The Premier has defended the location of a statue of a slave burned to death as necessary for the nation's healing process.

Ewart Brown said the siting of the 10ft tribute to Sally Bassett on the grounds of the Cabinet and Cenotaph had been borne out in a survey.

"The choice was not my personal choice but I support it," he said.

Dr. Brown was asked at a Sandy's Rotary Club meeting "do Bermudians want to be reminded consistently of that day?" through the statue's prominent location.

He responded: "It's probably easier to understand Sally Bassett if you understand why the Jewish people won't stop talking about the Holocaust.

"Only people who gloss over or who do not truly appreciate an apocalyptic event are people who are bound to repeat those mistakes. If you go all across America and Europe you will find monuments dedicated to the Holocaust, and the theme is 'never again'.

"So it is sort of along those lines here, as this is a woman who resisted an evil institution. I feel slavery was a horrible institution."

Sally Bassett was burned at the stake in 1730 for allegedly attempting to poison her master, his wife and another slave.

The Premier said: "We have to acknowledge the past in the Bermudian way though, which traditionally has been quiet. Bermuda is not going to get where it wants to be if it is going to require people to repress their own historical truth."