At the tables of policy and culture

Kamaluddin Mohammed

The virtues of hard work and commitment to duty must never be underestimated, as they provide the basis for success in life. I want to urge you to note that the more renowned you become in your profession, the more you must ensure that you maintain your humility in the way you interact with other people, regardless of their station in life.

People will remember you favourably for your simplicity, not for your pomposity. I was fortunate in my lifetime to come from humble beginnings and despite my own successes in politics and public life, I remained committed to the value of always maintaining humility in the face of the grandeur of office.

I would like to ask you to embrace the outlook of Rudyard Kipling so that you can walk with kings and never lose the common touch.

Many of you today will become medical professionals and I want to say how much I identify with you. I served as Minister of Health in the Cabinet of Dr. Eric Williams at the time when the Mount Hope Medical Sciences Complex was constructed.

In the 1976 Budget speech delivered by the then Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Dr. Eric Williams, on 12th December, 1975, he indicated that a medical school would be developed in Trinidad and Tobago in collaboration with The University of the West Indies.

As the Minister with responsibility for delivering that project, I want to say that I regard it as one of the crowning accomplishments of my service in public life. As I stand before the graduating class from the Faculty of Medical Sciences today, I feel a sense of pride to see all of you in your graduation regalia and I also feel a sense of achievement knowing that the efforts made in the mid- and late- 1970s were not in vain.

There is another aspect of your graduation that I would like you to consider. You are now a graduate of an institution known as The University of the West Indies. At an earlier time in my career in public life, I was appointed Minister of West Indian Affairs in the Cabinet of Dr. Eric Williams in 1967.

There were many challenges facing us at that time in the region in trying to hold the West Indies together in the aftermath of the failure of the West Indian Federation some five years before.

My personal desire to see regional unity preserved after the collapse of the Federation drove my passion to try and create a platform on which the West Indies could move forward.

The formation of CARIFTA, the desire of Anguilla to secede from St. Kitts and Nevis, the formation of the Caribbean Development Bank, the reorganization and refinancing of British West Indian Airways (BWIA), and the future of The University of the West Indies were all issues that commanded attention in the late 1960s.

As someone who was involved in all of these negotiations, in one way or another, the only passion that drove me was a deep commitment to regional unity and West Indian nationhood.

One of the most daunting challenges concerned the future of The University of the West Indies itself that became an issue at a meeting of Commonwealth Caribbean Heads of Government in Barbados in June 1969. The agreement between the contributing governments to The University of the West Indies was due to expire in 1972 and there were basically two courses of action to be pursued.

These courses of action were contained in a memorandum to all Heads of Government by Vice Chancellor O.R. Marshall dated 16th May, 1969 entitled “Future of The University of the West Indies”. According to the memorandum by Vice Chancellor [Roy] Marshall the courses of action were as follows:

“A. The continuation of the UWI as a regional University after the expiration of the current agreement in 1972, either on its present basis, or on a modified basis; or,
B. the dissolution of the UWI from 1972 or a date thereafter to be fixed and the establishment of a mechanism for giving effect to this decision.”

Fortunately, the regional governments decided to continue with The University of the West Indies after 1972 and I recall how committed Dr. Williams was to the continuation of The UWI. As Minister of West Indian Affairs, I was pleased to be a part of that historic process which has allowed us all to be present here today under the auspices of The University of the West Indies.

I make a simple request of you today. Please consider as part of your personal development the adoption of the values of regionalism in the West Indies. There are many small states in the world today who would want to isolate themselves and not seek to join with others for their own economic benefit.

In the West Indies, it is more than just economic benefit that we seek when we speak of regional unity. For us there are powerful bonds of history and culture that we share as a region.

We also have a diversity that we can celebrate as we move forward as a region. My own involvement in the formation of the People’s National Movement in 1956 in Trinidad and Tobago with Dr. Williams came at a time when I was simultaneously leading a struggle for the recognition of East Indian culture and music in this society.

That struggle was one that tried to break the underdevelopment that was already a part of the colonial legacy of division between racial and ethnic groups in our society.

My own involvement with the launch of the programme “Indian Talent on Parade” in 1947 on Radio Trinidad was not part of any desire to create separation in this society. What we were dealing with was the under representation of the cultural identity of a very large sector of the colonial society in Trinidad and Tobago.

There were those who felt that it was an attempt to promote separation, while there were others who recognized that it was all about validation of cultural identity.

In those days, before Radio Trinidad launched my programme in 1947, those who were fortunate to have radios and who were inclined to listen to East Indian music were only able to listen to it on Radio ZFY from British Guiana.

The reception was not always clear and people in Trinidad and Tobago came to know the names of those British Guianese radio announcers such as Azeem Khan, Mohammed Ackbar and Dindial Singh.

After I started my show on Radio Trinidad, I used to invite the Naya Zamana Orchestra of Ostad Nazear Mohammed, Narsaloo Ramaya and Isaac Mohammed; Jit Seesahai and his Melody Makers; and the S.M. Aziz Orchestra as well as many other singers.

Today, the East Indian music scene has developed considerably and there are many radio stations that have become commercially viable operations that can survive in the diverse media marketplace that we have. This is a remarkable upgrade from the days when one hour per week was allocated on Radio Trinidad out of 119 hours per week in the colonial era.

The upshot of this part of my address on the growth of East Indian culture in the local media and my own struggles to that end is to emphasize that we are diverse. Our society today is made up of many cultural streams and no one can say that Trinidad and Tobago does not have all of the symbols of a richly diverse society that makes it the envy of many others.

Roti; doubles; bake and buljol; pelau, oil down; stewed chicken; peas and rice and so many other dishes are just a mere sample of what is available in Trinidad and Tobago as culinary expressions of our diversity.

I urge you, the graduating class of 2011, to always cherish that diversity in the same way that I urge you to uphold the values of regionalism in the West Indies. We do not want to promote hegemony for any one group over any other. What we need to promote is consensus and tolerance.

I sat at the tables of policy and culture during my lifetime as a Cabinet Minister, broadcaster and cultural impresario. I saw it all and I want to tell you that what we have constructed in the West Indies must be preserved. We are an oasis of stability that other parts of the world would love to be.

I also want to urge you to respect your fellow colleagues and embrace the values of teamwork and collaboration regardless of the personal circumstances that you may encounter. Not everything in life will go your way.

On 29th March, 1981, Dr. Eric Williams died in office as Prime Minister. There were many in this society who felt that I should have been appointed Prime Minister to succeed him. That did not happen and I did not leave the PNM because I was not appointed.

I stayed and I continued to serve the new Prime Minister George Chambers in his Cabinet. We won a general election together in the same year that Dr. Williams died. We worked well together and he paid me the compliment of regularly having me perform the duties of Prime Minister whenever he had to travel overseas.

I want to urge you to uphold those values of teamwork and collaboration so that what becomes most important is your professionalism as opposed to your personal ambition.

After I left office following the loss of the PNM to the National Alliance for Reconstruction in 1986, I was recalled to public service in the late 1990s by the then Prime Minister, Basdeo Panday, to serve as Ambassador to CARICOM.

It was a great honour to serve my country in an area where I had helped to build regional unity. I was there in 1973 when the Treaty of Chaguaramas was signed to create CARICOM which was the successor to CARIFTA. Despite the fact that Basdeo Panday had been on the opposite side politically when I served under Dr. Williams and George Chambers, it was a credit to him and an honour for me that he could reach across the political aisle to ask me to serve my country in such a capacity.

The lesson that I would like to share with you are the values of magnanimity and patriotism. These will serve you in good stead for your future careers.

As I close my address, I want to take this opportunity to wish all of the very best as you embark on this new phase of your life. You have come out of an institution that embodies regionalism and your degree is recognized worldwide.

I am proud of you and I am proud of the University of the West Indies for producing you. As graduates, it is now your task to make your university proud. The world awaits you.