Trinity Cross

The Trinity Cross ( TC; German Trinity Cross) was from 1969 to 2007, the highest Order of Trinidad and Tobago, donated by Queen Elizabeth on behalf of the Parliament of the country. It was awarded for significant and outstanding performance for Trinidad and Tobago and for bravery in the face of the enemy or brave behavior. Both citizens of Trinidad and Tobago as well as foreigners could receive the award, a maximum of five people per year. The country's president was awarded the Order of its own motion. 2008 T.C. was from the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago ( ORTT ) replaced.

History

Five years after Trinidad and Tobago in 1962 became independent from the United Kingdom, Elizabeth II was on the advice of the Cabinet of the country in the young state the Order of the Trinity set up; the Queen was still the official head of state until 1976, and the land is owned by the Commonwealth to. Among the first medal winners, in Sir Hugh Wooding and Ellis Clarke, who had made ​​the independence deserves. By 2008, the Order was awarded 62 times, among others to the Nobel Prize winner VS Naipaul and the cricket players and politicians Learie Constantine, Baron Constantine.

The award of the Trinity Cross was, however, accompanied decades of controversy. So in 1972 the President of the Senate, Wahid Ali, was awarded the Trinity Cross; he refused the order from first, because this is a Christian symbol. Only the assurance of Prime Minister Eric Williams, that the Order should continue to have a different name, Ali led them to accept the Order; However, Williams broke his promise not one. 1995, Pundit Krishna Mahara, the spiritual leader of the Hindu community, the Trinity Cross by Prime Minister Patrick Manning refused to accept for its social merits; there was no real national honor, as it does not symbolize the various religious currents in Trinidad and Tobago. In 1997, the Cabinet appointed a Committee in matters Trinity Cross, chaired by the Chief Justice Michael de la Bastide, which it recommended, to stimulate public discussion on this topic and should be considered that the highest order of the multi-religious society in The Order of Trinidad & Tobago rename.

In June 2005, the complaint was heard from speakers of the Hindu community and an Islamic community in the Supreme Court of the country; Hindus and Muslims make up about a third of the population of Trinidad and Tobago. The complainants argued that the persistence of the Trinity Cross is contrary to the principles of the Constitution. Both the words Trinity Cross as a Christian would have meaning as well as the shape of the Order. Her lawyers argued that the state sticking to the Trinity Cross, although he knew very well that non-Christians would not be awarded a Christian symbol or could. The result was a discrimination of all those non- Christians who have rendered outstanding services to the country. The judge, a Presbyterian pastor, decided in May 2006, the Trinity Cross - the highest medal of the country - is a purely Christian symbol and therefore is discriminatory in a multi-religious society. However, the judge, the court in this matter could not decide, but only the Parliament, since the award of the Order should be regulated by law. The Privy Council of Queen supported the view of the judge.

A few days later, on June 2, 2006, Prime Minister Manning in Parliament, the Trinity Cross was " history ", and future awards would be made on the basis of new and acceptable agreements. 2008, the new Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago was awarded for the first time. One of the first awardees ( posthumously ) was Pundit Krishna Mahara, who had in 1995, the Trinity Cross rejected. The new order is a round badge with the picture of Caribbean nature.

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