(Continued from page 23 of Fri. Aug. 25, 2017 issue # 3112 of the Amandala)

The citizenship-by-investment scheme in Belize has always been a farce. Belizean politicians have failed to understand that Belize is not the USA or some EU states that have successfully introduced and implemented this scheme because they can afford to. Politically myopic Belizeans do not realize that in the same way Belize’s ethnic balance has dramatically changed since the mid-1980s, disproportionately elevating one ethnic group, which is largely alien, at the expense of another that is native, or  rather foundational, the same thing can occur now with just  a sleight of the hand.

Belizeans need to examine the case of Singapore. Singapore’s ethnic Malays were in the majority when the British first arrived in Singapore in the first quarter of the 19th century – 1819. The Chinese in Singapore then were a mere handful. Fast forward four decades later, half Singapore’s population was suddenly Chinese. These people arrived ostensibly to work on the rubber plantations, in Singapore’s tin mines and to fish. Though many were economic migrants, there were some fleeing the Taiping Civil War, which affected much of Southern China.

Today, Singapore’s population of almost six million has a Chinese majority which is 76 per cent of the population; with the Malays just 14 per cent; Indians, 8 per cent; and other ethnic groups constituting 2 per cent. To protect its Chinese majority and to maintain the current racial ratio, Singapore does its best to oppose Malay domination and any form of Malay nationalism by encouraging Chinese immigration, while pretending not to discriminate against the Malays, the country’s founding inhabitants.

I happen to live in a Nigerian city of over 20 million people, which represents 10 per cent of that nation’s population. However, if the entire Lagos suburb where I live, which consists largely of skilled, highly educated and entrepreneurial Nigerians, were to all buy Belizean passports and residencies, and immigrate to Belize, Belize would in the twinkling of an eye metamorphose into a BLACK nation, with a population larger than that of Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, as well as Barbados all combined. And, I would not have to dust up my Sixth Form Spanish as I had to on my last visit home, or warna my remaining relatives there to begin learning Mandarin and Cantonese.

Well, this is merely hypothetical, because the greatest opposition to such an influx of educated, dynamic and business oriented Black people landing in Belize would definitely come from Belizeans with much more than a dollop of African blood in their DNAs. Indeed, one of the major reasons why that bold, imaginative and transformative episode in Belize’s modern history – UBAD – eventually failed, was because a faction of this revolutionary movement simply rejected the lessons of the African experience in Belize.  In its ambivalence and ruinous ignorance, it indulged in a particularly subversive form of self-hate common to colonized or enslaved peoples in the pathetic quest to assimilate and “belong”. This naturally resulted in a “sell-out” and the end of a dream that, had it succeeded, would have definitely empowered Belize’s Black citizens politically, culturally, educationally and economically. And, they and their Black political leaders would not be the sorry spectacle that they are in 2017.

There are two models which come to mind when approaching the issues of nationality, immigration and the need to protect a small, vulnerable nation like Belize from being swallowed and losing its core identity, as is the case now. One is the Swiss model and the other is Japan’s.

In a nutshell, the Swiss road to citizenship and permanent residency is not for the faint hearted or the opportunistic. It comes with numerous strict criteria, and is one reason why a high number of people living in Switzerland merely have “foreign” status, and nothing more. Here is one example. Foreigners with no direct blood ties to Switzerland (through birth or marriage, though citizenship by birth is not automatic) can only apply for naturalization after living in Switzerland for at least 12 years. However, as from January 2018, this will be reduced to 10 years. A foreign spouse applying for naturalization must be married to a Swiss national for at least 3 years and lived in Switzerland for at least 5 years, including the year immediately before applying for naturalization.

Naturalization is considered at three levels, that is, the national, the level of the canton and that of the commune. Each canton and commune has its own requirements. However, they all insist that they have to be satisfied that an applicant has integrated well into Swiss customs, traditions, its rule of law, and way of life, and can speak and write a Swiss national language to an appreciable standard. An applicant must have no criminal record, (half the crimes committed in Switzerland are by foreigners) and on no account must endanger or represent a threat to Switzerland’s internal and external security. It is instructive to note that Switzerland is the world’s oldest neutral country. It has not fought a foreign war since the nation’s neutrality was established by the1815 Treaty of Paris. It is also noteworthy that this famously neutral state insists that no individual or group must be allowed to endanger its internal and external security. Yet, Belize’s security indifferent politicians welcome Guatemalans, and every other self-seeking foreign national and known international criminal under the sun, for money that can only buy “fresco, cawn-sham, pepitos, stretch-mi-guts and wangla” (aka SUVs and clapboard houses in America and Canada).

Japan, is unusually wary of asylum seekers and economic migrants, and generally discourages immigration as it insists that its strictly Japanese way of life is supreme and must not be undermined by immigrants. But with an ageing population and declining birth rates, which will make its future highly unsustainable, Japan has learnt to modify its immigration policies. The most viable, to my mind, is the Japanese practice of allowing people of Japanese heritage from Brazil or Peru, or wherever they are, to immigrate with their families to Japan. The nikkeijin population, as it is known, quickly increased to about 375,000 in 2007, or about 20 per cent of Japan’s foreign population.

A sensible government with an eye on its legacy would put ego, conceit and pettiness aside and offer highly skilled  Belizeans in the Diaspora incentives, such as land, full political participation at all levels, and provide a truly congenial atmosphere for them to return and REMAIN with their families and descendants, and  thus repopulate  Belize. In the West African state of Senegal (population 15 million), the government of President Macky Sall decided that Senegal’s Diaspora should have direct representation in parliament. Recently, it set aside 15 seats in the 165-member parliament for the nation’s Diaspora, said to number around 500,000. Diasporan Senegalese are also allowed to vote in Senegal’s elections.

It is widely known that there are more “true born” or “foundation” Belizeans living abroad than there are at home. Instead of the current flotsam, dubious characters and indifferent “settlers” the country now attracts, Belize could offer a Highly Skilled Foreign Professional (HSFP) visa in order to recruit health care personnel, engineers, computer experts, scientists, manufacturers and people with agricultural skills. It already has a surfeit of foreign traders, shopkeepers and tourist operators who deplete the nation’s meagre foreign reserves on imports. Like the Canadian and Australian schemes the HSFP would be accompanied with a points-based assessment of eligibility. Such visa holders would be allowed to bring their families to Belize.

The nation’s commercial capital, Belize City, would regain its reputation as a far more attractive place to work, live and play than anywhere else in the country if the largely uneducated, unemployed, under-employed, and truly tragic Belize City Southside youths are rehabilitated and creatively mobilized into a massive education and skills acquisition  programme. Naturally, this wasted and lost generation would be empowered and made to acquire skills in the building trades. This could include training, as was the case at the now defunct Belize Technical College (another disastrous government decision!) for these youths to become electricians, plumbers, masons, decorators, bricklayers, iron-benders, painters, fashion designers and pattern-cutters. Others could also acquire skills in servicing vehicles, refrigerators, air-conditioners, cookers, other kitchen equipment, shoe and bag manufacture, and possibly operating animal husbandry and horticulture cooperatives for the export market.

But then, how many of our governments can be perceived as sensible? Clearly, in the face of monumental folly, we the ordinary people of Belize must do SOMETHING tangible, and swiftly too, or as Neri Briceño grimly predicts, we will have no country left.

(Ed. NOTE: The writer resides in Lagos, Nigeria.)