Dear Editor,
In May this year, my book “Judge Mohamed Shahabuddeen; A pictorial biography” was released on Amazon. It was published in both black and white and colour editions and is just shy of 400 pages. As “pictorial” suggests, it contains a lot of photographs but, if one counts the extracts from my father’s books as text and add that to my own writing, the greater part of the book is text.
On August 12, at a ceremony at the University of Guyana, copies of the book were donated to UG’s Turkeyen and Tain campuses, and also to the National Library. My cousin Sharon Correia presented the books on my behalf and also spoke at the event. Here is a link to a NCN News video: https://youtu.be/ 6YGquJoDlZg. Recently, the book was lightly revised, and imperfections – mainly typos – were corrected. A Kindle electronic version, based on the recent revision, is now available for $3 as an instant download on Amazon worldwide. Amazon does not ship to Guyana, so this is convenient for those who have a Kindle device or an iPad with the free Kindle app on it. The print and Kindle editions are listed at Amazon’s minimum list price and they have links to videos and additional text.
While the subject and focus of the book is my father and his life story, there are vignettes and photos of other personalities and commentaries by or about them; Prime Minister (later President) Forbes Burnham, Dr. Cheddi Jagan, Sir Shridath Ramphal, Sir Donald Jackson, Lord Denning, the late Rashleigh Jackson, Judge Vibert Lampkin, my mother Mrs. Sairah Shahabuddeen and her family the Mazaharally’s, my cousin Dr. Noorudeen Hassan, Wilson Harris, Dr. Harold Drayton, Mr. Ralph Ramkarran, poet and writer Cyril Dabydeen and current Attorney General Anil Nandlall, among others.
A highlight of the book is the inclusion of the opening address by Dr. Shahabuddeen (in August 1984 in Georgetown) at the International Round Table to mark the 150th Anniversary of the Abolition of Slavery in the English-speaking West Indies; a landmark event in Guyana and the Caribbean. The speech was printed in a booklet, entitled “Slavery and Historiographical Rectification”, which has been replicated in the book. There are chapters on the seven books Dr. Shahabuddeen wrote, a brief discussion of the 1980 Constitution, a look at his decision at the World Court in the case concerning the “Legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons” and a list of the cases he adjudicated at the international courts.
I have included some of my own writings at the back of the book; a research paper – spanning a century – on aspects of Indian immigrant life in British Guiana, and some of my letters. I give my views on the 2020 election and my opinion of President Irfaan Ali and his government.
Sincerely,
Sieyf Shahabuddeen
