http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20050731/focus/focus4.html
Published: Sunday | July 31, 2005

Then there are the moral compromises which politics often demands. As Napoleon once remarked, "A distinction must be made between the acts of a sovereign, who acts as a collective person, and those of a private individual, who has only his own feelings to consider. Politics allows and even commands one to do what would be inexcusable in the other."

THE GLORY OF LEADING

All of which probably explains why politicians get away with so much and so often get re-elected after blatant displays of stupidity and dishonesty. There simply are not that many people who actually want their jobs, or rather who are willing to do what it takes to carry out their required duties even competently. For there are many who would want the glory of leading, but without the struggle of understanding and getting on top of the issues leaders have to make decisions about.

In fact, you hear whispers about current PNP leadership contenders being unable or unwilling to do the requisite homework and so turning up for meetings uninformed about critical matters under discussion. As someone completely unconnected politically I have absolutely no idea about the veracity of such rumours. So should we "Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear"? Or is it "If fish come from river bottom and tell you say shark down there, believe him"?

Stanley Baldwin once bitterly remarked that "journalists enjoy the privilege of the harlot down the ages ­ power without responsibility." Well, I'm not sure how much power running off your mouth on the airwaves or in print gives you, but he was right about the lack of responsibility part. Journalists can say anything they please because there are no consequences if they are wrong. A political leader who says or does the wrong thing can ruin his career or his country.

MANDATORY LAWS

To quote Napoleon again, "In political administration, no problem is ever simple. It can never be reduced to the question of whether a certain measure is good or not." Be that as it may, there are some potential legislative changes which to this onlooker do seem like no-brainers with huge potential on the upside and little or no downside. So here are five bills I would immediately ram through parliament if I were Prime Minister.

1. Make it mandatory for the police to take DNA samples of every suspect brought in for questioning after a crime has been committed. Of course this assumes state-of-the-art DNA testing equipment.

2. Give lawyers and judges the right to demand DNA samples from defendants and have them tested if they deem it helpful in determining guilt or innocence.

3. Make elocution classes compulsory in primary and high school.

4. Put the country on daylight saving time (DST) during the summer.

5. Make the Emancipation and Independence holidays fall on a Friday and the following Monday.

DNA TESTING

Bills 1 and 2. Jamaica is on track to end this year with over 1,800 murders, which would probably give us the dubious distinction of being the most murderous country on earth. In the two years since America invaded Iraq, 25,000 Iraqis have died violently. Well, Iraq has approximately 10 times as many people as Jamaica, so that would in our terms be 2,500. Yet the murder count in Jamaica over the past two years exceeds 3,000. If having a higher violent death rate than a country officially at war is not frightening I don't know what is.

One of the biggest contributors to our soaring murder rate is that so few perpetrators are actually caught and convicted. For even when there are witnesses, they are often too scared of reprisals to give evidence.

Who can blame them, after all the horror stories we have seen and heard of testifiers being gunned down? But DNA is a silent infallible witness who cannot be intimidated. If police were allowed to build up a DNA database of all likely criminals in the country ­ very few choir boys are brought in as suspects ­ who can doubt that the conviction rate for all types of crimes would increase dramatically?

And that as a result crime would fall sharply? The Government recently passed a bill allowing fingerprinting and photographing of suspects. Why they did not go the whole hog and include DNA samples is beyond me. What fingerprints were to the 20th century crime fighting, DNA is to the 21st.

The law on DNA testing is just as critical. Recently there was a trial involving the murder of a 15-year-old pregnant girl. The case was not strong enough to pin her murder on the defendant. But circumstantial evidence pointed to him being the father of the child she was carrying when killed. DNA testing could at least have put him behind bars for statutory rape. But when the prosecution demanded DNA testing, the judge declared that this could only be done if the girl had been alive to request it. Had DNA testing been allowed at the court's discretion, surely justice in this case would at least have been partially done.

Surely not even the most fanatical 'right to privacy' human rights extremist could object to these measures. After all, Iraq has a lower violent death rate than us and yet deems martial law necessary in high death areas. So how could any reasonable person object to the taking of DNA samples from potential criminals? It's already allowed in places like Cayman. Why not here?

VERBAL UNDERDEVELOPMENT

Bill 3. Now to elocution classes, and no doubt some people will laugh at the triviality of this suggestion. But I am convinced that verbal underdevelopment is one of the main causes of impoverishment. How can you teach someone who can't even pronounce the word how to use a computer?

We're not talking here about pedantic pronunciation ­ Lord knows I am no polished linguist and probably spend more time speaking patois than formal English.

But many Jamaicans are frankly unable to express themselves intelligibly in English and so in effect cannot communicate with anyone outside of their immediate social milieu. By not forcing our youngsters to learn to speak properly our educational system is in effect condemning many of them to a half a life.

Language is a much more divisive element than race or class, for there is an almost impenetrable barrier between those who can speak articulate English and those who cannot. It is the most pernicious perpetuator of the ridiculous class distinctions that plague this country. The condescending manner in which many 'proper' speakers address their verbal 'inferiors' is extremely annoying. But even more irritating is the cringingly subservient attitude of those who cannot express themselves clearly towards those who can. Those who are honest with themselves know what I mean.

I am by no means advocating a return to colonial days when educated Jamaicans were expected to talk like transplanted Englishmen. But persons like Louise Bennett, Michael Manley and Michael Holding have shown that it is quite possible to speak with impeccable clarity in an unmistakable Jamaican accent, and our youngsters should be taught to do this. It's bad enough that hordes of our youngsters are graduating from high school without being able to read or write English. But it's a criminal disgrace that many can't even speak it.

DAYLIGHT SAVINGS

Bill 4. What with the price of oil climbing to new heights each month, this non-oil producing country should be doing everything it can to reduce our fuel bills. One of the most painless and sensible ways would surely be to reintroduce daylight saving time. In other words, we would move our clocks forward one hour on the first Sunday in April and move it back one hour on the last Sunday in October. We could tinker with the dates, and maybe May and September would suit us better. But it would probably be easier to just follow the U.S. ­ for one thing it would make life easier for all those cable TV addicts. And in case any anti-American bigots start spouting off about cultural imperialism, DST was actually started in Britain and over 70 countries now utilise it.

Studies done by the U.S. Department of Transportation show that DST trims the entire country's electricity usage by about 1 per cent each day. While in New Zealand power companies have found that power usage decreases 3.5 per cent when daylight saving starts. Energy is saved because less electricity is used for lighting and appliances. Studies in the U.S. and Britain also show that the DST daylight shift reduces net traffic accidents and fatalities by close to one per cent. In addition, DST improves people's social lives since more light in the evenings leads to people going out and doing more after work. And it also cuts crime by delaying nightfall, for night is the criminal's friend. All of which explains why DST is popular in most countries that implement it, though naturally there is always initial grumbling.

Of course, Jamaica had daylight saving time in the 1970s and 1980s and no-one seems to able to figure out why it was dropped. But surely it is time to admit we made a mistake by doing so.

FIXED HOLIDAYS

Bill 5. While I fully agree with having holidays commemorating both Emancipation and Independence, it makes no sense to have them fall as they do on August 1 and 6. Too often they merely break up your week and don't allow any real fun. But if they always fell on a Friday and the following Monday we would have another four-day weekend in addition to Christmas and have a real extended weekend of Emancipendence celebrations.

So why not make the Emancipation holiday the first Friday in August and the Independence holiday the following Monday? This much more sensible arrangement would allow visiting Jamaicans from abroad continuous real quality time with their family rather than two interrupted weeks as is normally the case.

SPIRIT THAT MATTERS MOST

Some purists will say the exact days should be recognised. But surely it's the spirit rather than the letter of the law which matters most. We would all know what we are celebrating on Emancipation and Independence Day no matter what calendar dates they fall on.

In fact, four straight days of celebration and revelry would make 'Emancipendence' even more of a focal point on our calendar, and this added resonance could only serve to strengthen our heritage. Which is, after all, the point of having these holidays in the first place.

At any rate the bottom line is this. If we are going to lose productivity by having two holidays, at least allow us to have the maximum amount of fun possible. The principles of efficiency apply as much to pleasure as they do to work.