Dear Editor,

I write to give my opinion of this ongoing soap opera, which is the political debate about the use or value of a state of emergency (SOE). I liken it to the Days of Our Lives soap opera because it’s as if no matter how bad things get, some people choose to remain clueless.

There can be no challenge to the use of the SOE given how pervasive crime and violence and the lack of good social order is in this country.

Let it be known, I am not into politics, but when you listen to what Prime Minister Andrew Holness has said — many times — about the need for the SOE, how can anyone, the Opposition included, believe it is not justified?

I wonder if Opposition Leader Mark Golding nuh tired of hearing of people being murdered. And, to be fair to him, I listened to him speak on the issue and I get the general feeling he does care about the issue, but I think he has allowed politics to get the better of him.

The criminals are not the dunces we assume they are. They know when sentiments are divided and they plan around this. News reported sometime last week, for example, stated that as soon as the SOE expired gunmen went on a rampage in a section of Westmoreland, killing at will. How does Golding then square what he is saying, given clear evidence that counters what he believes? I cannot understand how men of high learning, like him, fail to carry out a simple analysis of the situation.

I think we must treat our crime situation in a way that will drive fear into these dog-hearted, murderous people.

I hope the new gun law that was piloted by National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang, which was passed by the Houses of Parliament just last month, will put the fear of God into the hearts of these gunmen and those who facilitate them. As Minister Chang said, when the police find these criminals, they must be locked away for life. I believe that is the only way some of them will ever learn that “badness nuh pay”.

If the people are demanding an SOE, I think it is the least the Government can do to secure the lives of innocent Jamaicans. I hope we do not allow the law to be a shackle.

John Stern

verysternj@gmail.com