Social Order Critical – PM

Prime Minister, the Hon. Bruce Golding has emphasised the importance of building a society based, not just on economic success, but also social order, which comes through sacrifice and discipline.
“We need a national consensus on the kind of society we want to build, the sacrifices we are prepared to make, the discipline we are prepared to impose on ourselves and how much we are prepared to invest in creating that kind of society,” Mr. Golding said.
The Prime Minister was making his presentation, today (April 20), in the 2010/11 Budget Debate, in the House of Representatives.
He said the National Transformation Programme is centred on this type of investment. “It has focused on issues, such as restoring public order, instituting discipline in the public transportation system, creating transformational zones and mobilising transformational students,” he noted.
The Prime Minister argued that at the core of the challenges facing the country’s justice system and, much of the crime problem, is a dysfunctional social order. He said basic laws necessary for sustaining public order and social predictability are viewed as “draconian.”
“It is not something confined to any particular class. Those who under-invoice goods in order to cheat Customs, those who earn millions of dollars each year but have never paid one dollar in income tax, those who toss trash out of their car windows, may be different in name, but not in nature,” he said.
Mr. Golding contended that although democracy guarantees the right to disagree, it also imposes a duty to unite for the common good, and that Jamaicans must find a way within a competitive democracy to: strike common cause, put country first, and understand that, “the fruits of this land can only be enjoyed if we plant and reap them together; (and) believe in our hearts that we can rid ourselves of crime, poverty, unemployment, disorder and conflict if – and only if – we forge a national purpose to achieve that.”