Rowley: Prof Selwyn Ryan taught Trinidad and Tobago about itself

THE Prime Minister remembered Prof Selwyn Ryan as a true intellectual, unafraid to confront questions on this society's demographic make-up, with academic rigour, in his tribute to the late political scientist at his funeral on Friday at St Finbar's RC Church, Diego Martin.

Dr Rowley said Ryan was one of the Caribbean's top reasearchers and a true patriot of Trinidad and Tobago, and a man he was glad to have known.

He said Ryan had been brave enough to examine delicate issues such as race, religion, ethnicity and class, but not on the basis of bias, prejudice and speculation but facts he had found.

"As a UWI researcher he brought dignity and relevance to research in these areas."

Ryan's quiet dignity had let him to interact, research and gather facts from and about both the "little man" and the "big man."

"Many in the society would be quite happy to kick the can down the road or to pretend that these delicate issues don't impact our lives."

The PM said Ryan had researched such issues and so educated the society, even when some individuals did not want to, and those intellectually challenging Ryan often ended up learning something new.

Hailing Ryan's ability to be critical but not condemnatory, the PM said, "I had tremendous respect for him."

Rowley saluted Ryan for having written about TT's first prime minister, Dr Eric Williams.

"To have written 900 pages about Dr Williams was to have written the history of the people of TT.

"So satisfied was I with his balance and his intellectual strength that I did discuss with him the possibility of him doing it again, not about Dr Williams, the man, but about PNM, the organisation. It is something he did agree should be done, and I too agree it should be done, because the history of the PNM is a significant part of the history of the people of TT."

Rowley hoped somebody else would complete Ryan's journey of research.

"Prof Ryan was and is a leading light and an example of the best we can be in our region."

Praising Ryan as a writer, commentator, pollster and mas player, Rowley said, "I am proud to have known him."

Dr Roy Mc Cree, a former student of Ryan, delivered the eulogy. He described his mentor as a political historian, political sociologist and political scientist.

He said Ryan was a public intellectual whose writings were shaped by his political, social and cultural consciousness. That consciousness was the result of a historical and political conjunction, and was a source of his ideas and action. He said Ryan had come of age in the post-World War II social ferment involving issues of nationalism, self-government, constitutional reform, independence and decolonisation.

McCree said from 1998-2019, Ryan published 20 books and his autobiography.

He recalled Ryan's polling outfit, St Augustine Research Associates (SARA), which he said had bolstered polling in the Caribbean.

Noting Ryan's change from early admiration for Williams to becoming critical, Mc Cree said Ryan's commitment to scholarship had never been for sale.

Apart from Ryan's image as an erudite and pioneering scholar, he was"very cool, quiet, peaceful, polite, amicable and humble."

After the funeral Newsday spoke to UWI political scientist Dr Hamid Ghany and former UNC minister Dr Tim Gopeesingh. Ghany told Newsday Ryan had been his first politics lecturer.

"I have very fond memories of discussing with him, working with him, arguing with him, always in a very civil manner. He was director of SALISES and when he retired in 2003 he was succeeded by Dr Patrick Watson, and when Dr Watson retired, I became director of SALISES. So there's a rich tradition there.

"He has done so much for our society and I'm very happy I was here today to share these memories, and may he rest in peace."

Gopeesingh said, "We have lost a Caribbean icon, not only in the areas of socio-political and cultural analysis.

"He has analysed the society for four or five decades, analysed the leaders to show their strengths and pitfalls. We have lost a colossus in the pantheon of greats in the Caribbean."

Mourners included former ministers Mervyn Assam, Anthony Smart (now FCB chairman) and Overand Padmore; businessmen Emile Elias and Ken Gordon; Planning Minister Camille Robinson-Regis; retired banker Richard Young; political activist Jackie Lazarus; and communications consultant Lenore Joseph.