Former government minister Winston Dookeran believes the commission of enquiry into the 1990 attempted coup did not address two issues - the 'sensitive matters' in the failings of the national security system and the inadequacies of the constitutional arrangements for the handling of such an event.
'In my view, those were two very fundamental issues for which we could have learnt to protect ourselves against not only that (attempted insurrections) but future occurrences,' he said on Saturday in the aftermath of the death of Jamaat al Muslimeen leader Imam Yasin Abu Bakr.
Bakr, 80, collapsed at his home on Long Circular Road, St James, on Thursday night and was later pronounced dead at the St James Health Facility. His funeral took place on Friday at the Jamaat's mosque on Mucurapo Road, St James.
On July 27, 1990, Muslimeen insurgents, led by Bakr, stormed the Red House in Port of Spain and attempted to overthrow the then ANR Robinson-led National Alliance for Reconstruction Government. Several people, including Diego Martin parliamentarian Leo Des Vignes, died during the attack.
On September 7, 2010, two decades later, then acting President Timothy Hamel-Smith appointed a commission of enquiry into the incident.
The commission, chaired by Sir David Simmons, completed its work on September 23, 2013 and the report was submitted to former president Anthony Carmona in March 2014.
Dookeran, who was then Minister of Planning in the NAR administration, said while the commission did make some recommendations regarding the treatment of victims, the then government (UNC) and successive administrations have not addressed them with any alacrity.
'Much of that required government decisions and I don't get the impression that it was taken seriously by the then government or subsequent governments.'
Dookeran recalled after Robinson was shot in the Parliament chamber, he was hastily-appointed acting prime minister and had to not only appease the insurrectionists but restore some semblance of calm in the country. He subsequently brokered an agreement with the Muslimeen through an amnesty.
Reflecting on the casualties of the crisis and the general uncertainty of that period, Dookeran lamented the removal of the eternal flame from the eastern side of the Red House. He said the flame was an enduring symbol of the resilience of the country's citizens.
'I think the historical monument that was supposed to be a memory of how the people in our country responded to this crisis in democracy and which was supposed to be reflected in the eternal light, not only to acknowledge the ultimate sacrifice that a number of our citizens had to make by losing their lives but also to inspire the next generation that this was a victory of the people in defense of our democracy."
He said the eternal flame eventually removed and replaced by another monument which is now really a recognition of the past when the flame was meant to be an inspiration for the future.
'I thought that was a fundamental flaw in terms of learning psycho
