Dear Editor,
Over the years two different people told me that they were embarrassed by Immigration officers of the country that they visited. When they were asked and answered that they lived on St. Maarten the response that they got from the attending Immigration officer was, “That corrupt country.”
Because I know that the only way for evil to win is for good people to keep quiet, I asked them what did they do about it when they got back home. The answer I got was, “Who you want me to complain to? You think they going to do anything about it when they know the people right?”
One might say, “Why after all these years is Russell only now writing about it?” I probably never pinpointed it, but I believe that almost all of us know how to gossip, so we should also know how to pick sense out of nonsense or even read between the lines. This is not a question of fine print. On several occasions I have mentioned that the Dutch, who are the masters in infrastructure development, have not taught us a thing in all those years. That is why I always use the term “laat ze maar rotsooien.”
No, I do not have to hint anymore, it has reached so far that even the Dutch defendant has used “corruption being rampant on Sint Maarten” as part of his defense in court. I believe that that is a general insult to the people of St. Maarten and part of his sentence should be, besides giving back the people their money, that he should write a letter in public stating that he has contributed towards defaming the name of St. Maarten internationally. If he knows that corruption is rampant in St. Maarten and he has been doing business with the corrupt ones, along with people in government, for so long, then at the least he is guilty by association and encouraging corruption.
When I Google the word “corrupt” it says, “Having or showing a willingness to act dishonestly in return for money or personal gain.” So, who paid who and whose fault is it? When actually did it start? Now this.
When I started to work, my father sat me down and told me that it would be a challenge for me because, just one year after leaving Aruba to go to the police academy, I was back working as a policeman in San Nicolas, Aruba, where I was born and raised. “People are going to try bribing you, but it is better to get 10 guilders every day, than for someone to give you 100 guilders today and you are not sure where you are going to get the rest tomorrow. It might not be much,” he said, “but it is a steady income and you can make a budget on that.”
I believe that MP-elect Grisha means well, but I cannot budget on handouts from supermarkets. Customs has to control and administrate the contents of those containers in the right way, then the prices in the supermarkets will be under control, and if the seniors’ pension is made livable, then we can budget on that also.
Another one from my father while teasing my mother who was in his skin for not reaching home on time: “The problem with silence being golden is that silence is also consent.”
Russell A. Simmons
