Many no doubt were happy to see Prime Minister William Marlin together with Rene “Koto” Wilson in Friday’s paper. The latter had talked about killing the Prime Minister in a post on Facebook
which later was removed.
That is obviously no laughing matter and Marlin had little choice but to take the threat seriously. However, he decided to call his would-be assailant who agreed to come over and asked for a photo with the prime minister to clear the air about what he said had been “blown out of proportion.”
The question then becomes by whom, because it is Wilson who caused all the trouble in the first place with his ill-advised, highly irresponsible and potentially dangerous comments on social media. Hopefully, he does realise that his behaviour was totally unacceptable and has learned his lesson.
There are also those who suggest the social activist was in effect rewarded for his reproachable words, as he was not only received by the Prime Minister at his office but provided with several important documents, at least one of which reportedly hadn’t even reached Parliament yet. They argue that others might get the idea one can easily get away with this kind of thing.
However, St. Maarten is a relatively small community and it’s always better to avoid continued animosity when the people concerned are bound to run into each other at some point. Marlin also knew Wilson from before and deep down probably reckoned he is not really a safety risk.
Nevertheless, the Prime Minister had a point earlier when disagreeing with the notion of his having to go file a complaint for law enforcement to become involved. Although threats may require that under normal circumstances, when the government leader of a country is the subject of such something needs to be done.
To be fair, two detectives did speak to Marlin about the matter and perhaps some unknown form of action ultimately was taken. The impression simply shouldn’t be created that the Prime Minister in effect has nobody looking out for him or her.
If the local Prosecutor’s Office is unable to make a move, surely the security service VDSM possibly in cooperation with the Attorney-General can. That particular aspect definitely should still be arranged for future reference.
