The chairman of the National Reparations Commission in Suriname, Armand Zunder, says Suriname “can and must learn” from its regional neighbours on how to tackle the decolonisation process expeditiously.
In a statement published in the media here, Zunder said the process of decolonisation within the member states of the CARICOM is proceeding steadily with the trend starting on November 30, 2021 when Barbados, “one of the first slave colonies established by the British as a plantation economy in 1627,” replaced Queen Elizabeth II as head of state on its 55th independence day and became a Republic.
“On the night of 30 November 2021, in the presence of, among others, the Prince of Wales, now King Charles III of the United Kingdom and the international pop singer Rihanna, the Royal Standard flag was lowered in Barbados and replaced by the flag of the Republic of Barbados.
“With this solemn act, Barbados became the most recent Republic in the world,” Zunder wrote.
He said in Trinidad and Tobago, which preceded Barbados in replacing Queen Elizabeth II as head of state, the government there “announced some remarkable plans regarding the decolonisation process,” adding that Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley made “a number of remarkable statements in the context of the decolonisation process.
“First, he announced that the coat of arms of Trinidad & Tobago, which was designed just before the island’s independence in 1962, would be changed, i.e. stripped of its colonial features,” Zunder wrote, adding the “big question now is, what are the authorities in Suriname doing?”
He said in Suriname, the decolonisation process has not progressed that well since independence in 1975.
“This article will only discuss two issues concerning the colonisation and decolonisation process. It is striking that during the preparation for independence, the authorities at the time did not even consider appointing a working group or committee to design a new coat of arms for the new Republic.
“The coat of arms of the private Amsterdam company, which had exploited the Surinamese economy from 1683 to 1795, enslaved thousands of Africans and under whose management horrible crimes against humanity were committed, was simply adopted.”
Zunder said that “it is remarkable that even the mendacious motto of that colonial company, *Justitia, Pietas, Fides*, was adopted in 1975 and is still part of the Surinamese coat of arms”.
He said the second symbolism of colonisation that still exists is the Wilhelmina Mountains with the highest mountain peak of Suriname, 1,280 metres high in the district Sipaliwini, the Julianatop.
Zunder said in 1952, the then Dutch Governor Jan Klaasesz requested the Dutch authorities to name the mountain, which had had an indigenous name for centuries, after the daughter of Queen Wilhelmina.
“Almost fifty years after independence, these and other colonial names still appear on Surinamese maps,” Zunder said, adding “Suriname can and must learn from CARICOM member countries such as Trinidad & Tobago and Barbados on how to tackle this part of the decolonisation process expeditiously”.
