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Dark clouds are gathering...

11 mars 2014, 10:55

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lexpress.mu | Toute l'actualité de l'île Maurice en temps réel.

When abominable acts are perpetrated without any pangs of conscience, when all manner of thieves and cut-throats act in broad daylight with impunity, when those who are supposed to act in the public interest mistake public funds for their own private property to use as they like, one can say we are in for the worst catastrophes.Where does our redemption lie?

 

What kind of society generates such cruelty? Let us attempt an explanation. I reckon some 30 % of our people live under the poverty line. Quite a number of people rely on their monthly or weekly wages to fill their supermarket caddies with mostly junk food. Those who are wallowing in wealth, indecently enjoying their blue label, their out-of-season venison or imported caviar may well say that there is no poverty in Mauritius, I will not insult any right thinking members of society with terms such as relative or absolute poverty, terms which are bandied about by half-baked intellectuals which mean nothing to the poor.

 

Now, can we expect the poor to be content with their lot? Is it not understandable that he should resent the wealth around him and, most particularly, the conspicuous living at his rich neighbour’s place? Is it not conceivable that given the opportunity, he should break into our houses, loot, rape, maim and kill? Evidently our judges must inflict on him the punishment that the Criminal Code has provided for each and every offence. But for every such criminal, the whole society should bear a share of the blame.

 

What upbringing are we giving our children? Some spoilt brats from well-to-do homes have become difficult to manage, I often told trainees in my lectures, ‘‘if you don’t teach your children manners, strangers will do it for you”. You will all agree that they will not do it nicely. And many of these unbecoming children grow into bad citizens who are found involved in cases of corruption and other offences against morality, if not against the person or property. Neighbours are now useless as they are more concerned to show their superiority. Let us not talk of religious people .They bear only the external marks of religion. At least their colourful dress, their ash marks are quite impressive! They smell of Calcium soap but not spirituality. If people were godfearing, they would think twice before hurting their neighbours. Nowadays people have no respect even for elderly women who could have been their mothers.

 

How about schools? The treatment meted out to those who are in charge of our young children by the authorities, parents and some fastidious parents speaks volumes. Our teachers need to be respected and encouraged to give their best. Above all, they should be consulted in all matters of school management and curriculum development. It is quite surprising that we are prepared to entrust our small children to the care of teachers and we pretend to know better than them in pedagogical matters. If parents will not collaborate with teachers in the upbringing of children, you cannot expect teachers to love the children more than their parents. And the result should not surprise us. Just watch the children’s behaviour during recess or when they travel in the school buses.

 

At secondary schools, there is less discipline. Make friends with girls or boys from colleges and ask them about the sombre aspects of college life. You would be surprised at what happens far from the eyes of the teachers. There are many who have turned into bullies so that the police are often called to issue warnings to defaulters. Many girls and boys qualify for rehabilitation youth centres.

 

And we pretend to be shocked at the news of these atrocious crimes! We should not be! Society is sick because of a general decline of values and a complete degradation of the forces that keep society together. We should learn from those who attain the highest positions by dint of hard work. Actually, however, those who should have been role models are setting the worst examples to our youth. Our politicians are the worst of the lot. They, through a system of patronage, have promoted a culture of sycophancy from which nobody seems immune. Just this week we have seen the rise of still another sycophant and we had hoped that he would be different. Wherever you look you see only people who have been honoured for doing almost nothing deserving of praise. Only a few genuine champions are there who succeed with amazing consistency even in the worst spots.

 

This article breathes a lot of pessimism. You cannot blame me for speaking the truth. See, I have not even mentioned the brilliant enquiries of the police and Minister who go scot-free for alleged illegal electoral practices. There is not even a semblance of legal proceedings against them! For how long, we may ask, until elections stop them dead in their track?