Monday is Constitution Day, celebrating the attainment of so-called country status by St. Maarten. That happened per 10-10-10, but it is marked every second Monday of October because then Prime Minister William Marlin wanted to avoid complaints that when public holidays fall on weekends, workers don’t always benefit.
The Netherlands Antilles was dismantled, with Curaçao and St. Maarten becoming autonomous countries within the Dutch Kingdom, similar to Aruba’s position since 1986. Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba (BES islands) now fall directly under the Netherlands as overseas public bodies.
Over the past 16 years critics have frequently asked if the people are better off, but that is not really the right question. After all, the answer depends on many things, making it hard to judge the impact of constitutional reforms back then in practice.
Moreover, especially small islands with tourism economies are extremely vulnerable to external factors. The ongoing war in Eastern Europe and current tensions in the Middle East with their effect on the cost-of-living could not have been foreseen nor prevented locally. The same goes for devastating Hurricane Irma in 2017 and the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the latter emergency situations, it does not seem dealing directly with authorities in The Hague instead of via the former Central Government in Willemstad was a disadvantage. To the contrary, being able to do so probably allowed for quicker decision-making on financial and other support when urgently needed.
Besides, everyone involved should have also known from the beginning that a bigger say in our own affairs would imply increased responsibilities. It’s no secret that the Government of St. Maarten has at times struggled with such in terms of human as well as material resources and to some extent still does.
Perhaps a more appropriate question might be if things could have been worse without the changes per 10-10-10. However, that’s best determined by each person for themselves, partly based on their individual beliefs and circumstances.
It’s often a matter of perception.
