Readers of this space over the years will recall I have always argued that the most serious problem in this country is indiscipline-from top to bottom-and from that tragic malady flows all our other social and criminal problems.
I have further pointed out that we were an indisciplined society but I have amended that to say that we are not totally indisciplined but rather we were allowed to behave that way because our political leaders have never really dealt with this thorny issue in a holistic manner. By this I mean we have gotten away with all sorts of anti-social behaviours which have resulted in the horrible criminal activities our so-inclined fellow citizens are engaged in today.
A simple piece of evidence to support this contention is that while we would break the traffic, civil and criminal laws here, when we go abroad we fall in line with the laws as they pertain in our guest country. And the reason for this depressing situation is they realise there are indeed consequences for when we run afoul of those countries' laws and regulations.
While some men have no problem in pulling out their member and urinating in public, day or night, they dare nor do that in other countries because they know they would be brought before the courts for so doing. The popular cable television reality show Cops is an eye opener where zero tolerance (how often have heard that warning here without any real follow up by the policing authorities?) is concerned.
Not so in T&T and there is no doubt that the vast majority of these violent crimes, including homicides, are being committed because the perpetrators know very well the chances of being caught and made to pay for their dastardly actions are virtually nil. Do not forget that a young murder accused once told a high court judge in Port-of-Spain that he had killed his victim because state-sanction executions were not being carried out.
My dear readers, I am saying all this to put into proper context the main thrust of today's piece which is that I am heartened by the promise made last week by National Security Minister Jack Warner, that government would not bow to gangsterism.
He did so while responding to yet another incident where disgruntled residents of Beetham Estate blocked the main artery into and out of the capital city, by burning debris which as usual caused severe hardships for commuters going about their lawful business.
This was echoed around the same time by Planning and Minister Dr Bhoe Tewarie, who said that such action "every Monday morning" dislodged the country's economic system and added:
"While we need to look at physical infrastructure and other issues we also got to take charge of law and order, structure and systems and behaviour in the society because T&T is a small place and cannot continue to operate on the basis of implosions."
Stressing that his ministry had put certain actions in place to prevent similar incidents, Warner stressed government would not buckle to gangsterism at any level while some government spokespersons have claimed the protests were being politically motivated.
I cannot vouch for the veracity or lack thereof for this allegation but it does seem rather strange that MPs for the affected areas are giving tacit support for these sporadic ructions and have been calling for sustainable employment for their constituents.
While this is a laudable call, conveniently have they forgotten that their party, the PNM, has consistently represented these people since 1956, and what did they do during all these years by way of getting their devoted followers out of the entitlement and victimhood syndrome?
Talk about betrayal, and they want the Kamla Persad-Bissessar regime to solve their problems in less than three years while the PNM failed to take any meaningful action in this direction in 56 years.
But this is a subject for another time. In the meantime, Mr Warner, we the law abiding citizens are looking at you with an eagle's eye to see how much longer the tail would continue to wag the dog. The laws of the country must be upheld without fear, ill will, or favour and in the absence of law and order anarchy would prevail. That is not what the people voted for on May 24, 2010.
Foot notes: To come, outing of the KPB haters in the print and particularly the electronic media. Tony "General" Lee, please don't wuk up yourself like that, I am preparing the placard. Clevon Raphael is a media consultant and has been in the news media for the past 49 years.