he made when the commission was launched.

Opposition leaders slammed Mr. Michael Mello QC, the chairman of the Commission on Unity and Racial Equality for saying he did not see racism as a major problem.

Shadow Home Affairs Minister Alex Scott said: "We are getting off to a terrible start for the chairman to say he doesn't think racism is a major problem.

"It seems to fly in the face of Government's noise on the subject. If the chairman of the Commission feels like that, perhaps the Government feels that way as well.'' He was backed by Shadow Human Affairs Minister Dr. Ewart Brown, who said: "The PLP was and is committed to serious efforts against racism -- it looks as thought the Government are playing at it.'' But Mr. Mello defended his remarks, made at the launch of CURE on Wednesday, and said they did not imply that he did not think racism did not exist.

He said: "My reference to the term `major problem' was to point out the danger of failing to deal with racism today, in the many subtle ways that it is now expressed.'' Mr. Mello added: "The levels of racism in our community are now at a stage where CURE is still able to have an impact. We must make every effort to change negative community attitudes and behaviour now, so that there will not be `major problems' of a destructive nature for the community to resolve in the future.''