Trinity Cross
| Trinity Cross | |
|---|---|
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| Trinity Cross in gold | |
| Founder: |
Elizabeth II. Trinidad and Tobago
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| Foundation year: | 1969 |
| First award: | 1969 |
| Last award: | 2007 |
| Strap buckle: |
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The Trinity Cross ( TC ; German Dreifaltigkeitskreuz ) was the highest order of Trinidad and Tobago from 1969 to 2007 , donated by Queen Elisabeth on behalf of the country's parliament. It was awarded for significant and outstanding achievements for Trinidad and Tobago as well as for bravery in the face of the enemy or brave behavior . Both citizens of Trinidad and Tobago and foreigners could receive the award, a maximum of five people per year. The president of the country received the order ex officio . In 2008 the TC was replaced by the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago ( ORTT ).
history
Five years after Trinidad and Tobago had gained independence from Great Britain in 1962 , Elizabeth II had the Order of the Trinity set up in the young state on the advice of the country's cabinet ; the Queen was the official head of state until 1976, and the country is a member of the Commonwealth . Sir Hugh Wooding and Ellis Clarke were among the earliest recipients of the order , who had worked for independence. Up to 2008 the order was awarded 62 times, among others to the Nobel Prize winner V. S. Naipaul and the cricketer and politician Learie Constantine, Baron Constantine .
The awarding of the Trinity Cross was accompanied by controversy for decades. In 1972 the President of the Senate, Wahid Ali, was awarded the Trinity Cross ; he initially rejected the order because it was a Christian symbol. It was only the assurance from Prime Minister Eric Williams that the order should be given a different name in the future that led Ali to accept the order; However, Williams did not keep his promise. In 1995, Pundit Krishna Mahara, spiritual leader of a Hindu community, refused to accept the Trinity Cross from Prime Minister Patrick Manning for his social merits; it is not a real national decoration because it does not symbolize the various religious currents in Trinidad and Tobago. In 1997, the Cabinet appointed a Trinity Cross Committee , chaired by Chief Justice Michael de la Bastide, who recommended that a public discussion of the matter be initiated and that consideration be given to the highest order of multi-religious society in The Order of Rename Trinidad & Tobago .
In June 2005, the country's Supreme Court heard the complaint from speakers from the Hindu community and from an Islamic community; Hindus and Muslims make up around a third of the population of Trinidad and Tobago. The complainants alleged that the continued existence of the Trinity Cross was against constitutional principles. Both the words Trinity and Cross would have a Christian meaning, as would the form of the order. Her lawyers took the view that the state was sticking to Trinity Cross , even though it knew very well that non-Christians would not or could not be decorated with a Christian symbol. The result is discrimination against all those non-Christians who have rendered services to the country. The judge, a Presbyterian pastor, ruled in May 2006 that the Trinity Cross - the highest order in the country - was a purely Christian symbol and therefore meant discrimination in a multi-religious society . However, according to the judge, the court cannot decide on this matter, only parliament, since the award of the medal is regulated by law. The Queen's Privy Council supported the judge's view.
Just days later, on June 2, 2006, Prime Minister Manning declared in Parliament that the Trinity Cross was "history" and that future awards would be made on the basis of new and acceptable agreements. In 2008 the new Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago was awarded for the first time. One of the first to be honored (posthumously) was Pundit Krishna Mahara, who rejected the Trinity Cross in 1995 . The new order is a round plaque depicting a Caribbean nature.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago: National Awards. Retrieved August 2, 2013 .
- ↑ Trinidad Guardian, August 27, 2012: Sir Ellis among first to get Trinity Cross. Retrieved April 11, 2016 .
- ↑ a b c Trinidad Newsday of May 28, 2006: Renaming the Trinity Cross. Retrieved April 11, 2016 .
- ↑ Queen's Trinity Cross medal scrapped ... because it's too Christian on dailymail.co.uk v. May 8, 2009
- ↑ Trinity Cross unconstitutional v on newsday.co.tt. April 29, 2009