who feel a Jamaican-born Senator should not be placed in charge of Bermudian culture.

Sen. Yvette Swan has just returned to the Island from the United Nations-sponsored Fourth World Conference on Women in China. She is expected to be sworn in as a Cabinet Minister at Government House today at 12.30 p.m.

"I feel very much a Bermudian, having been here for over 25 years,'' Sen.

Swan told The Royal Gazette yesterday. "I have assimilated myself into Bermudian life.'' Some callers to radio phone-in shows have complained that a Bermudian Culture Minister should be born in Bermuda.

And a disgruntled organiser of the Bermuda Day Parade, who did not want to be identified, said: "Sen. Swan does not know about Bermuda's culture.

"I cannot go to Jamaica and become Culture Minister there.'' But Sen. Swan, who plays the piano and was until recently the tympanist in the Wesley Methodist Orchestra, said: "I think I have been exposed quite a bit to Bermuda culture, and culture of other countries as well. I'm also quite aware of the arts life in Bermuda.'' Bermudian culture needed to be looked at "on an international level,'' Sen.

Swan said.

It had roots in the West Indies, Europe, the Americas, and the Azores, she said. "Bermuda is a cosmopolitan community.'' An optometrist, Sen. Swan has Bermuda status and is married to Bermudian Mr.

Malcolm Stanley Swan. She was first named to the Senate in 1993.

Most recently, Sen. Swan represented the Bermuda Government at the women's conference in Beijing after Human Affairs Minister the Hon. Jerome Dill was unable to attend because of the Cabinet shuffle.

Sen. Swan said yesterday she has a report on the conference prepared and will hand it to Premier the Hon. David Saul today. "I'm just dying for tomorrow so I can get into the Ministry and see what I have to work with,'' she said yesterday.

Also yesterday, Shadow Community and Culture Minister the Rev. Trevor Woolridge declined to comment on the controversy over Sen. Swan's place of birth.

"She is a status Bermudian,'' he said.

"My concern about the appointment is simply this: The Premier, Dr. Saul, has demonstrated his lack of concern for the electorate, small business, and those items that come under the Ministry of Community and Cultural Affairs, by relegating it to an appointed legislative body.'' Government backbencher Mrs. Grace Bell "should have been the primary choice'' for the Ministry, Mr. Woolridge said.

"She represents in St. George's South one of the strongest cultural areas of the Country,'' he said. Referring to common surnames on St. David's Island, he asked: "Where else do the Foxes lie down with the Lambs?'' Sen. Swan said the Ministry she would take responsibility for today was "very important,'' dealing with the library, senior citizens, and other important aspects of society.

"The fact that it's in the Senate does not really mean one thing or the other,'' she said.

Mr. Woolridge and others "should give me a chance to get into the Ministry and have a look at it, and see what I can do.''