Dear Editor,

While the jihadists wreak havoc and misery in Africa and Europe, especially ISIS and Boko Haram, a refugee crisis has developed in the world. We, in Jamaica, should not think that the repercussions or effects cannot be felt in Jamaica. We can never let our security down by believing that, because we are geographically disconnected from the Middle East, or we are a part of the West, we are immune.

It is in this regard that I propose that our beloved island culture be maintained by our political directorate. We must not and should not open our doors to Syrian refugees. In all of this crisis, countries of the same ethnic identity have failed to take in these refugees, so why should a small open economy and crime-ridden country as ours? Saudi Arabia with all its oil revenues, Kuwait, Dubai, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, and Bahrain, with all their oil and natural gas wealth, have not taken one handful of Syrian refugees. Neither have South Asian Muslim countries, such as Indonesia, Brunei and Malaysia. Central Asian countries, such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, are doing very little to help their Muslim brothers. One has to be fair in saying ‘yes’, there may be Christian Syrians, but again, the probability of that is so low.

We have a sizeable minority Arab/Muslim community in Jamaica, and we have no idea what interactions could be created in Jamaica if Muslims fanatics and jihadists are able to come here with their influence.

Black people are always empathetic for others, but this time the risk is too much. History has proven that we open up our doors to others with negative consequences. Let us not fall into this trap and create more problems for our people.

And I personally implore to the powers that be not to make the foolish move to allow entry to people we have very little or no information on, and whose culture remains distant to ours.

Maurice Christie

Aboukir, St. Ann

christiemaurice@yahoo.com