<B>By Pauline ETIENNE</B>

When I first heard about the ?Kreol Festival?, I thought it was a great initiative by the ministry of Tourism but I must admit I was quite nervous about how it would turn out. It being Mauritius, I could not help thinking that we would be faced with one more occasion for the ?general population? to express their ?malaise? and complain of having always been left out of society.

And then, I realised that I might have been wrong. It was not the ?kreol festival? but the ?Kreol International Festival?. It would not only target the so-called ?general population? but was aimed at getting together the whole nation as well as many other islands. All those who share the Kreol identity would be in Mauritius to share their culture with one another. There is no doubt that there are similarities between all these islanders but there are undeniable differences between a Kreol of Mauritius and one from Haiti? So there would be a lot to learn from this experience and I felt happy about the idea!

But my enthusiasm was suddenly dampened after I heard Xavier-Luc Duval trying to ?sell? his event. ?No section of the population should feel excluded from society. There is not enough respect for the Kreol culture. If there is no pride, there will be no desire for better education and better jobs.? The point is not to deny the existence of a ?malaise Kreol? or its reasons. The Kreol Festival was aimed at celebrating the culture that the inhabitants of the whole island have in common and sharing it with others.

Of course, this would not prevent a debate on the Kreol identity from taking place or the guests from discussing the place of Kreol culture in Mauritius. But it should not have been given so much importance during this two-day event.

I suppose the prime minister, Navin Ramgoolam, proved me right in view of his speech at the opening of the festival on Saturday morning, ?We should not cultivate our differences,? he said. He went further, stating that, by doing so, ?we will never become a nation?. By taking the example of the Kreol language, ?which does not belong to one group only but to us all. It is what unites us, what adds to our cohesion?.

Living on the same island, we all share the same Mauritian culture. Of course, this should not ? and actually does not ? prevent us from preserving some religious traditions. However, we all have a common culture to a certain extent. Whether you call it ?Kreol?, ?local? or Mauritian culture is not important, what is important is to acknowledge that we all share it through food, language, music or whatever?

The plea by our minister of Tourism for Kreol culture appeared more like a plea for Kreol people in its restrictive meaning. Recalling the ?Kreol contribution? to the country with names such as Emmanuel Anquetil or Marcel Cabon to mention only two of them is only a means of targeting one group of the population and certainly did not help those with more ?oriental? names to identify with the event.

The Social Alliance was formed in a politically intelligent way. This ?partnership? included all possible sections of the population to make sure the whole nation would feel represented and would trust it. With this in mind, the Prime minister also made sure to appoint four of his ministers as deputy prime ministers. The fact that Xavier-Luc Duval is there to make sure that the general population feels reassured is nothing new.

This in no way puts his competence into question but, being in Mauritius, those considerations have a certain importance? A minister - and what is more a deputy prime minister ? should shelve such speeches and try using his office to send messages to the whole population. Political leaders should always make sure they are contributing to more unity in our paradise island.