Dear Editor,
In your editorial “fact from fiction” you outlined the highly improbable amount of tourists which, according to the information received, would visit St. Maarten yearly. I was pleased to read that there are more than me who are not gullible, but I want them to be man enough to add their name to their opinion. No matter what the topic, I have stopped reading an opinion of which the writer's name is not added. Regarding that I am second to none. Officially there are, give-or-take 42,000 legal residents on St. Maarten and housing is already a big problem.
Already in the 1980's just around election time there were 6,000 voters and when ALM landed with about 30 visitors who at that time were famous for overstaying their visit and worked illegally. The commissioner of labour was also on that flight and waited in my office for his transportation to arrive, so I had the opportunity to ask him "where are we going to put them?" I also laid out my reason for that question using the 6,000 voters as the key. He totally agreed with my opinion on the matter, but he told me that all of that is in the hands of "The Old Man."
So when I mention that nothing has been done to make the St. Maartener independent in his own country after so many years, neither by those same politicians who are out there trying to con the people out of a vote, these are the kind of things I mean. I have personally discussed several topics concerning the protection of the St. Maartener in the labour field. Once I refused to hang around to protect those who went to work during a strike because it was not in the interest of the St. Maartener and was reprimanded for it.
Those who went to work though they were here with working permits accepted to be underpaid and the St. Maartener went on strike. I am pleased with your reaction. You analysed the information and deemed it highly unlikely. I call it a blatant lie. We just had news of which, in my opinion, is a highly unlikely attempt to tackle short-term contract and also the building of the new hospital from one minister, now this lie concerning the outrageous amount of tourist a hotel will bring to the island in a year from another part of the government.
When are the lies going to stop? Every day we are hearing about untrustworthy presidential candidates; is that same pattern being used here, because the people will have to vote for the lesser of the evils? Is not more the reason for me to suggest to the voters to choose completely new candidates. At least they would try to do something to make a good name for themselves for the future. The older candidates have become complacent and definitely do not care about the people anymore. When one throws out those kind of figures, the person responsible for permitting this is very disrespectful to the people of St. Maarten and this is a case where the term condescending is in place.
Russell A. SIMMONS
