No one is sure why Suriname’s Indo-led government is trying to bring a large group of white Mennonites to settle in a Caribbean Community nation that is already racked by simmering racial tensions involving different race groups, but lawmakers and social activists are beginning to ask serious questions about the real motives behind their invitation to make the Dutch-speaking republic their new home. Suriname borders Brazil, Guyana, and French Guiana.
Known for living in various countries around the world in their own isolated communities, like American Amish groups, the Mennonites have already made several reconnaissance missions to Suriname, scoping out opportunities for land purchases and testing the general mood of the locals, and for talks with the administration of President Chan Santokhi.
Opposition lawmakers and social activists say they are angry because they are only now learning, by word of mouth, about this startling development with its attendant implications for the future make-up of the population. Apparently, no official confirmation was made by authorities until very recently when legislators raised the issue in parliament, forcing answers from government colleagues.
“The possible arrival of the Anabaptist is a very serious matter. The government is provoking the natives,” said opposition parliamentarian Iona Edwards. Colleague Evart Karto was also very upset. “I ask the government how and why that decision was made. Who has been consulted and who has received money?”
The government has also taken flak from one of its own party members—Indo assemblymember Asiskumar Gajadien has demanded clarification and a clear statement from the cabinet about exactly what the plan is.
Edwards said Mennonite teams have already been moving to establish a base at Apoera, near the western border with Guyana and are moving to acquire up to 90,000 hectares through land purchases. The nation of about 600,000 is already racked by rising tension among the major race groups, including Blacks, Indians, Javanese from Indonesia, Amerindians, and Maroons who count themselves as a separate ethnic group.
This is as indigenous Amerindian and Maroons have been struggling with successive administrations for decades to settle land demarcation and allocation borders for the first two sets of people to have occupied this nation.
“With the polarizing policy, there are enough tensions in the country,” Edwards said. “Now people also want to have fanatical groups brought in. In other countries, they have been guilty of rape and other things. We must not expose our people to danger. Are we going to allow this?”
Mennonite publications, including Anabaptists World, and others have already published detailed reports about the plans to set up a Mennonite colony in Suriname. One publication has already labeled the plans to head south as “Suriname fever.” Another showed photographs of Mennonite farmers taking soil samples to determine whether the area would be suitable for the type of agricultural prowess for which they are known.
Mennonites came from Europe many centuries ago, fleeing what they claimed was religious persecution back home and tensions with the Catholic and other churches after early clashes over religious doctrine. In the Caricom nation of Belize, they comprise about 5 percent of the population but make a significant contribution to agricultural production. They had migrated from neighboring Mexico to Belize in the 1960s. Belize has about 12,000 Mennonites.
Mennonites are often compared to Amish communities in the U.S., because some shun modern amenities such as technology, including computers, and electrical power. Many of the women wear long clothing, almost all-covering dresses and the men wear straw hats and buttoned-down shirts at times, despite the simmering heat in Belize.
Belize originally offered them land and tax-free incentives.
Authorities say they are happy to add this new but controversial group to Surinamese society but won’t give them land—they would have to buy land for themselves. The government is well aware of their acknowledged agriculture production prowess, which has been demonstrated in countries like Bolivia and Mexico.
