Dear Editor,
Some years ago I had a conversation with the Receiver concerning the annual number plates. My question to her was, why we go through the expenses of ordering plates and take law enforcement officers away from their normal duties to do something that in today’s world of communication makes no sense.
All you need is one person with “WhatsApp” on their phone and everybody knows exactly where not to pass.
On the other hand, the receiver has the vehicle database and knows exactly who has paid and who has not, where they live and where they work.
It’s a lot cheaper and far more effective for the marshals to deliver, just like any other tax summons, a reminder with the usual warning to come and pay within two weeks or else.
The police are understaffed, we know that but we still take them away from their already difficult job to do something the Tax Office should be doing.
When someone owes income or turnover taxes you don’t send the police to collect.
The idea that the police are more intimidating is of the past.
Let’s get serious, you don’t have the money to order stickers.
You have no way of controlling who pays unless you go into the vehicle database.
Already for 2018 a lot of people found ways not to pay road tax.
We have a lot of people driving around with a “W” on their vehicle, which, by the way, is illegal. Don’t make matters worse by allowing them to use last year’s number plate with a sticker.
We have a road tax to collect, we have tax marshals to hand out summonses to collect tax.
Why pay to make stickers, when will they get here? How much more do people have to pay for these stickers? Those that elect not to buy this year’s plates, will they have to pay more than those that do pay for this year’s plate?
How many stickers, that’s another question.
It’s good to think outside of the box to try and solve problems, but don’t go too far outside of the box. We have the ways and means already. The wheel is already there, use it.
Arrundell
Dear Editor,
I recently read a news post about my bill on your webpages. The post was an integral take-over from the Curaçao Chronicle written by Rene Zwart. The piece is full of incorrect information.
According to Zwart will this bill make it “easier for the Netherlands to end the kingdom relation … .” The absolute opposite is true. By making the decision a landsbesluit and not a Kingdom charter decision, the Netherlands has absolutely no say in the whole process. Therefore, it will be truly a decision by the people of the countries. The Netherlands will have less say.
Also stated was that that I took out the referendum. If people read the law carefully, they will understand that the Netherlands does not impose the way of decision-making upon the islands. How they want to organize the way of a possible ending of the relationship is totally up to the countries. Each country could and maybe should have a different way of ending the relationship with the Kingdom. Therefore, there should be no dictated way in the Kingdom Charter.
Mr. Zwart also stated that there have been mainly negative reactions from the Caribbean parts. During the IPKO I was available for consultation during a special event but no Statenleden of the other countries showed up. In my talks during the IPKO people had no comments about my law.
And finally, I do not know if in Belgium people are discussing my law, but in the Netherlands, people are just waiting for my proposal to be launched.
But to be against my proposal would be strange for the Caribbean countries, because they have asked for this amendment themselves. And for the Netherlands, it would almost be colonial to deny more freedom of choice for the Caribbean countries.
I hope that I have informed you enough, otherwise just mail me or call me.
André Bosman
Member of Dutch Parliament
Mr. Editor,
Thank you for the space.
I am very well aware that many of us become tired and are not always in the mood or the best frame of mind to go to our jobs daily. I myself do have those feelings sometimes.
But when you are a front-line worker dealing with the public we have to be careful of not letting those ill feelings get the better of us.
A close relative of mine with a declaration of sole parental had her one-year-old son forcefully taken from her custody by his psychotic father, who is no stranger to police, made a 911 call on Sunday, 13 January, in the evening hours asking for assistance in getting her child back. I assumed the dispatcher was tired of the situation, as there were many previous 911 calls pertaining to this case in question.
My advice to the Ms. Dispatcher that was on duty between the hours of 7:00pm and 9:30pm: Next time, please have the courtesy of covering the phone with your hand. Before your attempt to help, we heard everything you said to your colleague in the background. Let me refresh your memory, “I am sick of this girl. Why she don’t try handle this herself? Which department she works again?” And I assume the person you were talking to is your colleague, who is just as bad, said, “I think it is Immigration or one of them, but she didn’t had problems the other day with this already.”
All of this took place while we were holding on the line waiting for your help. Shame on you, Ms. Dispatcher. Next time ask your supervisor to switch you to a next department if you are not in the mood, because one has to be able to willingly offer assistance to all 911 Emergency calls regardless of the situation.
Respectfully,
Mrs. Viquin
Dear Editor,
I extend congratulations to SOS Radio 95.9FM director and host Jacques “Billy D” Hamlet and radio station staff on his 10th anniversary in broadcasting.
I am an avid listener of SOS Radio and I have also been a guest on several occasions. The station offers informative programs to educate radio listeners.
There were those in the broadcast arena who predicted the downfall of radio due to new media technologies, but radio remains a key vehicle for the dissemination of information and “Billy D” has also moved with the times as broadcast and media technology continues to evolve, with the development of an app, SOS Radio SXM, for his dedicated listeners.
It takes a lot of dedication, determination, and perseverance to do what “Billy D” has done over the past 10 years and continues to do today as a seasoned radio host.
The content of the radio programming never gets old despite the age. Radio is part of our past, but is also part and parcel of our future. Residents listen to the radio on a daily basis for their news and interesting talk by hosts.
He is a role model for others to look up to and learn about the broadcast industry. Without a doubt, “Billy D” is on track to set many more milestones in broadcasting.
I take this opportunity to wish him and his staff and volunteers all the best and much success for the future in broadcasting.
SOS Radio 95.9FM first started back on January 9, 2009. During the past decade, SOS Radio was identified as the number one radio station in St. Martin in two separate surveys.
SOS Radio celebrated its 10th anniversary on Friday, January 18. SOS Radio is one of several radio stations on the north side of the island (French St. Martin) that has a large audience of listeners in [Dutch – Ed.] St. Maarten and the neighbouring islands and territories.
Stuart Johnson
Minister of Tourism and Economic Affairs
Dear Editor,
Last week during the IPKO on St. Maarten I noticed that many parliamentarians were quite angry with me because I have often criticized the political situation on the island in The Daily Herald. However, on the road, I was approached quite differently: many people came to me with a smile and encouraged me to continue my criticism. Many people told me that I name the problems that they are afraid to talk about.
I needed that support from the people, because the meeting with the parliamentarians had made me gloomy. They assumed a tone and used big words to blame the Netherlands for almost all problems on the islands, while Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten are autonomous countries with their own management and their own responsibilities.
This is how it happens too often in the Kingdom: problems that the islands have caused themselves have to be resolved by the Netherlands. But if we intervene and try to tackle the problems, we get the reproach of racism and colonialism and the accusation that we want to take over control.
I can assure every resident of Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten that this is absolutely not the case. The opposite is true: the less we have to interfere with the islands in the Dutch parliament, the better it is.
The Netherlands was blamed by many parliamentarians from Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten for the problems that the islands face with refugees from Venezuela. But as much as we would like to, we can’t do anything about the terrible dictatorship in that country.
Off the record, island politicians admitted that many Venezuelans were once brought to their country as cheap workers in construction or in the tourism industry. These are not actually refugees, but people who are deliberately illegally taken to the islands by companies, which the local government has always tolerated.
A number of politicians from Curaçao demanded that we now send planes to collect thousands of Venezuelans. I really want to offer help, but then the islands have to state more seriously what it is that we can help them with.
Politicians from St. Maarten were angry about the slow reconstruction after Hurricane Irma, for which the Netherlands has made more than 550 million euros available. But when we inquire further, it often appears that unwillingness and ignorance of the St. Maarten government itself leads to postponement and delay.
The Netherlands wants to invest 100 million euros in the reconstruction of the badly hit St. Maarten airport and the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport is willing to help with the recovery. However, some St. Maarten politicians do not want this help, because the Netherlands wants decent supervision of the expenditures and demands good governance.
The Netherlands is internationally criticized if things go wrong at the prisons on Curaçao and St. Maarten, or with the refineries on Aruba and Curaçao, or if public finances get out of hand in the islands. But if we do intervene, everyone is angry with us.
Last week I noticed that the love for islands is fading a bit for many Dutch parliamentarians, because we can never really do things right. If the Netherlands does nothing, politicians on the islands will get angry. But if the Netherlands does intervene, some politicians on the islands will become even angrier.
Last week I spoke to several politicians from the islands and many admitted off the record that things can’t really continue like this. It is time that we make new agreements. Let Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten clearly indicate what they want to do themselves, and the Netherlands will not interfere anymore. And let the islands say what they think the Netherlands can do better, but then we must also be able to assume our responsibility and do it on our own way.
The Kingdom is dead, long live the new Kingdom!
Ronald van Raak
Member of the Second Chamber for the Socialist Party (SP)
