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Observer, steer clear of the divisive
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Dear Editor,
The Observer's editorial of October 28, "Getting value for money from Aubyn Hill, et al" was refreshingly fair and balanced, up until the final two paragraphs.
One gathers that many of your readers share my disappointment.
The final paragraphs refer to a public forum on national security hosted by the Opposition scheduled for October 29, in Cross Roads. As was advertised, the forum would feature presentations from the Leader of the Opposition, the Opposition Spokesman on National Security, and from a former deputy commissioner of police, Jamaica's leading criminologist and an attorney-at-law. It did not exclude contributions from former ministers Dr Peter Phillips or K D Knight.
The fact is that this forum would have contributions from a panel of persons, including Dr Phillips, in an interactive audience feedback session, which takes the lion's share of time in the agenda.
The emphasis is on having the public participate and all the available hands of the Opposition are on deck in taking on crime.
The public forum is one in a series to be hosted by the Opposition as part of its Progressive Agenda development process across the country. It is meant to be inclusive and far-reaching.
The editorial's analysis of the Aubyn Hill matter was reasonable. I should hope that you would not wish to remove the remaining optimism of some of your readers in your column's capacity for responsible journalism. For their sake, steer clear of the divisive rhetoric.
Peter Bunting, MP
Opposition Spokesman on National Security
Kingston
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