Smoking Joe vs Sat the Hack; Live Wire reviews smouldering holy war over child brides 

It. Just. Got. Flipping. Real!

The Hindu community were supposed to be celebrating Arrival Day—no doubt at public expense too—but Maha Sabha general secretary Sat Maharaj used the occasion to tell Roman Catholic archbishop Joe Harris to get lost instead.

Photo: Maha Sabha general secretary Sat Maharaj. (Copyright Power 102)
Photo: Maha Sabha general secretary Sat Maharaj.
(Copyright Power 102)

“Archbishop, mind your own damn business,” said Maharaj. “(…) If I had only one message, the message is: allyuh go to hell, this is a business of the Hindu community and the State.”

Somewhere in east Trinidad, boxing promoter Boxu Potts saw the video clip on CNC3 and pulled a muscle trying to sprint to the phone.

Everywhere else, onlookers probably winced.

The ‘business’ that Maharaj is defending, incidentally, is the right for Hindu girls to be married,under the Hindu Marriage Act, from the age of 14. So far, so backward.

Now, in case you missed it—maybe, for instance, you were focused on the stuttering economy, bloodletting in the streets, judicial constipation, police disservice, or the ticking time bomb next door in Venezuela—the Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO) head Brother Harrypersad Maharaj revealed, two weeks ago, that local religious bodies rather liked the idea of keeping the option of child brides on the table.

In case of emergencies, of course.

Which kinda begs the question: What sort of problem, save for pending deportation, is a hastily arranged marriage supposed to cure in 2016?

Photo: We're looking at you "Dirty Harry!"
Photo: We’re looking at you “Dirty Harry!”

In a country where the last prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar—a Hindu one at that—felt it necessary to confirm her knowledge of pipe on a political platform; the current prime minister, Dr Keith Rowley, apparently thought “freedom of the press” was either a dare or an exotically named dish when he had a former Express reporter over for an allegedly flirtatious encounter; and the former Local Government Minister Chandresh Sharma was flattening mistresses in public car parks:

Does marriage really cover shame? Or merely increase the number of the humiliated?

Joe’s stock might be rising as we speak. Because, frankly, if Sat thinks you’re awful, then you must be doing something right. Not so?

Still, Mr Live Wire advises caution in looking for the good guy here.

First, if Joe didn’t know about this child marriage thing before, he surely saw it was on the IRO’s agenda for its last meeting. Was he afraid to show up and give dirty Harrypersad and Barbara Backward a piece of his mind?

Didn’t Joe read about when Jesus visited the money lenders’ temple and get on rowdier than Anna Ramdass in the police station? Or what of that bit about hiding your candle behind a bushel?

Photo: Archbishop Joseph Harris. (Courtesy Stabroek News)
Photo: Archbishop Joseph Harris.
(Courtesy Stabroek News)

Only tough in front of your own pew, Joe?

And as we are on the topic of Joe’s candle. Might Mr Live Wire also point out that the Catholic Church is on decidedly shaky ground when talk turns to pedophiles. Something like ex-AG Anand Ramlogan giving the feature address on animal cruelty.

Hey, stand up for what’s right by all means, Joe. But keep it real too.

Maybe Sat would have been more amenable to a chat on the matter if you’d lifted your own robe, is all Mr Live Wire is saying.

And when Sat said ‘go to hell’; well, it might not be quite as bad as it sounds. Hindus, according to wisdom gleaned from a few minutes of ‘Googling’, see hell as “naraka” where souls endure temporary torture while they wait for their next life journey through reincarnation.

In other words, it is like a trip to the local passport office.

Photo: Can... I... Help... You? (Courtesy Disney)
Photo: Can… I… Help… You?
(Courtesy Disney)

We’ve all been there, Joe. Just be sure to walk with a phone charger and some groovy tunes.

As for you, Sat. Can you explain your defiance about this child marriage thing some more?

“(Child marriage critics) could make children though,” said Maharaj, “with old men. Nobody locking up the old men…

“When you are young, you take chances. And if a girl at the age of 14 took a chance and she got pregnant, the two sets of parents will come together, and they will give support, they will send them back to school. And they will take charge of the child.”

Wait… So your defence is if the police are not successfully prosecuting offenders of statutory rape, why not legitimise the act and allow them to keep their victims?

I’m. Eh. But…

Sorry. No words. That’s exactly the sort of idea that, if you let bounce around in your head for a bit, leads to an aneurysm. Mr Live Wire would like to wait until his own daughters are grown before he gets back to that one.

Photo: Wait... Wha?! (Copyright Shuttershock)
Photo: Wait… Wha?!
(Copyright Shuttershock)

The Maha Sabha jefe had some words for US Ambassador John Estrada as well.

“In every state it is a different age, and the age is as low as 13 in the United States of America,” he said. “Mr Ambassador, cure your own evil before you come to tell us how to cure our evil.”

Out of America’s 50 states, one, New Hampshire, allows marriage at age 13 with parental consent, although most start at 16. And the majority of the IRO, apparently, are happy to justify their stance on issues like child marriage, abortion and the death penalty by identifying with global pariahs rather than the mainstream.

Yet, ole Sat was cracking. He, possibly inadvertently, referred to child brides as “evil” after all.

Give it up Sat. In the words of that great philosopher of our time, Machel Monk: “The party done.”

And call off the holy war too, fellahs. It won’t do either of you any good.

This conflict will only show off the frailties of either sect and possibly turn droves of followers into pained, non-believers. Sort of like Batman versus Superman.

Photo: Super confusing? (Courtesy: Mel Lissa)
Photo: Super confusing?
(Courtesy: Mel Lissa)
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About Mr. Live Wire

Mr. Live Wire is an avid news reader who translates media reports for persons who can handle the truth. And satire. Unlike Jack Nicholson, he rarely yells.

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174 comments

  1. “The Hindu community were supposed to be celebrating Arrival Day—no doubt at public expense too…” Really Lasana?

    Thought it was Indian Arrival Day – a public holiday, a National Holiday? At public expense? Was that really necessary Mr. Live Wire? Could you quote how much ‘public money’ was given and to whom? You have given the impression that Hindus were leaching off the State, when that has not been; and was not so.

  2. Sat should read the message and not kill the messenger!

  3. A big laugh. War with self can really be damaging. No need for stressors in Trinidad. Some people love to spoil others energy/chi. Push it off & let the light shine.

  4. Why even bother with him? IRRELEVANT! Dotishness

  5. A war begins when two or more parties engage it. The point of this article is wrong and inflammatory as well as libellous. Please stick to the facts and the real issues.

  6. I wonder if the Archibishop has an age of consent in mind for lil boys in the Catholic church??….Sat is an arrogant man..and dont like him..but this time i agree with the man…he did not say he supports child marriages….he said the State will dialogue with the religious body and compliance with state law will follow ref.Teenage marriage…..The Archibishop needs to seek repentance for the sins of the Church ..the rape of the Arawaks and Caribs..and the African girls during slavery when they made Barbuda a breeding island….when they introduced Syphilis to the natives and prostitution in East Africa….read Odinga’s Uhuru……

  7. Smoking Joe vs Sat the Hack. Bias much?

  8. SAT. if you are wise you are wise for yourself And if you scoff you will bear it alone

  9. Who want to marry they 13 yr old child who could be a futury doctor lawyer or even prime minister i am no hindu but ah dam vex total failure kabul

  10. Why don’t the arch bishop talk about bugger in priests all over d world when l was a little boy going to confession on a Saturday in the cathedral l used to c a certain old old priest with a walking stick holding and hugging lil girls 9 10yrs old trying to kiss them all over their lips face etc he was what ppl call white…one of the reasons l unbaptisted myself from the Roman Catholic pagan church

  11. As a former classmate of Joe Harris, I can assure you that the “training” he got in taking fatigue has prepared him well for dealing with anything that Sat can dish out.

  12. They both have things to fix/ SAT MUST FIX the age barrier and JOE HARRIS must fix Sodom & Gommorah

  13. Arch Bishop Harris made his point and does not wish to engage in a war. Nuff said.

  14. I am a Hindu and Sat Maharaj certainly is not speaking on my behalf. I totally disagree with him and I am sure there are others who will distance themselves from his rantings. On the other hand I agree with the Archbishop. He voiced his opinion like everybody else and is moving forward.

  15. Tanya, you can post the Idaho story here or in one of the posts on the child marriage issue. 😉

  16. Reading the comments and all I would say is…..hmmm..

  17. I guess that is why I am not in the media Lasana.

    • Lol. Yes that’s the business. The minute Sat becomes ex-general secretary, the game changes. Although I won’t doubt that he will still be sought out for a quote or two then to “show contrast between him and his replacement.”
      Incendiary sells. But it is justified once he keeps that role.

  18. Rather a Catholic to a Hindu any day of the week

  19. this is the media way of getting religious leaders to battle it out to sell news.. but seriously… lets take all leaders out of question … what is the difference between child marriage and ‘shacking up’ by girls under 18 with men who made them pregnant? and here we come back to protecting child or upseting many people when term ‘legalised abortion’ is brought up?
    whats yr thoughts?

  20. i am sure old sat will have lots to say if 40 or 50 year old mothers marry 16 year old boys .poor women will get lots of name calling from everyone male and female. so i hope all the men who want to sleep with a 14 year old should visualize an old man banging there sweet little 14 year old daughter and see if they like it . someone see if … have a 14 year old grand child to put her in a life of misery maybe he would like that. so women come out and put a stop to men raping our babies .

  21. Lasana Liburd is Mr Live Wire!? Whaaaa??!! Next you’ll be telling me superman is Clarke Kent!

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