Dear Editor,
I was not present, but because of what was said and issued publicly via the media, I believe that I would not be too far off the mark with my observation. I know that the people in government are there to serve the community in their different capacities. We also know that the salaries of those in government are the highest in our kingdom. In my opinion there is therefore no urgent reason why members of Parliament should demand certain positions, even though regulations allow for certain rights.
In The Daily Herald of October 19, I read that MP Jules James will be appointed Minister of Justice. I do not approve of that choice. It reminds me in several ways of the works of Donald Trump these days. I also feel sorry for the civil servants who have to serve in his cabinet, because their headaches have not yet started.
I was also surprised about the nomination of MP Christophe Emmanuel as Minister of VROMI, because not too long after it was announced that UP and NA would form the coalition, I listened to MP Rudolphe Samuel in an interview in which he outlined why he is qualified to be Minister of VROMI. So when I read that MP Emmanuel would become the new Minister of VROMI, I wanted to know what happened. I do not know anything from the inside, but on the outside it is said that MP Emmanuel demanded to be a Minister, because he received more votes than MP Samuel.
I began this letter by stating that members of government are there to serve the community. Let me add this. I am not advocating catering to the Dutch, but we have to be realistic. We know what the Dutch mean to and it is time enough for anyone whose ambition it is to be a politician to know this.
I, Russell Simmons, strongly believe that anyone who wants to be a Minister of government in any of the countries of the Dutch Kingdom, should be able to speak, read and write Dutch. I did not demand this from Minister Lee, because others eluded to that matter in several letters to the editor.
I heard and saw on several occasions how MP Emmanuel asked for legislation written in Dutch to be translated into English to accommodate those who do not command the knowledge of the Dutch language. I also do not know what was behind the cause of the rumour that he intended to go independent, but I felt short-changed, because all kinds of observations are made about the Police not even being able to write Dutch correctly, and MPs are demanding the laws and correspondence in English, because they cannot understand Dutch. What a double standard.
What is the main language used in VROMI? Is the whole department going to transform everything into English? If the Minister of VROMI has to deliberate with a colleague from Holland, who refuses to speak anything but Dutch, what's going to happen? Are they going to go to the UN building? The official language in Holland is Dutch. Will whoever MP or Minister who travels to Holland in an official capacity be able to demand that English be spoken?
If as it is said that MP. Emmanuel is demanding that position just because regulations allow for certain rights, then MP Emmanuel does not understand what it means to serve.
What I know is that everyone who tried to walk before they could creep has fallen several times. The people put the members of Parliament there, and the people have the right to show their displeasure with the behaviour and performance of those MPs when they do not comply satisfactory. It is very possible that both MP Jules James and Christophe Emmanuel will perform to the best of their ability as Minister of Justice and Minister of VROMI, but in my opinion, the best of their ability will be far below the demands of those ministries.
It is also not fair to the civil servants who work in those departments. They are the actual ones who for so long have been constantly saving the hides of Ministers, who are too often merely padding and signatories in those Ministries. A Minister of VROMI should be an engineer and a Minister of Justice should be a lawyer. Point Blank. We going to see who we put there is a slap in the face of the people.
Instead of the parties putting competent people on their list, who could represent the people in a dignified way, they are constantly putting people on the list who can bring in votes, and who, because of party regulations, end up in government, whether they can represent the people or not. And Holland is constantly laughing at us. Bosman just scared us again by suggesting that Holland should let us go. Why, because he knows that we simply do not have the brainpower to stand on our own. So we desperately have to determine who is a Sint Maartener, and we need to bring our professionals home so that we can have competent people filling essential positions.
Russell A. Simmons
