Dear Editor,
The statements made by Commissioner of Constitutional Affairs, Derrick Simmons, in the newspaper of December 30, 2016, are irresponsible and misleading both regarding the procedures followed with the signing of an agreement with Mr. Corbin and his interpretation of what he calls the wishes of the people.
First of all, there is no executive council decision on the trip to New York and the signing of the agreement. There was merely an agreement to look into the possibilities of such an agreement. There can also be no valid agreement since Mr. Simmons did not have the authority to sign such an agreement on behalf of the Public Entity St. Eustatius as he has not been mandated by the Governor to do so. Furthermore, there was no approved budget for his trip to New York, neither is there an approved budget for the advisory cost of Mr. Corbin, which is said to be some USD 4,000 per month.
Also, prior approval by the Kingdom representative of such an agreement, mandatory by law, has not been requested. It is extremely worrisome that the commissioner, whether is not aware of the proper procedures or he simply feels that he can ignore these procedures.
If the latter is the case the scarier it becomes when or if the island will get an autonomous status and there will be no more checks and balances by the national government and thus allowing government officials to do as they please. Also, the fact that according to the commissioner the island council can disregard their own laws by validating the outcome of the referendum, which in fact was invalid, feeds this scary feeling.
The statements by Mr. Simmons are inaccurate and misleading where he says that free association can be an autonomous arrangement within the Dutch Kingdom. Ambassador Fred M. Zeker II wrote in the case of decolonization of Puerto Rico: “Free association is a treaty-based sovereign-to-sovereign relationship. Free association is recognized as a distinct form of separate sovereignty, even though legally it also is consistent with independence.
Specifically, free association is consistent with independence because the special and close bilateral relationship created by a free association treaty or pact can be terminated in favour of conventional independence at any time by either party” (this is also confirmed by Dr. C. Corbin). In other words, for Statia to have a free association with The Netherlands, the island must leave the Kingdom and will no longer be Dutch citizens.
Mr. Simmons, in the newspaper article mentions Statia’s desire for full autonomy in free association with The Netherlands, while the option on the ballot in 2014 was “autonomous territory within the Kingdom of The Netherlands.” This option favoured by the majority of votes cast, is like that of Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten. He now says this option does not meet the requirements of the UN. One may wonder then why his predecessor and former party colleague had put this option on the ballot? The commissioner further states that seeking autonomy is in line with the wishes of the people. Only 26 per cent of the eligible voters have opted for the autonomous territory option in a referendum that was invalid. 74 per cent of the eligible voters at the time did therefore not support this option. In my humble opinion this means that seeking autonomy is not in line with the people’s wishes!
Koos Sneek
