ALIF SOCIETY organised a reception in honour of Ms Safeena Lotun, elevated to CSKDr Vincent Florens elevated to OSK andFarhad Aumeer elevated to GOSK on the 12 March
2025.
Over 150 guess responded to our invitation. Pre-dinner cocktail was served at 1915 and dinner started at 2000 hours.
In her address, Hon Shirine Aumeeruddy, Speaker of the National assembly congratulated the laureates and highlighted the merits of the recipients of the National Awards.
The President on his turn spoke on each of the laureates, pointing out how each one stood out for their contribution to Mauritius.
Each laureate was offered a ship model as present.
The guest responded by thanking the organisers and how happy they were to be celebrated.
Event ended with desert and tea
SPEECH SAFINA LOTUN 9 March 2025
Ladies and Gentlemen,
First of all, please allow me to welcome this audience which represents our pluralistic Mauritius. Thank you for your kindness and generosity. If you would allow me, let me say a few words about Alif. Without great resources, we have supported talented young people in their university studies. We have helped 38 students to graduate and post graduate in medicine, 150 in engineering, 5 in architecture, to name just a few of the 400 and counting, who have already completed their studies in Malaysia so far. And I would like to take the opportunity to make a special mention of a former Alif student who now leads an oncology research team at the University of Southampton in the UK and another who is responsible for installing simulators on behalf of Pratt and Whitney, a US aircraft manufacturer. We also have an agreement with Chisty Hospital in Pakistan for the free treatment of patients who are inoperable in Mauritius. The contribution of our guests has gone a long way in this achievement. Our bank account shows that you have already contributed just enough to sponsor one Malagasy student. So, thank you very much indeed.
Also let’s say a big thank you for this dinner to the SIMS company, whose directors, the charming Mimi and her husband Swaley Peerkhan are here, as well as to the Director of Water Edge Garden, Ali Rojid, who is hosting us this evening.
This dinner is special and gives me a peculiar feeling.
Did you know the houses of Daureeawoo, Allyman Peerbux, Sohawon and Baucha are within a stone throw from each other in Vale and that Choomka’s is in my street whereas Eshan Joomun’s folks are five minutes away and that their grand dads of were my friends.
- Farhad is the son of my colleague and friend.
- Dr Conhya is the son the great trade unionist and prolific writer, among the most elegant and well-dressed civil servant and a good friend of mine
A special hi to my friend Dawood Rawat and to Usha Canabady who shines everywhere she goes
Tonight, Alif has organized this event to celebrate four among the best of our compatriots, one woman and three men: Mrs. Safina Lotun, elevated to the rank of CSK, Dr Vincent Florens elevated to OSK, Father Maurice Labour and Hon Farhad Aumeer, both elevated to the rank of GOSK. These laureates serve as an example to the whole of Mauritius and who will, I hope, serve to inspire a new generation. They are four personalities with impeccable qualities that we celebrate without them asking to be admired, recognized or celebrated. There are four of them, four journeys, four destinies, four stories that go towards giving a new direction to our homeland. These heroes are the new face of Mauritius who have uplifted the values of the Republic.
We would like to see them as the precursors of a Mauritius that has left the beaten track and enters with full force and confidence to face the new challenges. We would like our children to be enthused with the same vitalities, and spurred by the same convictions and the same love of their country. If we have invited them, it is because they are the symbol of commitment and courage.
Frankly, our wish would be to celebrate them separately to render a tribute that they deserve. Alas! If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.
For Mrs. Lotun, courage is political and an irresistible choice. Safeena Lotun, as tradition dictates, I would summarize your career in a few sentences: you completed your secondary studies at Queen Elizabeth College and your tertiary studies at the University of Paris VIII, which granted you a Master’s degree in law. You have spent 27 years in the service of the nation as a civil servant in close collaboration with the greatest clerks of the State, particularly at the Presidency, the Executive and the judiciary. You have been Administrative Secretary of the regional interparliamentary organisations and a member of the Society of Clerks, a status that has allowed you to enrich yourself further by participating in conferences, seminars and other workshops. You have also shone beyond our shores being internationally recognized for your efforts to promote the use of ICT in parliament and consolidating the partnership between our National Assembly and the Inter-Parliamentary Union
Evaluating the function of our parliament during COVID 19, the 2023 Global Report on e-Parliament highlights the resilience of our August Assembly. It is thanks to your efforts Dear Madam. Today, Safeena, you are an advisor to the President of the National Assembly.
Folks, Ms. Lotun sat in Parliament without being elected and without being a member of any political party. She denounced in her own way the infernal repression and profanation of the Assembly which we would like to call august. She did not give in to the speaker, who wanted to muzzle the opposition with the infamous “I order you out”. Alone against all, she was not afraid to defend freedom. But “all” had a dimension defined by autocrats who brought together the National Radio-Television, the judiciary and other institutions in a fightback. She says goodbye to the National Assembly and leaves the fight to the people who had the last word by saying to the gravediggers of democracy: “we order you out”. This principle of virtuous living is worth a place in our Hansard.
Madam, there is a saying that would be very fitting – no one is a prophet in his or her own country. A nation can outlive its fools, and even the ambitious members. But it cannot survive the betrayal from within, according to Cicero, a famous Roman senator. And then, the potentates who harassed you hadn’t heard this Turkish wisdom that could apply to them: when you introduce a clown into a castle, the clown doesn’t become king, but it’s the castle that becomes a circus. Congratulations.
SPEECH FARHAD AUMEER 9 MAY 2025
After giving the loudspeaker, the marching orders and clearing the space to Shirine, our lady of grace and dignity, the Mauritian people, in their great wisdom, opened their arms wide to welcome Farhad Aumeer to the National Assembly in November 2024. What intrigues me is “what is the source of inspiration for my friend Ibrahim, your father, to call his first child Farhad, a Persian or Afghan name meaning “charmer”, “man of joy”, “intelligent” and a name also associated with courageous and virtuous characters. I grant it, it’s a wise choice because Farhad has lived up to his name.
After brilliant studies in London, Farhad received his MBBCh BAO, M.R.C.O.G and then F.R.C.O.G. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine (UK), a Fellow of the Royal Irish Academy of Medicine in June 1993 and then a Fellow of the British Society of Colposcopists. He teaches medicine at the University of Mauritius while helping and lending his support to the World Health Organization. Farhad, you are married and you have two sons, both lawyers, and a daughter who works in London. Your sister Shenaz and her husband Ali are here with you tonight and I greet you all.
Farhad, you’re a doctor, it’s a profession I know well. I am not a doctor but I have helped admit at least forty students to medical schools in Malaysia. At least a dozen are serving the country in different hospitals. By taking into account the evolution of medical knowledge that has brought about treatments you were not aware of at the time of your studies, you have maintained your hunger to always remain at the top of your profession. It was great to listen to your public interventions during the COVID 19 panic that stunned an entire people a few years ago.
Suggestions for treatment were coming from numerous sources, sometimes some conflicting with others. You had an authoritative voice that made me think of the words of Arthur chopenhauer who had said: What the herd hates most is the one who thinks differently; it is not so much the opinion itself, but the audacity of wanting to think for themselves, something that the herd does not
know how to do. And Galileo Galilei “In the sciences, the authority of thousands of opinions is not worth as much as one tiny spark of reason in an individual man.”
You helped the nation and the medical profession proposing diagnoses and remedies that became standard references. Obviously, we cannot control a crisis and a global pandemic without the collaboration of all the expertise available. COVID 19 was a health crisis that threatened to mutate and evolve in worrying conditions. Decisions had to be made in all lucidity. Faced with the seriousness of the situation, you willingly and courageously committed yourself to the service of your country because health remains at the heart of your concerns. Then your collaboration was won and the battle was won. What a tremendous achievement! Leo Tolstoy approves of you; he said If you feel pain, you are alive. If you feel other people’s pain, you are a human being.
No wonder then that your services are in high demand and so is your friendship which I judge by the number of colleagues and friends who has accompanied you tonight and whom I greet with great pleasure. I will limit myself to mentioning your medical career which brought you to the attention of the many. Also, Congratulations for the
GOSK, an additional feather to your cap which you fully deserve.
SPEECH FATHER LABOUR 9 MAY 2025
After Father Souchon, Bishop Piat and Bishop Durhone, Father Maurice Labour would have been the fourth representative of the Catholic Church to be honoured by Alif Society. But our proposed honoree has opted to attend the wedding of a relative. We respect his choice.
Allow me to open a parenthesis to tell you how pleased I was to have had the privilege of dining with bishop Piat and the Apostolic Nuncio on his visit to Mauritius. Inviting Father Maurice Labour and honoring him in front of an audience like the one in front of me would have been a pledge of fruitful relations that have been continued and nurtured between the Catholic Church and Alif Society. We would also like to celebrate the good memories left by Pope Francis in his fight on behalf of the wretched of the earth. Let me reminisce on my involvement along Jean Yves Violette, whose lovely wife is with us, and Father Filip Fanchette to bring those involved with friends of Caritas closer to Andy Young, Governor of Georgia in the United States.
Dear Friends. The exploit of our guests, together with the respect of the entire nation which shares the same ideal, must make them excited at the idea of taking over. And I am pleased to express my very warm congratulations to them on my own behalf and on behalf of Alif Society. Alif Society believes that the greatness of our country is based on its history, with its dark pages as well as its glorious pages. What we are doing tonight, in your presence, my dear friends, will be history tomorrow and we want to open a glorious page to inscribe the names of our laureates for their love for our rainbow nation.
Join me wish our journalist friend Murtuza Rahim a very happy birthday. And I leave you to reflect on this question: is it man who creates history or is it history that creates man? Thank you.
SPEECH DR FLORENS 9 MAY 2025
Bear with me for an important diversion. I would like to welcome back Dr Eshan Dulloo, the new President of Mauritius Wild Life Foundation, an ace in biodiversity conservation, who during forty years has been active at the FAO, the World Bank, our Ministry of Agriculture as Asst Conservator of Forests, an Emeritus at the Alliance of Biodiversity International engaged in food security and where he is Honorary Research fellow after retirement. Eshan has been a key player to establish our national park and the World Bank “Seeds for needs” strategy which entitled him to the Food Planet prize in 2023. As he is back in his motherland, we are sure he will help to protect and restore our unique diversity.
Eshan has introduced to me our next Honoree who is Dr Francois Benjamin Vincent Florens who obtained a distinction for his PhD project and who has studied at the Universities of Mauritius and East Anglia. His professional life has evolved around our flora through the Universities of Mauritius and East Anglia, MSIRI, the Kew Royal Botanic Garden and the Mauritius Wild Life Foundation. And when I proposed that we should meet on a certain week, he read me his engagement: the whole week was dedicated to going out in our woodlands. I started wondering whether I was dealing with a Tarzan.
Folks, this week the world of Eshan and Vincent was the talk of the town with the arrival of Odysseo, the brave French group who wants to rid our oceans from the curse of plastics. And we have invited the Director and the Dep Director of Agence Francaise de Developpement to show our appreciation for the historic work they are involved in as lead initiators.
Folks, nature and its preservation is and should be everybody’s concern. Unfortunately, we have not been very kind to it. We have introduced goats on Round Island which grazed around the roots of our Unique Palm tree, deprived it of the water retained by the grass, killed many of them as well as the Unique Mauritian round Island snake and lizard. We pollute our lagoon and are deciding since half a century how to dispose of house effluents along coastal villages. Our woodland is diminishing drastically and we are left only the ocean if we are looking for, what the French describes as EVASION.
In this context, we need an army of Dr Florens to save us from ourselves. His nearly lonely voice is drowned in the cacophony of goyaves de Chine pickers and lumber hungry builders. So, let us show him our collective concern in solidarity with our motherland and our environment in his fight against threats to our flora and fauna and in ecological education. Let us protect our lagoon and our ground water from degradation, let us save our rare species of plants and animals, let us save our lungs which are our woodlands. Let us make Mauritius a hub, this popular word, of ethic living. And let us give Dr Florens a round of applause for his great ambition and understand that we will be alive only if we stop the violence against nature.
