Archive for September, 2007
My “Muslims in purge” has received the Honorable mention at The San Diego Beat after its inclusion in the carnival of cities debuts in Dubai hosted by sandier Pastures.
Have a look at the other posts which are equally meritorious.
Alfa King MemoriesThe tsunami alert was lifted at around 11.00 am today. A series of aftershocks, the latest one recorded at around 4.00 am, warranted the maintenance of a state of vigilance in Mauritius. No major incident was recorded as the population seems to have followed the instructions. And the dreaded tsunami did not show up, although waves of about one metre were recorded at Rodrigues islands and of about 40 cm in Mauritius, not significant enough to cause panic. No doubt the authorities have managed the situation excellently well. The population was updated regularly on the evolution of the situation through radio and TV communiqués.
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Just as a follow up to my “Muslims in purge”, Ramadhan started today. The moon was visible yesterday evening as expected. Muslims here and in other parts of the world had their first fasting today. 29 more are left. The first day was quite cool here with a rainy weather.
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A sugar lorry overturned this morning on the highway to Port Louis. It left the lane to land topsy-turvy on the other side of the carriageway. Several tons of sugar was spilt on the highway. This caused a huge traffic jam and a lot of inconvenience to road users during the whole day. The driver and his helper were seriously injured. Police inquiry is on to look into the circumstances of the accident.
A tremor of 8.2 on Richter scale occurred in the Sumatra region this afternoon. An alert was launched immediately to Tsunami warning centres in the region. Several buildings in the Sumatran region are reported to have been damaged; some ten people killed and a hundred injured following several aftershocks felt.
The Mauritius Meteorological Services, which acts as a focal point for tsunami warning in the mascarenes region, received a first alert around 3.00 pm. Minutes after the news was on the air. The authorities met urgently at the Prime Minister’s Office to monitor the situation and decide on the course of action should a tsunami hit our region.
Information obtained subsequently revealed a slight rise in sea level varying between 10 to 30 cm in the eastern region, near Cocos and Christmas islands. The population was nevertheless warned through frequent bulletins not to venture at sea as significant waves could be expected at around 9.00 pm in our waters. Boats were advised to remain on high seas.
Although a small tsunami hit the Indonesian region, no tsunami was experienced on our side, fortunately. It will be long before people can forget the December 2004 tsunami episode that killed more than 200 000 people. In Mauritius people living in the southern coasts still have the trauma sequels of the tidal waves that hit the island earlier this year. Riviere des Galets inhabitants know something about it. But communication and alert systems have since considerably improved with rapid dissemination of information through the multiple media systems.
Muslims in Mauritius will start fasting on Thursday if the moon is visible on Wednesday night; otherwise it’ll be on Friday. This will mark the start of the holy month of Ramadhan, the ninth month in the Islamic (lunar) calendar.
Fasting (“Sawm” in arabic), which is one of the five pillars of Islam, is practised throughout this month. Muslims abstain from eating, drinking, smoking, and engaging in sexual intercourse between husband and wife from dawn (“fajr” – the first prayer of the day) to sunset (“maghrib” – the fourth prayer).
It is a time when they make special effort into following the teachings of Islam and refraining from anger, envy, greed, lust, sarcastic remarks, backbiting, and gossip. They are encouraged to read the Holy Qur’an (which was revealed during this month) as much as they can and perform special prayers (“tarawih”) at night after the “Isha” prayer. It is said benefits multiply several-fold for those who devote in extra prayers and give alms (“zakat”) during this month.
Fasting is however exempted to those who are sick, nursing, traveling and pregnant women. Women are not allowed to fast during their (menstrual) period. Any number of days missed should be replaced before the next fasting month.
Those who observe fast get up early and take their meal (known as “sehri” or “suhoor”) before sunrise only to eat again (“iftar”) at sunset. At night they are free to eat, drink and do whatever they want provided it is within the limits permitted by Islam.
For the believer fasting inculcates a sense of brotherhood and solidarity among fellow muslims, especially when they share meals together to break their fast. It helps develop patience, tolerance, self-control of personal conduct and temper and strengthen one’s faith. It cleanses the inner soul. It is an act of obedience to the Almighty Allah and constitutes an atonement of faults and misdeeds.
The last ten days of the month is of special importance and retribution. Some believers (male) take a retreat in the mosque during this decade and they concentrate in intense prayers in quest of the blessed night of “Lailat-ul-Qadr”. This is the 27th night of the month when the Qur’an is said to have been descended in the earthly heavens in its entirety.
The end of the month of Ramadhan is marked by “Eid-ul-Fitr”. It is an Islamic holiday celebrated on the first day of the following month, “Shawwal” to commemorate the breaking of fast.
Let this month be a pious one for those who’d be observing the Ramadhan fast.
On 9 September 1864 the world lost a great man. Not a statesman. Not a politician. But man of God. An “apostle of every rank and class”. This is how he is remembered.
French-born he lived a pious life in our small island, as a devoted missionary curing the sick, lifting the spirit and morals of the poor and the despised, until his death. But it is said servants of God never die.
When he was ordained priest in 1838 he said having a strong desire “to be the servant of Jesus Christ amongst despised people”. He did it, with fervor, devotion and love. He is renowned for having cured people of leprosy. This miracle made of him a figure of reverence. That man was Father Jacques Désiré Laval (Père Laval as he is more commonly known).
The shrine of Père Laval is a centre of spiritual attraction every year during this time in Mauritius. Thousands of people of all faiths, Christians in particular, flock in pilgrimage to Ste Croix in the northern suburb of Port Louis. The march starts on the night of 7 through the 8th when old and young absorbed in prayer with candles in their hands proceed to the beatified Father’s tomb for a tribute to the one who devoted his life to the cause of the deprived.
Born on 18 September 1803 in France, Father Laval came to Mauritius in 1841 to further the moral and spiritual uplift of the emancipated slaves. Before he set himself to priesthood he studied at the Faculty of medicine in Paris and became doctor in 1830. He served the poor in Normandy for five years when geminated in his mind the seed of priesthood.
Father Laval was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 29 April 1979 in Rome.
9 September is a moment of intense prayer and remembrance for those who celebrate Father Laval’s day every year.
Grammar is always a headache to (some) writers. Some time back I brought up concerns about punctuation, misspellings, subject-verb agreement at my “Grammar, punctuation and spelling – Do they really matter?” In a more recent post “Writers’ questions answered” I mentioned issues relating to homonyms and other confusing words.
Today I’ll refer to pronouns; relative pronouns in particular. The use of relative pronouns may appear obvious; but quite confusing sometimes. Believe me. How often do we face a dilemma when we have to choose between “that” and “which”? Or “that’ and “who”? If in some cases the use of both may be correct, in others we are left with only one choice. What do we do in such case?
There’s no need to worry. We always have someone somewhere with some tips. Like at “Grammar ‘n Style” Vicki McCollum, columnist, freelance writer, and visual artist, tells us more about relative pronouns and helps us understand when and how to use these pronouns correctly.
To your writing.
Just a quick follow-up post to my “A glimpse of the evolution of Health & Safety Legislation in Mauritius” posted on 27 August, to tell you that the Occupational Safety & Health Act 2005 (OSHA 2005) has been proclaimed on 1 September, nearly two years after its enactment.
The Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment Minister announced it at a press conference held this morning at Port Louis. He stressed upon the urgent need to review the previous law in order to make it current with on-going developments.
The new law aims at reinforcing the duties and responsibilities of all stakeholders and enhancing their commitment to safety and health at work.
Government in Mauritius is coming up with new proposals to replace existing labour and industrial relations laws. The Employment Relations Bill and the Employee Rights Bill will be introduced in Parliament shortly as stated by the Minister of Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment.
The Employment Relations Bill is meant to replace the Industrial Relations Act of 1973. Its object is “to amend and consolidate the law relating to trade unions, fundamental rights of workers and employers, collective bargaining, labour disputes and related matters”.
The salient features of this bill are:
- fire services and prison service employees will have the right to unionize (which was not formerly the case);
- a minimum of 30 members will be required for the formation of a trade union (formerly only 7 members were required);
- the executive committee of a union can decide over the sale of union assets (formerly this decision was vested upon the general assembly);
- recognition of a non-member negotiator (formerly the negotiator had to be a member of the union concerned);
- emphasis on elaborate procedures to be followed in dispute settlement;
- the approval of 50% of members will be required by secret voting before a decision can be taken by the union to start a strike action;
- recognition of the status of confederations.
The Employee Rights Bill will replace the Labour Act of 1975. Its object is “to revise and consolidate the law relating to employment, contracts of employment or service, minimum age for employment, hours of work, payment of remuneration and other basic terms and conditions of employment with a view to ensuring appropriate protection of workers”.
This bill will:
- apply to employees with monthly salary not exceeding Rs 20000 (approx. 650 USD or £ 330);
- regulate the hours of work such that an employee (except security officers) will have to put in a maximum of 12 hours per day or 90 hours over a fortnight (or 45 hours per week). Overtime will be calculated on the excess of 90 hours/fortnight;
- provide for the setting up of a Work Fare Programme to cater for redundant employees;
- review the amount of leave entitlement. Hence sick leave will be reduced from 21 to 15 days and casual leaves will be increased from 14 to 20;
- introduce a paternity leave of five days for three confinements.
While the employers are more or less agreeable to the new proposals, trade unions have started to shout. If they welcome prison officers’ and firemen’s right to unionize, they are not agreeable on many provisions which they consider discriminatory.
The unions are questioning the constitutionality of the provision regarding the requirement for the formation of trade unions. They have expressed serious reservations on what they call the lengthy procedures before a strike action can be resorted to.
The right to strike has always been the bone of contention because of its quasi-inexistence: even if all the procedures have been followed, which might now take about four months, the Prime Minister may declare a strike illegal for economic reasons.
Leaders of the various trade union confederations met today at Unity House (the seat of the Government Servants’ Association), Beau Bassin with a view to deciding on the course of action.
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