Tribute to the singing Sir James |10 January 2017

A few countries have their singing politicians and Seychelles can join that club.  Sir James Mancham was never without a melody at the tip of his tongue and in his heart. We Seychellois will never forget Sir James, the son of Chinese immigrants, like myself, whose forefathers made Seychelles our home as we continue to co-exist and scratch a living from these old peaks of the Gondwana/Pangaea continent in relative peace and harmony.  Even when the worst aspects of human nature take us towards the abyss we somehow find a way to regain our common sense and start to respect each other once again and life goes on as we move from one generation of Seychellois to another. We are all passing ships in the night with a “leaving this port” date and an “arrival” date in the next world. Unfortunately, we, the passengers, have no idea of either the departure or arrival dates. This is totally outside our control whether we try our best to prepare for it or not, it happens, Lord have mercy on us.

I went to school with Sir James at Mont Fleuri College together with his brothers and we had our fair share of arguments over hockey games, inter alia, and using the hard hockey stick we left a few indelible scars on each other’s shin bone but in 1955 I left for Tanganyika (now Tanzania) and later Sir James was to go to UK to study as a lawyer.  I went from Tanganyika to UK in 1960 with the sole aim of studying and qualifying then returning to Seychelles but unfortunately my relentless desire to succeed, Rock N Roll and beautiful women kept me in the UK for 51 years.  During my stay in England I got invited by Sir James to his palatial home in Putney where he took refuge from being ousted by Albert Rene and we had a few slices of fish bought from Harrods in Knights Bridge where the Queen does her shopping and at the time I owned a factory in Cambridgeshire making advanced Feature phones with additional manufacturing facilities in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Paul Chow did us the honours of visiting our factory.

A passionate singer

Apart from being the first President of Seychelles, Sir James was also an obsessed “chanteur” who always had a tune in mind to deliver without notice. I knew Sir James was a lover of Country and Western music so I invited him to open Seychelles’ First Country and Western Jamboree at ICCS on July 10, 2010. Of course he could not help but to give us a short rendition of a song that came to his mind. If you go on the Internet and type ‘Seychelles First Country and Western Jamboree’ you can view the whole show or I can send you a CD of the show.We had invited guests from UK Country Music scene which included John Davis, the renowned steel guitar player and Kay D, a Country & Western singer guitarist rising star. John Davis played duets with Jack Yokowo, Seychelles’ premier Steel guitar player, who sadly has since passed away and the sound was unbelievable. The event was well received across the world of Country and Western music because we featured 4 live horses on stage during the performances and one writer in Nashville, Tennessee wrote “how come a small island in the middle of the Indian Ocean can put on such a fantastic live show with horses on stage and the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville has not done so?”. I guess because they do not want their pristine stage of the prestigious Grand Ole Opry to be soiled with horses’ droppings but in ICCS we were prepared for the treasures to be dropped and we arranged for immediate collection for our rose beds, hence no waste.

I recall one day Sir James and I were talking about the origin of the love affair of Seychellois with Country and Western music, after all we are nowhere near the American Coastline or even near any European country so where did our affinity for Country and Western Music come from? It is unlikely that SS Kampala ploughing the sea routes between India and Africa, calling at Victoria twice a month would have dropped off a few Country and Western records at Pirates Arms is it? Well Sir James had his version and he said that there was a shipwreck just after the Second World War and these records were washed ashore and some were salvaged and taken home and played on the old wind-up gramophones that you had to change the needle after every record. He said this is how Seychellois began to love Country and Western music. Well I guess this is a plausible and acceptable version then I told him that I had a different belief that during the Second World War so many American ships stopped in Seychelles for fresh water and a bit of a rest from the war and in those days the sailors had no chocolates and perfumes to give to the ladies ashore so they brought for the ladies some very delicate and easily breakable 78 Country and Western records made of Bakelite in return for some kisses or whatever else was on offer. I recall he laughed so much he had to take a drink of water. We agreed to disagree on the origin of Seychellois’ love affair with Country and Western music. Sir James was never a bore, when in his company he always had a story to tell and I shall miss him. It is strange how we behave eh, when someone is alive we rarely make an effort to go and see that person but as soon as the person leaves us we want to visit that person and go to his/her funeral. I wonder whether animals behave the same way, I doubt it.

Our Truth and Reconciliation

Sir James, Mike Chadstone and I discussed at a meeting how we are going to handle our Truth and Reconciliation process because people are asking for something to be done and the diaspora are making plans to take the matter to the International Human Rights bodies and the International Court of Justice. We agreed first and foremost to take the matter out of the political arena then to carry out an in-depth research into how other countries have approached the subject and what lessons we could learn from their mistakes. He was going to address the matter on an international level and I was going to form a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) and take care of the local matters.  Mike was to excuse himself from this venture because he was a politician and the leader of Independent Conservative Union of Seychelles (ICUS). Well we have acceded to our discussions and Seychelles Truth Reconciliation and Peace Platform (STRPP) has already been formed and registered at the Registry Office as a legal entity and our Operational Framework of how we intend to proceed has been widely consulted on and this document forms the backbone of our web site www.seychellestruthreconciliation.sc and we are receiving requests for interviews. Please visit our web site and contact us should you wish to participate. I guess this is a legacy we can carry forward on behalf of Sir James Mancham, one of our Founders of Democracy.

A well-loved and balanced person

Even when he disagreed with you Sir James was happy to continue to have a dialogue with you and I guess this is why and how after he was deposed he created a business for himself in UK travelling around the world negotiating business deals with high level people. He is a born diplomat even at Mont Fleuri College he would be the one to break up an argument or a fight and never took side for his own brothers and I used to fight with them a lot. I guess I was to blame but when you are young blame is always on someone else but when you mature you start to see that none of us are perfect. I guess it is a reflection why he has won so many peace prizes because people saw in him the good he perpetuated and that brought along some criticism which whether you do well or bad someone will criticise you because we are humans. Sir James has contributed so much towards Seychelles’ history. May he rest in peace, Oh Lord we pray.

Contributed by:

Barry Laine (FCIM, FInst SMM, MCMI, MBSCH)