Dear Editor,
The United People’s Coalition (UPC) was privy to listen to the PLP/Merkman coalition's radio program on Tuesday evening, and was not surprised to hear that all their failures so far are blamed on The Hague. It is also clear that they tried to cover their incompetence, in not being able to take care of the people’s business, on the high of the unrealistic quest of country status. In a desperate effort to fool the people, they did not hesitate to sprinkle the magic pixie dust of ‘more autonomy’ as the only way to go to solve Statia’s problems.
This coalition sadly reached a new low when it went so far as to abuse the “born here” narrative to divide instead, and also did not hesitate to use this to incite fear against the foreigners. I hope that all those who will be able to vote in 2019, and who have made Statia their home, use that solemn right to vote these wolves in sheep clothing out of office in a resounding way.
It is not strange that these last months the constitutional fever of this Coalition toned down drastically since The Hague set the conditions under which the constitutional process can and will be initiated. This Coalition of the Rocking Horses was made to understand the
following during the IPOK, and subsequently in a Q+A with minister Plasterk:
* The constitutional process will only be initiated after a clear and freely-given mandate by the people of Statia through a referendum.
* When the process of more autonomy starts, there is no way back
* After the status is obtained: all tasks, such as education, safety, and health care will be
transferred back to the island; the free allowance and all the other forms of special allowances will be suspended immediately when the contested status is obtained; and no other form of financial settlement will be made available.
Now that the table is set, the UPC is looking in the direction of the ruling coalition to inform the public what its next step will be.
On the other hand, as a people we must keep in mind that when this coalition passes a motion to denounce the WolBES and the FinBES, it showed its true colours of creating a situation of lawlessness, hence the road to dictatorship. It is not unreasonable to wonder then, if these are really the stewards we would want to take us into the new constitutional status.
Well, the UPC fully understands that now the cat is out of the bag, because you the people are presently more than aware of the conditions tied to this coalition's quest for more autonomy. However, in their usual unrelenting and stubborn way, they are left with only one alternative, namely, through smoke screens to draw your attention away from the reality of Statia, and insist on the quest for more autonomy now.
The UPC hopes that in the interest of the people, this coalition will retrace its steps and re-prioritize to understand that more autonomy is the quest of all of us, but at the moment it is of utmost importance to change perspective and channel all our energy towards the development of Statia and her people first.
Reginald C. Zaandam
Leader of the United People's Coalition
