Word: suriname
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Even some Creoles and their Javanese allies are wary about Surinam's future. Arron's new government needs to work out an accommodation with the Hindustanis, who traditionally ran most of the country's commerce and supplied most of its doctors and teachers. Last week's debate over the constitution was forced by nervous Hindustanis who demanded−and eventually got−promises of such safeguards as an army composed of all ethnic groups and elections within three months. "If the government obeys it, we have a very democratic constitution here," said Opposition Leader Lachmon...
Golden Handshake. The most enthusiastic advocates of independence have been the Dutch, who governed Surinam as a colony for more than 300 years. The Hague government is rapidly trying to unload the vestiges of its old colonial empire−an anachronistic embarrassment. Beyond that, The Netherlands has grown tired of the strife that has racked Surinam since the Hindustanis lost the 1973 elections. A tide of mostly Hindustani immigrants has swollen The Netherlands' Surinamese population from 60,000 to 140,000; they have come to take advantage of the citizenship−not to mention the lavish welfare system...
Anxious to stanch the flow of immigrants, the government of Prime Minister Joop den Uyl has offered the Surinamese what U.S. Consul-General Robert Flanegin calls "the biggest golden handshake any colonialist power has ever conferred on a former colony." Surinam will get $1.7 billion in aid over the next 10 to 15 years. At the same time, independence will mean giving up the right to unlimited immigration to The Netherlands. Last week in languid Paramaribo, one hit song was a mournful ballad called There Is No Room for Surinamese in Holland Any More...
...many talented Hindustanis had not left the country, the aid would not be needed quite so critically. Surinam is one of the world's leading exporters of bauxite, the ore from which aluminum is refined. Already determined reserves are more than 500 million tons, and untold additional tonnage is believed to exist beneath unexplored jungle. Surinam provides about one-fifth of U.S. bauxite needs. Meanwhile, the new nation has other markets and friends. Venezuela will soon give oil to Surinam in exchange for bauxite, and Brazil may build a highway through the jungle to gain another port...
...emigration of talent and labor hurts. Last week a diplomat's wife complained that there was only one plumber left in Paramaribo. There were hundreds of doctors, teachers and merchants among the emigrants, and the manpower hemorrhage included not only professionals but critically important farm workers as well. Surinam, a nation that imports more than 50% of its foodstuffs, must now also import farm workers to help harvest its sugar cane crops...