Dear Editor,
In 2006, while flying to the US, I was conversing with a fellow passenger and expatriate who had just visited with his dead brother’s widow. I never questioned his sense of propriety but listened to his 10-minute rant about the crimes being committed by African-Guyanese. I then pointed out that Indian-Guyanese also commit crimes and tried to stress that these crimes should be seen as Guyanese criminals committing crimes against fellow Guyanese citizens. He brought up the Burnham years, and I told him about a documentary Hearts and Minds.
An American reporter was telling a Vietnamese that the tonnage of bombs dropped on Vietnam during their war with America exceeded the total tonnage of bombs dropped on Japan and Germany during WWII. The reporter then asked the Vietnamese how she felt about what America had done. She replied that she did not feel anything because it was wartime, and the war was over. I pointed out to my compatriot that the Burnham era had ended in Guyana, and we needed to move forward and build a country that is inclusive and beneficial to all Guyanese. My countryman continued his rant on “black” people in Guyana, and I told him I was returning from burying my brother and to please excuse me as I turned my head.
I still get annoyed when I hear dogmatic declarations that Indian-Guyanese are victims of African-Guyanese, for I have seen Guyanese of all ethnicity, their swollen eyes red with tears, sadness and grief, suffering as the victims of crime perpetrated by fellow Guyanese criminals. This annoyance was aggravated when the opposition leader declared:
There is an assault on people of Indian origin. There is an assault of supporters of the PPP. What we thought would never return to Guyana, in just one short year, has returned with full force and even worse in some regards than the Burnham era.
Should people tolerate this drivel from the man who sullied and betrayed the integrity of the PPP and the legacy of the great Dr. Cheddi Jagan? Right now, some of this man’s cohorts are being investigated for misappropriation during their time in office. But let us focus on his statement of assault “on people of Indian origin”.
As the opposition leader with power and access to reporters, let him show proof of the “fight” he has undertaken to address the alleged assault of his constituents. What has he done or is doing to address his claim of abuse of his constituents? At the same time, how has he served his constituents and how have they benefited during his tenure? How did he serve our country? Can he defend his free dealing with foreign investors that compromised our ownership of our natural resources? I can go on with these questions, but people need to ask their own questions about his leadership. My focus is on Guyana as a nation.
Once again, I reiterate what I have said in other letters. Unless we come together in spite of our ethnicity, we will be lost as a people because there are forces, within and without, vying for Guyana – Their Prize – our country, our nation.
Yours faithfully,
Stanley Niamatali
