Anti-Poverty Platform Co-Coordinator Raymond Jessurun.
PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten Anti-Poverty Platform called on the Council of Ministers on Thursday to start dialogue with the Dutch Government to return any artefacts to the country for the island population to learn and benefit from these items.
The suggestion came amidst a gift to United States President Donald Trump and the American people by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and two businessmen last week Thursday – a US flag from a ship that carried the first waves of US service members to Normandy on D-Day.
US Navy Lt. Howard Vander Beek carried the flag with him throughout the war and kept it until his death in 2014. After Vander Beek died, his family sold the flag in an estate sale for US $514,000. Dutch businessman Bert Kreuk and his uncle and business partner Theo Schols bought it with the idea of donating it back to the United States.
By returning the artefact to its rightful place, they wanted to thank the United States for the extraordinary sacrifice its service members had made to liberate their nation and all of Europe in World War II. The flag will be displayed at the Smithsonian Institute’s Museum of American History.
Based on this information, St. Maarten Anti-Poverty group co-coordinator Raymond Jessurun said, “We also have artefacts from St. Maarten in the possession of collectors in the Netherlands. We suggest therefore the following project.
“As our Council of Ministers has as governing programme ‘Building a sustainable St. Maarten’, the return of these artefacts to where they belong can be very beneficial for our economic, social and cultural development.
“These artefacts can teach us lessons to be learned. It will remind us of the service and the circumstances under which our ancestors have benefitted the economic development of this Dutch territory. The artefacts will feed our memory about our enslaved ancestors and [teach us – Ed.] not to take our emancipation for granted. Bringing back these artefacts will teach us the struggle of our ancestors for freedom, equality and fraternity.”
The group also suggests that the Council of Ministers instruct the Minister Plenipotentiary to make an inventory of all St. Maarten artefacts in Dutch museums or in private collections and start to lobby in the Kingdom Council of Ministers to get these artefacts back in St. Maarten.
“The Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Wycliffe Smith can start to prepare the stories to be told once the artefacts are showcased here in a historic museum on the island. Minister Smith can appeal to his colleague in the Netherlands, based on the cooperation agreement they signed a few months ago, to assist in the preservation and documentation of the stories these artefacts can tell.
“The Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment can identify the best location for a museum to be built with all these artefacts which can welcome school youth outings, family visits and the thousands of tourists who visit our island annually,” said Jessurun.
He went on to suggest that the Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication can start to market the museum as an additional attraction to St. Maarten’s tourism product, which can generate additional income and additional jobs in economic development.
“The Prime Minister on behalf of the Council of Ministers and the people of St. Maarten can invite King Willem-Alexander and Prime Minister [Mark] Rutte to officially donate all these artefacts to the people of St. Maarten. The Dutch government with the gesture of bringing back the artefacts where they belong can facilitate the restoration of a colonial relationship which was based on slavery.
“These artefacts will tell our history. They will feed our memory and provide us with the opportunity to share lessons to be learned. Also, this will benefit our tourism product as an attraction for the thousands of tourists who visit our island on a yearly basis.
“We propose to have these artefacts of our ancestors or of our people of Soualiga to be presented symbolically to … Eugene Holiday, our first Governor of St. Maarten from African descent, on July 1, 2020, on Emancipation Day,” said Jessurun during the press conference.
He also mentioned that the government of the Netherlands and of some municipalities in the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Rotterdam) have expressed that they want to apologise to the people of African descent in the Kingdom for their role in the slave trade and the plantation system based on slavery.
“This gesture to return all the artefacts stolen or purchased and shipped to the Netherlands can be one of the visible ways to accompany the apology.
“We propose that the Council of Ministers and the Minister of Finance budget in the 2020 budget the necessary funding for the return of our artefacts showcased at the moment in the Netherlands. The artefacts do not have to go on auction to be bought as the two Dutch collectors did. The artefacts can be donated and returned to the people of St. Maarten so that they are back where they belong,” concluded the Anti-Poverty Platform.
