http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100620/focus/focus1.html
Published: Sunday | June 20, 2010
Kevin Chang, Contributor

BRUCE GOLDING, right now, must feel like a man who fell off a high building, and after plummeting downwards to seemingly certain doom, somehow finds he has landed on his feet unhurt. For the slings and arrows of the Manatt affair and the gut-wrenching upheavals of the Tivoli invasion are now paling beside the sharp drop in murders over the past three weeks or so.

Police statistics show 33 murders up to June 13 compared with 62 for the same period last year. Our nightly newscasts are no longer starting - knock wood! - with a litany of bloodshed. For the first time in living memory, ordinary Jamaicans feel the fear factor has been lifted off their backs and thrown on to the criminals. It is no longer the common citizens who are cowering in fear. Rather, it is 'shottas' and 'dons' who are meekly turning themselves in to the police when ordered to do so.

One swallow does not a summer make, and we don't know if this positive trend will continue. It might well be only a respite before a renewed onslaught of bloodshed. But even though it might not last, it sure feels sweet to walk around without constantly feeling afraid. As a taxi man commented to me, "Boy, if it stay like this we can start have fun again!" Right now, the main question on nearly every Jamaican mind is, why can't we keep it this way?

No one is quite sure what has caused the drop in the slaughter. Even the security forces are surprised, as they expected an upsurge in murder after the Tivoli incursion. But common sense says that if something seems to be working, keep doing it.

Certainly this is the mood of the overwhelming majority of Jamaicans, who want to see what happened in Tivoli replicated in every garrison community across the island. They want the current state of emergency not only maintained for now, but extended to anywhere in the country where the security forces deem it necessary. They want police and soldiers to be allowed to get the guns and gangsters, not only in the Corporate Area, but in other crime hotspots like Spanish Town, May Pen and Montego Bay. They want this followed up with permanent military posts near these places to prevent the uprooted crime weeds from growing back.

tragic episode

The recent occurrences in Tivoli are a tragic episode in the nation's history. But we have to juxtapose what has happened against the more than 13,000 Jamaicans murdered since 2000. If the events of the past month lead to even a 10 per cent drop in our murder rate over the next five years, that would mean the saving of over 500 lives. Who could not consider this a positive development?

Now, you have to support the principles on which groups like Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) were formed, and you have to admire the time and effort their members put into promoting causes that bring them no personal benefit. No doubt, they get justice for many who would otherwise be denied it. But in many persons' eyes, our human-rights groups have lost touch with the common Jamaican reality and can't see the forest for the trees. They seem to have a problem for every solution, and appear to be against everything all the time, without ever coming up with any practical proposals of their own. Constructively criticise the flawed bills, yes, but how about publicly supporting, and thus speeding up, the passage of the credible ones?

The public has certainly grown tired of their legalistic nit-picking of every single crime-fighting bill put forward. A recent poll of my staff and customers showed that only 33 per cent had a positive view of the JFJ, with 67 per cent having a negative one. On-the-street vox pops suggest that this, if anything, overstates JFJ's public support.

One human-rights activist actually asked on radio this week, "What would be the point of continuing the state of emergency?" Well, lady, the point is to save more innocent Jamaican lives by continuing to allow security forces to cordon off known criminal hang-outs and detain and process suspected criminals! Can people really be so wrapped up in their bleeding-heart liberal ideologies that they can't see the value of almost 50 per cent fewer Jamaicans being murdered so far in June - knock wood again! - compared to a year ago?

If Bruce Golding gives into the minority of crazy naysayers who are not happy to see fewer Jamaicans being butchered every day, I will lose all respect for him. Who could possibly have anything to gain from the discontinuation of the current crime push, except robbers and murderers and the politicians whose 'safe seats' might become truly democratically contested constituencies if their crime-ridden garrisons are broken up?

defining moment

So, ignore the political propagandists and elitist out-of-touch human rights groups, Mr Prime Minister. Listen to the 95 per cent of Jamaicans who are right now shouting at you to strike while the iron is hot and keep the criminals on the run. A lifting of the state of emergency would be a clear signal to the nation that the political will to break the back of crime has been lost, perhaps forever. As I heard one young lady remark a few days ago, "If you can't stand firm this time, Bruce, then tek weh yuh self!"

In every politician's career, there comes a defining moment that determines his legacy. In Shakespeare's words ...

"There is a tide in the affairs of men,

Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.

Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in

shallows and in miseries.

On such a full sea are we now afloat.

And we must take the current when it serves, or

lose our ventures."

If Bruce Golding allows political interference to weaken the current security drive, he will go down as the weakest and most indecisive leader this country has known. If he pushes forward and breaks the back of crime, which will almost certainly lead to a surge in economic growth, history might judge him Jamaica's greatest prime minister since Alexander Bustamante.

The current crackdown cannot by itself solve all our crime problems. It must be followed by social interventions such as job training and education for young men, dispute-resolution training, and the promotion of active fathering. Our justice system must be reformed, our police force must be cleaned up, and we need sensible anti-crime legislation that has worked elsewhere, such as mandatory sentencing for repeat, violent offenders. But when someone is badly wounded, stopping the bleeding is the first job. And this current security operation is the emergency surgery necessary to get Jamaica's homicide blood flow under control.

fighting crime

Both Transparency International and the United States-based investment firm Oppenheimer have lauded Mr Golding for his 'bold initiatives' in fighting crime. And for political inspiration, he need only follow the blueprint laid down by Colombia's outgoing president Alvaro Uribe.

When Mr Uribe was first elected president in 2002, Colombia was the long-time murder and kidnapping capital of the world, and seemed on its way to becoming a failed state. His get-tough "democratic security" policy crippled the guerrillas and paramilitaries. Murders and kidnappings fell by more than 50 per cent from 2002 to 2009. Greater security brought foreign investment and economic growth. In recent elections to choose his successor, his former defence minister Juan Manuel Santos easily beat Antanas Mockus, a critic of the 'legality' of Mr Uribe's crackdown on criminality.

Yes, there were some unpleasant episodes on the way, but Colombians learned the hard way that you can't make omelettes without breaking eggs. And there is no greater human right than the right to stay alive.