Margaret Morris, Contributor
IT WAS Martin Luther King Jr. who said that all that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to keep silent. Here in Jamaica, people are constantly complaining about the evils of crime, corruption and numerous social ills like child abuse, squatting, and environmental degradation.
But the rot continues and appears to be intensifying. Is it because precious few of us are prepared to identify specific cases and take action against the culprits? The popular rationale appears to be that corruption in government and the police force is endemic, its purveyors are vindictive, the justice system is infected and therefore tackling the problem is useless and could actually be dangerous. We are a nation of wimps.
Thank God, there are some exceptions. Dr. Carolyn Gomes, Mrs. Yvonne Sobers, Father Ho Lung, Col. Trevor MacMillan, Richard Small and Mutty Perkins come to mind as persons unafraid to stand up and be counted. Recently, a few more high-profile warriors have emerged.
JOLTED OUT OF LETHARGY
Diana McCauley of JET (Jamaica Environmental Trust) and Wendy Lee of NJCA (Northern Jamaica Conservation Association), environmental activists had the temerity to challenge the Government's somnolent environmental watch-dog (NRCA) and to jolt it out of its lethargy by spearheading the drive for a judicial review of an environmental permit granted by NRCA to the Piñero Group for construction of an enormous hotel at Pear Tree River Bottom in St. Ann - that small, fragile and ecologically unique piece of our disappearing northern coastline. They were successful in getting the judicial review, and as anyone who reads the paper or listens to the radio knows they won the case.
This same case introduced us to another remarkable individual. Supreme Court Judge Bryan Sykes, who wasted no time in ruling that Piñero's permit had been improperly granted and the project must be shut down. All things considered - the Government's penchant for fast-track develop-ment and its insatiable need (or appetite) for foreign investment, Piñero's claim that the hotel was already 80 per cent built, and the prevailing disregard for environ-mental protection - his judgement was a bombshell: totally unexpected, startling, and brave to the point of recklessness.
COURAGEOUS PUBLIC SERVANT
Last week, another courageous public servant surfaced in the person of Dr. Albert Lue, head of ophthalmology at KPH. Dr. Lue went public with disturbing information about the Miracle Operation Programme which is providing Jamaicans with free eye surgery done in Cuba, by Cuban doctors. A Ministry of Health spokesperson is quoted in Satur-day's Gleaner as saying that of the 1,845 patients treated to date, "less that three per cent" have had complications.
Unfortunately, Dr. Lue's experience is very different. Quoting a study of 60 persons who were treated in Cuba, he revealed that three persons were found to be visually impaired, and 14 persons were suffering from serious corneal damage. Seventeen complications out of 60 cases is a very scary statistic. The Ministry of Health is said to be "aware of the concerns of local ophthal-mologists" and is 'investigating'. How long has the ministry been aware of complaints? When did their investigations begin? What have they discovered to date?
Regardless of the outcome of the ministry's investigations (which are to be done with their Cuban counterparts), it is clear that Dr. Lue's exposé is going to have international repercussions.
It must have taken a great deal of courage to blow the whistle on a dubious health care project, a gift from our Caribbean paseros. It is obvious that Dr. Lue has what it takes. In company with the other persons mentioned above he is now deemed eligible for Jamaica's smallest and most exclusive association. Let's call it Club Cojones.
