Mauritius In Transition

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31586, 25 January 1968, Page 10

Mauritius In Transition

Can Mauritius, due for full independence in March, survive the transition without a blood bath? The most recent disturbances must raise this question in the minds of all who have followed the recent history of this turbulent island in the Indian Ocean. The racial problems and gross over-population of Mauritius contain the seeds of revolution. Some 800,000 people are squeezed into an area smaller than that of most New Zealand counties, and the Government’s attempts at birth control have had little effect on population increase. The current rioting, involving gangs of youths—more than half the population is under 20 years old—is mainly racial in origin. But it also reflects an unemployment situation that continues to worsen, since large-scale emigration is ruled out as impracticable. There is no racial amalgam. The Asians are sharply divided into Hindus and Moslems. The French and English elements scarcely associate. There are Chinese, Tamils. Africans and French-speaking Creoles. Contact between the races barely exists; and the fears of the minorities are real. In a General Election last August, a coalition of three parties led by Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam became the Government, with a majority of sixteen in a Parliament of 70 seats. Its stated policy was to lead Mauritius into independence within the Commonwealth. The Opposition mainly comprises the Parti Mauricien Social Democrate, broadly representative of the Creole middle classes and the wealthy French and Mauritian landowners. It has sought to retain the link with Britain, arguing that, despite constitutional safeguards, independence would lead eventually to Hindu domination. The third major group, the All Mauritius Hindu Congress, favours independence but professes an extreme nationalism that has given rise to minority fears. The Chinese, some three per cent of the population, do not want independence. The parties forming the Government are the Labour party, largely Hindu-dominated: another Hindu group styled the Independent Forward Bloc: and the Moslem Committee of Action. Within this racial conglomeration politics in the past have been clamorous. There were disturbances and loss of life in 1965, when the prospect of independence stirred racial rivalries which erupted in violence. The Government, it seems, will have to take strong action if the transition to independence is to be orderly. It needs to be able to concentrate on economic development. In no other way will the problems posed by over-population be overcome.