DESPITE weeks of controversy over the Redemption Song statue, located at one of the entrances to Emancipation Park, government officials yesterday made it clear that the monument, which costs $4.5 million, will not be removed -- unless Prime Minister PJ Patterson orders its removal.

"We at the National Housing Trust have no intention of removing the monument unless the minister to whom we report says we must remove it," chairman of the Emancipation Park Trust, Kingsley Thomas told the Observer from New York yesterday.

He added that even before its official unveiling on July 31, the monument has long been part of the park's logo, dozens of which have been circulated through correspondence on the park's letterheads.

"For one year we have had that logo, it has been circulated so they knew it was coming," he said. "It was also on all our newspaper ads, which were many, yet no one said anything."

The monument, two massive figures of emancipated slaves -- an 11-foot naked man and a 10 foot tall women -- was created by renowned sculptor, Laura Facey-Cooper. She was commissioned by a committee of leading figures in the arts field, including national gallery of Jamaica curator, David Boxer, and vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies, Rex Nettleford. The bronze piece replaced another, sculpted by AD Scott, which, like its successor, had its fair share of criticism.

Since Redemption Song's unveiling, many have questioned whether emancipation and freedom are akin to nakedness while others are concerned about the size of the male's genitalia, calling it a vulgar display for a public monument. There has been daily criticism on radio discussion programmes as well as on the letters' pages of the major newspapers, almost drowning out the arguments in favour of the statue.

But yesterday, Thomas said the Trust thinks the work is appropriate in its symbolism.

"Anyone who sees two naked bodies and the first thing that comes to their mind is sex is sick," he said. "It's two people washing away the vestiges of slavery and human subjugation, looking upward and forward to a future of freedom, hope and prosperity."

And the Trust sought to publicly clarify their selection of the piece through a full-page newspaper advertisement in yesterday's Observer, entitled "The how and why of Redemption Song".

According to the advertisement, one of the characteristics of the monument which the judges found admirable was what they described as its "highly spiritual character".

"The judges saw 'Redemption Song' as a work which had the potential to be a sculptural prayer of thanksgiving," the ad read. "The judges also admired the title Mrs Facey-Cooper ascribed to this work of art... They felt this would help to make the monument more meaningful to today's audience."

The sculptor's interpretation of the piece reflected the judges interpretation of her work, the public notice added.

Meanwhile, the piece is still incomplete with one of its main features, water falling over the bodies of the figures, still missing. Yesterday, Thomas said that feature will be added within a month.

"I would suspect (that will be added) within another month," he said. "We were on target to complete it but there was a problem with the casting of the dome at the bottom, owing to some impurities in the silica."

Meanwhile the Trust has warned against the taking of photographs -- and reproducing for sale -- the statue or any other features of the park, saying it will take legal actions against persons who "willfully engage in such activities".

"There are individuals, who, because of the monument's popularity will probably take pictures for the purposes of post cards, etc, similarly to what they would do with popular monuments like the Eiffel Tower," Thomas told the Observer.

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