After much hesitation to post an article on this topic, here I go :
After the disturbance caused by certain people in a ceremony held inTriolet by a community of people commonly known referred as “Mission” in creole, a similar one was on the verge of taking place in Bambous a few days ago. Fortunately, the authorities were already present to discourage anyone from going beyond their limits.
Since then, a few hindu associations have been protesting and requesting an anti-conversion law to discourage people to change religion. They are also claiming that these people are forcing people from other religious beliefs to join them. On the other hand, the other community denies all these allegations.
What do you feel about these incidents? How should the Mauritian population react? How will the authorities deal with this?
Feel free to express yourself on this topic…
IMPORTANT :
- Comments will be strictly moderated. Anonymous, vulgar and inadmissible wordings will not be approved.
- As far as possible, I will remain totally neutral…
Once again, don’t forget to click the “LIKE” and “Share” buttons below 😉
Yashvinblogs 
All those who believe in religion are a bunch of loosers.
LikeLike
The current demographic state of Mauritius needs to be preserved. Since the independence, we did not have any military coups (unlike other African nations), no major political upheavals. The main reason
is because the majority of the population are Hindus. There are only 2 countries in the world with a Hindu majority: Mauritius and India. India is the world’s biggest democracy.
Not so long ago, when a section of the population was rioting, looting and burning Hindu businesses in targeted/coordinated attacks, the majority of Hindus remained calm. Some Hindus did use violence
but then again, they had to defend their properties and businesses while spineless politicians remained idle.
In the 1960’s Mauritius experienced another riot and this time another section of the population was involved and Hindus again were the victims. This time, the US/Uk soldiers from Diego Garcia were called in to restore peace.
Politicians do know if Hindus were to become a minority, the paradise island will no longer be the same again. Hence the anti conversion laws.
I blame the Hindu leaders. They are Corrupt, liars and “charlatans”. Instead of teaching the real meaning of Hinduism, they lined their pockets preaching Mickey Mouse stuff. This has created a generation of Hindus who have lost their cultural and religious identity. This is why they are an easy prey for door to door sect peddlars selling the dreams of attaining a place next to god in paradise. You must be naive to believe all your problems will suddenly vanish into thin air if you join the sect. If you believe in it, you have been brain washed
LikeLike
The debate is NOT about a particular religion but the freedom to adhere to and express a religion. What we are seeing in Mauritius is a group claiming to represent a particular religion deciding to take the law into their own hands and threatening to stop people from converting by force. In any democratic society the group or association would be called to order by the authorities. They are inciting violence and hatred. Freedom of religion is enshrined in Article 18 of the UN Universal Human Rights Declaration which Mauritius has adopted. Therefore an anti-conversion law is in contradiction to the country’s legislation. If this country wants to be counted as a democratic country then the government should protect that people’s right. The alternative is going the route of a “banana republic” and seeing the considerable external financial and economic assistance halted. This country’s international reputation is at stake. The danger is that the PM’s hard work on the international scene to highlight the country’s stability could be severely jeopardized by a fanatical group causing internal tensions.
LikeLike
@ Maverick,
“Politicians do know if Hindus were to become a minority, the paradise island will no longer be the same again.”
Do you mean that because Hindus aren’t in majority in Australia, Dubai, Singapore, and the USA (amongst other countries), there is no peace in those countries?
On topic, the anti-conversion law is the biggest load of BS ever, instead of increasing human rights those morons want to restrict it. If you wanna convert religion it doesn’t concern anyone but you. It’s your choice.
LikeLike
Message to all missionaries: I already know that you firmly believe that your religion is the greatest in the world and that it is the only “true” religion as you believe that all other religions are “fakes”. And I also know that you will stop proselytizing only when all people will convert to your religion.
Don’t come and knock at my door to waste my time and your time to tell me that. I already know your disgusting thoughts.
LikeLike
Mike, Mauritius’ stability relies on its current demography. If you tip the balance of power, I am afraid the PM will not have any Mauritian “stability” to sell abroad. This is an unchartered territory. Who knows what will happen if you allow it to go down this lane and pass the point of no return. Will you risk it? This law has already been passed in the Indian parliament. I did not see any international backlash, boycotts and economic sanctions.
LikeLike
@Maverick, yes interesting comment you make. However, we cannot compare India to Mauritius. India is a huge country with its own resources and economic strength. It is able to withstand sanctions if imposed. Mauritius is a tiny island state which is dependent largely on external grants in various forms; either in cash or assistance. As an example the numerous and considerable EU grants (not loans) are subject also to a human rights clause in the agreements. So far Mauritius has met all the conditions, hopefully this will continue. It would be disappointing if a minority was the cause of a tarnished status for this country.
LikeLike
Gri,
There is something paramount you are missing here. I am referring to the “current demography”. In Mauritius, the majority are Hindus
The present majority on Australia are catholics. Do you really think their government will allow this to change? I will not bet on it. The same thing applies to Dubai and all the other countries you mentioned.
No government will allow such a drastic change to happen.
You have to agree these guys are simply sect/religious peddlars who use deception to lure vulnerable persons with the false promise of good health, wealth and happiness. People are most vulnerable in their moments of weakness. Do you think it is right for religious salespersons to go door to door to prey on the weak ? These guys have their own agenda.
Ultimately the government has the responsibilty to protect the weak and vulnerable. These sect peddlars need to be stopped. I have no problem if someone decides to change their religion voluntarily and without any pressure or deception being applied on them. But having fanatic sect peddlars going door to door is unacceptable.
LikeLike
Maverick,
I agree to the part where you say those guys are sects/religious peddlers, no doubt about that (why else would they ask for money?).
Where I don’t agree is where you say Mauritius will not be paradise if Hindus were to become in minority. What would happen if they became a minority naturally, that is by not reproducing as fast as the rest? Or what if Hindus convert to other faiths on their own? What laws will be asked for then?
Until now Hindus have been in majority in Mauritius, from available data (the census is dated from the 1970’s), and this has not prevented two social instability outbreaks. India has also been victim of several social instability outbreaks although Hindus are in majority.
As to your point about no government allowing a drastic change in demographics, well you are once again mistaken;
Singapore had an original population of Malays, and currently Malays only represent about 20% of the population, the current majority is made up of Chinese immigrants. Australia has a current population of about 20million people which include several religions. Catholics are in majority yes, but the government plans on increasing the population to 35million people by allowing immigration, which will bring down the current Catholic majority.
Mauritius did not have a native population; you cannot therefore say that Hindus are responsible of the peace keeping of Mauritius.
LikeLike
Gri,
You have presented some good points but your Australian example is deeply flawed. The projected population growth expected by the year 2050 will be attributed only in part to net immigration. You have failed to take into account more women of child-bearing age, higher fertility rates and people living longer. You are also under the wrong impression that all the 15 million extra people will be immigrants. Furthermore you are under the assumption that all immigrants will be non-catholic.
I have to disagree with you. Mauritian stability is closely linked to the Hindu population. Mind you, in all the cases of social instabilities experienced in Mauritius, Hindus were not the aggressors. They were the victims. They could have taken advantage of their numbers and retaliated on a large scale but Hinduism preaches peace and non violence. As usual, Hindus offered the other cheek and the unrest died down.
For instance, the 2000 Fijian coup d’état aimed at removing elected PM Mahendra Chaudhry, was organised and supported by the Methodist church. In many cases where Hindus find themselves in minority, they are often persecuted – Uganda, Kenya, Pakistan.
I am sure you will agree none of the minorities in Mauritius feel threatened or persecuted. They can all freely practice their religious beliefs without any harassment from the religious majority. We even elected a PM of Franco-Mauritian background!
…and I cannot find any correlation between not having a native population and peace…
LikeLike
@Yashvin:
“a few hindu associations have been protesting and requesting an anti-conversion law to discourage people to change religion”
How do you think these organisations will react to this?
Ou cwar zott pou sonne pétar? Ou-bien célébrer ar enn “maha-yaj” 🙂
En tout cas, mo rappel mo ti gagne enn ti discussion ar enn commentateur de yashvinblogs lors ça thème de conversion en hindou-la, ek la, mo vraiment etonné trouve enn dimoune ki dire ki li’nn vinn hindou (self-proclaimed apparamment), ek swami par-dessus le marché! Vou-zott-o!! Poule pé gagne lé-dents!!
@ReenaDKL:
TTM’s enn issue politique ici dans Dodoland. Mo rappel enn Indien ti vinn travail kott nou pou programming pendant 4 ans, pendant lekel li’nn mari riye Dodolandais quand li’nn tann dir ki ici bann Tamil Telugu & Marathi considéré couma religion. Li’nn reponn moi: “Back in India, I live on the border line of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and I speak both tamil and telugu fluently: If I came to Mauritius, how would your authorities classify me?” Mo pa’nn fouti reponn. Lerla li contignié: “What do you people of Indian descent pray here? Is it the Holy Trinity, or not? So, I’m to be defined as a Hindu, that’s it. I speak tamil, but I’m not ‘a Tamil’, I speak marathi, but I’m not ‘a Marathi’, there can be no definitions like that. Yes, there are many variations in the way we celebrate things like mariages, and prayers, but the essence is the same.” Li’nn terminé ar enn mari kalott pou nou: “You people here are so divided among yourselves, if your persist in this trend you may become more backwards than original Indians that came here in the first place…”
LikeLike
@Torpedo:
i TOTALLY AGREE!!!
Please all of you stop misunderstanding my point…i explained why i chose those specific terms and so…am done explaining 🙂
cheers!
LikeLike
@Joshua: It’s many years since l last opened the Bible , but I do recall there a verse where Jesus said ”….you ,too ,can become Sons Of God ‘
Surely that does not mean we can all become God .
In another verse when asked how we should pray Jesus said prayers should be addressed to ‘Our Father’ [not to Jesus]
LikeLike
@Sagitarius
I was explaining on the topic of whether Jesus was God not implying that we could become God.
Yes We pray to the father but in the name of Jesus.
LikeLike
@ Josh
You missed my point . What I meant is that those verses seem to imply that Jesus did not consider himself God – and by ‘son of God’ he meant someone whose life does not stray from God’s path .
People can stick to their ancestors’ religion , convert to another religion , turn their back to all religion or try all religions : I don’t think anyone should bother about that ,and I won’t bother .
Anti-conversion laws and other such laws that define what people should think or believe has always been passed only by totalitarian regimes and Mauritius don’t belong to that club .
I don’t think anybody has ever been forced to convert to any religion in Mauritius . But this religion referred to as ‘Mission’ has this practice of harassing everybody they come across . While this can be irritating for the healthy it becomes abusive when they turn to the ill ,the worried and the depressed .
You can often see ‘mission’ visitors at hospitals ; they approach patients ,ask them if they would like to pray , ask them to say ‘I believe in Jesus’ and if they don’t ,the ‘mission’ visitors tell them they are doomed , they can’t be healed , ‘for there is no healing without Jesus’ .
Now ,this is nothing short of blackmail
I don’t think God has ever asked anybody to resort to emotional and spiritual blackmail to increase the number of converts .
LikeLike
Folks, let’s face it: Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Gujrati, etc are all languages. There is no such thing as, like the MBC and other radios, “nos compatriotes de foi tamil, Telugu, Marathi, etc”. It simply does not exist – these are said just to please certain socio-cultural cum political leaders. In fact, all these people “”nos compatriotes de foi tamil, Telugu, Marathi, etc” are all Hindus, nothing less nothing more. To understand better, we should all know that all the mantras we chant – be it Hindus speaking Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Gujrati, etc – are in sanskrit; we all pray Raam, Ramen, Raamaa, Shiv, Siven, Doorga, Mariamen, Kali, Kaliamen, etc. stop following blindly these “semeurs de division” in the Hindus.
LikeLike
…in your dreams!
LikeLike
Hello there!
Actually, we can understand why there is a movement for anti-conversion laws. This is not only in Mauritius, but something with many countries and especially at the UN.
For most religions, people need to have some “way” to say they are in that religion. Like for Christians, it’s called “bapteme” and for Muslims it’s called “bapteme musulman” associated with “circoncision”.
Then there are things like “you can’t change to another religion” if you’ve been baptised (especially for certain religions).
But there’s no such thing as “bapteme” for hindus because in old India there were only hindus in the past, it was natural that everyone on the land was a hindu. So no need for “bapteme”.
But as we’re now in 2011, many hindus and many from other religions have converted to another religions. And many have something like “once you’re converted, you can’t go to another religion, not even return to your old religion”.
That’s perhaps why there is this “anti-conversion” law that many people are thinking about.
LikeLike
Long live Agnosticism, Atheism and Humanism, if this is not vulgar 😀
LikeLike
Read this piece well, and try to see who’s playing dirty tricks in this country:
http://www.lexpress.mu/news/20640-blog-faux-departs.html
So, the fear that the proportions making up the Mauritian diaspora is in fact pure myth, but we let politicians and their clique of wannabe’s lure us into unfounded fear of “the other”… When will we stop believing in their lies?
LikeLike
Mauritian should protest to discouraged people from changing religion. Because li bien villian sa.
LikeLike
I am six years too late but haven’t been able to resist. I was in Mauritius when this happened and I was still a christian. I was shocked but not really. What was really shocking was the fact that the harmony between communities is just a facade.
LikeLike