Dear Editor,
Several years ago I asked, why do our people in government continue to be unscrupulous where the throwing down of governments is concerned? At that time someone told me the answer is between those who are responsible and those who should be held accountable. I know the saying “when you want to hide something from we people, put it in a book”. I want them to know so I am going to put it in the paper. Definition of accountable: of a person, organization, or institution required or expected to justify actions or decisions.
So, being the primary cause of something and so able to be blamed. Definition of responsible: Having an obligation to do something, or having control over or care for someone, as part of one’s job or role (in charge of). The difference between accountability and responsibility is that responsibility can be shared, but accountability cannot. Being accountable not only means being responsible for something but also ultimately being answerable for your actions.
After going over those two definitions and after reading that Minister Irion wants evaluation of SGs, I said to myself it took a while, but we are on the right track, because not too long ago another young politician mentioned the same thing to me. I told him about the responsibility and accountability. But as you know, with me is out with the old and in with the new, so hopefully this becomes a trend. Chacho started it by showing that he is a man of his word, which is the direction I think that any self-respecting person in government should go.
It seems that all of a sudden the same things that were proposed and disregarded are suddenly being dealt with. I have always said that efficient secretaries create good bosses, but they can also cause their demise.
But my initial intention was not for writing about SGs because I have decided years now that they should be held accountable. Wiser heads thought they knew better, but we all know what has happened in the last nine going on ten years.
My intention is to call government’s attention to what is going on with the children of Sundial School. I do not think that using and screaming obscene language to each other from one side of the road to the other is becoming anyone much less schoolchildren, within earshot of their school. The person to whom I gave a lift said to me, “You did not hear anything yet.” Some bus drivers lock the bus door because they do not want them on the bus. And when you see that even the Chinese from the supermarket don’t want them in the supermarket.
The last paragraph was hearsay, but I definitely heard the use of obscene language. I know that the former Minister of Education was looking for a solution for the unacceptable behavior of the schoolchildren in the St. Peters area. I think a solution should also be sought for the Sundial School area.
Now this last week an auto mechanic asked me to explain him about the lights on a motor vehicle, because he refused two jobs to put what he thinks are illegal lights on a motor vehicle. One thing brought the next and then he asked me if I was willing to find out what will be legal during the political campaigning, because he is seeing cars with all color lights in the back as well as the front, some flashing, you don’t know whether they are turning or not. Lights flashing red in the back you don’t know if it is hazard lights or what.
I told him he could be a traffic police, because he knew just as much about the illegal lights as I do. But his reason for asking me that was job motivated, because he explained that if all this time the police are not doing anything about those cars with all different color lights all over the cars, just now every political party is going to put on the lights the color of their party, so he does not want to lose out on cashing in for some jobs.
So, I told him whether the police are or are not doing anything about the illegal lighting on motor vehicles, that should not stop him from being responsible.
Russell A. Simmons
Dear Editor,
I have heard a lot of nice talking the last days and weeks by politicians.
About care for the people and roofs on houses and helping those in need. However, I did not hear those words much before election time and now suddenly they popping up!
Do people of Sint Maarten still have faith in politics? That is what I ask them in the talks I have. My observations can be read below.
The (almost) 10 years of being autonomous did not show much progress, so it seems. At least for sure in the perspective of the people I speak, the common people with lower middleclass income or less. People from here, being born here.
Did economic improvement really help them?
More money came in indeed, but to whom did that money go? The common man did not see much increase in his income. However, a lot of the illegal immigrants did.
Illegal immigrants providing cheap labor from abroad, somehow seemingly not touched, being able to earn a good living soon after immigration, partly because not contributing to tax- and health premiums. Therefore making faster money than local people. Local people having to pay their taxes, health insurances and school fees for education of their children. A struggle for life. Feeling sentiments of neglect and abandonment by those who should represent them because why does it seem as if (illegal) immigrants and illegal labor are not touched?
In fact a large group of undocumented people walking along our streets, desperately looking for jobs, a situation encouraging illegal behavior and destabilizing the labor market at the end and therewith potentially our society as a whole. And this is something that is going on for years and years. And we vote and we vote but with no indication that this important issue which touched the common man is really taken seriously.
For example; how many times the last years did Parliament pressure the Minister of Justice and the Minister of VSA on this matter and demanded being accountable on the enforcement of regulations in place?
That is the feeling of several people. And that is what – in the perspective of those people – happened during all those years of governance, causing a feeling that it does not really matter if you vote and which party.
Are politicians really contributing to the quality of life of those being from here? So far they feel being left alone, neglected and abandoned by their own representatives. Can we really expect something from the politics for the people from here? That is a basic question popping up frequently in the talks I have with people.
It is up to the politicians to convince the people that they (the politicians) be reliable, trustworthy, accountable and really will do something concrete for the people. They have lost confidence and are tired of voting without tangible results.
Politicians, tell the people please in what way you concretely and really will contribute to their quality of life. It is about restoration of trust! To convince people that they may have faith in politics because from now you really will step up for points of interest of the people such as labor, immigration, health, housing, education. If you do not succeed in gaining trust, those people will feel to have no reason to vote. A bad thing in a democracy.
Geert van der Leest
Dear Editor,
Situated possibly somewhere deep within our internal circuitry is a perennial tendency to be like others – to replicate their behaviour, attitudes, style, etc. When done consciously this way of conducting oneself could be considered copying and should not be confused with its opposite and reciprocal form mirroring. Unlike copying, mirroring requires no conscious effort and is constantly relegated to the realm of the unconscious.
Our perpetual inclination toward this particular human characteristic of imitating has contributed to the preservation of cultures, values, customs, traditions and norms (for good or bad). Continuity of our complexity and different ways and modes of being are somewhat maintained by this propensity to simulate.
As suggestive and suspect as this article is to there being a biological basis for behaviour, it’s not intended to invalidate the role of nurture in imitative human behaviour, consequently hurling the classical argument of nature versus nurture through the window. Both the fields of social and natural sciences have provided abounding theories, explanations and possible causes beyond the scope of this article that certainly aid and enhance our understanding as to why we are creatures infatuated with being other than ourselves.
A credible source and authority on the concept of imitation is the Greek philosopher and thinker Aristotle. Aristotle’s system and train of thought on the idea of imitation bequeathed through the centuries is very much visible in the writings of contemporary thinkers and philosophers, supplying much needed intellectual fodder.
One can reasonably argue that as an idea there isn’t anything inherently wrong with the concept of imitation, it is entirely natural and human which when expounded upon usually invites questions such as: what are the range of human conduct and behaviours that make for effective imitation? What are the consequences that make for a good life? And who gets to decide? How do we go about evaluating, measuring and selecting the actions and habits of others that enhance the quality of our lives when we have been reduced to ideas, concepts, numbers and statistics in the modern political arena.
When the world is reduced to a series of signs and numbers standing in the place of raw flesh and blood, we are then processed through text and concepts that inhibit our ability to display and express our fundamental and shared humanness (the essence of what ought to be imitated).
How do we champion healthy progressive behaviour when there is a lack of moral imagination that makes deeply ethical actions seem like crime. At the heart of the discussion on imitation is not primarily its existence or its internal mechanism but a conscious inventorisation of habits that promote and are conducive to flourishing human behaviors worthy of being emulated.
One approach that can be adopted is that of the proverbial poet’s giant floating eyeball, hovering over Planet Earth covering and observing its physical and human landscapes. No judgements, just the poet’s pure description of what is.
One may begin to see striking similarities between the two scenes, thriving human communities may be conspicuously characterized by particular values, attitudes and habits, while the surrounding physical geography and other forms of life may very well enjoy the values and habits espoused by their human counterparts resulting in a harmonious coexistence.
How did we come to be the kind of people we are? We are not good at knowing who we are or why we are the way we are. We cannot say conclusively if there is a single overarching force dominating our very existence rendering us powerless to self-change. We don’t know whether we are consciously choosing to be the persons we aspire to be or there are forces outside of our control deluding us into believing we are the potters of our wheel. Our lives may very well not be the malleable piece of art we may think we have created and continue to shape.
Empirically through and with the help of the two domains of science: social and natural, we continue to make progress, albeit errors. Ceaselessly we persevere with our inquiries into ways of being that we hope will provide us with the joys, pleasures and purposes for living inclusively. We cannot say definitively if such a project is realisable, but we can choose to continue to hope and strive to bring about behaviours, habits, conduct, values, ethics and norms that move us closer to our shared humanness.
Orlando Patterson
By Alex Rosaria
Every year in mid-November Sinterklaas (a Dutch version of Santa) arrives in towns all over The Netherlands and the Dutch Caribbean, including Curaçao where I was born and live, to hand out gifts to children. He’s accompanied by scores of blackface helpers who wear gold jewelry and red lipstick to exaggerate the size of their lips. These characters are named Zwarte Piet, or “Black Pete”. During parades they dance wildly, throw candy around and yes, tell children who “have behaved badly” that they (the Petes) will put them (the children) in a large bag and take them to Spain. Most of the Petes have either a cane or a large burlap bag in their hands. From time to time the white old and wise Sinterklaas would ask the Petes to “tone down”. It’s very common to see children weep at the sight of these blackfaces. I did as a child.
Confronted with recent outrage, the Dutch (the inventors of this tradition) tend to argue that Black Pete is a Dutch thing, and that outsiders don’t understand the Dutch culture. Wrong. Black Pete is an expression of numerous classic Western prejudices against black peoples that depict inferiority and the servant to the master attitude. Those who claim it’s a Dutch thing don’t know history. Well documented are the Blackface Minstrel entertainment shows in the USA that disappeared in the 1960s. Coincidently these Minstrel shows started about the same time as the Dutch Black Petes did in the 19th century.
When people say, (as they often do) “but it’s our tradition,” tell them: “so is racism.” The Dutch unwillingness to accept that its tradition is plainly racism has lots to do with its fear for much larger issues: rapidly changing demographics i.e. the “browning” of The Netherlands which is fueling Dutch extreme nationalist politics.
What mostly baffles me, however, is why a large group in Curaçao – given our painful racial past – would want to hold on to this disturbing tradition. Often the same group who everyday complains about Dutch colonial behavior. Shouldn’t we know better than to hang on to something with racist undertones? It’s not a question whether this tradition (or elements of it) is racist but rather why we are denying the truth that it is. As a society, we need to take a hard look at ourselves.
Alex David Rosaria (53) is a freelance consultant active in Asia and the Pacific. He is a former Member of Parliament, Minister of Economic Affairs, State Secretary of Finance and UN Implementation Officer in Africa and Central America. He’s from Curaçao and has an MBA from University of Iowa (USA).
Dear Editor,
One more year has passed after Hurricane Irma and no sign of the Towers being able to open again.
Towers management seems to be in the hands of Clarence Derby, an emissary of Mr. Ansary, the same person who controls the Ennia insurance company. This insurance company was supposed to have covered property damage but seems to be insolvent. Clearly no one is defending the interests of the timeshare owners who are in practice expropriated.
Why haven’t the authorities stepped in?
The only thing timeshare owners are now there for is to pay maintenance fees, for nothing in return.
If they don’t pay, they could well lose their contractual rights to their share of the property.
Ansary should be the one to lose his rights under the circumstances, not the timeshare owners.
The representatives of Ansary, in particular the Towers’ senior management, should at minimum be sent packing, if not held responsible for mismanagement, to be substituted by government-appointed management, or a liquidator.
The whole situation is unbecoming of an island state wishing to attract tourism. What a sorry plight!
Antonio Winspeare
