Newsday editorial reflected public outrage

THE EDITOR: I will be guilty of dereliction of duty as a devoted reader of Newsday if I did not intervene to repel the unwarranted assault of Laventille MP Fitzgerald Hinds on the editorial integrity and journalistic judgment of your newspaper (Newsday Aug 28, p 12). Your editorial entitled “Crossing the Line” in which you questioned the insensitive response of National Security Minister Joseph on the occasion of the brutal murder of the late Inspector Williams reflected, internalised and synthesised faithfully the huge tide of public opinion as conveyed on radio talk shows. That editorial, as so many others, was dead on target. PS Hinds is rushing in where angels fear to tread. Civic society is now fully au fiat with the penchant of current politicians to declare flippantly a matter “a virtual non-issue and of no political, strategic or social consequence” whenever it produces negative political fallout that they cannot manage, handle or foresee.

Junior Minister Hinds’ agenda is to delude us into believing that we are fools. The fatal shooting of Inspector Williams was brutal, inhumane and callous sui generis and had nothing to do with Mr Robinson’s space or his veneration. According to MP Hinds we must not rely on our own eyes and ears, or rhyme and reason, but be subservient to his eyes, ears and his biased judgment when he defends his political boss. Where is the evidence of his “open-minded examination” in his letter? Newsday showed magnanimity in according MP Hinds copious space for his attempt to hoodwink the discriminating Newsday readership. Your editorial conveyed the sense of outrage felt by civic society. Was it not “small talk,” “rum shop fodder” and “a non-issue” when PS Hinds sought to derive political capital at the meeting of the JSC (August 25) by claiming that TT could have done without the 22 mpd gallons of water produced currently by the Desalination Plant (Newsday Aug 26, p 5)? His letter smacks of authoritarianism.

STEPHEN KANGAL
Caroni