A delegation of the First Chamber of the Dutch Parliament starts its tour of the Caribbean today, Saturday (see related story). In addition to the overseas special public entities of the Netherlands Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba (the BES islands), the senators will
visit the three autonomous countries Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten.
They won’t be in Philipsburg until April 22, giving local legislators as well as Government ample time to prepare for talks centred on evaluating “new” constitutional relations that went into effect per 10-10-10. The sometimes-contested so-called Consensus Kingdom Laws concerning Justice and Public Finances are also within the scope of that discussion.
The trip is in preparation for a big debate on the issue in the Senate scheduled for June 21. Of course, no earth-shattering changes in the Rutte Cabinet’s policy towards St. Maarten are likely any time soon, but it doesn’t hurt to review bottlenecks and possible solutions for which the help of the people’s representatives in The Hague perhaps one day may be needed.
One should remember too that First Chamber members indirectly chosen on a regional basis usually can be considered a bit less “political’ in nature than their colleagues of the Second Chamber, who are directly elected in national polls. They tend to be more experienced and mature, with an eye for the long and not just the short term.
So, taking advantage of their presence to make the case of “The Friendly Island” as still very much in development and facing many issues, but with much continued promise, certainly would seem to make sense. It’s important in that regard not to create too much of a negative, pessimistic image by only complaining about what’s wrong, but to focus instead on how things could be improved.
The visitors no doubt will see for themselves that the vast majority of St. Maarten residents are law-abiding and hard-working, often struggling to offer their families a decent existence under difficult circumstances. Contrary to the impression created by some, they don’t live in either the upper or the under-, but rather in the real world.
