What type are you?

In Christopher Gill's recent article on STAR Seychelles, www.starseychelles.blogspot.com, he states that it is time Seychelles belongs to Seychellois and a number of different Sechellois types are listed and categorized as being good or bad. The two main types of Seselwa Gill describes in his article are:

Seselwa Rasin: Seychellois who were Seychelles citizens on June 29th 1976

Seselwa Fabrike: Seychelles citizens who were fabricated by the SPPF's selling of passports for cash(France Albert Rene called it 'investing in Seychelles' through the EDA).

Gill states clearly, and I must say that he does have some good points, that the Seselwa Fabrike are in many ways first class citizens as they can often enjoy immunity, no need for security clearance and/or have other priveleges that the Seselwa Rasin do not. I can clearly see Gill's, and others', rage when one could see the likes of Ramadoss who arrived in Seychelles wearing rags and sandals but soon got a place under the wing of the former prezident France Albert Rene and with those priveleges is now amongst the country's richest men. People like Radovan Krejcir, another Seselwa Fabrike, could enjoy the good life in Seychelles and despite being caught with firearms in his private home, no pursue was ever made. The latter however ended up being too much of an embarrassment to the government(who in the end had to get rid of Krejcir after he shut his funding tap). The article does indeed have many good points both about the mentioned and others, amongst them Arabs building huge mansions at La Misère, Siva wanting to build his own little country at Coetivy, a state within our own state, and not least the numerous other Seselwa Fabrike we've been abused by in the course of history after Rene introduced his own convenient laws and allowed such practice since June 1977.

Seselwa Derasine
Gill speaks of 'Sesel Pou Seselwa', Seychelles for Seychellois a fairly nationalistic statement in the eyes of another type of Seychellois like myself: Seselwa Derasine. There must be about 30.000 Seselwa Derasine in the world and we all have one thing in common, namely the fact that we are all born Seychellois or could once be defined as Seselwa Rasin, i.e Root Seychellois, but later in life got de-rooted by moving abroad. Our roots are with us, but no longer in Seychellois soil. The opposition has since their loss in the first election after the re-introduction of the multi-party system, been argueing to give Seselwa Derasine the right to vote from abroad, this in hope of gaining votes to their advantage. Wether or not it would help I strongly doubt and personally I am totally against voting from abroad unless it applies returning students or Seychellois working on contracts on behalf of the government or of firms from home. Else I believe the costs of organizing such would be too much to bear on an already strained economy.

Seselwa Replante
Annother type of Seychellois Gill forgot to mention about in his article is the same type of Seychellois that he himself is. Seselwa Replante is a Seselwa Derasine who has returned home looking for his/her roots and therefore once again in Seychelles soil. I wouldn't quite classify a returning student as Seselwa Replante, but a person like Gill who spent many years of his childhood abroad, in his case USA and the Islands of Guam, is indeed a Seselwa Replante. The advantage of Gill is that he knows what it is like to be a foreigner in a country and despite being an American he was still a mere foreigner there although the USA is a good palce for most foreigners. Seselwa Derasine are often encouraged to become Replante and as recently as last year the opposition was encouraging the Derasines to return home to build up the country. Even today, the governemnt is aiming to replace expats with Seselwa. Rasin, Derasine and even Replante.

In addition to those defined by Gill, and now myself, there are numerous types of Seselwa that need to be characterized. Amonsgt those are:

Seselwa Enporte
These are Seychelles citizens who have become so through marriage with Seychellois and includes brides from India to Seychelles born shop owner sons, Cubans and other nationals who returned to Seychelles with Seychellois students who developed a taste for hot Latin blood, IOT brides from Thailand who have married Seselwa Rasin twice their age and stayed and last, but not least simply Western nationals married to Seselwa Rasin, Derasine and Replante that have settled in Seychelles. I believe even Nation has a journalist that is Seselwa Enporte, a former East European national. Correct me if I'm wrong. If I myself was to return home my wife would be an Enporte.

Seselwa Plante
Our Minster of Finance, Danny Faure, is a good definition of a Seselwa Plante. He is born abroad, in Uganda, bur grew up more or less in Seychelles, hence was planted here while his roots were still young and has since grown in Seychelles soils. He is not the only example as many Seychellois came home as toddlers after being born and spending their forst years abroad only to be brought back home and planted in our soil. As far as I'm concerned a Seselwa plante is just as much as any Seychellois as long as his or her soul is in Seychelles serving the country and society like any Seychellois.

Nationalism can be a good thing, but characterizing nationals into different grades and treating them differently is as dangerous and incorrect as racism. I fully agree with Gill that the present government has done a lot of bad deeds regarding giving foreign nationals advantages that even our most loyal nationals can dream of, but one has to be very careful when characterizing non-Seychellois born citizens.

I disagree with the fact that one becomes 'Seychellois' after obtaining a Seychelles passport as being Seychellois is a bit more than holding a brown book saying you are one. Being Seychellois can be characterized as being loyal and faithful to the country and doing one's best to achieve the best for it. Being Seychellois will by some be defined as having the Creole Spirit, i.e being a lazy, womanizing drunk in the weekdays and a loyal churchgoer on Sundays whilst by others the definition may be as simple as being born of Seychellois parents.

Not easy at all, but it is however vital that we under no circumstances grade our citizens based on their 'Seselwa Class' becasue then we have done the exact same thing that Christopher Gill is accusing the government of doing.

Patrick X - a Seselwa Derasine