No one can deny that in recent times, most sectors of media on the island have been doing a great job, in terms of exposing nepotism, cronyism, corruption etc in government.
That goes for the printed media, certain radio-and television talk shows etc.
That was definitely not always the case in the past on the 'Friendly island'.
With the advent of the internet, including those websites which engage particularly in investigative reporting, another mile-stone has been achieved going beyond the scope of the traditional journalism.
This is evidenced by those websites, that allow for people surfing their site, to become 'interactive bloggers' and to be able to respond to reports in websites as they see fit, without necessarily exposing their identity.
By making this possible, these site-operators have created a 'major step forward' by empowering the ordinary grassroots man-, woman and child to express their personal opinions on various reports/issues affecting their way of life in one way or the other.
While we recommend the operators of these sites to be very vigilant that this anonymity is not used to assassinate the characters of the persons in question, conscious and intelligent readers, and authorities in genreal should be able to 'make sense out of nonsense', and to really try to identify-, and gauge the 'mood' withing our society on certain issues.
Therefore constantly observing these sites and reading the blogs, should be of paramount importance for all in authority.
Claiming not to know by those in authority, what the public's mood is, will therefore no longer be an option/excuse for not taking the appropriate measures if necessary.
However, frankly speaking , in practical terms, it is indeed virtually impossible for the authorities to dedicate enough time to 'scan' all websites to update themselves on the CONTENTS of the blogs and NOT necessarily on the identity of the bloggers !
Here is now where our new public service is intended to be of an 'added value' to the 'mix'.
The intention is to make sure that the invaluable information by the bloggers is not simply 'wasted away'-, and conveniently delegated to some proverbial information 'black-hole' -, never ever to be heard of anymore.
To avoid such 'silent death' , we intend to increase the effectiveness of the invaluable investigative nature of the websites, together with the responses of the bloggers and complile them in a special document, to be subsequently forwarded (with or without a recommendation) to all relevant authorities.
These can be for instance the Parliament, the Governor general, the Prosecutor, The Dutch Government, etc. etc.
This service will create a 'one-stop access shop to vital blogs' for all authorities, preventing them having to waste their scarce time-, and other resources scanning all possible websites in order to read the 'pulse' of the nation.
Even, if our local authorities would choose not to ignore this service, certainly the Dutch Government would appreciate having that information for sure !
The document containing the blogs on a particular issue, will also request that the proper and relevant authority to acknowledge receipt, to investigate and to report back to us, so that we can inform the public of what has become of their concerns.
Certainly we intend to work closely with dr. Nilda LYNCH-ARDUIN, our OMBUDSMAN.
Judging from the relationship we have developed over time with the public at large, we can not imagine that the authorities will decline their cooperation in this service aimed at reinforcing participation of all in contribuiting towards better government, safety and securiry etc.
Meanwhile, we look forward receiving suggestions to improve on this public service initiative.
Contact person; Leopold JAMES
Drs. Leopold JAMES