says a Jamaican businessman and former Cabinet Minister.

"You're dealing with the biggest coward in the world -- money,'' the Hon.

R.D. (Danny) Williams told The Royal Gazette yesterday. "We have had that experience in Jamaica where money ran away because people got nervous.'' Minister of Industry and Commerce in the socialist Government of Prime Minister Michael Manley from 1977 to 1980, Mr. Williams, 60, is president and chief executive officer of Life of Jamaica Ltd. -- the country's largest life insurance company.

Mr. Williams was on the Island yesterday visiting Colonial Life, in which Life of Jamaica has a 30 percent ownership stake through its Cayman Islands subsidiary, Global Life.

As Bermuda prepares to hold a referendum on Independence this year, Mr.

Williams said his feelings have changed since Jamaica cut its ties with Britain in 1962.

"In my 20s and 30s, I was very pro-Independence,'' Mr. Williams said. "I could see great advantage coming to a country because of the emotional aspect of it.

"But emotion doesn't fill your stomach,'' he said. "If you look at it from a pure business position -- which is the view I would look at it from now as a much older person -- you ask yourself is there going to be an advantage to Bermuda? "You have internal self-government. Britain is only responsible for foreign affairs and defence, which could only be an expense for you. As an old man now, you ask yourself, apart from this emotional thing, why you are bothering with that additional expense? "That is a decision Bermudians have to make for yourself.'' If Bermuda did opt to go Independent, "you'll have a very difficult time convincing people that there's nothing to worry about,'' Mr. Williams said.

"You have to be very careful to plan your damage control so as to limit the amount of fall-out.

"You would have some fall-out, I would imagine.'' No longer active in politics, Mr. Williams said "perception is reality,'' and Bermuda would have to maintain its image as a country "where the rule of law prevails.'' Government, business, and all parties would have to work together to reassure investors.

Mr. Williams said he was reluctant to draw direct comparisons between Jamaica and Bermuda. Times had changed since ihe 1960s, and it was difficult to say how many of Jamaica's problems stemmed from Independence and how many from its "experiment'' with socialism.

But it was no secret that the Cayman Islands had developed as an offshore centre mainly as a result of Independence movements in other territories, he said.

So far, Mr. Williams did not think Bermuda had lost much business due to the Independence debate. "It hasn't been talked about very much, nor would I think at this point in time that it's creating any serious problems,'' he said.

But, "it is a risk you take, and you're going to have to be very sensitive to that if you were to decide to go Independent.'' In Jamaica, "there's been an enormous cost,'' associated with Independence, he said. On top of defence costs, "you have to maintain missions around the world.'' Also, many countries had wrongly interpreted Independence to mean they could do whatever they wanted, Mr. Williams said.

In fact, "you may say it means just the opposite. You should be more responsible than ever before.'' Bermuda seemed like a very responsible, well-educated, disciplined country that could learn from others, he said. "I would imagine you could avoid some of the mistakes that have been made.'' Life of Jamaica, which Mr. Williams founded in 1970, has 40 percent of the Jamaican life insurance market, with 600 field agents and an administrative staff of 700. It also owns Global Life in Grand Cayman and 75 percent of the Citizen's Bank of Jamaica. Global Life, in turn, holds shares in Colonial Life of Bermuda, Global Bahamas Ltd., and Atlantic Southern Insurance Company of Puerto Rico. Through the latter company, Global Life is expanding into Latin America, he said.

Life of Jamaica, in turn, is part of the larger ICWI Group of Jamaica, of which Mr. Williams is deputy chairman.

The Caymans subsidiary was set up to avoid foreign exchange controls in Jamaica, Mr. Williams said. "Following Independence, and because of the socialist experiment we carried out in the '70s, the straight truth is many Jamaicans took their savings out of the country, converted it into US currency, and stashed it away in banks in Caymans and the US,'' he said.

Jamaica abolished exchange controls in 1991, and "money has come back home'', he said. "The foreign exchange controls like we had in Jamaica only served to keep the money out of the country, it never kept money in.''