Letters to the Editor

“The disproportionate prosecution of working class criminals ultimately serves to maintain ruling-class power and to reinforce ruling class ideology—thus performing ‘ideological functions’ for the ruling class.” Orson Rogers considers potential flaws in the way that Trinidad and Tobago deals with crime: As an armchair crime watcher and based on considerable …

“MATT remains deeply troubled that the Cybercrime Bill has retained its potential to criminalise professional journalists working in the public interest. “While MATT follows the argument that the redrafted Clause 8 of the Cybercrime Bill introduces layers of proof—intentionally, without lawful excuse, justification—to be satisfied by a complainant in order …

Effective implementation of meaningful legislation to govern procurement, campaign financing, party financing and whistle blowing must be made the top priority of the Dr Keith Rowley-led PNM Government. Systems must be put in place to properly protect our patrimony and minimise opportunities for the pilferage of our money before we …

“The UWI is developing a track record for demonstrating that money trumps student welfare at the institution. “In fairness, I agree that students should pay what is owed. However, the point at which the administration demands this payment clearly shows that the institution is more concerned with dollars and cents …

“Time and again, prayer is said to be the best crime plan, as the entire nation is converted into one big “hot spot” and “the Devil” and ‘evil’ get full blame. “While the clueless, talking heads in khaki uniforms boast of how many days Laventille has been “murder-free,” they have …

“It is simply not enough for Army investigators to state, according to an Asha Javeed Express report, that ‘procedures were not properly followed that day however, those procedural lapses have since been identified and rectified.’ “The public must be told of the breaches committed, who will be held accountable and …

“This stance against child marriage must be seen as an absolute. Much like the universal condemnation of child soldiers, so too we must recognise that child marriage can never be justified.” The following Letter to the Editor on child marriage, in response to recent remarks by Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, …

“How else can one explain our two honourable Houses of Parliament, Upper and Lower, that seem to be ordained never, like East and West, to meet? “Where parliamentarians and some senators too seem to spend more time in the highest courts of the land trying to embarrass one another, to …

“You don’t have to be an expert to realize that Panorama pieces are saturated with arrangers’ attempts to evoke certain emotions in the listening audience, which, in turn, are designed to elicit particular responses… “Successfully executed and then terminated with a flourish, these figures often have the effect of making …

“Now, when these men are “old and strong” and the society is reaping the results of generations of domestic and communal dysfunction on a large scale, we are conveniently pointing accusatory fingers at a veritable forest of old, hard, crooked trees that we as a national collective did nothing to …

Minister of Public Administration and Communications, Maxie Cuffie, has likened the support of child marriages to the defence of slavery and suggested that the current Marriages Act, which permits minors to be married under Hindu, Muslim or Baptist rites, leads to a culture of rape and violence against women. Cuffie, …

“I was surprised, though not very, when Hindu leaders sought to criticise the outfit worn by the President during the Carnival revelry. It is my opinion that such instances actually normalise and homogenise the Indian wear in our culture. “While most of the criticism was focused on the Rudraksha mala …