| | The handshake of reconciliation | | | | Modifier la taille du texte: | A | | | A | | |
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| | Par:- Touria Prayag
On 05/02/2010 |
It was a timid and disgraced hand which shook Jayen Chellum’s unwaveringly determined one. The attempt at facesaving was weakened by the time it took for Mrs. Bapoo to reach the conclusion that the suppression of subsidies to the ACIM was abusive, wrongful and unwarranted. She tried everything, from disclosing his salary to blaming him for students turning up late for their exams. She could not, however, justify the act of using tax-payers’ money to punish an institution. Her persistence and the bravado she displayed were misplaced.
Yes, Jayen Chellum reminded us again that it pays to have the courage to stand up for one’s principles, a lesson we tend to forget in today’s materialistic Mauritius where the rules of the game seem to be to rod bout. Yes, he also did drive home his message that it is not easy to do so. The frail almost infantile figure with indomitable will which survived the drastic 12-day starvation gives us an idea of how much the man has suffered. His victory in the face of it is all the more worthwhile.
But apart from the lessons in heroism and selflessness which we have learnt, another lesson is just how easy it is for things to backfire. Instead of destroying the man and his association, Mrs. Bapoo made a hero out of him. People who did not know Jayen Chellum now do. Those who did not know what his salary was now realize how badly paid he is. Those who were annoyed at his ill-advised ‘operation escargot’ now have forgiven him. And more than ever before, people are aware that they need men of principle like him.
But let these not be the only lessons: let us also learn to be fair and balanced in our views. Mrs. Bapoo’s handling of this case was pathetic. However, she remains a great minister with rare leadership qualities. She has worked very closely with NGOs and set up very successful projects which targeted the most vulnerable members of our society.
Jayen Chellum’s mission has been hard but rewarding. His victory was all the more wonderful because he did not gloat, did not try to turn the knife in the wound, did not seek revenge. He chose to celebrate with relief rather than defiance. He has put the whole chapter behind him and ended his struggle on a positive note about having transparency and accountability in all NGOs. Many of the NGOs, too scared of losing their bout, did not support him. His victory is still theirs.
He does not seem to be in a mood to settle any scores. That would diminish the great man who has emerged out of this conflict. He chose to look ahead to the implementation of the lessons he has driven home to us. Let us take a leaf out of his book and look at the silver lining of this episode.
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| Em | | | I met first Mr Jayen Chellum some twelve years ago, he is a very nice gentleman who is passionate about his work. Who were these shameless ministers targeting him or ACIM? A man or woman for that matter, in 2010 Mauritius has to go to such extremes to have his/her rights upheld? Revolting, so the cabinet made this decision. Very well, they will soon be accountable to the population. | | | Ben Moossa | | | Excellent article from Mrs. Prayag. Thank you for your objectivity. Briefly, I will say in our beautiful creole: Mme Bapoo finne assize lor la bouche. Mme Bapoo et so Gouvernment pe oule elimine tout bann la voix discordante. Me J. Chellum avec so determination, so principe finne mettre zot hola. Zot va reflechir dan zot politik faire lev paquet et faire vinne mange dan zot la main. Dieu merci nou ena dimoune ki resister dans nou société. Bravo et Merci Jayen. | | | eric | | | Ms Prayag, it's your second article of the New Year, please,please let's have more.You've a wonderful say with words and your vocabulary is superbly descriptive, your article is informative and entertaining. Just look at some comments, absolutely fabulous, very very good an excellent lesson to us all, but someone has come to the rescue of the Hon Mrs Bappoo, he not only offered her his respect but praises her for her "Savoir Faire" , her (Know-how), her ability to say and do things the right way in any situation, and she overtly made a hero of Mr Chellum and a laughing stock of herself by displaying her extravanza as mentioned at the start of your article and in the comments of the Feb o6. | | | MoralScientist | | | It is very deplorable that a fine lady like Ms. Prayag allows herself to be unwittingly drawn into a unseemly criticism of an even finer lady like Honourable Minister Sheila Bappoo over a compassionate gesture by the stronger side in a clash involving an erring activist (as informs us) and the public authorities, the party I refer to as the stronger side. In the context of the ongoing Annual Security Conference in Munich and side-meetings related to negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme, a panel had been set up to discuss aspects of the negotiation, and it was to convene the Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Ayalon, with the Turkish Foreign Minister, US Senator Joe Lieberman, Egyptian, American, Turkish, Saudi and Russian Representatives, as well as Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal, who no longer holds an official position but is highly influential in Saudi Arabia. When Ayalon reached the meeting room, he discovered that the panel in which he was set to participate had been split into two separate panels. The first panel was to include the Saudi prince and other Saudi officials, as well as officials from Egypt and Turkey, followed by a separate panel to include himself, Lieberman and the American and Russia representatives. The Israeli delegation felt that the split was a Saudi request, so Ayalon chose, in his opening statement, to deplore the “lack of mutual respect and tolerance, a failing at the heart of the {Middle East’s] problems”, and he was backed by US Senator Lieberman in his criticism. During the question and answer period that followed the completion of the two panels’ work session, Saudi Prince Turki stood up in the audience and pointed out that said it was not he who had objected, and that the splitting of the panel was probably due to the recent diplomatic row over Ayalon's "boorish behavior" with Turkey's envoy to Israel, when Ayalon had sought to humiliate the Turkish envoy over Israel’s displeasure at a Turkish TV programme. It was now Ayalon’s turn to feel humbled (humbled, not humiliated!). He acknowledged that his treatment of the Turkish ambassador had been inappropriate, and pointed out that Israel had formally apologized to Turkey and its apologies had been accepted. He lamely tried the awkward claim that Prince Turki had questioned his integrity and stretched out his hand, saying that if, indeed, it was not Prince Turki who had objected to his being there with him, he would welcome him to shake his (Ayalon’s) outstretched hand. The Prince refused to budge. Ayalon got down from the podium and walked to the Prince with his outstretched hand. And Prince Turki shook his hand. Muslim savoir-faire! But, also, I offer my most sincere respect to Honorable Sheila Bappoo for her excellent savoIr-faire. | | | Garam Masala | | | Kuma li habituer, Mme. Touria Prayag ine ecrire avec clarté, licidité, et pli important, objectivité et equilibre analytique. Ala ene dimoune ki pas per exprime so l'opinion sans parti pris, ek 'without fear or favour'. Si selman ti enan enkor plis dimoune kuma li, intellectuellement honnete dan sa pays la! Mais, mo konpran ki li pas sorte Moris? Fer nou Morisyen fer enkor plis honter ki ene etranger vine donne nou lesson! | | | Monster | | | It is an absolutely fabulous article. Mrs. Bappoo is indeed a great minister. This episode should not make us forget that. Thanks for highlighting that Mrs. Prayag. Always enjoy reading your balanced views. You do not follow the trend blindly. But just one little thing: Jayen Chellum aussi un roder bout like many other NGOs. Also, he is very politically biased. An MMM stooge. If he is that good, why does he accapare la CIM? | | | Emiliano Z | | | The mouse that roared. Yes Touria, you are right, there is a lesson in it for all of us. | | | democrate | | | Au-delà de la poignée de mains de réconciliation, il ne faut pas perdre de vue la question fondamentale dans cette affaire : pourquoi le gouvernement avait-t-il supprimé les subventions à l’ACIM pour ensuite faire marche arrière dans la foulée de la grève de la faim de Jayen Chellum ? En rétablissant les subventions à l’ACIM, le gouvernement a fait un aveu de culpabilité. Les motifs de compassion et d’humanisme invoqués par les deux ministres concernés pour expliquer la volte-face du gouvernement ne sont pas plausibles. Le gouvernement s’est sans doute ravisé pour éviter une mort d’homme en cette période pré-électorale, mais cela ne doit pas occulter les raisons profondes derrière la décision initiale de supprimer les subventions à l’ACIM. La vérité est que ce gouvernement ne tient pas en odeur de sainteté les ONG qui défendent les droits de l’homme en général ni les organisations qui n’épousent pas le point de vue officiel (presse indépendante, syndicats). Dans sa tentative d’imposer la pensée unique, le gouvernement a systématiquement intimidé et persécuté les leaders de la société civile pour les faire taire et empêcher un débat public sur la politique officielle. Très peu d’hommes ont le courage de défendre leurs convictions jusqu’au bout comme Jayen Chellum l’a fait. Espérons que l’action de l’ACIM saura inspirer les mauriciens pour être plus audacieux dans la défense de leurs droits. | | | Vikram J | | | Good governance has major characteristics like participation, rule of law, transparency, responsiveness, equity and inclusiveness, effectiveness, efficiency, accountability and strategic vision and consensus orientation.
If the Government was transparent in all its dealings there would not have had the need for the Operation Escargot by Jayen Chellum. Next if it was really equitable , Mrs Bappoo would not have had to state that Mr Chellum is being paid Rs 21,000 monthly when we all know how much certain so called Advisers are being paid to do unproductive work. The moral of the story : the average thinking Mauritian believes in fairness and in today's world with easy access of information through different media , it is the dawn of a new era. | | | che | | | Rs 21,000 that's too much for Mr chellum. And you Mrs Bappoo tell us how much the tax payers pay for your Body guards and your driver? Please don't be your own laughing stock... | | | wisdom | | | Cynics would put a political dimension to any form
of protest.That may be or not the case.How many of
our revered politicians would go through what Mr Chellum has endured to uphold a fundamental belief?. | | | azad | | | VERY VERY GOOD ARTICLE."TO UNDERSTAND IT ALL IS TO FORGET IT ALL" HOW WONDERFUL THANKS TOURIA.CONTINUE YOU ARE IN THE RIGHT WAY. | | | Jean Chung | | | Thank you for praising Mr. Chellum. We should not be too hard on Mrs. Bappoo. She is trying hard to succeed in a male-dominated world... | | | politico | | | Warren Buffett famously observed that it is only when the tide goes out, that you can see who is swimming naked. It is a potent adage..... | | | Melanie | | | Great article as usual...Congratulations Touria ! | | | Poukni | | | 12 days of suspense. At last a happy end. The human feeling won. No capitulation. All winners. Thank you Touria for not looking on the dark sides of life. Good lesson for Jayen, Sheila and all of us ! | | | Baltazar | | | Absolutely pleasant and relieving Mrs. Touria Prayag. Everyone of us have learned a new lesson from this story. I would say it has been a "win win" result". Nobody is to be blamed. There has been emotional reactions on both sides. Sheila Bappoo has reacted like a mother who punished a child for disobedience and not respecting her rules. Jayen took this punishment as unjustified. Finally, after 12 days she realised that after all we are all humans and nobody is perfect. That's why she decided to forgive Jayen Chellum ( just or not just, guilty or not guilty ). The christian's daily prayor : " Father in heaven, forgive us our offenses as we forgive those who have offended us. Amen. Jayen and Sheila, shake hands ! No one here is a hero or a loser. God bless you all ! | | | Burn-it | | | Those who want to criticize Jayen Chellum are free to do so. But in my opinion, he is now our national Mahatma Gandhi. His fight deserves a page in Mauritius' History. Thank you Sir Chellum! | | | jimmy | | | Good command of english but nevertheless the cynical Jayen saying after his hunger stirike that should we need consultancy services in hunger strike cast doubt on his real motivation.We as mauritian perfectly understood the useless of ACIM but we were saddened by the fact he may lose his job and given he has children.Let's face it: a lot of these organisations are satellite of the MMM.As we can recognize the modus operandi, taking us as hostage.Here manupulating our goodwill especially during such religious period.We need to ask: are these org useful or is there a better way to provide such service as we know with the net we cut cost on these and invest elsewhereAs Mme Bappoo she was just a cookery teacher at the EDEN college.So one could not expect much in term of politics ot any skill in negociation... | | | loulou | | | Beautiful article Mrs Prayag. I understand that the objetives of Mr Chellum has been achieved but what do we do now the lesson learnt. You know what, let's appoint an expensive commitee to come up with 500-pages of useless recomendations. Bottomline is that tax-money cannot be managed with such attitude and opacity. | | | S | | | And what does Touria think of what Jayen Chellum has been saying? That is does she think that Government is willing to use taxpayer's money to censor people voicing out negative comments? We would like to know! | | | Prab | | | Very good article. Moricien pa content dominaire, C'est "EGO" Mme Bapoo ki fine faire li faire ene betise pareil. Li ti envi casse lerein Jayen Chellum mais a la fin, Jayen Chellum fine vine ene " HERO" et Mme Bapoo ene " ZERO". I believe she won't get a ticket for the next election. Li ene poid lourd astere. | | | Tony | | | just womdering whether Sheila Bappo works for say 10% of what she's paid for. That is a typical Labour mentality. | |
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