ID: 1213993

Critically account for the February 99 riot following the death of' Kaya' in Mauritius by writing a
report.
The riot in February 1999 has been one of the epic wars in the Mauritian history. It has been often described as
the dark episode or the racial war. The riot has been mainly due after the death of the reggae singer, Joseph
Reginald Topize, commonly known as Kaya.

On February 16, 1999, the republican movement is organizing a free concert for the decriminalization of
gandia. 5 groups are on view, including the inevitable Kaya. Valayden opens the festivities with a speech in
favour of the decriminalization of soft drugs, saying: "mo pou amène dépénalisation, sinon mo pas pou dans
gouvernement" as reported by the local press. Valayden then asked the crowd to a show of hands four
resolutions calling for the decriminalization and appealed to Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam for those
imprisoned for possession of "gandia" (about 2000 or 75% of the prison population, for sentences ranging from
several months to two years) to be amnestied.

Only two days later that the state police forces and decide to question five people identified as having smoked
or induced to smoke gandia during the concert. Among them, Kaya, who admits to having smoked that night
and finds himself immediately imprisoned in Alcatraz, detention centre for the traditional big drug dealer and
criminal. A considerable amount of 10,000 rupees is then requested for the release of the artist. However, due to
various blunders of the lawyers and especially a lack of political support for the MR to release quickly, Kaya
cannot go out this Saturday, February 20 and must wait until Monday to be released. He was found dead in his
cell on the morning of Sunday, February 21.

The official version states that Kaya, suffering from lack of drug, would have broken his skull, throwing himself
against the walls of his cell. Against a second opinion requested by the wife of Kaya, conducted by a coroner
Reunion, Dr. Ramstein, will also contradict this theory and show that the victim had been beaten.

Riots followed soon after causing one of the major social upheavals in Mauritius. (Wikipedia)

Is it a war of racial or a war for gandia?

The movements caused after the death of kaya. Why did it cause much havoc; because of gandia? Or is it being of Creole religion to be a victim?

After this riot, the state as well as other organisations has been driven towards implementing movements to
better ensure the stability of the government and its people. Later, the poverty alleviation project has been
evolved in the parliament, denoting that the access to money to bail kaya has been one of the deficient factors of
his death. Kaya’s death has also brought along the ethnic war; that is there has been the emergence of
conflicting effects of the different ethnicity present in Mauritius, called ‘la malaise creole’. Mauritius religious
freedom report 1999, a movement which has being created to ensure balance between the ethnic groups. Even
the legal procedures of the police forces has been re-viewed after blaming to what degree that Kaya’s death
mainly due in the police officers hands.

Clearly the Mauritian rioters expressed their revolt towards established order and demanded higher status and a
greater share of the burgeoning economic cake. And the death of Kaya in Alcatraz was in many ways a wake-
up call. The island of Mauritius was in a state of unrest for many weeks and the signal that the riots sent could
not be ignored.

The rioter had been united into a collective rage which needed to be heard. These people would not have gone
through ruining the island if they were not felt threaten. The rioters of 1999 represent a section of the population
that felt detached from the rest of Mauritian society. This segment population of the island have always been
frustrated by other religion. It can be that there not been any other dense riot in the precedent years but, it can
still been seen that ethnicity in Mauritius is still an ‘unwanted topic to be discuss’. Each and everyone on the
island are still attached to their culture and traditional thoughts. Indeed, during that moment, groups of people
were arrested for smoking the marijuana but kaya was the one to be dead. Man unsolved mysteries revolved
around. Thus, the prime minister was of the Hindu segment of the population, and the death of kaya who was
creole would create much havoc.

After this racial war, the Mauritius religious freedom report 1999 was discussed over the country to better
established racial frustration among its people. Nevertheless, the Creoles and Muslims still argue that they are
still the deprived community of the nation.

Another pertinent issue that gave rise to during the riot was the re-viewing of the legal procedures.

Kaya’s death report

In the judicial inquiry on Kaya’s death, the four pathologists, including the police pathologist: Drs. Ramstein,
Oogarah, Graham and Surnam who had examined Kaya’s body, attributed his death to head injury. Dr.
Ramstein had stated that Kaya had died as a result of two different brain injuries caused by Kaya’s head having
been projected against the floor and by forcible rotation and hyper-extension of the neck and violent shaking.
His conclusions were partly based on the findings of Dr. Oogarah’s histo-pathological report of the brain of the
deceased. Dr Ramstein also attributed injuries found on the body of the deceased to attempts to immobilise him.

Indeed, the legal procedures of arresting any individual have been clearly express to the people. Beaten by
police officers has been prevalent issue for years to which individual no control has over. The numerous victims
whether innocent or culprits have been through the process of beaten to death. "Each time there is a death in
prison, it's always someone from the Creole community," said Georges Christophe, leader of an Afro-Creole
organization. "Enough is enough." (When he refers to the Alcatraz prison in Port Louis)

Mr. Topize died in police custody. No one but police officers had access to him. Like the other cases of
young men who have been found dead in mysterious circumstances in police cells, beatings and torture
 are suspected by the public at large. There is suspect of beatings and torture in the case of Kaya, and in
many of the other cases, which lead to suicides and "suicides.

Lalit- 30.09.03 - Please find below the MLF letter addressed to Paul Berenger, the new Prime Minister. S
“In the case of Mr. Topize, we believe it is likely that he was being tortured for two kinds of reasons, in addition
to the usual bestiality displayed by certain notorious police officers. He was beaten up because certain police
officers are bigoted and disapprove of Kaya's life-style: his long Rasta hairstyle, his gentle songs, and his
mystical approach to life. And secondly he was tortured by elements in the police force who, for political
reasons, and maybe under political directives, wanted to make him say that he got the cannabis from the
organizer of the concert, something he refused to say. Whatever the reason, beating a detainee is, of course,
both immoral and illegal.”

The police officers on duty are breaking the criminal law as, in Section 7 of the Constitution clearly says that
"(1) No person shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading punishment or other such treatment."
The rule of law means that no-one is above the law. This means not just that the King is not above the law, but
that officers of the State are not either. The concept of Durkheim theory on anomie can be used to explain this
situation, whereby a group of rebellion, overthrows the laws and start to establish their own desires. A society
of anomie is a normless society, where people have rejected the laws as the laws are not meant to give
protection to its people and it is this that results to the riot in 1999.

Nevertheless, the victim of the beatings of police officers is still present in the common days. For
instances, recent cases such Avinash Treebhowoon who was arrested and beaten to accept the murder of
Michaela Harte. These cases are often conducted to such way to close the cases. Many of such other
cases are common in Mauritius. Kaya was one of them, is still a debatable issue. The rise into a riot has
been a way for the state to pursue the case in a more concerned manner. However nowadays, there is no
such will of undergoing a riot to claim one’s voice. It can be that we got a more matured and educated
population or it can also be that we got a more obedient population to its state.

As Marxist would have depicted in this situation, we have been entangled in the words of the politician whom
have drawn an ideology in our mind to remain submissive to its action. It can also be said that at that time
people fought for their ethnicity, but still they had the feeling of claiming for what they are for. To this, a nation
can obtain his needs towards his country and the aspect of democracy is still maintained.

In other country, people might not be fighting for ethnicity but their do voice out their views on the
government’s decision and maintain that essence of democracy. The deaths of any common people need to
accounted and surveyed by the state and report it to its nation. The people have the right to know whatever is
happening. Mauritian people do not know about their rights and thus are blinded by the government.

Another issue that has risen out during the riot1999 was the aspect being the segmented part of the
population. That is, just after the riot 1999, the government has invested in a project to save poor people from
being stratified in the society. Indeed, numerous strategies have been suggested and implemented so as to give
better lifestyle to those people. Investment has been one of the movements that the riot brought along with it;
the state gave free facilities to education, food stuff, and financial help. The fact that kaya neither was unable to
pay himself his bailing nor could his family, the state suggested that, help should be provided to them. Having
no money could one of the reasons why kaya died. Nevertheless, if Marx would analyse that issue, he would no
doubt say that, the state is putting a blindfold on its people’ eyes and when he nation would wake up, there
would be more than just the riot of 1999.
Kaya was a renowned reggae singer who enjoyed his life through music. He was only requested to join
a movement for the legalisation of gandia but never knew he would face death as such. The signal that the riots
sent could not be ignored. The collective rage of the riot needed to be addressed. People would not be involving
in riots if they did not felt threatened. They would not burn the offices of Citizens Advice Bureau if they felt
that these were places where they could receive help and support. They would not burn buildings representing
the symbols of the power of the state if they had any sense of civic pride. The rioters of 1999 represent a section
of the population that felt detached from the rest of Mauritian society.
After 14 years of Kaya’s death, it is up to think whether the successive governments have done
the necessary to that issue; the riots of February 1999.
Have they just pushed this dark episode under the carpet as if it never existed? In the meantime, this frustrated
segment of the population, are they still segregated? Whether they still have the weight of their malaise
deep within them? It is still to be known in what circumstances do they live in. That section of the
population is still poor, disenfranchised and alienated from many of the core institutions that make up
civic society in the country. The malaise that they felt in 1999 has not disappeared in the last decade – it
is certain that it is still bubbling away. Indeed, the stories in the Mauritian daily newspapers are vivid
proof of that. Pretending that all is well in the society arc-en-ciel is but doing very little to tackle social

inclusion. It’s like putting a sticking plaster to stem the flow of blood from a major severed artery.

References
http://www.lemauricien.com/article/%E2%80%9Cmalaise%E2%80%9D-rioters-and-governments-%E2%80%93-mindless-
sick
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/1999/feb/25/7
http://ministry-education.gov.mu/English/AboutUs/theminister/Documents/Pqs/Culture%20General%20Issues.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaya_(Mauritian_musician)
http://www.topix.com/forum/world/mauritius/T1FKKGBG5DD22RFV8
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/285797.stm
http://www.defimedia.info/defi-quotidien/dq-actualites/item/16391-brutalit%C3%A9-polici%C3%A8re--l
%E2%80%99exc%C3%A8s-de-z%C3%A8le-de-nos-enqu%C3%AAteurs.html
http://atheism.about.com/library/irf/irf99/blirf_mauritiu99.htm
http://www.webring.org/l/rd?ring=mauritius2;id=8;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwebspace%2Ewebring%2Ecom%2Fpeople
%2Fnm%2Fmauritius2%2Fjreview%2Ehtm
http://www.jahmusik.net/oldies/kaya.htm
http://www.lalitmauritius.org/viewnews.php?id=418
http://www.lalitmauritius.org/viewnews.php?id=81
http://www.pot.tv/articles/1444.html
http://www.historycentral.com/nationbynation/Mauritius/Human.html
http://www.volunteeringinfo.org/volunteering-good-or-bad-the-guardian-and-kaya-volunteer.html
http://weluvmu.wordpress.com/2011/12/30/proof-of-the-franc-hoes-vice-like-grip-on-the-media/