Don’t let criminals dictate our lives

 THEY say the news media holds a mirror to society, that it reflects fairly and accurately what goes on in society.

As to whether that statement is true or false, is a debate that can be waged for a long time.

But it is a fact that the media tries its best to perform that role.

This week’s headline news unwittingly reflected accurately the state the nation is in with regards to crime, more specifically, the fight against crime.

On the eve of the national haus krai organised to protest the incessant violent attacks against women nationwide, three most wanted criminals sauntered out of the country’s biggest and presumably the best guarded prison in the country.

One gets the feeling this was not just an opportune occasion, that the entire escape was plotted and execu­ted carefully to show criminals thumping their noses at the Government and society.

It was as if they were saying: “You can rant and rave and cry for all you want but we are way ahead of you. We will do whatever we want and there is nothing you can do about it.”

In a way they were successful.

The evening’s headline news and the front page banner headlines in the next day’s papers were, of course, on the escape. 

The haus krai was rele­gated to the inside pages, taking secondary place over the bold and daring escape by one of the country’s most notorious criminals with two others.

Security forces in pursuit shot dead one of the esca­pees, causing that incident to drown out the significance of the haus krai on the same day for most news organisations.

By the consideration of news editors, such things as escapes by notorious criminals and their being shot dead makes for significant airtime and news space. 

Unfortunately, such bad news sells.

The National ran the news of the escape prominently but the next day decided to relegate the shooting of the escapee to the inside pages because we believe that conscious decision to change our thinking and our actions is warranted if this country is going to be successful in fighting the scourge of crime, not just against women, but against whole of society.

We cannot and must not let the criminal dictate the terms, that they take the action and the law enforcement agencies are caught flat-footed and reacting every time.

It is time this situation was reversed. We can hold haus krai after haus krai until the sun stops shining and it will not make an iota of a difference if nobody is willing to change.

And change means doing it at the personal level, at home and in the community. 

It means disciplining the children and speaking out publicly against crime in the community. 

It means going to the assistance of the helpless woman being viciously mauled by her husband or boyfriend. 

It means going out on a limb to identify criminals to the police. 

The Government can increase the number of police personnel and they are committed to doubling the present 4,000. 

It can improve police officers’ terms and conditions as it has promised. It can retrain and re-equip them. 

That and more the Go­vernment can do but unless people change, crime will never leave us. 

Crime thrives in a community that is frightened witless by it. 

Crime cannot thrive in a community that can stand up to it and fight it. 

A brave Australian wo­man who was viciously raped in Port Moresby many years ago said these words which hounds this nation to this day: “Ninety-nine per cent of Papua New Guineans are good people. It is tragic that they allow the one per cent to control them.”

Truly tragic.

And nothing will change until the 99% take action, not only the Government.