BRUCE Golding, the man behind whom the reform-minded wing of the Jamaica Labour Party has rallied, has joined Edward Seaga in telling the young Turks to display tolerance and respect for party elders.

But Golding, who has emerged as the most likely leader of the post-Seaga JLP, also appealed for more space for the young reformers to be part of the decision-making process in the party.

“We can’t expect them to dance to the music alone,” Golding told delegates Sunday night in Montego Bay at a joint conference of the West Central St James and North West St James constituencies of the party. “They must have some say in the selection of the music they want to dance to. If we discourage them and turn them off, we do so at out our own peril.”

However, Golding warned the young people anxious for change in the JLP that as much as he wanted them to be part of a structure that “recognises and protects them, I say to them that they must understand that they must be respectful of those in the party who may hold more conservative positions”.

Golding walked out of the JLP in 1995 to form the now lingering National Democratic Movement (NDM), which was to be the vehicle from which he would launch an overhaul of the Jamaican political process to make it less strident and divisive and more open and accountable.

He returned to the JLP just ahead of the October 2002 general election, was credited with providing the fillip that brought the party close to winning the poll, and has quickly re-emerged as the man seen most likely to take over when Seaga, 73, finally steps down as leader of the JLP.

In a series of internal party elections late last year, pro-Golding candidates swept to most of the top posts in the JLP and this group has been pressing for Seaga, who has been at the helm for 30 years and lost five consecutive general elections, to make way for a younger leader.

In an interview Friday on the HOT 102 show, the Breakfast Club, Seaga said he would soon outline his timetable for a transition, but also attributed some of the existing tensions in the JLP to the attitude and bad behviour of some of those who wanted a faster transition.

“…In the rush all kinds of mistakes are made,” Seaga said. “All you have is a situation in which a younger and very active set are doing their work in the field and at the same time ruffling feathers by discourteous behaviour, lack of knowledge of the protocol of politics and disrespectful conduct on their part.”

“This is something that I won’t accept and stand for,” the JLP leader added. “…They have to be straightened out and told how to operate within the regime once you have power. So it is a transition that is going on, and from my position, my job is to straighten it all out.”

While acknowledging that a certain amount of tension was good for a political party, as it helped to drive debate and creativity, Golding appealed for decency and decorum in the airing of differences.

“They (reformists) must be respectful of their predecessors and even as they enjoy their own successes they must be magnanimous, and they must reach out and they must embrace,” Golding said.

According to Golding, the main items on the agenda of the reformists are:

. a devolution of authority from the party centre to the party grassroots;

. to be involved in the shaping of policy decisions;

. accountability and performance within the party; and

. to be a part of the vision for the rebuilding of the country.

Acknowledging that the reformists, which consist mainly of a cadre of young people, were instrumental in the party’s success at the 2003 local government polls, Golding said that their impatience at the pace of reform in the party was due mainly to their anxiety to get rid of the P J Patterson administration.