St. Eustatius’ current situation
Dear Editor,
In a civil society the adherence to the rule of law, mutual respect and the perseverance of individual and collective rights are import for the development of the society. While every member of society is responsible to do their part in guarding and upholding these principles of civil society our elected and appointed leaders also share an obligation, perhaps even more so, because of their public function, to be the standard-bearers of these important principles. Besides the moral obligation to adhere to and uphold these principles our elected and appointed officials take a public oath to uphold abide by and defend the laws of the land, before assuming the public functions.
The experiences of the past years and apparent disregard by public declaration (island council motions) of the laws that govern our society has brought us to the current situation where the State Secretary via the kingdom parliament has adapted legislation that formed the basis for the current intervention which has taken place on St. Eustatius. While this is regrettable on many levels it is clear that this decision was unavoidable and is done with the intention to restore the rule of law, mutual respect in public administration and to restore and safeguard the rights of each citizen of our community.
As a part of the intervention temporary administration was installed and an announcement was made that elections would be postponed until the local government could show their ability to govern in compliance with existing legislation and in adherence to the principles of good governance. While the appointment of temporary administration is a logical result of the intervention, it is not clear how the possible postponement of elections plays a role in the restoration of the rule of law and/or the restoration and development of a government that functions in line with the previously mentioned basic principles.
The intervention was inevitable as a result of the actions of the island’s administration. However, this aspect of the intervention (possible cancellation of elections) appears to penalize the entire community of St. Eustatius for the actions of our administrators. The most important value of any democratic society is the right to vote. It seems incomprehensible that there could exist a situation in these modern times (besides a natural disaster) that results in the cancellation of free elections within a municipality of the kingdom of the Netherlands, whether this municipality is located in the European or the Caribbean part of the kingdom.
As a Dutch citizen I have always been very proud of our heritage which on St. Eustatius combines both our ethnic heritage and culture with the best of European traditions and ingenuity all in one Kingdom under one constitution which affords each citizen, of this country that we hold dear, equal rights. (Statute article 1: Allen die zich in Nederland bevinden, worden in gelijke gevallen gelijk behandeld.)
The situation that exists today can be attributed too many mistakes on all levels of government as documented in the report which primarily formed the basis for the actions leading up to the intervention. Now we must ask ourselves, where do we go from here? How do we make it better?
State Secretary Knops said in his address to the public that it is his intention to make St. Eustatius a better place to improve the public administration and work on the infrastructural backlog created over the years. As a community we certainly look forward to these much-needed improvements. We also look forward in being an active part of the process. I am convinced that on St. Eustatius achieving sustainable improvement on any level, public or private. can only be
done through the unified effort and commitment that involves everyone (federal government, local administrators, community at large).
The right to vote is a basic principle of our democratic society and key component of our individual rights as human beings. It speaks to the core of who we are and allows us to be an active part in the development and processes of our society. I am confident that there is a solution to be found thru dialog which would address this issue in order to restore the dignity to people of St. Eustatius and preserve an active role in the restoration of our community for all its citizens and all who truly have Statia at heart.
I appeal to all involved to come together and make this our priority to initiate a discussion on this important issue. A discussion devoid of politics and devoid of preconceived prejudices on both sides. Whatever the history or circumstance that has brought us to this moment we have an opportunity to use our current situation to show the rest of the kingdom and the world that we can and will rise above this circumstance and that St. Eustatius will be better off in the end. A place where the rule of law and democracy will prevail, where a people together with their government despite our cultural and political differences came together in this difficult time and worked together to rebuild the Gold Rock. Let us write this chapter of our history together.
Gerald Berkel
