Locals under psychological attack, grads told

Member of the parliamentary opposition Julian Fraser has told a group of graduates that belongers in the British Virgin Islands are under a psychological attack.

He made the claim yesterday while he suggested that there is no truth to assertions that enough qualified belongers are not available to fill top level jobs.

“Our people – our youth in particular – are under psychological attack. There are no other words to describe being told that your country lacks qualified people to fill jobs we once filled,” Fraser trumpeted.

“When it comes to your future opportunities – whether it’s a career or a business proposition – you have to be able to detect when someone is magnifying the importance and complexity of situation beyond the limits of truth. If you are not capable of recognising this strategy that is being employed, you will fall victim to the hoax,” he further told graduates of the Seventh Day Adventist School – Secondary Division.

“I cannot explain any better why we are so willing to accept the fallacy that – this being our 10th graduation at this school and decades at the public high schools amounting to thousands of graduates, yet we don’t have qualified people to fill top-level jobs.”

Fraser, in the meantime, told the students advancing to higher education that they may possibly have to abandon their personal career goals and adopt others that are in the best interest of the territory.

“I will not be true to my country or neither will I be serving your best interest if I was to say to you: Be whatever you want to be,” he declared.

“The country needs you and, if you fail to fulfil the need, there are those who are all too willing to get it elsewhere and rub it in your nose. We cannot allow this to continue. I therefore urge you to examine the territory’s strategic plan, seek out the forecasted long-term goal assessment, and major in a field that meets the territory’s needs,” Fraser further advised.

He said he regrets having to put ‘pressure’ on the students. But he emphasized: “We must position ourselves to silence those who are quick to condemn us.”