The Inaugural Editorial

Editorial

By Beekrumsing Ramlallah

Until recently newspaper reading was confined to the intelligentsia, the high brow, and
the white collared office man.

During the two world wars, young men from one part of the world were sent to another
part where they met people of many lands. This contact roused in them a thirst to learn
more and more about their ways of living, the government and general progress in their
respective countries. The growth of democratic institutions and the rise in literacy
aroused an urge for information and knowledge. Other factors were the rapid
development of means of communication and conveyance, the extraordinary
development in the technique of printing industry, which made possible cheap printed
materials. These help to increase newspaper reading by tenfold.

Apart from satisfying the crave for news, the press introduced several innovations; it
became the forum of discussion, it assumed the role of the instructor, the educator and
the moulder of public opinion, so much so, that it has become today an essential part in
the life of the population.

No doubt the safety of the world lies in social revolutions that follow that democratic
pattern. And to maintain and strengthen democracy we think, in the words of Robert
Sinclair, “That it is essential to the Community that its newspaper should be well
informed in public affairs, accurate and otherwise reliable in their reporting of news, fair
and responsible in their expression of views, and thoroughly incorrupt in administration.
Another essential factor of democracy is that its press should be free, it should not bow
to the private prejudices, whims or weaknesses of the gallery, the vested interest or the
authority.

We read how in the United Kingdom, newspapers are daily helping the authorities to
apprehend crooks and criminals. They denounce profiteers and other public enemies,
signal loopholes in laws, suggest ways and means to combat social ills, check national
calamities, organise Gallup polls to test public opinion on national issues and help the
community in various other ways.

Although THE MAURITIUS TIMES will make it a duty to co-operate with the government
for the welfare of the community, yet, on the other hand, it will fail in the trust placed in it

by its readers if it neglects to expose sloth, autocracy or corruption whenever or
wherever they may exist.

We live under the aegis of a great country which believes in and professes democracy
to a degree unknown to many other parts of the world. England jealously guards its
democracy. It is successful because of a high degree of give and take that goes with
freedom in Government. The Englishmen believe that liberty exists in their country
because among other things, there is an effective division of opinion with influential men
on both sides and because they have a free press.

Harold Laski, the great constitutionalist, is of opinion that in any state where there is an
absence of the critical spirit in the attitude of the citizens to their rulers the preservation
of rights is a difficult matter. He says that Governments degenerate unless they are
forced to live at a high level, so also, they improve where they meet the alert and erect
intelligence of men.

Advocating the necessity of the freedom of the press as a vehicle of democracy, he
writes in 'A Grammar of Politics': “The freedom of the people depends to a degree we
are beginning to realise, upon the quality of the news with which it is supplied. Its press
must be free to attack authority in whatever manner it thinks fit, to publish what it
pleases, to defend what programme it desires, the only limitation being the law of libel.”
This is the century of the common man. We are alive to the fact that contemporary
conditions are changing. Throughout the world the small man is becoming more and
more articulate. He is struggling to raise his standard of living and his status in society.

The Youth is challenging traditions and rejecting the outdated laws and customs of his
elders. There is a widespread belief in the equality of opportunity for all men and
women, in the abolition of economic insecurity, in the opposition of the vested interest
and in the condemnation of colour, race and religious prejudice. Influenced by
democratic principles and institutions the young, educated men and women of tomorrow
will refuse to become victims of mere sloganeers or reactionaries, they will refuse to
turn revolutionaries, without lively thought and constructive argument.

We think that it is high time that all communities of this colony should find a MODUS
VIVENDI. We must eliminate fear, foster trust, encourage understanding and friendship
between individuals of different races and religions. We must make this island home of
ours a worthy place to live in. Let our motto be LIVE AND HELP LIVE.

MAURITIUS TIMES is the effort of a group of young men who are determined to offer
their humble contribution to the making of a happier Mauritius.

Newspaper development is a continuous development. The history of most newspapers
is marked by a succession of days of blunder, doubt, defeat and triumph.

Our task will be long and dreary; we shall experience a period of groping in the dark and
of uncertainty, and perhaps a sense of defeat.

Whenever the human hand dabbles in writing, one must make concessions for the
limitations of the mind and for the weakness that man is heir to.

We crave the indulgence of our readers for any shortcomings they may find in our paper
and rely on their sympathy and support.

Beekrumsing Ramlallah

The inaugural editorial of the Mauritius Times, penned by founder-editor Beekrumsing
Ramlallah, was published on Saturday, August 14, 1954. The newspaper was issued weekly on
Saturdays until December 31, 1954, when it switched to Fridays. With the exception of the issue
published on Saturday, January 15, 1955, and some Sunday editions in later years, the Mauritius
Times has been consistently published on Fridays in both print and digital formats (since March
20, 2020), with a few issues also appearing on Mondays and Wednesdays.