Political Advice from a foreign Surinamese who thinks she knows better. Let me start by introducing myself. My name is Mireille Liong-A-Kong, you may know me from kroeshaar.com, but I was born in the Netherlands, raised in Suriname and now living in the US.
Growing up as a child in Suriname, first Wageningen and then Paramaribo, I not only experienced independence in 1975, with that beautiful flag on Independence Square, but also the development of our own fledgling democracy, with a lot of chatter from dignitaries and the revolution that put an end to it in 1980.
The 80s were absolutely traumatic for me, not only because of the murders (see Kon Hesi Baka ), but also because after that time you had to be super careful with your statements. There was no democracy. Although I was reasonably well informed about politics, I was never able to vote in Suriname. In '87, when I reached the voting age, I graduated from the AMS and went to the Netherlands to study Computer Science.
So I came to live in a democratic country again, where I soon learned that if you didn't speak well, you were walked all over. Here you had to express yourself in order to count.
In the Netherlands, politics was not very exciting for me. There were enough parties, there was enough choice, but it always came down to two big parties VVD and PvDA. Later, D66 of van Mierlo was also allowed to play, but later there was not much difference really noticeable. Other parties like Groen Links did their best but there was no chance of really winning.
Although politics in Suriname played out along racial lines, the similarity between the Dutch democratic system and the Surinamese was clear to me. The multiple party system, the way politics was conducted and even the way we treated each other. It could hardly be otherwise. After all, we were given the Dutch political system.
With all these political parties, I never really figured it out. Who would I vote for and why? What policy difference would they make, what impact would it have on my life and society in general? Eventually, I understood the lackadaisical behavior of people who didn’t vote because it wouldn’t make a difference, until I moved to America.
Now I went from a multi-party democracy to a two-party democracy, but not only that, here is political spectacle. I consider myself fortunate to have been able to experience the entire development of the current President Obama, from a community organizer to a presidential candidate and finally, President. That is how I finally began to understand democracy.
I have had whole discussions with Americans, especially Black Americans, who initially had no interest in Obama but were pro Hillary Clinton. Not because he is Black I will vote for him, I think Hillary has a better chance, they will shoot him before he ever gets that far, a Black man will never win in this country, were all arguments that could be heard. See Barack Obama, the first black president of America?
In a country where race is so clearly woven into policy politics and where African Americans are clearly getting the short end of the stick, I couldn't imagine that these same Black people didn't even bother to find out who this new Black candidate was. If you were suspicious, you should do it, was my opinion. The lesson for me was that Black Americans also know that politics is about more than just race.
What Obama accomplished after that is history and that was the biggest lesson for me. It doesn't matter who you are or what you stand for, what matters in politics is that you have to get people behind you. That's how he ended up becoming President, White, Black, Republicans and independents voted for him.
There is absolutely no point in starting yet another party because you disagree with each other, as happens all too often in Suriname. You wonder who wins, the voter or politics?
As a foreign Surinamese I would be lying if I said that I know all the political parties in Suriname, let alone the ins and outs. So I am not an expert at all, but even if I knew the ins and outs of every political party, I would not be able to tell you who you should vote for, because who you vote for and why is and remains personal. The only thing I know for sure is that you should vote.
The most important lesson that all my political wanderings have taught me is involvement or as President Barack Obama says: “Democracy is not a spectator's sport”. By this he means that casting a vote is half the battle. In a democracy you are supposed to hold those you voted for to their word and that is, in my opinion, the most difficult thing about this political system.
So as a foreign Surinamese who follows the elections via Social Media and enjoys it immensely, but cannot pretend to know who to vote for or why, I do not give advice. What I can do is wish you success and I do so here because “Na ini Sranan mi kumba te beri.”