Today I would like to share again one of the additional comments that I wrote following my first article about mauritianism (Proud to be a mauritian/Fier d'etre mauricien, article on March 2008), just in case some people have not yet read it. Your comments are most welcome.
Alain Fok
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Marc Twain said that god created Mauritius before creating paradise. Well, if we consider paradise as a place where everything is perfect (the people, the environment, etc…), then Mauritius is not a paradise and will probably never become a paradise.
But don’t you agree that we have the chance to live in a multi-cultural, multi-religious and stable democratic society where every Mauritian of different origins and background is trying to live in harmony and respect among each other, since our independence in 1968 ?
Let us try to imagine in what situation we would have been in 2008 if our country was still governed by colonial powers… Would it have been better or worse ? Of course we might sometimes tend to prejudge people who are different from us (see my article dated 28 March 2008 on Prejudge) because this is human nature. And we could have the perception that communalism is expanding in our society (maybe encouraged sometimes by some politicians and cultural associations with vested interests) and that our current electoral system might encourage that increase in communalism, favoritism and division in our society especially during electoral campaigns.
But I believe that the Mauritian citizen is an intelligent person, especially those who got the opportunity to get a convenient education (not necessarily academic), and he/she will not accept to be easily ‘manipulated’ by people who have the power in our society to change things for better or worse.
Many Mauritian citizens, especially the young generations, might have lost confidence in the country’s ability to face the new challenges of globalization and either do not want to return back in their homeland after their studies overseas or simply want to emigrate abroad with the hope that grass will be greener elsewhere. They might also believe that our society is becoming more and more violent, that there are much more social injustice, that their purchasing power is declining year after year etc…. They might have lost confidence in the government bodies, in the political system, in the judiciary system, in the educational system etc…
I understand them and they should not be blamed for that because every citizen has his/her own aspirations, ambitions… in life. In my opinion, mauricianism is a state of mind.
Can we accept the fact that we are blessed to be born in such a wonderful island and many foreigners envy us for that.
Can we accept the fact that grass is not always greener elsewhere.
Can we accept the fact that imported products/services are not always of better quality than local ones.
Can we accept the fact that a better knowledge of the culture, the religion, the lifestyle, the way of thinking of people different from us is an enrichment and will definitely help in consolidating our social harmony and improve our quest in building a real Mauritian nation.
And as a responsible mauritian citizen, we should perhaps start thinking how we could contribute to make our country a better place to live for our current and future generations and not always complain and wait for our decision makers to improve things…
Alain Fok
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