QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Fame vaporises, money goes with the wind, and all that's left is character"
-- O.J. Simpson American football player

To Our Readers 

Your views are of interest to us. They help us balance the argument in the correct perspective. We welcome you to draw our attention to anything or opinion expressed in the Mauritius Times (or any national or international event of interest) with which you agree from your own angle or disagree due to a different appreciation of facts.

We will gratefully receive your communications at the email address:

mtimes@intnet.mu

Apropos LEX’s ‘The Drug Business: How Criminals Beat The Law’

A "serious inquiry" would reveal that the police and anti-drug laws directly provide the profitable black markets that attract drug dealers that will sell drugs to children. If drugs were regulated, in age and quality controlled markets, our children would be much safer; drug users would not need to steal to support the black market, and the criminals who currently run the market would be out of business as they could not compete with a legal market.

This is THE solution. Anything else is folly.

David Lane
615 Fair Ave
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
United States of America

* * *

The drug war doesn't fight crime, it fuels crime

Mauritian politics

Mr Dulloo has tested the water and horse-traded with almost all major political parties in the Island. He has finally shown his true colours. He is an MMM at heart. He really belongs to the MMM, despite having chanted the mantras of other parties from time to time in the past. 

Mr Dulloo broke ranks with the MMM and joined the MSM. He was regarded by the former Prime Minister, SAJ, as “le Dauphin”. He wanted to get the upper hand and lead the party as the potential successor of SAJ. Unfortunately, he forgot that Mauritian politics is based on the “Indian dynastic politics” where the son succeeds the mother and the wife succeeds the late husband. His position within the MSM became untenable and became some sort of a thorny problem. He was sacked by SAJ.  

In frustration Hon Dulloo formed his own political party known as the MMSM, in collaboration with a motley crowd. He then joined hands with the Social Alliance and vehemently criticised Paul Bérenger for his policies, in particular the Illovo deal. Later, his allegedly furtive contacts with the MMM led to his sacking by an astute Prime Minister. His followers left him in the lurch. He became isolated and sought any means to cling on to survive. He ultimately subjugated himself to the command of his long-lost friend Paul Bérenger. His adhesion to the MMM has caused a rift within the party and left some members fuming with rage.

The true state of the Mauritian politics will be known only when the parties MMM and MSM or MMM and Labour will ally to fight the general elections. Political parties will crop up like mushrooms by disgruntled members. Former friends will become foes, crossing swords and calling each other the worst names under the sun. They will start instigating the electors, preaching hate, casteism and division. Just wait and see. 

S.Seechurn  
London

Partisan advertisements?

It is with great sadness that I have read Harish Boodhoo’s article « The scandal surrounding the government-paid partisan advertisements to newspapers » on le Défi Blog, 26 July 2008, and in le Mauricien, 24 July 2008.

If you want «the Supreme Court to give its interpretation of the financial rules and regulations governing advertisements» effected by the government and «Government-controlled parastatal bodies», you should advise the aggrieved newspapers to bring a test case, or perhaps you could bring one yourself, in the interests of those papers. Please do not forget to include the private sector advertisements as well.

Taxpayers’ money must be used in the public interest and not in the interests of privately financed papers. The notion that money paid by taxpayers belongs to the taxpayers is a totally misguided political claim. Tax is that amount of money which has to be paid. Civil Servants, including Ministers and Judges pay taxes too. But the taxpayer has no claim upon this money simply because IT DOES NOT BELONG TO HIM! It belongs to the State, and those who run the State have an obligation to use this money in the public interest. Those who say that taxpayers’ money is «our money» are clearly misguided.

You are wrong in believing that this « concerns public funds being utilized by politicians for political purpose ». According to what you are saying, if the government advertises in le Mauricien, it is fine, but when the same advertisement is placed in Mauritius Times, it is for a ‘political purpose’. Do you honestly believe that a court of law will entertain this sort of reasoning?

Those papers which you fear may suffer the same fate as Sunday Vani for want of advertisements from the government because you care so much about them must be laughing at you, which is nothing new. In fact, they obtain more than their share of advertisement from the private sector due to their wide readership. What did the private sector do for Sunday Vani? In the UK, News of the World, The Sun are regarded as forming part of the gutter press, but the private sector spends silly millions in advertising in those papers, again because of their wide readership.

By the way, since when did you become the lover boy of le Mauricien, Harish bhai, given the sheer number of your pieces it is publishing lately? Is it as long as you embarrass Navin Ramgoolam and the Labour Party, until they ally with Bérenger, that is?

M Rafic Soormally
London

Know ‘Right’ Need 

Between Right-To-Know

and Need–To-Know, how mazy

should Life-Space-Time be? 

* * * 

To Know Or Not…? 

Shonldn’t Franken-Dodo

et al scan smooth, smart Homo,

all retro-bare ?? No??? 

* * * 

Central-Banking Blues 

Long well-sprung ensemble

Press’d local: in-growing nails

Constitutional? 

Jagadish Manrakhan 

Notes:

(i) With due apologies to Martin Luther (1483 – 1546), who nailed his ’95 theses’ on the door of Wittenberg Church, Germany, on All-Saints’ Day 1517, bringing the Reformation Movement within Christianity into the open, to be well ventilated by a newly invented printing press
(ii) For the unprecedented world-wide malaise in present-day central banking, see inter alia recent issues of The Economist, especially the leaders entitled ‘Barbarians at the Vault’, 15th May p14; ‘What a way to run the World’, 5 July p 15; and ‘Twin Twisters; 19 July p 11
(iii) For insights into possible repercussions in (western) democracies of security and related topics on constitutional matters, see the International Herald Tribune (New York Times), 9^th July 08, esp: the leader ‘Compromising the Constitution’, along with other articles on pp 1, 8 and 9
(iv) See also the perceptive and persuasive plea of US Senator George Mitchell ‘Hard Times Are Here’: on free and fair trade, economic recovery growth, and development The Times, London, 3 July 08 p 22 with reference to the current WTO talks (now collapsed)