Dear Editor,
I am writing to correct several misrepresentations in Mr. Freddie Kissoon’s letter captioned `Mr Ramkarran carries on smartly with views that the Guyanese people ought to reject’ (SN Oct 9).
Freddie claims that he denounced the government for withdrawing ads to SN. That is not entirely factual. In several columns in KN, he was in glee that the ads were withdrawn because, he argued that, when KN did not get government ads, Stabroek News did not protest.
Freddie accuses Mr. Bisram, the respected pollster, of being “a bedfellow of Ramkarran”. That is not factual. Mr. Bisram informs me that he does not know Ramkarran except what is penned about him. Freddie cannot bear seeing the findings of the NACTA polls that place Ramkarran as the lead contender for nomination as the presidential candidate of the PPP. The fact that Ramkarran is the only potential presidential candidate who is attacked by Kissoon, when all the others give controversial public views, tells its own story of Kissoon’s biases which he pursues relentlessly. There have also been repeated “Kissoonian” attacks in KN on Ramkarran over the last several weeks.
Freddie has been a running critic of Mr. Ramkarran because Ramkarran has consistently critiqued errors in his columns while others who he demonised are afraid to take him on or just couldn’t be bothered with him.
Freddie writes: “Ramkarran opines that the demonstrations in Iran over the presidential election were a direct attack on the Iranian Revolution”. That is not a factual interpretation of what Ramkarran penned in a column captioned `Iran and the Shadow of Mossadegh’ (GC Sep 17). This is what Ramkarran wrote: “The rebellion in Iran arises from allegations of the rigging of the presidential elections. … Iran’s people have demonstrated a fighting commitment to democracy”.
So clearly, Kissoon has misrepresented Ramkarran.
I did my undergrad degree in Political Science and graduate studies in International Relations at CCNY and understand the limits of what a diplomat like Ramkarran can say in public. Kissoon needs to be reminded that Ramkarran is the Speaker of the National Assembly and Guyana has diplomatic relations with Iran. As such, as a diplomat, and the fact that President Jagdeo has announced that he will visit Iran soon, there is a limit to what Ramkarran can say about events in Iran. He must be guarded in his public comments. The mere fact that Ramkarran’s article came after the rigged elections, it is obvious that it was a response to the rigged election. Ramkarran wrote diplomatically about the advancing process of Iranian democracy clearly indicating that the current struggle will advance the process which started after the overthrow of the Shah. Since Freddie claims there is no such thing as Political Science, it is understandable he has difficulty in comprehending such sensitive nuances in writing. Mr. Kissoon needs to stop misrepresenting others.
Yours faithfully,
Vassan Ramracha
