THE EDITOR: We live our lives in fear, anxiety and desperation. We can no longer attend classes after dark, camp overnight in the outdoors and go jogging before sunrise. Criminals have taken over TT, and our response has been to pacify these lawless elements by courting them. This will not work. Once you walk with criminals, they will be forever at your side. “He who rides a tiger is afraid to dismount.”

Some believe that in order to regain control of our country, we need drastic laws with severe penalties. I disagree. I believe that our society has degenerated into this chaotic and lawless state because our existing laws have not been enforced and also because the justice system has failed us. In other words, there will be no order in TT until lawlessness brings undesirable consequences to the lawbreaker. We need to rigidly enforce all laws, even those laws deemed to be trivial and deal expeditiously with offenders if we are to redeem TT.

Remember, there are laws against littering, yet people can make a good living from collecting bottles thrown out of vehicles. At one time meat that was offered for sale must be inspected and stamped, now animals are slaughtered in back yards, and uninspected meat is offered for sale on the roadsides. Who are those paid to enforce these laws? Why are they not working?

I read a notice that fire permits are required before fires can be set in the dry season. Are the gardeners exempted? Are the CEPEP workers engaged in clearing and burning the roadsides in Balandra aware of this requirement? Or perhaps they were given permission, who knows? What about squatting? It seems to me that squatting is a case of stealing land, yet successive governments do so little to remove squatters, and exert so much effort in regularising them. If a government wishes to help the landless, steps should be taken to facilitate land acquisition by lawful means.

The laws against unlawful vending and the use of obscene language are rarely enforced, likewise the motor vehicle laws and regulations. Drivers stop in the middle of the road to pick up passengers, and PH cars outnumber taxis. Vehicles transporting children continue to play loud and obscene music and smoking exhaust pipes pollute the air. Speeding and drag racing takes place on public roads. I know that people are getting paid to deal with these offences, why are they not doing their work? We do not need more laws in this land. We need to motivate those entrusted with the task of enforcing the law, so that they will do their work to preserve peace in TT.

DAVID SUBRAN
Chaguanas

THE EDITOR: Many of your readers have identified education as the factor to extricate TT society from its downward spiral. Many are the suggestions that have been made to improve education and cure society’s ills. Permit me to add my t’uppence worth.

Yearly promotion by exam results, whereby a child has to demonstrate that it had grasped some pre-determined fraction of what it had been taught, as a prerequisite to advancement to the next stage of its education, seems to me to be the solution to quite a few of the problems faced by the education system of TT.

Firstly, children, as a breed, are highly competitive and this alone would provide them with a strong incentive to apply themselves and perform. No child wants to see his/herself left behind by their peers. Further, this removes the oft heard complaint of teachers that they cannot themselves perform to their best if they are attempting to teach a group of very mixed abilities. At least this way they will be guaranteed a certain minimum standard of their intake.

Also, the pressure on the students to achieve this minimum standard will encourage them to adopt as their “peer idols” those students who consistently perform academically, rather than those who can buck the system in the most imaginative or “cool” way. If you can just “keep your head down” and “go with the flow”, who needs work! Young people are not stupid; shortsighted yes, but not stupid.

IVOR ST HILL
Port-of-Spain

THE EDITOR: The glorious reign of the Soca Warriors as a dominant force in Caribbean Soccer was broken on that fateful Sunday evening of March 30 at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium induced by Cuba’s emphatic 3-1 victory over the Calypso Boys.

As the consequence, the bright prospect of TT chances of advancing to the CONCACAF Gold Cup waned into anxiety and disappointment. It is imperative that the TTFA review the Warriors’ football image, its vulnerable fragility and susceptibility towards other regional opponents, if this country is seriously contemplating to qualify for the 2006 World Cup  finals in Germany. Incredibly, the standard of footaball has declined significantly. In contrast, Ian Porterfield, the former Scotland coach, gave our football some optimism with sensational victories over Canada and Mexico leading up to the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, that resulted in TT leading the preliminary standings. Expectations of greater success were then high, which were followed by an unprecedented wave of patriotic support for the national team. Understandably, public support has faded which is reflected in the poor support the national team has been receiving lately.

Quite recently, the Warriors suffered defeats by St Lucia and Martinique. Moreover, if there was a victory it was always questionable. For instance, in the 1-0 victory over Guadeloupe. Can you imagine a team of highly rated professionals playing against a team rated over a hundred in the FIFA ratings playing a conservative 5-4-1 formation? As a direct result Collins Samuel who is endowed with great speed and skill found it difficult to adjust to the highly defensive tactics employed by Najjar. Obviously, Stern John was not pleased and there were problems as a result of players being placed in awkward positions on the field. The Cubans were better prepared technically.

With a fresh display of confidence that spanned from the 2002 World Cup, Cuba’s football is gradually achieving exceptionally high standards. Their memorable goalless draw against the highly athletic South Koreans, champions of Asian football, served as an expedient to greater accomplishment. In that tournament, the Americans escaped with 1-0 victory against them. They have underlined their dominance over TT soccer. Their under twenty team destabilised the Junior Soca Warriors’ hope of progressing to the Junior World Cup via a 2-0 victory in Cuba last year. The TT team is now positioned precariously in the playoff against Martinique and Honduras which was inextricably linked to the gross miscalculation of Najjar for excluding some key technical, locally based players.

It was refreshing to see that they were recalled. Players, namely, Ancil Elcock, Arnold Dwarika and Reynold Carrington. Ancil Elcock has a capacity to play as a left and right back in defence and by extension he likes to attack down the flanks drawing defenders unto himself thus creating space and scoring opportunities in the opponent’s central defense. In addition, Reynold Carrington has vast experience and can be utilised as an attacking and defensive midfielder. Gifted with dribbling ability, Arnold Dwarika can dramatically change the course of an entire game once he acquires his perfect rhythm. Clearly, there were many more local-based players with versatile abilities omitted by Najjar for mysterious reasons.

Now confronted with the difficult task to motivate the players to qualify for the CONCACAF Gold Cup in Mexico and the USA, the new technical staff must be aware of Patrick Percin of Martinique who is most likely to unsettle the TT defence with his agility, speed and sudden change of pace. Also they should be aware of the Hondurans, especially Carlos Pavon, the captain, a deadly striker with enormous offensive power along with his speedy Italian-based teammates. Spearheaded by Alvin Corneal, a FIFA instructor, the technical staff was given sufficient time to prepare the team for this crucial encounter. This playoff will serve as a great challenge to the Warriors and the technical staff. However, TT should take comfort in the unconvincing 1-0 triumph over Honduras in October 2001. Success must be of high priority in the minds of the players with the tournament just a few days away in Martinique. It is incumbent on the technical staff to ensure that the players are mentally, physically and technically prepared.

Compelled in this playoff, is indeed another miserable setback for the warriors and this misfortune has become an inseparable symbol of our football. But victory for the Cubans at Marabella who qualified for CONCACAF Gold Club was a significant achievement, a period of unquestionable joy and fulfilment of their ultimate destiny.

LAWERENCE MITCHELL
Sangre Grande

THE EDITOR: The Government has done well in its support for BWIA. There is no doubt the airline could not be left to flounder, and the realisation that it was partly due to the oversight (undersight or plain blindness) of government (present and past) that damaged the airline’s bottom line. From the 2003 business model to the current government loan stipulations, there seems to be good sense prevailing. Let us wish BWIA and LIAT a bright future. There’s always room to add Air Jamaica too!

WAYNE JAGGERNAUTH
Loughborough University
Leciestershire, UK

THE EDITOR: I do hope that Dr Steve Smith does not worship false Gods and idols as his literary porridge would suggest. It is apparent that he sees through one eye only and instead of offering something of intrinsic value, is content to repeat in his letter of the 23rd that “America needs Iraqi oil”. He supports the deadly and unwarranted intrusion in which untold numbers of innocents were killed, and perhaps, he feels so strongly, that if the innocents were members of his immediate family, his sentiments would be the same. There are people like that everywhere as there are doctors of death. Even as I disagree with him, I defend his right to enable us to assess his idiosyncracies. Only in TT!

ERROL F HOSEIN
Port-of-Spain