Dear Editor,
The people of Sint Maarten deserve to know the stance of the Sint Maarten Christian Party on the various issues plaguing the country. In particular, since the latest unpopular statements made by the party’s sole representative in Parliament, MP Claude “Chacho” Peterson, in regard to using the World Bank recovery funds allocated to assist the people of this country, to build the new Parliament Building instead.
This statement shocked the entire community and caused quite some consternation in other parts of the Kingdom.
After the remarks made in the Parliament by the MP, I received many calls and was on many occasions stopped on the street by concerned citizens, questioning my stance on the statements made by the MP of the Christian Party.
Most persons while expressing their concerns stated that it is bad enough already that this so-called Recovery fund has done anything but help them recover from anything, as the majority are still just as roofless as they were one and a half years ago after being struck by the storm, and are still awaiting word as to when, if ever, the people of this country will be receiving the much promised assistance to especially put roofs on their houses, among many other pressing matters.
These persons expressed that to make matters worse now, a seemingly out of sync Member of Parliament who, according to them, the people of this country did not even elect, who is just lucky to be sitting there after some reshuffling took place, shows how clueless he is in regard to the actual plight of the people of this country. The MP sits in the house of Parliament, and suggests that out of the money set aside by the World Bank to assist the people get back on their feet; 145 million should instead be used to build a new state-of-the-art Parliament Building.
I admonish the relevant MP and many other colleagues in Parliament, to prepare properly for meetings before coming to deliberate the issues, as not doing so, this would only cause for MPs to speak things that suddenly pop into their heads and cause them to fantasize or philosophize in the middle of serious deliberations concerning the people's business, to eventually say that they were only joking and it was a little bit of sarcasm that they used.
I strongly condemn what took place in Parliament; a Member of Parliament subjecting himself to sarcastically joking while deliberating serious topics of concern to the people of the country is disrespectful and definitely not funny. Especially, when dealing with a nation that is already fragile due to the rough economic times.
The duty of Members of Parliament is to restore a sense of security and trust, while handling the issues in such a manner, that it creates confidence and peace among the people and not restlessness.
Great concerns came from our biggest Kingdom partner, stemming from the now unpopular comments of the SMCP’s Member of Parliament. As much as I appreciate any outsider looking out for the people of this country, I’m amazed and wonder why it is that with so many different persons and entities mentioning the fact that so many people on Sint Maarten are still roofless, that absolutely nothing is being done to remedy this situation.
With all the talk by those in the various positions, on Sint Maarten as well as in The Netherlands, all it boils down to is just talk and nothing else, as the people in the meantime continue to remain roofless among other things. When will something be done to alleviate this serious situation?
Once again I demand that the Council of Ministers give the people clear answers, as they need answers now. Many persons claimed that the mold of one year and a half is now destroying what was left of their houses. It is also feared that by the time whatever help finally arrives, the remainder of their houses will all be destroyed, especially with mold, or be rotted from the amount of time exposed to sun and rain, causing them to need much more than just a roof.
Many persons claim to have attempted to temporarily assist friends or family members after the storm, and are now, one and a half year later, basically “stuck” with these persons due to the fact that no matter how hard they’ve tried, there is just no affordable housing available. Moreover, to top this off, for them to hear a Member of Parliament suggest that the funds allocated to help them should be used to build a Parliament Building, is just plain absurd.
I call on all Members of Parliament and the Council of Ministers not to forget the people of this country, but to live up to the promises made to them, which is to give them top representation and to put them first in everything.
It is an undisputed shame that the people of this country still find themselves in such deplorable situations, especially after all the promises made by this Council of Ministers, who proclaimed after the storm that the immediate change of government was necessary, and that they would immediately alleviate and remedy the crisis situations that existed.
Well, the people are still waiting to this date. All that they have seen so far is the constant reports of Ministers flying or sailing all over the globe, supposedly with the pretext of getting things done for the people. My question is then “Which people?” as, from the feedback I receive from our people; the majority of them are not being helped.
This government needs to get their act together and set their priorities straight.
I will always put the people of this country first, because that is what I was elected to do.
Egbert J. Doran
Member of Parliament St. Maarten
Dear Editor,
How long will it be safe to play the 14th hole on the Mullet Bay golf course? Over the last two months we noticed digging a hole next to this hole . Two 20=story high rises are supposed to be built there.
First it looked like a big pool , but after digging for let’s say 15 feet and pumping the water 24/7, we saw the bottom , sand. Then a lot of concrete without any rebar was poured for the foundation. A contractor once told me that a foundation is the most important part of any building and should be enforced properly with a hell of a lot of steel. I am not an engineer, but I hope that the contractor knows what he is doing .
The game of golf is difficult enough and mostly between the ears . Looking up during my swing to watch if these buildings are not collapsing on me, will definitely cost me a stroke .
Johan Datema
Dear Editor,
We regretfully took note that the Dutch government continued on its path to destabilize the peaceful Caribbean region after serving last year a term in the UN Security Council which primary objective it is to prevent conflicts.
After the UK and France launched an ultimatum against the sovereign state of Venezuela recently, the Dutch Foreign Minister Mr. Blok announced that the Netherlands will join them if Venezuela does not comply. Yesterday, this provocation escalated when the Prime Minister of Curaçao Mr. Ruggenaath, whose government which last week has been forced by the Dutch government to surrender their limited autonomy back under Dutch control and rule, declared the same.
Curaçao, together with Aruba and our island Bonaire, being the closest neighboring island to the Venezuelan coast can be considered a direct escalation, provocation, and violation of UN Charter guiding principles of non-interference and non-intervention and respect for sovereignty and affairs of states is directed by the Dutch government from The Hague.
This is a highly hypocritical approach by the Dutch government which has continued colonization of its Caribbean dependencies and recently has erased the democratic rights of the Dutch Caribbean islands by:
1) Forcing the democratically elected Curaçao government to surrender their limited autonomy and accept direct higher supervision from The Hague with control over the budget and all judiciary powers and intervention powers remaining unilaterally in the Dutch Parliament in The Hague;
2) Destabilizing and forcing the democratically elected government of St. Maarten after the natural disaster of Hurricane Irma to surrender their limited autonomy and border control, budgetary, judiciary and went as far as they will have to approve or who will be appointed in the government positions and are completely back under Dutch rule and control;
3) Forcing the local government of Bonaire, which has surrendered already all the tax-revenues and powers to the Dutch government, under threat to accept an undemocratic program-manager above the locally elected government to govern and only accountable to The Hague;
4) Undemocratic abusive actions of their unilateral legislative powers and military and police powers to depose the legitimate elected government of St. Eustatius and appointing a non-elected ruler and depriving the citizens of St. Eustatius of their democratic rights by blocking a free election.
Ironically all this is happening at this same moment and is kept under the radar where the Dutch government is taking the front-line in this provocation towards an armed conflict where his re-colonized ABC islands’ inhabitants, all innocent humble friendly Caribbean peoples, would be in the first line of retaliation and can easily be wiped out and ethnically cleansed; meanwhile, the command will remain safely in The Hague, Europe.
It would be no coincidence, because the ABC islands, all within eyesight from each other, all are equipped with an international military standards airport and deep harbors could be the mayor reason behind this war-campaign, as through war-economics and military actions they enriched themselves to become one of world’s richest countries, is nothing new to the Dutch glancing back at their horrific colonial past.
We would like this letter to be a serious warning to the Caribbean as the colonizing powers headed by UK, France, and the Netherlands and backed by US who all share the major colonial interests to remain in the Caribbean region, have finally shown their real intentions that they are back on track to repossess their former colonies and attempt to turn back the colonial clock if possible.
The intentions and tactics are very clear, as the Dutch promoted, supported and financed the division, destruction, and dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles on October 10, 2010, and recolonized the Dutch Antillean islands. The same tactics of destruction are carried forward to the Caribbean level, to divide the Caribbean and stop the unification and integration process of the Caribbean.
We wish to make a dramatic call to all Caribbean leaders to use this moment to serve as wake-up call, to stand up for all Caribbean peoples. As we all came with the same boats, we all are still in the same boat, with the same common right to emancipation and freedom, to unite and fight together to maintain a peaceful Caribbean, and to actively help to decolonize the Caribbean, as there is no free Caribbean until all Caribbean peoples are truly free.
James Finies,
President of the foundation “We Want Bonaire Back.”
Dear Editor,
On page 7 of The Daily Herald of Tuesday, January 29, I finally found an article concerning the ethical behaviour of our Dutch politicians. This was a list of the most scandal-hit political parties in the Netherlands for the sixth year in a row. If the top three were mentioned, which adds up to 23 scandals, I think it would be fair to mention that the list is longer and that the average scandals involving politicians is at least two-plus per month.
This could be an explanation for the reason the Dutch are constantly extra vigilant of our politicians. I see it as two-fold which could be explained in two known sayings: “Zoals de waard is, vertrouwt hij zijn gasten” (one judges other people’s character by one’s own) and/or “misery likes company.”
On a scale of one to ten, where would the integrity of the Dutch government be as a consequence of the political integrity scandals? Because we know how vigilant Van Raak and Bosman are, I was wondering if any one of them were instrumental in uncovering any of the 23-plus scandals?
I am not sure, so I would like to know in what capacity is Van Raak questioning MP Peterson? I am open to a lesson in civics.
Russell A. Simmon
Dear Editor,
I am disappointed that the Finance Minister did not stand behind the decision of the Receiver where it concerned the design of the 2019 number plates for motor vehicles.
What I do not understand is, beside one time, it was the Education Minister and primarily the Justice Minister who was the authority commenting on the discussions concerning the protest against “50 years of Carnival” on the plates. All of this should be handled by the Finance Minister and/or the Receiver.
The decree was made and the wording is a stated fact. We will be celebrating 50 years of Carnival, so to me that silly argument about making a commercial for something that is not relevant, is making a mock of the situation.
I have been involved in keeping order during Carnival in the Netherlands Antilles since 1965 and do not know that celebration to be other than a cultural festival.
I believe that government is demonstrating insecurity in this matter and beside creating a precedent, government is also creating confusion for those involved in the control of the compliance of the motor vehicle tax.
I will state again that I believe that those who are talking about they not making commercial for Carnival are being hypocritical. They all read the paper and some have even used the opinion page to highlight their protest. Why are they hypocrites? Because I have never read where any of them have threatened to boycott reading the paper because of the commercials on the community page. Or is it something they secretly do?
Russell A. Simmons
