Dear Editor,
I called myself an observer in my last article, but I am also a digger, someone who digs and digs to get to the root of the issue. People call us investigators but I am pro-bono one. When I question the inequality of the Justice system within the Kingdom, I am not doing so because I want to. On the contrary, I believe it is my duty to inform and empower you because Sint Maarten is in a crisis in challenging post-Irma times. Knowledge is power, people!
This article appeared on January 29, 2014, by reporter Reiner of the Elsevier Weekly paper in the Netherlands. He told a story about the then Junior Minister of Finance of the Netherlands (VVD), who informed the Dutch Parliament in January 2014 during their debate that he would resign his position as he felt he no longer enjoyed the support of a majority in Parliament. He needed this support as he had the responsibility for the Tax Department as Junior Finance Minister.
Apparently, the opposition had made their positions clear and no longer had confidence in him to solve the challenges at hand. Hence, to avoid the motion of non-confidence, the Junior Minister of Finance resigned his position. The scandal regarded the non-payment of house rent allowances to thousands of inhabitants in the Netherlands. It was not the first time the Junior Minister experienced a confrontation with Parliament.
The article continues to report that also in May 2013 he barely survived a debate on the subject of fraudulent acts committed mainly by Bulgarian gangs with the allowances granted by the Netherlands.
Furthermore, the Junior Minister in the year 2012 was apparently the talk of the town when he appeared to have ties with a former councillor in the province of Limburg, a real-estate millionaire, and member of the VVD, accused of corruption in civil service. This millionaire supported him for his candidacy as Junior Minister as reported by “Het Parool” (December 17, 2012) and “NRC.nl (September 11, 2012).
What became of the Junior Minister? He was never prosecuted. Instead, he was appointed post Irma as the Dutch representative of the Steering Committee for the Recovery of Sint Maarten. In other words, he represents the Netherlands in the managing body of the established Trust Fund of the World Bank (Zakenblad.nl), entrusted with the reconstruction of our country Sint Maarten. Hence, a promotion after a dubious act. The Netherlands plays a game. They speak of Integrity Chamber, yet they have none. They speak of them being a population of Integrity, and yet their integrity does not play a role when it involves Sint Maarten. I consider this act a serious breach of Integrity.
They speak of screening and yet their ministers are not screened. Hence, what we need to do is resign from our position before we get a vote of non-confidence and then the authorities will say that the case is under investigation and, of course, the case will go cold and nothing will happen. Then, a few years later we will send you to Holland with a bigger and better position with all expenses paid. Does that sound like an equal plan? Hence, I question the task of the Integrity Chamber at this time with all kinds of persons who are entering our country, whether they should be screened. Not because the Dutch has managed to project themselves as Saints of the World must we accept everyone who comes to work in Sint Maarten. They too must be screened, because when one starts digging, there is much to be desired!
Josianne Fleming Artsen
Dear Editor,
It is tax time in our islands and taxpayers are expected to comply and do so on time. Part of the process is gathering all necessary documents and information from various entities such as employer, banks, insurance companies, etc.
One of the requirements for persons that have mortgages and other loans from banks is an interest letter. It is a headache for some clients to get their interest letters from some banks. Sometimes I, as tax advisor, have to take over from the customer and call or send e-mails to the bank imploring them to send these interest letters; sometimes it takes weeks or months to get them in hand; this for something that is recurring annually. Why should it be such a hassle when the banks are well aware of the requirements of the law? I assume bankers are taxpayers too.
The law also requires that taxpayers report the balance of these loans. The tax law of the former Netherlands Antilles already required this and so I believe the same goes for Country St. Maarten.
However, most banks do not automatically include this information on the interest letters they provide their clients. This means oftentimes more phone calls and emails have to be made resulting in more lost time and expense.
Why can’t these banks prepare and send out these interest letters, including balances, to their clients as a matter of fact rather than waiting for each client to call or write to request this?
In Statia we can now file our taxes online and without the loan balance(s) information the process cannot be completed.
I am therefore appealing to all those banks that do not yet do so to provide interest letters automatically at the beginning of each year and include loan balances as required by law.
This will save your customers and tax advisors like myself a lot of time and trouble and save you bankers many harassing phone calls and emails.
Glenn Schmidt
St. Eustatius
Dear Editor,
No time to sugar-coat this issue. Time to ban scooters. Simple solution. I see no other option. The law cannot handle these suicides/murders, correct? So, ban them!
When scooters have proven to be more detrimental to society than handguns, it’s the simplest answer.
Let’s break this down, Dutch-side police are only interested on the level of tint on your car window. Call them about an important issue and unless you are a friend or family, they do not respond, or they laugh at you and will taunt you for life! Personal experience.
They act on a pick-and-choose response. Like the Fire Department – they issue fire warnings, yet, if you call them about a fire, I can assure you they will not respond. Again, pick-and-choose response only.
French side, Gibbs and Patrick, no care in the world. Heads in clouds, or maybe stuck in the sand? When a scooter kills one of their daughters, we will hear the cries. Until then … crickets.
When an official from the Dutch side or French side has been affected by one of these scooters, that is when we will see rapid change. Until such time, we are all at risk of being killed instantly by one of these irresponsible drivers. Russian roulette driving through French Quarter.
Two lives lost in one day on scooters. Are we to mourn the lives lost or thank the Lord that the irresponsible drivers of those scooters did not kill innocent bystanders as they recklessly rode around, carefree.
Should we feel sad for them? Personally, I don’t. I feel as though my family survived being murdered by them. Everyone reading this should also feel grateful to be alive, that you nor your family was hit by a selfish person on a scooter.
If we cannot ban the scooters, let’s shame them. Uneducated individuals acting in such a manner on a scooter with no helmet, driving at high speeds, cutting off every vehicle in sight – that is a weapon. No better than a gun! You fell? You hit a truck? You died? Sorry for you. Thankfully, though, my family was spared from your stupidity! RIP
Marie
Surname withheld at author's request.
Dear Editor,
Last week a letter to the editor was placed in the Daily Herald of April 5 about the exchange rate of the Antillean guilder against the US dollar. The header stated: “Consider and decide asap.”
After that, people asked me several times the last days to explain more in detail what happened in Suriname the last years regarding their currency, the Surinam dollar (SDR), also – as in our case – being connected to the US dollar, so here comes some extra information on request.
The Central Bank of Suriname has maintained a fixed exchange rate with the US dollar for a long time. Until February 2011, the exchange rate was set at a rate of SRD 2.70 per one US dollar. Later an exchange rate of 3.30 SRD per dollar was sought. In November 2015, the SRD devalued by 20 per cent and the official exchange rate was 3.96 SRD per USD. At that time, around 4.30 SRD for a US dollar was already counted on the black market.
On 7 February 2016, the central bank announced that the currency was being disconnected. This measure was taken in connection with the falling revenues from oil and gold and the large expenditures by the Surinamese government, as a result of which the demand for the US dollar became relatively large and the value of the Surinamese dollar too low. Between November 2015 and March 2016, the rate of the SRD fell by 40 per cent to 5.7 SRD per dollar. (Source text: Wikipedia, April 2019)
The SRD was linked to the US dollar because many imported goods are paid for with the US currency. The link prevented sudden price fluctuations for the Surinamese consumer.
Surinamese consumers pay for their products with Surinamese money, but the traders have to exchange the SRDs for US dollars to be able to buy the goods. They exchange the money at the banks, which in turn buy their dollars at the Central Bank.
Oil and gold were the main sources of currency for the Surinamese government, but due to the decreasing world market prices, these sources dried up quickly. In addition, the first Bouterse government has handled money from the treasury very generously, so that much more government spending has been made than was justified. The US dollar became more and more expensive on the black market. The result: large price increases.
The Central Bank of Suriname has intervened many times over the past years to somewhat curb the rate of the Surinamese currency. The bank did that by selling US dollars to the market. In this way, almost half of the currency reserve of Suriname was rushed through in 2015.
Earlier, economists had warned that a persistent holding on to the link between SDR and US dollar would lead to a drying up of the cash reserve in hard currency. “By stubbornly sticking to the link, aren’t we flushing our last currencies through the sewer?” wondered Waddy Sowma of the Association of Economists in Suriname (VES). (Source text: NOS.nl, 2016)
Now, the exchange rate is at the moment SRD 7.42 per US dollar!
A new devaluation of the Surinamese currency in the run-up to 2020 is unavoidable if the case is to be tackled cheaply, according to Asiskumar Gajadien, member of Parliament, and member of the parliament committee on state spending, in Dagblad Suriname, July 1, 2018.
Has this anything to do with St. Maarten? I elucidated it in the first article from last week that it might, if Curaçao and (to a lesser extent) St. Maarten are not succeeding to get the economy and the related finances in some harmony soon. Let us not wait, please, until the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten will let us know that problems might be showing up, because then it might probably be a little late.
Geert van der Leest
Dear Editor,
This article is rated G for general audience. My article is not about supporting color or about wanting people to agree with me. It is about being real to ourselves. I want people to stop deceiving themselves and accept truth as it is, not what you will like it to be.
1 Corinthians 11:28-31 (KJV)
28: But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
29: For him that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
30: For this cause, many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
31: For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
For the last 50 years, politicians of St. Maarten were leading this country and were in charge of St. Maarten’s destiny. Our electorate voted for these people, knowing that their values and intent were not in St. Maarten’s best interest, and all of our wrong choices are now Holland’s fault.
Did Holland allow illegal immigration in St. Maarten? Did Holland institute the pondfill dump? Did Holland force St. Maarten people to sell their land? Did Holland force our parliamentarians not to recognize the people of St. Maarten Heritage in the St. Maarten constitution? Did Holland force our St. Maarten government not to fix our roads? Did Holland control GEBE, did Holland control TelEm, did Holland control the Harbor? Did Holland push and promote prostitution in St. Maarten? Did Holland put a gun to our politicians’ heads and say, “Destroy St. Maarten for me”?
It was our own elected government officials.
I am not defending Holland. We know Holland is corrupt also. What I am saying is: 99 per cent of St. Maarten’s challenges is ourselves for making the wrong choices.
Stop blaming others for your faults. Examine yourself and do the right thing. Expecting a man to pay repatriations does not change your conduct. The individual must be willing to do what is right. We must say “no” to wrong before we can say “yes” to right.
Education is good, but that does not mean you’re honest and of a good character. The heart of man must change for the righteousness to establish in St. Maarten.
The conclusion is, we must examine ourselves. What does it profit a man to gain the world and lose his soul? Choices have consequences. Do the right thing all of the time and always examine yourself.
The Patriot Miguel Arrindell
