From Nellie Maçon.
JERSEY was governed for centuries by unpaid, wealthy States Members with few voices of opposition in the States or among the public because nobody dared or could afford to oppose them.

However, nowadays the public are better educated and with paid States Members, ordinary people can now truly represent the voices of the people.

There is an element among the higher echelons in Jersey which cannot tolerate this and because they have never dealt with opposition on this scale before, they simply do not know how to handle it. They therefore use the tactics more usually seen in regimes such as Zimbabwe, China and the former Soviet bloc countries in an attempt to intimidate and silence the voices of dissent.

To silence me personally for opposing them at the Senatorial hustings they misquoted my private correspondence in order to humiliate me and try to silence me (this had nothing to do with Deputy Maçon at all).

However, as a rule I never give in to bullies, so this was unsuccessful. In the case of the JDA they passed the Public Elections (Amendment No 3) (Jersey) Law 2008 to try to prevent them being re-elected – again they failed, so now they are taking this law to its extreme and making the process as drawn out and painful as possible for Deputies Southern and Pitman.

Finally, in the case of Senator Syvret, they invaded the privacy of his home without a search warrant and gained access to privileged information. Should anyone who corresponded with Senator Syvret now expect this private correspondence to be ‘leaked’ or used against them? Further, that eight police officers were deployed to arrest one individual is surely excessive.

What can we now expect in future? Can a private individual expect the privacy of their home to be invaded and ransacked simply because they have the courage to voice opinions contrary to prominent States Members and those in the higher echelons of society?

I certainly do not condone law-breaking and States Members who break the law can expect to be punished. However, why do we see States Members who have broken similar laws getting away with a rap over the knuckles simply because they are in favour with powerful people? Why do we allow judges to preside over cases where there is a clear conflict of interest and why are States departments not accountable when they cause small businesses to lose vast amounts of money, as in the case of the Pinels?

Where is this all leading to apart from the demise of democracy? What hope is there for the constitutional changes that the people of Jersey are crying out for, if those championing these changes are being bullied and intimidated in order to silence them?

We have almost three more long years before these matters can be addressed but how much of this abuse of power will the electorate remember at that time and how many will actually use their vote for change? Unless they do so there is no hope for justice and democracy in Jersey.
Beau Regard,
Plat Douet Road,
St Saviour.