Dear Editor,
Kindly permit me to respond to my friend Christopher Persaud’s, “Authorities should give consideration to the supply side to address alcohol scourge,” (SN 29th Mar 2022). Both Chris of the Gandhi Youth Organisation, and Dr. Vindyha of the Dharmic Sabha, wrote of rum abuse being a national crisis that was not confined to just Hindus. I counter that Hindu crisis will always be a national crisis after all Hindus are not a mere insignificant part of the population following the major groups, but on the contrary they comprise 30% of the population. That Hindus indulge in rum and noise violence on a large scale is easily verified by observation of the Hindu wedding house. Dr. Vindyha stated that she, on several occasions, wrote law enforcement requesting that permits for “alcohol bars” at Hindu wedding houses be denied. It would appear that although she heads the main Hindu organisation and is a Minister of the Government her requests were ignored as is apparent by the rum and noise violence at Hindu wedding houses.
Both Chris and Dr. Vindyha pointed to rum and noise violence by other groups but it is not the same. Who are the others? Not the Muslims who do not do rum and noise at their wedding houses. Christian weddings are of short duration. An hour at Church and a few hours at the reception. Chris wrote about workers absenteeism on Mondays and Tuesdays due to the weekend rum and noise. Only a few weeks ago, a NY based businessman operating in Guyana fired his all Indian crew after they failed to show up on Monday. He closed up his operations and will return with Mexican workers. Many business people make similar reports. So in addition to the existing consequences of domestic abuse and child predation of rum and noise there is now a new one emerging. That of Hindu youths becoming unemployable in the near future.
Other Hindus were offended that I referred to conversion but it is not Mandir attendees who convert but rather the rum shop attendees, and when they do, they stop doing rum and noise and become law abiding decent citizens. But it begs the question – why did they do rum and noise as Hindus but ceased when they converted? Both the GYO and Dharmic Sabha have rules forbidding rum. The British Guiana East Indian Association in its 1938 Policy Paper had guidelines on how Indians should deal with alcohol. It was recommended that no more than 2 drinks per event and that the drinks be sipped slowly to last all evening. The emphasis was on remaining sober to engage others in good social dialogue. In the mid 1970’s the Maha Sabha got the government to freeze new rum shop licences until 1992. There was a “sharing out of rum shop licences” post 1992.
Sincerely,
Malcolm Harripaul AA
