Dear Editor,
Let me start by again referring to my upbringing. Because a schoolmate lied on me, I fought with him. Even though there were no cell phones at that time, my father wanted to find out the reason. The boy’s mother had complained me to my father because he had a burst mouth and some bruises.
I knew I was right so I told my father I fought with him because he lied on me. My father did not want to hear that, he wanted to know if I was right in starting the fight. After explaining him the whole thing, he told me that he would not punish me, because he understood why I had decided to fight. But he said something to me that took me clearly years to understand. He told me that even though I had spoken the truth, that did not make what I did right.
I was already glad that he had decided not to punish, so even though I did not understand what he meant I left it there. I was confused because from Sunday school days I learned that the truth shall set you free. It is not until I was already a policeman and had to deal with similar situations that I finally got my “aha” moment. The truth shall set you free, but that does not mean that what you did was right.
Admitting to stealing because you were hungry does not make stealing right. Because I wrote that I believe that PM Rutte owes the people of St. Maarten an apology, some people are of the opinion that what PM Rutte said is the truth. Because of this I had a discussion in the real St. Maarten way with some real St. Maarteners, who rightly so believe that the government of St. Maarten should clean up their mess. But, even if over the years there has been a mile-long list of people in government who were proven to be corrupt (the truth), in my opinion that does not give PM Rutte the right to tell me that I am corrupt. The truth does not make it right.
Hillary Clinton got an excess of three million votes more than Donald Trump but the electoral system declared him the winner. Every voter on St. Maarten did not vote for those in government. The electoral system permits people with less than 200 votes to be in government when those with 500 and 600 votes would be in opposition. I do not know if we feel right about it but it is the truth.
PM Rutte could play all the politics he wants with his fellow politicians and colleagues and even insult them if he so pleases, but the people of St. Maarten who made use of their democratic rights and secretly voted for a representative should never be berated by anyone. And definitely not by the Prime Minister of the Kingdom.
Did anybody take time to realize that the majority in seats does not necessarily represent the majority in votes? So do not tell me that we put them there, because it is the system that permits them to be there.
I know that because of the nucleus of the population of St. Maarten and the limited knowledge in civics that that is a disadvantage among the people. I have mentioned it on several occasions, but will repeat it again: Everything good or bad that happens in a country is the responsibility of the government. In the kingdom Holland is in charge of finance so if anything happens in finance Holland is responsible.
The thing of it is this laying and waiting to see what is going to happen instead of nipping it in the bud has its negative consequences. Those same Dutch taught us “Wie kaatst moet de bal verwachten” so I do not understand why they do not understand that if you spare the rod you will spoil the child.
Does it really have to take years for a mistake to be discovered? Do not we know where Holland stands in Europe economically? So why lay and wait and hope for wrongdoing? Is that fair to the people of St. Maarten? Know better, do better.
I will be the last to condone wrongdoing, and I definitely will be the one to say that we have to clean up our mess, but Prime Minister Rutte should also know what to do with the dirty linen. If he wants to be Prime Minister of the kingdom, and especially if Holland is in charge of finances and justice, he should know that he will have to take the bad with the good.
Prime Minister Rutte should know that it is fellow politicians like himself who are in charge, not the carpenter or the mason. One should check the directions of and the amount of fingers when one points. Two wrongs do not make a right and even though the truth will set you free, that does not make the truth right.
Russell A. Simmons
