Avoiding the chaos

April 20, 2010

Dear Sir,

It seems our foreign residents are becoming just as testy about every little thing as Bermudians. What is especially disturbing is the fact that collectively, they've never had it so good. Regarding Minister Burch's recent initiative directed at stemming the tide of morally corrupt expatriates, clearly it is only a case of if the shoe fits, wear it! If I were living in another country, and other Bermudians (there) were acting in a way that is not good for our national image, I'd support any governmental action designed to get rid of them 100 percent. After all, in the final analysis, such an initiative will only serve to ensure that they continue to enjoy the perks of living here, so don't bite the hand that feeds you!

Bermuda seems to be "the place to go" in the minds of some living in countries with depressed economies and couple that with the unwillingness of (some) local employers to offer a decent wage to locals, this is what we get. To seek a better life is the right of everyone and we, by and large welcome the law abiding persons who will be an asset to Bermuda, but there seems to be a "head in the sand" mentality when it comes to remembering our small size. Direct experimentation has proven that any species subject to overcrowding degenerates into total chaos and Bermuda is not immune.

On the subject of chaos, guns here are nothing new, but using them is. Gun violence, as is glamourised on TV, so far has never made us lose sight of reality; we enjoy a good action movie where the good guy wins and we get on with our lives. However, something has changed, or more accurately, something has gotten worse. The Police are doing the best they can and urgently need assistance from the public, ironically the same public who they have (over past generations) been marginalised, negatively profiled, and railroaded into a criminal record. I know because I am one of them! It must be frustrating not being able to prove a suspect's guilt, but that is no reason to ignore the possibility that the suspect might be innocent. The first thing that happens when someone volunteers information is that the police try to turn him or her into a suspect. The driving ambition is to get a conviction, seemingly at any cost, and to hell with justice: so now it's come back to haunt them.

Moving on: Most call jury duty a "civic" duty. Sorry but I disagree, the only civic duty worth considering is to be law-abiding, anything else is work! The defence attorney is the highest paid person in a courtroom; next comes the Judge and even the prosecution attorney is very well paid. Also, take note that the accused is housed and fed and it costs him/her nothing. The jury by comparison is paid a mere pittance and given they have an equally important role in the trial, I would have thought the authorities would bend over backwards to compensate them commensurate with the income of an average family. Of course, I do not expect high earners are ever on a jury. A quick nod to whomever and he's off while the rest are left wondering how the rent is going to get paid. I was one of those who were stuck in a three-week trial trying to disseminate the evidence and budget my pay at the same time – not an easy thing to do! If civic duty is so much in demand, let's all volunteer two days jury duty free, with any time thereafter paid at a rate to allow the average person to manage. Such paltry pay is hardly any incentive to do a good job, especially if it's a high profile case. I don't want to be branded an anarchist, but since we now have a problem picking juries, it is not much of a stretch to understand why people are reluctant to serve; they simply can't afford to!

C.K. SIMONS

Somerset

Term limit sense

Dear Sir,

I see the issue of term limits on work permits refuses to die. Please let me share my own experiences on the subject.

I first came to Bermuda in September 1998 as an expatriate worker, tightly clutching my work permit whenever I left the island. When the 6-year term limit rules became effective in April 2001, I had been here slightly less than three years and had successfully gone through my first work permit renewal. As time passed, I was fortunately granted further renewals on my work permit. As April 2007 and the first application of the term limit policy loomed closer, I reviewed the 2003 guidance note provided by the Department of Immigration – ominously titled "W8 – Measures to Inhibit Long-Term Residency". Realising I did not fall into one of the then exempt job categories such as a butcher or an insurance company CEO, I started to look outside Bermuda for a job. I left Bermuda in 2007 and, after a two-year period of penance in another land, I was able to return to Bermuda in 2009 where I hope to continue my largely positive experiences with all of the country and most of its people.

When the term limit rules were first broached in 2000, it was explained by the government of the day that there needed to be a balance between two worthy policy objectives. On the one hand, Bermuda needed to hire foreign workers like me to maintain its economy while at the same time giving preference, as it should, to qualified Bermudians. On the other hand and with an eye to Bermuda's long term future, there needed to be restrictions placed on people like me preventing our acquiring permanent resident rights. We should not ignore the demands posed by a growing number of permanent residents in a small nation like Bermuda: increased competition on an already tight housing market, pressure on schools for the children of the newcomers, more cars on the road, and all the social ills that accompany these and other problems.

In my view, the balance struck in the term limits policy was a reasonable and fair one in 2000 and remains so ten years later. If anything, events since 2000 have ratified the wisdom of the approach taken back then

However, for the sake of argument, let us forget any talk about laudable public policy objectives. Even if I were to ignore completely the demands on Bermuda's already fragile infrastructure, even if I were selfish and did not give a tinker's damn for the country's environment, even if I were to think a wider gene pool in Bermuda would be a good thing – the clincher for me is that Bermuda is not MY country. I am a visitor and a very thankful one at that. My ancestors, whether slave or free and upon whose shoulders all of us now stand, are not buried here. My memories, as child and adult, do not include pink sand or Cup Match. My parents and grandparents did not fight against racial discrimination in the cinemas and elsewhere. When I die – long be that come – I expect to be buried in a land of snow and ice alongside my father, his father before him and so on. And frankly, that is how it should be!

Like many expatriate workers, I pay as much and maybe more taxes than many locals. And sometimes I do moan to myself that there should be "no taxation without representation". But then I remind myself that I knew the rules before I arrived, rules that I trust will continue long after I return to MY country, be that on a plane or in a box.

R.D. Jenkins

St. George's

We must work together

Thursday, April 15, 2010

The days of when one could be excused for thinking that the headlines of Bermuda's newspapers on claims of the rise in violence were perhaps exaggerated headlines, manipulating the facts are long since over. The truth of the matter, whether Bermudians want to admit it or not, is the country has seen an unprecedented rise in violence.

Regrettably to some, Bermuda can no longer ignore the facts. The facts are, Bermuda's reputation as being a leading example of a country's success to remain front and centre on the world's economical stage is fading and being jeopardised by the rise in violence and what seems to be no attempt by anyone to make it better.

It is paradoxical that what has made Bermuda an economical power player could very well be the same tool that leads the island to an increase in crime and violence and ultimately to the country's demise.

Bermuda has always been a divided society some may argue; whether this is true or not one fact to recognise is this, if the violence in the island does not decrease and or cease the economical privileged way that Bermudians find as a normal way of living will soon become a distant memory of the past.

Some may feel that the reason for violence is because Bermuda is so divided on geographical boundaries of groups in neighbourhoods claiming that their fellow countryman from outside of their neighbourhood will be assaulted if found on their 'turf'. Albeit fact, the truth is the island will see far worse days for not only tourism figures and for the economy but a major shift on how the everyday Bermudian will live. As a country we must admit we are not exempt from the economical hardships of the rest of the world. What has become many island countries reality of a much lower gross domestic product than ours can soon be our reality if violence on the island does not decrease drastically.

If Bermuda is seeking peace solutions amid the rising of violence and pledges, some significant some not as promising, to be fulfilled we must as a community work together as a democratic society rather than take sides in the political, financial, and religious and race parts of our society. We must recognise that we are one society.

COLE SIMMONS, 21,

(Bermudian student)

London, England