Dear Editor,
We all had hoped that after the definite breaking up by 10/10/10 of the Netherlands Antilles the continuous bickering and show of discourtesy between our seven Kingdom partners would have stopped. That hope, however was not meant to be, as shown by the two ugliest examples, first when Wiels, the arguably most flamboyant political leader of that period, seriously tarnished his reputation by declaring that some day body bags of some Dutch might be sent to Holland.
He later became the first-ever Antillean politician killed when one Sunday morning his body was found when he went to a snack bar close to his house. That awful remark still barely beat another low and sensational statement, this time made by a Dutch politician, Bosman, who, in 1914, presented an initiative law to the Dutch parliament which would have discriminated against our Antillean people in favour of Europeans with regard to their right to immigrate to Holland.
No, that far to a breaking point our Kingdom Bonds have not reached since 10/10/10, although there are still groups on all our islands who still are trying the get the people’s mood closer to full independence for their islands. The most recent, sometimes rather loud, bickering has been mainly limited to solvable situations between Sint Maarten, Bonaire and Statia.
Still no one expected that right after especially Sint Maarten was hit by arguably the most devastating Hurricane Irma on last September 6, it would give a reason for a new set of bickering, especially not since Irma had caused tremendous loss of homes and personal lives. And most particularly not since a couple of days before its arrival Prime Minister William Marlin informed the public that Dutch Marines and police in Curaçao and Aruba were ready to come give us a helping hand, which indeed they did in the most professional and quiet albeit also very effective way.
Still, the bickering this time did not start between the local and the Dutch governments, but between our government and its own people who immediately started making intensive use of calling in on Laser not only to be in touch with friends and family but also to – sometimes harshly – criticize the government for its lack of action taken during those first days.
Then the opening salvo for the bickering between the two countries was made by the Prime Minister himself who in an interview with the NRC unexpectedly blamed the Marines themselves for being the cause of the looting, which statement he denied the next day, saying that he was misquoted, to quickly thereafter apologize for what he indeed had said.
Still, that was only the beginning for the real, old-fashioned squabbling to start. After the King of the Netherlands, Willem-Alexander, visited the island and became so emotional after seeing the devastation he apparently helped convince the Dutch government that big help is needed for its small sister island, to which it consented by promising more assistance, including in the form of a super big financial one, but this time with the string attached that it will have to control its spending.
To that, many Sint Maarten parliamentarians reacted in a meeting last week Monday with what on the island has been taken as a strong message to the Dutch of: “thanks, but as long you don’t think that with your help we’ll permit you to infringe our political and constitutional autonomy.”
In mentioned first after-Irma parliament meeting we could have heard much criticism on people’s criticism on government’s lack of Irma’s preparedness, actions to be taken about more stringent building regulations, adjustment to the employment permit policy and curtailing the rights of immigrants who had lost their jobs, but not much about plans involving the people directly in those plans, to have them participate more actively and positively from inside their own neighborhoods.
That made me wonder whether, in case we had well organized neighborhoods on the island such would not have helped to curtail the looting, for example, in my own surroundings, from the foot of the Cole Bay Hill looking over Cay Hill and on the other side ‘til the roundabout by Le Grand Marché , which areas had suffered tremendously from the looting.
I am convinced that, with government’s permission, it would have been possible to organize a good group of at least 20 very trustworthy persons from various professional backgrounds with whom we may have been able to better protect a good part of that area.
That, in its turn, reminded me that seven years ago when I was helping the then-commissioner Hyacinth Richardson, who now is a parliamentarian, with his political campaign, I had presented him and the leaders from his own and the two other parties who then formed the coalition government with a plan to structurally rebuild and activate the neighborhoods on Sint Maarten.
I had already started a few months with the practical exploration of that idea in the Simpson Bay Village and it had started moving pretty well with two of the top priorities of interest being restoring the traditional cozy feeling of the neighborhood and cleaning of the lagoon, also due to my own recollection of boys diving from the bridge and fishermen returning with a bag full of lobsters as their catch of the day.
The response of the politicians, as passed to me by the then government PR man, my good friend David Christian: “Elco, I love your plan but am afraid that I’m the only one who has read it. To tell you the truth I don’t feel their interest in doing anything with it; they will probably say they already have a plan.”
David was right. The only government person I afterwards heard from was Hyacinth’s chief of staff who repeated what David had said: “Elco we already have our own plan … but still thanks.” After that the politicians took over and quickly destroyed our plan by re- splitting the participants along party lines.
The Government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams, indeed then started its plan for “social development” which was based on the United Nations INDP program that was aimed at combatting poverty and the promotion of democracy. It was heavily staffed by civil servants and also heavily relied on the non-governmental organizations, the NGOs.
With other friends, local activists, I was present at the meeting where the program was launched but was laughed at when I expressed my opinion that we should first try to bring the program more in tune with the specific conditions of Sint Maarten’s own social- cultural fabric. The staff’s reaction: “The INDP program has already proven its value in other Caribbean countries.” It ultimately fizzled out and despite the latest intentions to renew it there does not seem much enthusiasm for it, not even from the NGOs.
My biggest disappointment from the said parliament meeting therefor is that although a lot was correctly said about the need for building houses for those who had lost theirs, I have not noted words being dedicated to the importance of this time doing that more comprehensively, especially now that the Dutch government has committed to its assistance thereto, while correcting the serious mistakes which up to this day have obstructed it from not only becoming a great total success but possibly also a trigger for the broader issue of rebuilding the communities of Sint Maarten and remaking it a healthy nation.
What about comprehensive social build-up of the island as sole topic for the next parliament meeting?
Elco Rosario
