In this week’s Big Interview, Leader of the Opposition Owen Arthur breaks his silence on the recent Immigration flare-up between Barbados and Jamaica.The controversy erupted after Jamaican national Shanique Myrie claimed that she was subjected to a humiliating cavity search at the hands of authorities at the Grantley AdamsInternational Airport.Arthur spoke to Editor-in-Chief Kaymar Jordan on the issue.
Q: As Leader of the Opposition you have been noticeably absent from the recent debate surrounding the Shanique Myrie incident. First of all, can you explain your silence?
Arthur: Well, the position of the Barbados Labour Party in Opposition is that on matters affecting Barbados’ relationship with another country, we try not to create the impression of a partisan divide because there is one Government of Barbados as it concerns our foreign policy. In this particular matter, made all the more sensitive because all the facts have never been apparently discovered nor revealed, it is a very difficult, delicate matter relating to our relations with a country that Barbados has historically had a very strong bond of friendship with.
Q: So do you or don’t you agree with the position taken by the Government thus far, in particular by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who is already on record as saying that there is no truth to Myrie’s allegations?
Arthur: Let me put it this way. Relations between countries can come to be affected by matters that are of fundamental importance to those countries, like trade or maritime boundaries that are very difficult to manage. Where it concerns the treatment of a citizen of another country, our position is that we try as best not to allow such a matter to cause the relationship between countries that you have strong friendships with to spin out of control.As I said, in this matter we don’t know the facts. We don’t want to appear as if we are opposing what the Government of Barbados has done, or what the Minister of Foreign Affairs has done, but at the same time we can’t ignore the human relation that is involved here. So we are being circumspect. Our judgement is that this is the kind of issue that you try not to allow to cause the relationship to spin out of control.
Q: So you think that the Minister of Foreign Affairs was too fast out of the blocks in saying that the allegations were unfounded?
Arthur: I do not want this matter pertaining to foreign relations appear as though I am castigating Barbadian officials, but just put it this way: I feel the foreign ministry should understand the role of diplomacy in solving problems and that that is the first thing that you use. Certainly it is what I became accustomed to, and the fact that I had one foreign minister for 13 years in whom I was greatly pleased.
Q: So you are suggesting that if you were in Government, you would have handled this matter differently?
Arthur: The fact that this is persisting as an issue suggests that it is not being as effectively handled as it should be. I am not going to cast blame because the facts are still to be discovered, but it is very much to be regretted that something like this can fundamentally affect the relationship between Jamaica and Barbados.
Q: So you think it is has had a fundamental effect?
Arthur: Well, it has stayed in the news and it has been made to project an image of Barbados that I don’t think is useful. The Barbadian people are a very civil and gracious people and it is not a good thing that the image that apparently is projected of us is what we are not. There have been times in the past, even when I was Prime Minister, where we had to make the point: “Look, let’s treat our neighbours properly” because sometimes what you hear done in our names at the borders doesn’t reflect how Barbadians want to relate to our neighbours. But this matter has persisted and, yes, I think that we are getting a negative Press across the region.
Q: Let’s get past the diplomacy for a moment and deal with the actual issue. A Jamaican national claiming that she was ill-treated, finger-raped in fact. Is this on? Is this necessary
Arthur: Again it is the kind of matter that is so difficult, sensitive, that it is best if all the facts were discovered and revealed, rather than all of us left to speculate as to what the true situation was. If it is true, it is a horrible wrong that was inflicted and nobody should condone it; but let us hear what the facts are. But I don’t think that I should be judgemental in the absence of the facts. If that is what was done, then it stands strongly to be condemned, and no Barbadian should be pleased that it is being done in our name.
Q: There is a view sometimes that our Customs and our Immigration and our police are overzealous in the execution of their duties. Is that your view too?
Arthur: I would have to be candid and say to you that when I was Prime Minister of the country, more than once I had to speak to the matter because complaints were referred to me. The president of Guyana used to speak about it often: about how Barbadian officials treated people at the border. If you would recall, I used to make it an issue to tell the Barbadian officials: “Please do not treat our neighbours with disdain, or in a discourteous or authoritarian way. Don’t do it in our name.” You can still be firm in the carrying out of your official duties as an officer without being discourteous or subjecting people to criminal conduct.
Q: But to look at it from the other side, quite often those seeking entry are known to be either criminal elements or have links with the underworld and therefore draw the aggressive hand?
Arthur: And that [criminal intent] cannot or should not be condoned, nor should any Caribbean society believe that Barbados should lean over backwards to accommodate a criminal element from another Caribbean country in Barbados. Clearly the officials have to do their job and do it properly, but I still feel that even when there is that aspect to what has to be addressed, that they must still do it in a dignified and courteous way.
But may I say that there is a bigger, broader issue in all this too. I wish that the spirit of regional togetherness that was exemplified by the CSME [CARICOM Single Market and Economy] and other major regional initiatives that stress the positive and pointed the way to a regional destiny for the individual Caribbean countries, I wish that spirit and programme could be reenergized and refocused because while we are focusing on this one issue, and this is important, the bigger issue is that I believe regional togetherness in the Caribbean is dissipating.
Q: But will you be ever able to have that if Jamaicans have problems entering Barbados, Barbadians having problems entering other places . . .?
Arthur: Well, these things become magnified as problems when there are no other positive issues to capture and be the focus of regional energy. How many major new initiatives or serious initiatives of a positive nature are at present exercising the attention of the people of the Caribbean?
Q: But Mr Arthur, Immigration was a problem when you were Prime Minister too.
Arthur: I know and that is the whole point. I tried my best and I paid a heavy price for it in Barbados, not to create the impression that we supported bad treatment as an official position.
Q: So you think that this Government has not made a strong enough point that you must treat Caribbean nationals well?
Arthur: Let me put it this way. There are some things that I would have heard said that I would not have said. For example, I would never tell people “Ever so welcome, wait for a call”. If anything I got condemned for being too pro-CSME.
Q: What is the way forward on the Immigration debate that is currently raging?
Arthur: This is a matter that the ministries of foreign affairs should not allow to undermine the relationship of two countries that have strong bonds. There is a role here for diplomacy. In a matter concerning the treatment of a citizen, quiet diplomacy, quiet confidence-building relations is what you have to deal with.
I keep making the point that in a relative sense we depend more upon CARICOM than the rest of the MDCs [More Developed Countries] of CARICOM. Half of our exports of goods go to CARICOM, about one-fifth of our tourists come from there. We have a booming re-export trade about $1/2 billion a year distributive trade.
Barbados does a lot of service business with the rest of the Caribbean, and it is in Barbados’ best interest to try to promote a strong regional economy, regional society and regional togetherness.
Whenever there is any incident that would cause that spirit of regional togetherness and regional development to be impaired, I think Barbados should try to exercise leadership in making sure that the development of the regional society is not undermined.
We have a strong, vested interest in having good relations with our neighbours and we have too much to lose. I don’t want to be invidious but, for example, no more than between two and five per cent of Jamaica’s exports come to the region and they don’t depend as much on the region as we do. The region is our oyster so let’s care it and treat it properly.
