{"id":1085,"date":"2011-06-24T06:54:59","date_gmt":"2011-06-24T06:54:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/2011\/06\/24\/letters-33\/"},"modified":"2020-03-02T11:33:00","modified_gmt":"2020-03-02T07:33:00","slug":"letters-33","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/letters-33\/","title":{"rendered":"Readers\u2019 Response"},"content":{"rendered":"
Rodrigues<\/u><\/span><\/h5>\n

Le GM a-t-il pris les dispositions n\u00e9cessaires pour assurer l\u2019int\u00e9gralit\u00e9 et l\u2019inali\u00e9nabilit\u00e9 territoriales de Maurice\u00a0?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Chaque R\u00e9unionnais qui revient de Rodrigues rapporte toujours ces m\u00eames paroles de leurs h\u00f4tes ou amis rodriguais:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0Nous, Rodriguais, travaillons pour avoir notre ind\u00e9pendance dans 10-20 ans. Nous d\u00e9testons fonci\u00e8rement les Mauriciens\u2026 Nous savons que Rodrigues ind\u00e9pendante n\u2019est pas viable surtout dans le domaine \u00e9conomique. Mais d\u2019ores et d\u00e9j\u00e0, nous travaillons avec des Fran\u00e7ais (ONG et personnalit\u00e9s discr\u00e8tes) pour avoir l\u2019appui de la France. Ce dernier pays, par la bouche de ses agents, nous promet de nous assister dans tous les domaines.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0A la longue, nous demanderons \u00e0 \u00eatre un d\u00e9partement fran\u00e7ais comme la R\u00e9union et Mayotte. Dans 10 ans, ce sera chose faite. Il suffit d\u2019un bon cyclone qui \u00e9crase tout \u00e0 Rodrigues. Maurice n\u2019a pas les moyens de nous aider. Nous descendons dans la rue (comme les Arabes), nous demandons l\u2019aide de la France qui envoie des navires de guerre et des ravitaillements. En un mois, nous faisons s\u00e9cession et demandons la protection de la France. Et le tour est jou\u00e9.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0Il n\u2019y a m\u00eame pas, dans\u00a0la Constitution mauricienne, un article qui d\u00e9finit la R\u00e9publique de Maurice en ses constituants moraux et territoriaux\u00a0! Nous sommes une simple colonie de Maurice\u00a0! B\u00e9renger nous a donn\u00e9 l\u2019autonomie pour acc\u00e9der un jour \u00e0 l\u2019ind\u00e9pendance\u2026 avec lui comme Premier ministre\u00a0!\u00a0\u00bb<\/span><\/p>\n

Questions\u00a0:<\/span><\/p>\n

1) Le GM est-il au courant de ce travail souterrain des Rodriguais avec l\u2019aide r\u00e9elle ou imaginaire de la France\u00a0?<\/span><\/p>\n

2) Y a-t-il, oui ou non, un article de la Constitution mauricienne qui stipule que le territoire de la R\u00e9publique de Maurice est constitu\u00e9\u00a0 des Iles Maurice, Rodrigues, Agal\u00e9ga, Saint Brandon, Tromelin, Chagos et de chacune des \u00eelots et islets <\/em>qui y sont rattach\u00e9s g\u00e9ographiquement comme d\u00e9pendances en zone \u00e9conomique\u00a0?<\/span><\/p>\n

3) Quand il \u00e9tait Premier ministre, Paul B\u00e9renger avait affirm\u00e9 en donnant l\u2019autonomie \u00e0 Rodrigues\u00a0: si Rodrigues demande, un jour son ind\u00e9pendance, Maurice ne pourra que la lui accorder, n\u2019\u00e9tant pas un pays colonialiste ni imp\u00e9rialiste.<\/span><\/p>\n

Le GM de Navin Ramgoolam a-t-il pris les dispositions n\u00e9cessaires pour assurer l\u2019int\u00e9gralit\u00e9 et l\u2019inali\u00e9nabilit\u00e9 territoriales d\u2019une R\u00e9publique de Maurice indivisible et non s\u00e9cable\u00a0?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sheherazade<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

* * *<\/span><\/p>\n

Why are we here?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Allow me, first, to compliment you for the above-mentioned publication by your correspondent, TD Fuego, in your issue of 17 June 2011. \u2018This deep philosophical question\u2019, along with the 3 others (and subquestions), have exercised very many highly intelligent minds, even before the dawn of civilization. Thus, take that astute query from the Ancient Greeks about the origin of our Universe: from a Marvellous Intelligence? Or from chance medley? Again, consider facets of the poignant text \u2018Consolation of Philosophy\u2019, blending both \u2018Pagan\u2019 and Christian values, by Boethius, AMS (c480 \u2013 524) just before his execution.<\/span><\/p>\n

Second, your correspondent should be thanked, and congratulated, on his timing \u2013 with the imminent coming out of the results of a three-year scientific project on \u2018Understanding Religion\u2019 (The Economist, 23 April 2011, pp 76-77). Also relevant would be La Recherche: Dieu et les Sciences, Hors serie no. 14; Jan 2004.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are many approaches to Religion. And the Scientific Method, for all its faults, is certainly one of those. Various surveys show that, worldwide, the \u2018Marvellous Intelligence\u2019 option is, by far, the preferred one. This is also (at around 40%) the first choice of working physicists and biologists in the United States of America, the world\u2019s premier scientific power, as shown by regular surveys of the past 10 decades. Meanwhile, at the turn into the 21st century, 90% of US citizens generally believe in \u2018God or a Universal Spirit\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

As I prepared myself to answer the main questions passed by your correspondent, I have contrived to receive some confidential breaking news from Heaven, (honni soit qui mal y pense!) which might be of interest to you.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018More-Divine-Life\u2019 Controlled Research Project:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

God Triggers Long-Term Action<\/span><\/p>\n

Darwin (suffering from a temporary lapse due to a personal tragedy amid heavy criticisms of his theory, awakens back into his faith), Malthus (much maligned and misunderstood, despite impeccable logic) and Nehru (a \u2018last mogul\u2019 type with a \u2018wall-less\u2019 mind — rare even in paradise): these complete the last nominations (from earth) to be approved by God for the Dream Team to manage the latest celestial avant-garde long-term project estimated at less than 0.1% of celestial 2010 GDP. The other members of the team, already approved and announced are: Gaia (in the Chair), Andromeda, IxChel, Albertina Susilu, and Mother Theresa. The Secretary will be Heaven\u2019s Secretary-General, Saint Peter, in the initial stages. The Main Rapporteur is Vyasa, of Mahabharata fame (along with its inner core of religious philosophy \u2013 the Bhagavad Gita or the \u2018Lord\u2019s Song \u2013 see chapter xi, 5 -49)\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

God\u2019s nomination of Maria Winteler-Einstein as Liaison Officer with The Other Place is likely to prove controversial on both sides. Nominations are also expected for Pasteur, the biochemist, probably as Chief Research Officer (he thinks of God as akin to Infinity), as well as for Hypathia, Pascal, Galileo, Euclid or Rousseau. Marx of Das Capital is also reported as a strong possibility. There have been very many who have pledged support for the project including Anaxagoras who found the truth on Truth), Noah of the Ark, Confucius, Solomon, Gandhi the Mahatma, Martin Luther King and many Devil\u2019s AdvocateS.<\/span><\/p>\n

Among other features of the latest celestial initiative are:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. In triggering the next step in the evolution of life through a collaborative project to enable people of all faiths (including those without any) becoming divine in time, is also meant to discover whether life is somehow \u2018circular\u2019 or more or less \u2018linear\u2019. God, of course, knows the answer, but has adopted a divine self-imposed statute of power limitations. (Excess democracy, anyone?)<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. People\u2019s trials and tribulations will be tabulated and analysed, along with reasons thereof, and crosschecked by celestial computers with past data as last reference (any compensation, PRB style?).<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. The next evolutionary step will be announced by the Almighty after a Great Consultation to be decided upon subsequently (Where? Computerise, for Heaven\u2019s sake!).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Topics of heated discussion also include: Is Buddhism (both branches) a real religion, without any formal declaration on the idea of God? How will \u2018The Other Place\u2019 react to the new project, with Delilah reported to be pulling others\u2019 hair in all directions \u2013 or is that a ploy to drive Samson in Hell\u2019s \u2018Other Place\u2019 into complacency? Watch this space for future reports.<\/span><\/p>\n

    I should point out, Mr Editor, that those who are for \u2018Chance Medley\u2019 (or Dame Fortune), as against \u2018Marvellous Intelligence\u2019, often write with a sort of intellectual arrogance \u2013 of the kind that says: \u2018if you do not agree with me, you are stupid\u2019. Not likely to make friendships flourish, or cultivate influence \u2013 is it? But I can recommend an exception – a New York Times no.1 best-seller, entitled God Is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens; Hachette; NY, 2007.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Professor J. Manrakhan<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    \n

    * Published in print edition on 24 June 2011<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Rodrigues<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":261,"featured_media":12847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[34],"tags":[22169,22168,14689,900,22167,50,14292,49,3032,16761,1697,20181,1263],"class_list":["post-1085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-readers-speak","tag-ams","tag-boethius","tag-constitution-mauricienne","tag-gdp","tag-marvellous-intelligence","tag-navin-ramgoolam","tag-ong","tag-paul-berenger","tag-prb","tag-professor-j-manrakhan","tag-rodrigues","tag-sheherazade","tag-td-fuego"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Reader.jpg?fit=663%2C417&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8QzSF-hv","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/261"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}