Sunday's speech by the President of the People's National Party (PNP), Mrs. Portia Simpson Miller, at the PNP party conference struck a bellicose note, spurning the olive branch held out by Prime Minister Bruce Golding.

Even when points of significance were being made, the tone was warlike. Jamaica needs a strong and viable Opposition. But responsible criticism can never be confused with the kind of demagogy displayed on Sunday. It was an outrageous performance with alarming implications for Jamaica and the PNP.

Mrs. Simpson Miller is not the first Jamaican Prime Minister to suffer defeat at the polls and is unlikely to be the last. Some claim, in her defence, that one should make allowance for the heady atmosphere prevailing in a party rally. If it was a matter of isolated incidents, such an excuse could perhaps be countenanced.

But, on more than one occasion, the Simpson Miller-led PNP has taken positions which have had destabilising effects on the Jamaican society. There was the manner of the declaration of the state of emergency in the aftermath of Hurricane Dean. Then there were the botched attempts to postpone the general election beyond the date recommended by the Electoral Commission. On September 3, immediately after her loss, Mrs. Simpson Miller rather than conceding as is the norm, behaved in a truculent manner, sulking in front of the cameras. A clear pattern is emerging which the PNP and Jamaica will have to address.

The contrast of the narrowly partisan PNP position with the statesman-like posture of our new Prime Minister could not be starker. Mr. Golding is reaching out to all Jamaicans, irrespective of their political loyalties, and inviting them to join him in a new project of good governance. This is not only good for Jamaica, it is also good politics.

He must continue to go for the moderate middle ground without whose support no political party is viable in Jamaica. We urge the Prime Minister to redouble his efforts on this course and not to respond in kind to hysterical noises offstage. This was the same moderate strategy adopted by the late Michael Manley after his landslide loss in 1980 and which brought him back to power in 1989. Extremism must be isolated.

Instead of heeding the lessons of the past, the PNP seems bent on repeating history. In the past, saner counsel has managed to pull them back from the brink. The country expects responsible persons in the PNP to take a firm stand against a politics of destruction which puts Jamaica last. It is sad to see this distortion of the ideals of a major Jamaican political institution. Norman Manley must be turning in his grave.

Regrettably, Mrs Simpson Miller and some closest to her are behaving as if Jamaica belongs to their party exclusively. It does not. Every general election, no matter how lopsided the seat count or how wide the popular vote, has always indicated significant support for the losing party. The statements from the PNP's leadership, to date do not suggest that they recognise significant dissatisfaction with its performance to cause its political opponents to make deep inroads in the past two general elections in areas where it once held overwhelming majorities. We suggest, respectfully, that the party leader and her close associates allow themselves some time to rest, in which they can clear their heads and then assume their role in Parliament with greater responsibility than they seem inclined to do at present.