Dear Editor,
Lately there has been a very vicious divide in the St. Maarten society … especially after Irma.
We had a cascading flow of events starting with the Marlin Government being thrown under the bus.
Logically that government was a blind eye to looting and was absolutely not prepared for the hurricane. That government wanted to run the country but was ill prepared for a single natural disaster. There are various specifics in this, but bottom line was that the population suffered equally due to the disaster as much as for the ill-preparedness of the Government of the day.
Fast forward ahead and we got the next government with the supposed Dutch blue-eyed boy. He had been a thorn in the eye of the Dutch but here opportunity stuck and both shook hands to pull the rug under the Marlin Government and we were presented with a new government via an election.
All seemed to proceed fine until the oil (read – money) which greases the wheels (read – politicians) was controlled to a trickle by the Dutch.
The Dutch overshot their gamble and the local present-day government started doling out information which portrayed the situation of colonial yesteryears.
Extreme division and a sense of “take over” is being pushed to slowly push the “Independence” agenda.
As per UN, every country has a right to self-determination. But will this self-determination be for the people at large or is it for the self-enrichment of the selected few?
We have a population of approximately 60,000. Voting population is about 35,000. We take daily pot-shots via social media against Trump who is very right-leaning. Our own society here on SXM very right-leaning where we complain about legal naturalised citizens and their voting rights which we say are diluting the agenda of the “local St. Maartener.”
Few individuals (can be counted on our fingers and toes) control the flow of the economy. The writing on the wall is clear. The politicians don’t want any higher supervision and they don’t want control over them. The harbour has been plundered, the airport has been plundered, the courthouse has been plundered, we are more expensive for telephone and Internet services as compared to our EC islands. Our Government payroll is highly inflated.
Of course, we want to herd our people like sheep into the colonial mentality and make them vote for independence.
If we get independent, do we have answers for below:
1.) Disaster fund
2.) Study Grants
3.) Travel
4.) European Funding
5.) Military – French have taken over part of Oyster Pond
6.) Border control, including access to French side which would be France
7.) Dump
8.) A report on parliamentarians hawking independence – how many have French nationalities or other.
9.) Antilles federal structure took a part of our turnover tax when it was just 3 per cent and we almost doubled the collection to 5 per cent and retained the complete collection and face a deficit. How will we manage with no big brother?
10.) Corruption
Instead of chastising the Dutch, foreigners, etc., let the community come together and rationally debate how we can get the above 10 points into our foundation. Come with a time span of say 15 years and start working on all this. Once we see we can take care of things which are important for the “Community” and not the “Politicians” then we can discuss independence. Right now, we are not ready.
We don’t have leaders who can lead. So, let our schoolchildren read – hopefully with a united society we can build a better society. Work towards uniting the society.
Vote for leaders who work to unite. Don’t vote for people who speak for a single community or chastise another community. Work to build a single SXM community.
Name withheld at author’s request.
Dear Editor,
On September 7, 2017, the outlook as a nation was bleak. Hurricane Irma ravaged our beautiful island in the sun, yet through the strength and will of our people, St. Maarten now has more than just a glimmer of hope, we are on track to re-establish our dominance as the preferred tourism destination in the Caribbean, taking full advantage of the opportunity to rebrand and improve our product.
The board of the United St. Maarten (US) party is echoing the call by its leader MP Frans Richardson by publicly asking the Minister of Justice if he will investigate the theft of jewelry from the home of Francesco Corallo by two TBO officers.
Or will the Minister simply accept the convenient story by the Public Prosecutor who was quick to sweep it under the rug. Is the Prosecutor’s declaration gospel? Judging from past incidents we know this is not the case.
The Public Prosecutor was quick to dismiss the report that the TBO officers were hurried off the island after being caught with the jewelry. However, the Prosecutor Office can conveniently say what it wants and, obviously, did not address the fact that the officers were sent back to Holland and why.
Important questions are:
Who are the officers that were sent back to Holland after the raid on Corallo’s home?
Were these officers part of the raid?
Why were they sent back? And When?
Who filed the report against them?
Is there a Landsrecherche report on this issue?
What are the findings of this report?
Is there a letter explaining the officers actions in this report?
Who wrote it and who received it?
Is the Prosecutor saying that no theft at all took place?
Is the Prosecutor saying that nothing was removed from Mr. Corallo’s home?
We are not concerned with what the Prosecutor spins, but rather what the Minister of Justice Cornelius DeWeever will do about it. Leader of the USP asked the Minister if he will investigate and we are now echoing that request. There is apparently an entire report on the incident. Will the Minister investigate and let the public know or will he simply say ok to the Prosecutor?
The Prosecutor did not address anything fully but dismissed the issue. But when there are simply rumors about prominent St. Maarteners, the Prosecutor finds enough frivolous grounds to go after our people. Will the Minister investigate yes or no.
Imagine that. So two Dutch officers commit a crime, they stole, and all of a sudden they are humans who make mistakes. While on St. Maarten our officers and others are branded criminals and thieves and locked up. We are parade and made a show of. But they get a slap on the wrist and sent back to Holland on a nice KLM flight to continue working. Impossible,” MP Richardson said.
The MP went on to ask Minister DeWeever to investigate the issue as the letter is apparently part of an existing Landrecherche report. Additionally, MP Richardson said he will seek a Parliamentary inquiry into the Justice system of St. Maarten.
USP Board
Dear Editor,
We, the board of the United St. Maarten Party (US Party), echo the call by our leader MP Frans Richardson and publicly ask the Minister of Justice if he will investigate the theft of jewelry from the home of Francesco Corallo by two TBO officers.
Or will the Minister simply accept the convenient story by the Prosecutor who was quick to sweep it under the rug. Is the Prosecutor’s declaration gospel? Judging from past incidents we know this is not the case.
The Prosecutor was quick to dismiss the report that the TBO officers were hurried off the island after being caught with the jewelry. However, the Prosecutor’s Office can conveniently say what it wants and, obviously, did not address the fact that the officers were sent back to Holland and why.
Important questions are:
Who are the officers that were sent back to Holland after the raid on Corallo’s home?
Were these officers part of the raid?
Why were they sent back? And when?
Who filed the report against them?
Is there a Landsrecherche report on this issue?
What are the findings of this report?
Is there a letter explaining the officers’ actions in this report?
Who wrote it and who received it?
Is the Prosecutor saying that no theft at all took place?
Is the Prosecutor saying that nothing was removed from Mr. Corallo’s home?
We are not concerned with what the Prosecutor spins, but rather what the Minister of Justice Cornelius de Weever will do about it. The leader of the US Party asked the Minister if he will investigate and we are now echoing that request. There is apparently an entire report on the incident. Will the Minister investigate and let the public know or will he simply say okay to the Prosecutor?
The Prosecutor did not address anything fully but dismissed the issue. But when there are simply rumors about prominent St. Maarteners, the Prosecutor finds enough frivolous grounds to go after our people. Will the Minister investigate? Yes or no?
Imagine that. So, two Dutch officers commit a crime, they stole, and all of a sudden they are humans who make mistakes. While on St. Maarten our officers and others are branded criminals and thieves and locked up. We are paraded and made a show of. But they get a slap on the wrist and sent back to Holland on a nice KLM flight to continue working. Impossible.
The MP went on to ask Minister de Weever to investigate the issue as the letter is apparently part of an existing Landrecherche report. Additionally, MP Richardson said he will seek a Parliamentary inquiry into the Justice system of St. Maarten.
US Party Board
Dear Editor,
I read a letter to you from Miguel Arrindell with the heading “The purpose of government” with which I totally agree. (4-11-’18) He covered several aspects with illustrations and concluded by stating that “it is the government’s task to protect the citizens of a country and provide economic opportunity for all citizens”.
I would love for Mr. Arrindell to elaborate on that last point outlining how he thinks that government of Sint Maarten can provide ‘fair’ economic opportunity for all citizens.
I also read that MP Heyliger is letting us know that time is running out to render assistance to rebuild the airport. What has taken so long?
He then shifted to G.E.B.E. As long as I have been on Sint Maarten we have been having outages from .G.E.B.E. One of my philosophies in life was passed on from my father: “It is alright to copy the good things.” Aruba is almost four times as big as Sint Maarten and Aruba is striving to have the whole island run fully on solar energy by 2020.
In this same paper I read that Saba Electric Company starts its second solar park project. Because of advanced technology and telecommunication more and more everyone is urged to go online to do everything. If solar energy is the way, why is Sint Maarten delaying? Is G.E.B.E. indispensable?
If we continue to point our fingers in the direction of Holland, when are we going to start preparing our own for the reality of life in the future? Did not I advocate out with the old and in with the new? Did not I write that we have to make civics a subject in which exams are taken in schools.? Have I not constantly been stating that we have to determine who is a Saint Martiner?
Russell A. Simmons
