Recently I was in Qatar for the annual FIFA Summit and while there watched a few World Cup games.

While the magnitude of the event was fascinating, what was of much interest was the level of public order and apparent absence of any deviant behaviour while there.

In fact, while there I noticed that there was not only a very orderly flow of things, such as traffic, but there was no illegal vending, no noise from car horns or persons playing music, no loitering or people sitting on sidewalks, etc.

Three interactions that caused my curiosity to peak even further were as follows.

Firstly, after leaving one match we went in search of a taxi and saw a car for hire and approached the driver. He agreed that he could take us back to the hotel, when he was approached by someone . He then told us that he could not carry us again and drove off, apparently because he wasn’t in the line to pick up persons.

When we finally got a car to take us back, I engaged the immigrant of 15 years from Pakistan and asked him what is the crime like, and he said “no crime sir”. So I said to him that I don’t mean murders but petty crimes like stealing. He again said “no crime sir” and then went on to say “the penalties are too severe”.

The third interaction, was actually told to me, by someone who lived a few years in Qatar, who said he had run out of gas on the highway and caused a build up of traffic. The police, who visibly had no guns, came to his assistance and went to get gas for him and then waved him goodbye with a smile on their face. When he got home he saw a message on his phone and it was a ticket for $500.

And I can bet that unlike our situation where tickets are like receipts you accumulate without paying them, I can bet that it would be a grave mistake for him not to pay it. He could never demonstrate disruptively for a payment plan and get support from politicians and supposedly law abiding members of society.

And let’s not mention the service levels there that make us look violent in delivering service.

After a long but pleasant flight to New York, where I was heading west to countries that are seen as the leading democracies, I immediately started to hear the noise levels escalate and siren from an emergency vehicle. The traffic picking up persons at the airport, while flowing, was somewhat disorderly.

I was being welcomed by the freedom that comes with democracies. The freedom of do what is in your best interest, even though it negatively impacts others.

The next day I then came back to Jamaica, and after seeing the welcoming shore lines of Jamaica which is always a pleasant site. I went through immigration, which is usually an orderly and pleasant experience. But coming from the Qatar service levels noticed the unpleasant greeting from this one immigration officer, who seemed like she was having a bad day.

But that was short lived as I was greeted in the baggage claim hall by some very pleasant immigration officers.

I then made the necessary mistake of leaving immigration and got into my car and immediately someone was driving at a slow pace and holding up traffic looking at their phone.

I then proceeded to Palisadoes and there were two cars that raced past me at dangerously high speeds. The further I went the decay started to become apparent of pot holes, broken down building and infrastructure , and puddles of water on the road.

Not to be disappointed I was greeted by police and soldiers with some serious firepower at a curfew stop, as I am reminded of the crime that plagues our society.

Not to be outdone are the ladies dressed in their bedroom or bathroom wear on the streets and the loud music coming from shops built on the sidewalks.

This reminded me of the SOEs and the fact that Parliament has taken over ten years, and still cannot effect the road traffic amendments or the anti litter increased fines.

The fact that the majority of Jamaicans are willing to accept police and soldiers living in their communities , in the form of the SOEs, a less than ideal ssituation, and give up their rights, is testament to the failure of our leadership since independence.

The fact also that there is no credible solution that has led to the SOEs being a necessary crime fighting tool, because persons in districts such as once peaceful Cross Keys are now fearful, also betrays the failure of our leadership over the years.

For what we face today is not a new phenomenon. It is the result of many decades of supporting informal settlements, ignoring illegal vending, night noise and zoning laws, and of the lack or urgency to make our laws ready for a modern world. In many instances politicians support the deviant behaviour in order to appeal to votes.

And I find that the problem is not only with our leadership but also citizens who are willing to accept order and rules only when it doesn’t apply to them.

I therefore ask myself, who has more freedom. The citizen or migrant in Qatar or the citizen in Jamaica, where people seek to migrate from than into.

In Jamaica we have compromised the basic constitutional right, which is the right to life, as demonstrated by our high murder rate.

Some say “but Qatar has oil so they can afford it”. This is in fact not the argument to be applied.

It is how you use what you have that is important. When I was 16 I remember my uncle, who was a very successful businessman, say to me that it is not how much you earn that’s important but he much you save.

In fact Jamaica has not been short of resources like Singapore. We had bauxite, we had a market quota for bananas that we could not meet, and we have tourism. But we have wasted the opportunity to maximize the value from these resources.

For example, because of how we have allowed disorder on the “Hip Strip” we have to sell hotel rooms for under US$300 per night instead of US$600 per night if we had managed it properly.

The resources being available is not the problem, as Singapore showed us. It is the creativity to think outside the box and importantly leadership that us committed to Jamaica’s development.

So when I think of the fact that Jamaicans are denied the right to life by murders and road carnage. When I think that we can’t drive or walk the roads without being subject to illegal structures or bad driving. When I think that we have to be behind burglar bars at nights. I have to ask myself, who has more freedom, the law abiding citizens of Jamaica or those in Qatar.

Democracy, freedom, and independence is an awesome responsibility that we have not been able to manage.

We can fix it but it requires us as citizens wanting it. It requires government and opposition agreeing the way forward. It requires public order to be enforced.

We could use a little bit of Qatar.

– Dennis Chung is general secretary of the Jamaica Football Federation