Address by the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago

The Honorable Kamla Persad-Bissessar

Indian Arrival Day celebrations
May 30th 2010

I wondered as I prepared for today's address whether I should retrace

the 165 years since the arrival of the first East Indians to the shores
of Trinidad and Tobago or look ahead towards the future.

The story of indentured labour though often told is so misunderstood

by so many that it seems it can never be repeated often enough.

It is interesting that of the two main ethnic groups that built Trinidad
and Tobago both endured such inhumane conditions albeit in quite
different circumstances.

While today marks the arrival of East Indians to this island one cannot
help but reflect on the journey of all our peoples to this land, the
hardships they must have endured and their indomitable will to
survive and for some to win their freedom.

We are today beneficiaries of their courage and resilience. It is

indeed a proud heritage and one that explains the boundless strength
of our nation.

Africans and East Indians today stand side by side in pride of their
forefathers who through their struggles bequeathed this land to us.

The others who came, Syrians, Lebanese, Chinese and Europeans

might have made the journey under different circumstances but theirs
is an inheritance of nationhood that they can feel justifiably proud
today.

It would though be remiss of us to forget that when these groups

arrived they found the Amerindian community.

And so let us bookmark this occasion to recognize our First Peoples

some of whom still are proudly among us today. The time has come
when we must pay greater tribute and recognition to the local
Amerindian community, one who is too often forgotten and ignored.

It is ironic that our East Indian forefathers who left their homeland to
escape the poverty, caste and gender oppression and landlessness
would find themselves here fighting against the same sad features of
life.

But over the years what started out as a small recalcitrant racial
minority grew and established themselves in Trinidad and Tobago.

Today the children of the East Indians have preserved so much of

the traditions and customs brought with them but they have also
created their own unique identity that has been fused into
Trinidad and Tobago, And much of it has also been integrated with
the music and culture of their African brothers and sisters so that they
stand and dance proudly beside each other.

I could think of no greater tribute to our forefathers than that, to have

become more than just a part of what they were when they arrived, to
have arrived now as Trinidadians and Tobagonians.

As a people, no one can deny the contribution made by the

descendants of East Indians to the social, political, economic and
intellectual life across the region. From the fields of indentured labour
the children and grandchildren of the East Indians have emerged and
evolved to distinguish themselves as proud citizens of Trinidad and
Tobago.

I know many of you in this audience will take great pride that a
woman of East Indian decent is today the Prime Minister of
Trinidad and Tobago.

But while I acknowledge the right for such a perspective to exist

may I humbly say that I would rather the nation feel the pride
that one of the descendants of our collective experience of
hardship and sacrifice today represents their realisation and
longing for a better life and for freedom.
Only then will we truly pay tribute to the tribulations of our
ancestors and make it all worthwhile.

Such a broader perspective of what it means to be of East Indian

ancestry living in Trinidad and Tobago should provide a more holistic
understanding of our need for integration into a society made up of so
many peoples.

And this takes nothing away from the proud individual strands that
preserve our history, religion and culture. It simply adds to it all.
And today I would like to recognise those before me who struggled
for this recognition and equality. The Capildeos and the Pandays and
the Butlers, the Daagas, the original freedom fighters of our nation.

I am the inheritor of their courageous, inspired battles. I am the

heiress of the freedom they claimed in our name, the future
generations.

And I am proud that today I can say that Makandaal Daaga is one of
the leaders of our People’s Partnership government and will be
appointed as this country’s Caricom Cultural Ambassador
Extraordinaire.

Chief Servant Daaga has spent decades working without recognition

and help in the cause of promoting the ideals of poverty eradication
and giving people, especially young people, a sense of purpose
through sports and culture. He is a selfless, patriot whose service we
are so fortunate to still have among us today. And today on Indian
Arrival Day we salute him and his lifework.

There is so much talk of discrimination in the East Indian community

over the years and while so much is valid I would like to again
broaden the view.

Discrimination and unfairness does exist in our society but it affects

so many rather just one community. It includes, but is certainly not
limited to, racial bias.
Discrimination and prejudice is amorphous and has different sources
and motivations: it may be based on gender, class, poverty, political
affiliation, contact technology or who-yuh-know, locality, sexual
orientation, victims of HIV and yes, race.

So when we look at discrimination, please remember there are so

many out there who are victims as well.

It’s difficult to convince those that have been seated at the dining
table for such a long time that they must make room for us, that there
must be an equal numbers of places for all to share, that no one is to
be excluded because they are of a different colour or because they
because of their religious beliefs, or because they have different
lifestyles and preferences, nor because they happen to be a woman.

Here every creed and race was meant to have an equal place.

Who’s going to give up their chair to make way for others in the name
of equality?

Why will they change the status quo to which you have been
accustomed?

Many resist change in the name of equality, preferring instead to

preserve the status quo.

But we simply will not allow that, invitations are hereby extended to all
and sundry to sit at the table.

MINISTRY OF THE ARTS AND MULTICULTURALISM

And so I want to announce today that the Ministry of Arts and Culture
will be redesigned to become the Ministry of the Arts and
Multiculturalism in order to give greater voice to the diverse cultural
expressions of our common desires for individual and national
identity.
There will be a realignment of policies including resource allocation,
to allow for a more equitable recognitionand fulfilment of the needs of
the diverse proponents of our culture.
As your Prime Minister, I look forward to partnering with the East
Indian, African, Asian, European and other arts communities as with
all citizens, to ensure that our celebration of days such as this are no
longer just a formality, but an active reaffirmation of this
Governement’s commitment to ensure that every creed and race
finds an equal place in this land of ours.

GENDER GAP
Looking towards the future, one of the most important issues the
National community must face is the widening gap between the
liberated, modern, independent women and our traditional men who
are being left behind.

Women are out performing men in almost every sphere of life in our
society and the women of East Indian ancestry are no exception to
this rule.

They have broken the cultural mould.

Education and employment opportunities have brought financial and

emotional independence and a request for equality in social and
personal relationships.

Objective introspective analysis would reveal that there is a

burgeoning crisis in the national social network, which requires that
special emphasis is placed on addressing this issue as a matter of
priority.

The problem has long been recognized, and there have been many
interventions from various government departments to address it ,
but it seems that little success has been made to date to reverse this
crisis.

We still see the problem in the SEA results where our girls are
outperforming our boys, and we see it manifested one generation up,
at the universities and in the composition of the university
population.

And this is true across the Nation, regardless of ancestry or cultural

background, including boys and men of East Indian ancestry.
Whilst this has been happening, we have witnessed a dramatic rise in
the presence of women in all fields of national endeavor. This too, is
true across the Nation.

Women of East Indian decent in the media for example, include some
very powerful officeholders including : Omatie Lyder, Sunity Maharaj,
Sita Bridemohan, Kathleen Maharaj, Dr. Kris Rampersad, Camine
Maharah, Sheila Bholai, Joseanne Lennard, Charmaine Baboolal.

The same can be said of every professional and civil department,

throughout the country. This is to be celebrated, and speaks volumes
of the maturity and strength of our Nation, Trinidad and Tobago.

As we celebrate today, we must recognize that women of this nation

have helped shape our future. In the East Indian diaspora this
remains true : it is no secret that women have been the quiet strength
behind the resilience of East Indian culture and success in life. Even
in the melting pot of culture and cultural expressions, the fields of
chutney, chutney soca, or so called cross over bands and remixes
have borne many examples of women with East Indian ancestry.

Today then let us celebrate how far we as a Nation have come.

Those of us with East Indian, African, Chinese, Syrian, this
kaleidoscope of cultures and traditions.

Much has been achieved. Much is left to be done.

OUR BROTHERS KEEPERS

But as we stand here at this unique point in time, looking
simultaneously at the past the present and future, I urge all to
remember how life used to be.

Remember the camaraderie, the sharing, the trust, the support and
the confidence we all had in each other. As a child in the rural district
of Penal I remember sharing meals from the same pot with neighbors
of different racial, ethnic, social and economic backgrounds. I
remember school friends of the same mix.
We all managed. If one had, then all had. Because then we were
intuitively and instinctively our brothers keepers. No one had to tell us
to do so. It just happened.

I remember Cecil Fonrose and Ramon Cameo who were of African

ancestry and who were exponents of traditional East Indian art forms.
They joined the stages with Sohan Girdharrie, Ashok Yankaran, Baby
Sandra, Sundar Popo and others as equals .

Time and circumstances have allowed many factors including the

divisiveness of some politicians to keep us apart.

But to go forward, we must go back. We need to rekindle those

values, those strengths as a Nation and as a people. We need to look
at the old time days when our communities raised our children, when
your child was my child and my child was your child.

And we must do so as one people with one goal.

This does not mean that one must submerge ones history and ones
ethnicity and culture for another. We are who we are BECAUSE of
our differences. Often it is said that we are a rainbow country, this is
because while the colours of the rainbow are each different, they
blend into each other - unity in diversity. That is the uniqueness of
our people.

So I urge you to stand proud of your East Indian ancestry. We have

much to be proud of, and much to contribute to the nation still.

I urge you too to be your brothers keepers as we march forward to

build a better nation for us all.
CLOSING
In closing, I say to you that despite our present problems of
escalating crime, the struggle against discrimination and political
incompetence on all sides, Mother Trinidad and Tobago has been
good to us, ALL of us.

Let us unite to confront these problems to held build a better Trinidad

and Tobago.
Ostracizing is not an option – reaching out in the name and for the
sake of Mother Trinidad and Tobago is the only way forward. We can
integrate without losing our unique identity because we are a
confident, resilient and strong people.

All the rooms in her house belong to us and we will ensure that we
get equal space at her dining table.

Being a true and proud Trini is not in any way inconsistent with
comfortably celebrating and retaining our unique identity as the
descendants of East Indian immigrants for we too, are part of Mother
Trinidad and Tobago.

Unity in diversity.

May god bless our forefathers for choosing some 160 years ago, to
remain and settle in this great land of ours – Happy 160th Indian
Arrival Day!