Our political parties have always trumpeted their absolute belief and trust in the wisdom of the Jamaican people. But when that belief was tested, it showed clearly that those were just empty words.

We hope that the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) will respect the views and wishes of the Jamaican people who, in their wisdom, have expressed overwhelming support for the State of Emergency.

Among people who were asked their views, the RJR/TVJ public opinion poll just out, revealed a significantly high 60 per cent support for the State of Emergency and its further extension.

Specifically, the public opinion survey conducted by Ian Boxill and Associates showed that 37.7 per cent of Jamaicans were in support of extending the State of Emergency to cover the entire island while 26 per cent of those polled wanted the State of Emergency extended to other parishes.

Eighteen per cent of those polled did not want any change, while 15 per cent said they were opposed to the State of Emergency.

The poll findings are consistent with what we have known anecdotally, and give the lie to those who would have us believe that the charade in Parliament last week Tuesday that ended the State of Emergency was good for the country.

What we believe the Jamaican people are saying is that they want what works, not what some people imagine will work. Our very realistic people know that given the shambles into which the State’s crime-fighting apparatus has fallen, it is going to take yeoman effort and untold resources to fix the crime problem over a long period of time. Idealism, if that is what it is, about creating jobs, improving education and removing the underprivileged out of their squalor, before we can take tough measures, is not what will work for us in this short term.

In fact, we have argued consistently in this space that what the State of Emergency has given us, is a narrow window of opportunity to allow our brave security forces to destablise and unbalance the criminal elements. If they do it long enough, we should then have the space to begin or intensify the critical elements of a medium to long term crime plan, based on social re-engineering.

The unholy gamesmanship played out in Parliament betrays the bankruptcy of ideas and political will of both the JLP and the PNP. That they could not find common ground to keep the State of Emergency for the additional month sought by the security forces — the ones putting their lives on the line to clean up this dreadful mess — is the surest sign that they cannot lead us out of the political wilderness in which we find ourselves.

We have obviously placed greater blame on the PNP, because it was their abstention vote that scuttled the State of Emergency, even while we acknowledge that the JLP failed to do all it could to save it.

Yet, we must not allow the political circus to distract us from what needs to be done. It is the upraised voices of the people that forced Prime Minister Bruce Golding into this onslaught on crime.

That same voice must remain resolute and strong, the voice of one nation, demanding that our leaders do our bidding.