IN RESPONSE to Mr Jhavinda Kazim’s letter published in the Swindon Advertiser on 27 March, I have great sympathy with his desires. They are not new. Most minority groups want to govern themselves. Certainly this was a desire expressed by the Afro-Americans many decades ago.

The Afrikaans people of South Africa understood the hunger for people to govern themselves. They themselves had undertaken the Great Trek in 1838 to escape from British rule in the Cape Province.

It was to cater for this desire that bantustans were formed: areas where black people could live and white people were not allowed, except to train black people to take more responsible positions. The South African government poured millions of rand into these areas to set up factories, housing, schools and all the necessary infrastructure. A handful of white people went in originally to hold key positions while they trained black people to run such enterprises. These white people had to live outside the bantustans and commute each day. I know about it because the husband of one of my friends did this.

However, these bantustans were much criticised by the rest of the world and the black people of South Africa were not satisfied.

I still sympathise with Mr Kazim because Muslim behaviour and morals are very different from what has become acceptable in Britain. Violence, foul language, drunkenness, loose morals and scantily clad women (and men) in public places are not attractive: worse, they are destructive to stable society. I can understand people wanting to guard their own communities against such behaviour. However, there is a danger that this desire would very quickly seek to extend its powers to the general populace. I do not believe this would be in the best interests of the British people.

Perhaps it would be better to instil greater self-respect in our people, especially the young ones, so that they no longer feel the need to behave in this reprehensible manner. Changing the educational expectations so that people are not set up to fail repeatedly might go a long way to alleviating the despair felt by many.

When people have hope and a fair chance of success in life they have more reason to take pride in themselves, their environment and their work, and to live soberly and sensibly. Our young people in Britain deserve better than they are currently getting. There needs to be a clear vision to enable this to happen.

The resulting stability should help people like Mr Kazim to feel less need to isolate and protect themselves and, perhaps, be happier to be part of the population of this country, rather than a ghetto culture.

ANNE SCOTT ROSS Swindon