Dear Editor,
I refer to Sunday Stabroek’s editorial of April 19, 2009, with the caption ‘State of anarchy?’
The attempt on Ms Maria van Beek’s life was cruel and, indeed, leaves considerable mystery on motives in its wake.
The editorial attempted to provide a potpourri of explanations for this gruesome incident. And the editorial abandoned the notion that criminals (and I suspect the editorial implies ‘terrorists’ also) could be suspects because they left no message behind, and that such criminals usually love to let everyone know the source of the message and for whom its bell was tolled. The editorial continued on the trail of suspects to reducing the criminal incident to an act of rage. But the editorial also dismissed this view on the basis that everyone knows that Ms Van Beek was not responsible for Clico’s possible demise.
Then, the editorial stumbled on the conclusion that the criminal incident might have been an irrational act, as such suspect(s) would not have known about van Beek’s role as Judicial Manager.
The editorial provided ‘airy-fairy’ reasons for dismissing these different explanations it propounded with inappropriate arguments. Many criminal incidents carry no message in the investigative picture; dismissing the ‘rage’ notion may be impervious because people do not always make decisions and conclusions to act on the basis of an objective knowledge of the situation at hand; people may act, too, on the basis of ideology, and what they may fancy were true.
And then it arrived finally at its desired destination, namely, perhaps the attempt on van Beek’s life pertains to the degeneration of the society into a state of anarchy. I say ‘desired’ because this editorial’s postulation of ‘anarchy’ implies minimum security protection of the citizens of Guyana. This explanation and I know it is purely speculative at this point, also fits the ‘airy-fairy’ category. How so?
Because of the editorial’s misconception of equating ‘anarchy’ with ‘chaos’; this is an untoward misconception based on the assumption that authority is critical to maintain order. Crime remains a problem in most parts of the world, notwithstanding the finest efforts exerted to stop crime. And so, it is not authority that is vital to sustain order, but, perhaps, the institutionalization of moral belief and moral credibility in the criminal justice system that will bring the crime rate within the zone of acceptance.
Indeed, the editorial’s misconception of equating ‘anarchy’ with ‘chaos’ is the subject for another forum. But the whole tone of this editorial with its flimsy elements and misconceptions, shows Stabroek News true to form.
Yours faithfully,
Prem Misir
