changes there have been cross-ethnic voting except when the race was tied and the incumbent Bas was removed by the President he chose ANR and replaced by Manning.
We should not forget insurrections in 1970 and 1990 led by black militants who are still around and even playing a role in this current coalition as with Geddes (Daaga). I am not sure where Shah and Abu Bakr are aligned today.
There has been cross –ethnic voting as this is the only way to explain the removal of PNM’s parliamentary majority to the current 29-12 in favour of the Partnership.
Spare no thought that if Bas had prevailed over Kamla the results would have been different as he was seen as the divisive factor and the stumbling block to victory for the coalition. Is there any similarity with Guyana? As a layman, I think not.
However, one need not overlook the effect of public institutions, culture and assimilation in the societies as healing blocks in societal cohesion and trust.
I believe the greater the assimilation and fusion into a common reality the less divided is the nation. I see greater compromise and trust in the end. Loyalty then becomes a natural part of one’s repertoire and feelings of goodness.
The continuous and prodigious exodus does not lend to loyalty as it shows that we have faith in other systems to deliver than our own. This is not helped when we see our high-ranking power base officials sending their kids to schools abroad, as such keeping one foot here and another overseas. Yet we spout and extol the virtues of our local institutions.
This is hypocrisy. One more example is that as soon as our toe hurts we head to a foreign land for examination yet try to give great marks about our health care system.
If we can return to T&T; do not underestimate the impact of “mas”. Mas is everybody’s thing.
This cultural emblem of T&T is the people’s thing and it has spawned chutney and other evolving cross-ethnic cultural persuasions. Some of us might not be aware of “parang” but it is out of the European Creole-Trini culture coming just around and after Christmas.
These all make it necessary to agree with the new creed, that it is “Trini to the bone” regardless of class, ethnic origin or political leanings. The thing is so pervasive that I have watched for many years that during the West Indies cricket season, Guyanese play on Mash Day but T&T is generally allowed to have their way during their Carnival Monday and Tuesday.
The one time I remember this not happening was that Phil Simmons came with his team to Guyana and it is alleged that Lara was left to play mas in T&T. My T&T friend said “Boy, Lara love mas just like how he does bat”. Come back to Guyana and you see we are divided on Mash as some members of the opposition seethe over statements made by former Ministers about who mash really belongs to and benefits.
So instead of a national symbol uniting us, we are divided. These days we are trying to heal the rifts. Can you remember in the days when revelers start off at some point and then one group heads west and another heads east for the same celebration?
One of my professors told us that Carnival was a stupid celebration. We could not believe our ears that this was coming from a native of T&T.
A few days after we saw a picture in the Guardian with him being hemmed and ‘jammed’ by some buxom women.
Professor was a member of the Carnival Development Committee and obviously, made a joke in the class room not expecting his joke would have been tested with the picture in the paper.
Naturally, he did not hear the last of it because the T&T students were livid and even my Jamaican ‘padna’ weighed in, ‘Cappa (my sobriquet) what a hypocrite, e bwoy?’
This goes to show that there are a few feelings of discontent but Mas is dem ting and deh love it. Mash is supposed to be awe ting and we divided over it.
The thrust of my presentation in case you missed it from my mishmash is that as a rank empiricist with no pretensions of a studied view of the phenomenon of coalitions and winds of change, is that we have not graduated to that level of maturity in Guyana to determine that our governance and ultimate development should be based on expressions of principle and not expressions of the phenotype.
Orrin Gordon

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