PARAMARIBO--Justice and Police Minister Eugene van der San is rapidly becoming notorious for making thoughtless gaffes that he has to retract. The latest incident came on Thursday when the Minister called a Member of Parliament (MP) a “cow.”
It was during a rowdy public meeting of the National Assembly; MP’s were firing questions at the Minister, and not all of them were speaking into the microphone.
At a certain moment Van der San got incensed by a remark made by MP Asiskumar Gajadhien (VHP) and a heated back-and-forth ensued between the two, with National Assembly chairlady Jennifer van Geerlings-Simons admonishing the Minister not to respond to questions that were posed off-mic.
It was too late. “I did not come to Parliament to answer questions from a goat thief. You should know better than that, you cow. You’re worse than a cow,” Minister van der San blurted out.
His outburst was not welcomed, not even by parliamentarians from his National Democratic Party (NDP). Fraction leader André Misiekaba asked the chair to call the Minister to order. Misiekaba said that while he could have seen that Gajadhien had been taunting Van der San with his off-mic questions, the Minister should have restrained himself. “When he became Minister, Van der San announced publicly that he would douse his short fuse,” the NDP MP said. He stressed nonetheless that he understood the Minister.
Parliament chair Geerlings-Simons then called on the Minister to withdraw his attack. The Minister did, stressing that like Gajadhien he too had made his statement off-mic.
Van der San, a career civil servant who previously served as President Desi Bouterse’s Chief of Staff, was sworn in as Minister of Justice and Police in March, after Bouterse fired his predecessor Jennifer van Dijk-Silos. Obviously not a skilled politician, he has since made several statements that are best described as insensitive.
In April for instance he ignited the ire of many when he said that he wanted to amend the criminal code so that Chinese storeowners could shoot down unwanted black people in their businesses. He was speaking at a memorial service for a Chinese storeowner and his son who were burned to death by robbers in early April. The Minister withdrew his statement with apologies the next day, explaining that he had only been trying to convey his concerns over the increase in crime in the country.
