The sudden influx of Indian immigrants to our shores and the generous dishing out of citizenship to them by the SPPF government is raising a few eye brows around the country. The Indians who come here bring with them their own culture, religions, way of life and prejudices. They tend to be a class within a class and have refused to integrate amongst the Creole/Seychellois community. They are essentially Indians and not Seychellois and they make this very clear by the way they behave in society. Politically they are yet to form themselves into any political groupings to pursue their own political agenda. However, they have been traditionally, supporters of the powers that be; SPPF. Although hyper sensitive to any criticisms and having a tendency to over-react when confronted or criticized, they do arguably make an important economic contribution to society at large.
However, the bulk of their profits made here end up being repatriated to their motherland, India. There are thus arguably more Indian millionaires in the world today than any other nationality as the trend is not only apparent here but elsewhere in the world as well. People of Indian and Sri Lankan origin also occupy the most powerful jobs in the country today. For instance, both the Attorney General and the acting Chief Justice are of Sri Lankan origins. There are also a large Indian contingents working in the construction industry and doing jobs that Seychellois workers could have done. The hotels have also not fared any better as an army of foreigners have taken up menial jobs from security guards to gardeners; all jobs that Seychellois could have done. The million dollar question is how did these foreigners manage to get work permits to do these jobs which could be easily done by Seychellois. At a time when life in Seychelles is becoming increasingly more difficult the government needs to protect our jobs for our people. On the contrary, the SPPF government has tended to turn a blind eye to this problem causing widespread frustration and annoyance amongst the people. Nothing is being done to tackle the problem which is compounded by the giving away of citizenship to these foreigners by the government without justification.
Recently, President James Michel is known to have announced plans to allow foreign lawyers to come and practice in Seychelles. All these are causing a major concern in the country as the government seems intent on providing for the welfare of foreigners over and above our own native Seychellois. The end result is that we are all being made to feel like second class citizens in our own country. Not too long ago a Russian man assaulted a Seychellois in Premier Building simply because the Seychellois was smoking a cigarette and the smoke was reaching the top floor where the man was having a meeting with a surveyor. The Russian came all the way to the second floor pulled the cigarette from the man’s mouth and proceeded to assault him all the time shouting that he knows President Michel personally. Calls made to police which was a stone throw away to intervene went on deaf ears as the police failed to turn up at all. A young man of Baie Lazarre was also beaten to death last year and left in a ditch adjacent to Plantation Club Hotel by a white South African man. The man is yet to be prosecuted and walks freely around the island although the Seychellois has commenced a civil lawsuit against him. These incidents serve to illustrate the point that foreigners in our country are treated differently and more favourably than our own Seychellois. What happened to the popular SPUP slogan “Seychelles is for Seychellois.” Has it been conveniently forgotten? As Christopher Gill likes to say: Speak up SPPF! Don’t just stand there.