The Country

Suriname lies on the north -central coast of South America and is bordered by Guyana to the west, French Guyana to the east and Brazil to the south. The country that gained independence from the Netherlands in 1975 is densely forested. The forested area constitutes about 90% of the national territory. Suriname is sparsely populated. From its estimated 450,000 inhabitants 95% lives in a coastal zone along the Atlantic Ocean. Nearly two-third off all Surinamese live in and around the capital , Paramaribo.Suriname’s principal export and source of foreign investment is bauxite, it accounts for 70 percent of Suriname’s exports an 10 percent of GDP. In the year to come gold will be the second most important export product. Besides bauxite, Suriname’s main source of income is derived from export of rice, bananas and shrimps. Suriname is a member of the United Nations, the Organization of American States, the Caribbean Communnity, the Association of Caribbean States and a member of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Nations.Dutch is the official language, but English, Hindi, Javanese, Chinese, and Sranang Tongo are widely spoken, the majority of these languages being the mother tongue of the different ethnic groups Suriname consists of.

Society

Over the course of three centuries Suriname was transformed by the Dutch by means of slavery and later indentured labor from British India, Indonesia, China, Madeira and Syria into one oft the most ethnically complex societies in the world. Suriname is composed of no less than eight distinct groups: East Indians (36%); Creoles (31%); Indonesians, principally Javanese (15%); Maroons (10%); Amerindians (2.5%); Chinese (2%); Burus , decendents from Europeans (1.5%), and others mainly Sephardic Jews, Syrians and Libanese. Both, the maroons and Amerindians who mostly live in the interior are divided into five distinct tribes. All ethnic groups mentioned preserved their culture and religions.Even after gaining independence from the Netherlands in 1975 Suriname maintains strong ties with the Netherlands. The major reason for this is that approximately 300,000 to 350,000 Dutch from Surinamese origin live in the Netherlands. This is almost the same number of inhabitants Suriname has. The Dutch and Surinamese airlines (KLM and SLM), with three always fully books (747) flights a week , are the major reason for the preservation of family ties.

Politics

Since Suriname gained self rule in 1948 till 1996 ethnicity has been the defining element of Surinamese politic. Political parties were organized on an ethnic basis and group interests prevailed over national interest. The major parties in Surinamese politics were top-down, elite controlled, organizations whose leaders provided for their constituencies through, patronage, nepotism and the dispensation of favors through the party hierarchy. Racial outburst never took place, since parties always agreed to share power. Governments were always multiethnic and multiparty elitecartels.After the 1996 elections the leaders of the traditional coalition parties failed in their attempts to make an alliances with smaller parties, needed to achieve a parliamentary majority. This paved the way for the non traditional parties to come to power in a coalition that included deflectors form the traditional parties.On September 5 a narrow majority of the People Assembly chose Drs. J. A. Wijdenbosch as the Nation’s president. The new president elect, inherits, great economic and social problems and must address. Too, the heightened expectations of the poor, the young, and the jungle dwellers that supported his party in the may 1996 elections.