{"id":981,"date":"2011-05-07T09:42:32","date_gmt":"2011-05-07T09:42:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/2011\/05\/07\/krj-yash-37\/"},"modified":"2020-03-22T19:04:56","modified_gmt":"2020-03-22T15:04:56","slug":"krj-yash-37","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/krj-yash-37\/","title":{"rendered":"La d\u00e9mocratie irr\u00e9prochable\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

By KRJ Yash<\/strong><\/span> <\/p>\n

Ce qui compte vraiment\u2026<\/u><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Premi\u00e8rement<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Ce 1er<\/sup> Mai 2011, il fallait \u00eatre un r\u00e9el d\u00e9vot des politiciens pour ne pas se rendre compte que la classe politique dans son ensemble patauge. Admettons un instant que ceux qui sont pr\u00e9sentement au pouvoir soient au-dessus de la m\u00eal\u00e9e car ils viennent de remporter les \u00e9lections, mais qu\u2019en est-il des autres\u00a0?<\/span><\/p>\n

Il ne faut pas \u00eatre un devin pour savoir qu\u2019on perd de sa cr\u00e9dibilit\u00e9 \u00e0 force de crier au scandale sans jamais r\u00e9ussir \u00e0 faire tomber les t\u00eates des \u00ab soi-disant \u00bb coupables. Le Mauricien<\/em> (version 2011) d\u00e9code instantan\u00e9ment les effets d\u2019annonce\u00a0: le chien continue \u00e0 aboyer et la caravane continue de passer. Esp\u00e9rons que le chien ne se fera pas \u00e9craser\u00a0! Bilan de ce 1er<\/sup> Mai\u00a0: tous les partis caressent, semble-t-il, le r\u00eave secret d\u2019une alliance avec les Travaillistes.<\/span><\/p>\n

La toute-puissance des Travaillistes du jour est le fruit d\u2019une r\u00e9flexion plus qu\u2019un combat, mais certainement pas le r\u00e9sultat du hasard. C\u2019est bien cela le probl\u00e8me de l\u2019opposition, elle veut mener un combat mais la r\u00e9flexion lui fait d\u00e9faut. Elle se limite intellectuellement vu que sa strat\u00e9gie de reconqu\u00eate du pouvoir se r\u00e9sume \u00e0 des cris de vielles femmes hyst\u00e9riques. L\u2019opposition veut croire au hasard ou \u00e0 la chance (comme les joueurs de loto) en d\u00e9bitant toutes sortes de niaiseries, en attendant qu\u2019une de ces soi-disant \u00ab\u00a0m\u00e9ga-scandales du si\u00e8cle\u00bb gagne l\u2019attention du peuple admirable et sorte du lot.<\/span><\/p>\n

Est-ce ainsi que l\u2019on donne aux \u00e9lecteurs l\u2019envie d\u2019adh\u00e9rer \u00e0 un projet de soci\u00e9t\u00e9\u00a0? Sinc\u00e8rement, je ne le crois pas. Le \u2018hidden agenda\u2019 de l\u2019opposition est trop open<\/em>\u00a0! Malgr\u00e9 toutes ses critiques, M. B\u00e9renger a pris soin de laisser grande ouverte la porte de la II\u00e8me R\u00e9publique au Dr Ramgoolam. Quand dans l\u2019int\u00e9r\u00eat sup\u00e9rieur de la nation une coalition gouvernement-opposition vous propose une redistribution des cartes du pouvoir Pr\u00e9sident-Premier ministre, oserez-vous signifier votre d\u00e9saccord\u00a0?<\/span><\/p>\n

Le flou artistique qu\u2019appr\u00e9cient tant nos dirigeants est un voile de magicien qui fait dispara\u00eetre ce qu\u2019ils ont jur\u00e9 sur la t\u00eate de leurs descendants \u00e0 un moment donn\u00e9, pour nous faire accepter, l\u2019instant d\u2019apr\u00e8s, tout son contraire. Mais voil\u00e0, en m\u00eame temps, que s\u2019accro\u00eet le d\u00e9go\u00fbt de la population face \u00e0 certains politiques, un sentiment de frustration se g\u00e9n\u00e9ralise. Ne vous en faites pas, il n\u2019y aura pas de r\u00e9volution \u00e0 Maurice car nous avons tous trop \u00e0 perdre.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cependant, je m\u2019inqui\u00e8te du d\u00e9veloppement de la culture de l\u2019\u00ab\u00e0-peu-pr\u00e8s\u00bb. Nous sommes de moins en moins s\u00fbrs et certains: un ministre qui veut changer un r\u00e8glement ou pas, un leader de l\u2019opposition qui drible mais se tacle lui-m\u00eame, une route qui doit passer ici ou un peu plus loin, un rapport environnemental d\u00e9favorable mais qui, au final, serait peut-\u00eatre favorable.<\/span><\/p>\n

Le citoyen de base re\u00e7oit trop de signaux contradictoires et se met \u00e0 croire qu\u2019il peut lui aussi utiliser le flou artistique ou le voile magique pour ne pas tenir ses engagements, pour ne pas respecter sa parole. Il veut n\u00e9gocier son exc\u00e8s de vitesse avec la police. Il veut \u00eatre invisible au regard du douanier pour ne pas payer les taxes sur le nouveau pot d\u2019\u00e9chappement ultra-bruyant qu\u2019il importe en cachette. Le petit, tout comme le grand fonctionnaire, veut lui aussi utiliser l\u2019\u00e0-peu-pr\u00e8s pour traiter ses dossiers car son ministre n\u2019a que le courage des ordres \u00e0 haute voix. Les paroles s\u2019envolent, les \u00e9crits restent, n\u2019est-ce pas\u00a0?<\/span><\/p>\n

En bon donneur de le\u00e7ons, je me suis pos\u00e9 la question de ce que je vous aurais dit si j\u2019avais \u00e9t\u00e9 Premier ministre en ce 1er<\/sup> Mai 2011. Sans doute, inspir\u00e9 par ce discours du Pr\u00e9sident fran\u00e7ais Nicolas Sarkozy, je vous aurais murmur\u00e9 que\u00a0:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00ab\u00a0La d\u00e9mocratie irr\u00e9prochable, ce n\u2019est pas une d\u00e9mocratie o\u00f9 les nominations se d\u00e9cident en fonction des connivences et des amiti\u00e9s mais en fonction des comp\u00e9tences. (\u2026) Je ne transigerai pas. Pour certains postes, il ne doit pas y avoir de nomination sans qu\u2019au pr\u00e9alable celui que l\u2019on envisage de nommer ne soit contraint d\u2019exposer ses vues strat\u00e9giques pour l\u2019entreprise ou l\u2019organisme qu\u2019il veut pr\u00e9sider. (\u2026) Le fait du prince n\u2019est pas compatible avec la R\u00e9publique irr\u00e9prochable. (\u2026) \u00bb\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Deuxi\u00e8mement<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

“The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.”<\/strong><\/em>
\n<\/em><\/strong>— Wole Soyinka, Playwright, Nigeria, 1987\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

May 3rd has been declared World Press Freedom Day by the United Nations General Assembly under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, I must say I was quite disappointed by how the local media celebrated their Day. One editor chose to talk about the revival of Advance<\/em> Newspaper. He criticised the re-launching of Advance<\/em> saying this newspaper would only benefit the population if it \u201cgave away daily Rs 500 voucher to local supermarkets\u201d to all its readers or \u201cfree houses to the needy\u201d as if his newspaper was already doing it!<\/span><\/p>\n

If the press is doing its job responsibly, what should it be afraid of? How does the re-introduction of Advance<\/em> affect the existing newspapers? Is this freedom of the press? Is there a risk of losing one\u2019s readers to Advance<\/em>? It is indeed highly commendable of the Labour Party to propose an alternative to merely criticising certain sections of the press. In a democracy like ours, this should even be encouraged as it provides us with a wider choice.<\/span><\/p>\n

When the presidential delegation from India was here last month, we kept hearing that India was the biggest democracy in the world. Probably, India can teach our local press about freedom of the press. There exist hundreds of daily newspapers in that country \u2013 you just need to look at the newspaper boy doing the sorting of newspapers every morning… There are newspapers to cater for the needs of each and every one \u2013 newspapers in several languages, national newspapers, regional newspapers, newspapers treating political issues, newspapers covering Bollywood gossips, to name but a few. How accessible are those newspapers? A first-class newspaper can be bought for a mere two Indian rupees!<\/span><\/p>\n

What about Mauritian newspapers? The prices range from Rs 5 to Rs 25. I believe we would be getting better value for our money were those local journalists to learn a little from their overseas counterparts. As for me, I think I am better off with my various online subscriptions…<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

* Published in print edition on 7 May 2011<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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