Dear Editor,
Just recently, my daughter told me, “On St. Martin, you are guilty until proven innocent and even then, you still remain guilty.” Her statement jolted my memory and then it came back to me, eight years ago, I had written an opinion piece titled: “Where there is smoke… Character assassination and the culture of suspicion.” At the time, I had absolutely no inkling that I would be roped in as a co-defendant in the ongoing case code-named “Colade,” which is yet to be heard in court.
This is what I wrote then: “It takes a lifetime of painstaking and consistent hard work, diligence, and dedication to build a career and a good name; it takes just one sentence of unsubstantiated suspicion to destroy one’s integrity and character.
The much-publicized suspension of Regina Labega and Edward Dest of St. Maarten Tourist Bureau is the latest in what has become an ongoing saga in which our leaders, our very best and brightest are chopped down, first in the court of public opinion, where they have no redress, and later in the court of law where they may or may not be exonerated. What is disturbing about this trend is what I choose to call the culture of suspicion which is based on the popular saying, “Where there is smoke, there is fire.”
Really? How can we, in the same breadth then claim that a suspect is innocent until proven guilty? By stating where there is smoke, there must be fire, have we not already concluded that the suspect must have done something wrong? In so doing, the onus is now on the suspect to prove otherwise, rather than on the accuser to prove beyond any shadow of doubt, his/her accusations. This is turning the foundation and principles of justice and fair play on their head.
Presumption of innocence is thrown out of the window when we declare there is no smoke without fire. It grants the accuser the upper hand in that the accuser is presumed to be incapable of false accusations or to be infallible in his or her suspicion. Contrary to our portrayal of justice as a blindfolded lady, justice is not blind, and often times it is not a lady, and does not act in a lady-like manner either.
We all know about kangaroo courts. We all know, too, that if the system decides to go after you, it will find any stick to beat you with. The pity is that the public generally does not see the system at work, but prefers to believe, indeed, that nobody is evil enough to crucify another human being without any reasonable cause. I believe the biblical example of Jesus Christ settles that argument. If He who is without sin could be put to death on false accusation, who are we mortals?
It is important for us to focus on some aspects of our judicial process. In a criminal procedure, if you are suspected of a crime, you are arrested, detained and brought before the Judge of Instruction who will determine if you have a case to answer and if you should continue in detention. Until you are actually convicted in a court of law, you are still presumed innocent, regardless of how long you spend in detention. However, the longer you are detained, the quicker the presumption of innocence evaporates. At any event, the crime(s) you are suspected of committing must be disclosed to you from the onset of the investigation.
We often focus on the way something is done because we are a people who show respect even to our enemies. There is an unwritten code which we honour when we have to perform unpalatable tasks involving certain calibre of people in our community. For example, you don’t slam the handcuffs on a father in front of his children, no matter what he may be accused of. Actions like this, however, are designed precisely to create that smoke and lead people to believe there “must” be some fire somewhere.
This is the kind of smear that cannot be removed with the best stain remover from the fabric of one’s integrity, no matter how innocent the suspect turns out to be. Is this fair? Is it just?
Such character assassination based on a culture of suspicion hurts even more when the victim is someone who has given his or her entire life and career to the service of the same community. What message are we sending to the rest of the population, especially the younger ones, when those who should ordinarily be given medals of merit for their unselfish service to society are hounded down like petty criminals and their names dragged through the mud because of a suspicion of wrongdoing?
I will not delve into the case of the two highest-ranking officials of St. Maarten Tourist Bureau in order not to contaminate an already-poisoned atmosphere which raises too many questions than one can find answers to.”
Need I say more? It is clear that on St. Martin, the universal and time-honoured tenet that one is innocent until proven guilty, smacks of a farce. And even when you’re proven innocent, the damage is already done, and you still cannot wash away that scarlet stain of guilt.
Thank you, Ife.
Fabian Badejo
Dear Editor,
The law must take its course has become a cliché, a pseudonym within the bounds of our community, for the better part of the past six years, the so-called “catfish” investigation has played cat-and-mouse games. It conveniently surfaces at strategic moments, seems to serve some purpose that it is meant for and vanishes into some storage shelf until its resurfaces again. Stop holding our country and our progress to ransom.
Time and again this strategy is rerun with many community leaders, if an investigation begins on some solid grounds, then I would like to know, why an investigation stalls for lengthy periods of time and at times seems to be moving like a racing car. Although Law must take its course, however, justice must be swift and just. Our people’s minds are depraved with this negativity and a sense of losing faith in the system.
What message are we sending to the outside world? Sint Maarten – the laughing stock of the Caribbean? The country where not to invest? A corrupt nation? An unreal Island?
I pray that justice must take its course, justice for our leaders for they must not be subjected to such senseless character assassination, Justice for the people of Sint Maarten, for the general population, is the one at the receiving end.
Post Irma, just when we are barely standing on our feet, just when the negotiations with the World Bank are in the final stages, when the airport issue is finally being resolved, housing programs taking shape, dump issue ongoing, hotels reopening, cruise lines showing confidence, tourism returning, and I can go on and on.
Just when, who do you think is at this receiving end? It is all of us; it doesn’t matter whether you are black, white, blue or rather any other shade of the spectrum. We all need continuity in the government, we cannot afford to lose focus on bringing back jobs, bringing back schools, healthcare, environment and above, all harmony within the communities.
MP Theodore Heyliger has been a community leader since 1995; as long as I have known him, he is prudent, a true visionary and time and again the people’s chosen leader. His perspective solutions may at times be seen as extreme by some, but in reality, they are ‘out of the box’ and bang on effective.
I urge the good office of the Prosecutor to see the case with the merit it deserves and not by the impressions and perceptions that are blown out of proportion by those with hidden dark agendas and desires.
I stand up against any and all forms of victimization in politics, such decadence and demeaning of democracy must not engulf our sweet Sint Maarten Land. I stand with Theo. Let our leaders lead!
Sidharth Bijlani
Member of Parliament
Dear Editor,
Last week the Sint Maarten Development Fund finished the rebuilding of two more homes of the one hundred homes of their seniors’ home repair program. With pictures taken of the official handing of the keys, the local press reported this happy moment for the two senior citizens, who had to live in shelters since the hurricane destroyed their homes.
A few months ago, SMDF director Keith Franca was quoted in a local newspaper saying that “more houses can be added to the repair list, if SMDF receives more funds from donors. SMDF is aware of the conditions and circumstances that many are in and would do anything to support the country’s recovery, but their abilities are contingent upon the financing it received”.
Months after the hurricanes, seniors interviewed by the Sint Maarten Anti-Poverty Platform were still awaiting help to repair their homes. According to the National Recovery Plan Report, the Sint Maarten government made known worldwide, that “initial assessments indicated that more than 80% of homes were damaged to some extent, with many destroyed or uninhabitable.
Over 11,000 persons have damage to their homes requiring significant reconstruction or repair.” Based on the stock of dwellings during the Population and Housing Census of 2011, there were at least 13,000 homes when the hurricane passed. If 80% of these dwellings have been damaged, we can calculate that at least 10,400 homes (80% of 13.000 homes) needed to be repaired!
Dutch financial assistance in one year only for 300 homes.
According to SMDF director Keith Franca: “All of the funds for this project have been provided by the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, who we are grateful to as it allows us to repair over 100 homes, but the needs extend far beyond what we can presently finance.”
The White and Yellow Cross Foundation also got Dutch funds to repair 45 homes of their clients in the districts. UNDP had to reduce their home repair program to 150 homes, because the damage at the homes was greater than UNDP had calculated. A more expensive and technical restoration was required in order to make the homes hurricane-proof. It appeared not possible to use unemployed persons and home owners in this process.”
These three NGO’s worked on a total 300 homes. But the Dutch government knew that more than 9,100 homes had to be repaired, and not 300 targeted in the early recovery phase, because in the first week of the disaster, Dutch officials reported to the Associated Press that “up to 70% of the island houses on the Dutch side of St. Martin were badly damaged or destroyed when Hurricane Irma hit.
Interior Minister Ronald Plasterk said many buildings on the island had roofs torn off by Irma.” Their percentages were based on the Dutch military assessment of the damaged houses in Sint Maarten by Hurricane Irma. Their marines reported that the areas severely affected by Hurricane Irma are the neighbourhoods with houses of the poor and the needy in populated areas on Sint Maarten. Nevertheless, the Minister of Interior Affairs and Kingdom Relations explained the members of the Dutch Second Chamber, that in total, WYC, SMDF and UNDP will restore some 300 homes of the most vulnerable in society. When does the Kingdom government guarantee the restoration of the other 9,000 homes of the citizens in this part of the Kingdom?
Some 13,000 households after Irma: home and poverty conditions worse!
The Transparency International Report based on a study of the Dutch NIBUD institute for Bonaire concluded that in 2011 75% of the households in Sint Maarten could not survive with less than US $2,222 a month. This percentage of poor and needy households increased to 94% based on the results of the 2015 Household Budget Survey of the Statistical Department of the government of Sint Maarten, 13.160 households (94% of the 14,000 households in Sint Maarten) earn less than US $2,222 a month. That was before Irma.
With all the jobs lost and the prices jacked up after Irma, how can these 94% poor households rebuild their homes? How can they build back better and stronger? How can they build hurricane- and earthquake-resistant affordable housing? Where they will get the financial means, the material and the expertise to build affordable hurricane-proof housing? If even the government of Sint Maarten has financial constraints because of the CFT and Kingdom government impositions, where we the people can get support to repair our homes and to develop Sint Maarten to dignified equal human living standards in the Kingdom of the Netherlands?
One year after Hurricane Irma evaluation.
The Dutch 300-home-repair contribution so far has been insufficient, unrealistic, and shows a gross neglect of the citizens in this part of the Kingdom. Samaritan Purse, an evangelical Christian organization, has facilitated the repair of many more than 300 homes. To be exact, “a total of 386 houses were provided with support for repairs. Construction materials, bought locally, went to repair 278 houses, and 108 houses were contracted for repairs via churches”. Despite that, the Red Cross hardware store vouchers nor the Samaritan Purse home repair voucher program was not enough to repair the 10,000 structurally-damaged homes.
The Kingdom government must provide more substantial support to develop our country not to the level of before Irma, but to an equal development level in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Government wants us to commemorate on September the 6th where we were on 9.06 in the morning a year ago! We call upon everyone to reflect on how far we reached with the recovery process on Sint Maarten. How many people still need recovery assistance with their homes, with jobs, with their household income? Let us reflect on what still has to be done for the people of Sint Maarten.
Do we have less households in poverty? The Sint Maarten Anti-Poverty Platform has asked the Council of Ministers and the Parliament of Sint Maarten for a meeting to get not only answers, but concrete support to repair all homes, to eradicate the poverty of the 94% households, and to realize the right to development of the people of Sint Maarten.
Raymond Jessurun
Co-coordinator Sint Maarten Anti-Poverty Platform
Dear Editor,
The Prosecutor’s Office lacks a tremendous amount of public trust, but who says that it is completely unjust? Not so in this current state of affairs that surrounds the dilemma of the UD leader. Even though Theo might be upset right now, this is one time he must be grateful to the Prosecutor’s Office for saving him from the onslaught of some members of his own backbiting team – backstabbers, who are hiding their shame by pretending to be in defence of his name.
All of a sudden, these hypocrites emerged like woodlice from a rotten house, trying to sympathize with Theo, when they themselves have already brought down the gavel and pronounced him guilty – the guilty sentence that would have changed the governing composition and flung him into opposition, if this situation had not been interrupted by the prosecution. Theo has to look up in the sky and make the sign of the cross, for this timely distraction.
It was shocking to see even those who called The Daily Herald a racist and biased newspaper, and forbid the population from buying the paper, still use it as a vehicle to deliver their messages. But their actions are obvious; they coincide perfectly with the saying, “Who have cocoa in the sun, must look out for rain.” These hypocrites know if the UD leader is convicted, the Pandora box will split open and the dreaded mystery will become known.
To put it bluntly, the reasons they are kicking up now is because their positions are threatened. The uncertainty of being able to continue riding on Theo’s back has become a nightmare for many. So, what better way than to pretend that they care, because if Theo is condemned by the court, the effects of the shift in local politics will be similar to that of Hurricanes Irma and Maria.
What was stunning is the reaction of the Minister of General Affairs. Isn’t the separation of powers applied to all cases, regardless of status, creed or race? What about the child molesters that are accused of such vile acts and still walking around freely in this community? How about those that have been released by the court, plus the many unsolved cases of youngsters, who were gunned down senselessly? Where was the support for them and their families?
The Dutch are not squeaky clean, neither is any nation on the face of the earth. To blame them for everything that goes wrong is plain stupid, and to drag the whole community into the perception of being corrupted, is even worse. In fact, it is a way of wiggling themselves out of their own mess, because the reports were specific in detailing who are engaged in corruption and where the dishonesty is concentrated.
With all the hoopla, who say that the accused and other condemned politicians are truly innocent, to begin with? Which journalist has asked Theo point blank or any other politicians, if he or they have committed the crime that was brought before them? When the other cases of vote buying, and the Causeway come into swing, what will happen then? As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, lack of evidence does not mean that the accused hands are clean.
Politicians are not exempt from being persecuted. All of them who do wrong, should receive the full extent of the law, because they have accepted the position of leadership and a leader must set the example for his or her community. It is rather strange that this inquiry is about a case that was filed by a former MP, yet a similar charge was echoed in parliament and that incident went dead. Why is that?
Like a cheating spouse or an addicted child molester, no politician nor their unscrupulous supporters, will ever admit to this kind of wrongdoing. They would rather blame the system or someone else, even if the truth is staring them in the face. But as we all know, “Truth is like a surgery. It hurts but it heals. A lie is like a painkiller. It gives instant relief but has side effects forever.”
Joslyn Morton
Dear Editor,
The decision of the Joint Court of Justice to grant the Prosecutor’s Office permission to prosecute United Democrats (UD) leader MP Theo Heyliger continues to generate public discussion. However, the whole judicial system as it operates on St. Maarten needs to be further scrutinized vis-à-vis the dispensation of justice.
Justice, in a colonial setting, is different from justice in a sovereign nation. Throughout the history of colonialism, the judiciary functioned as one of the pillars upholding the system, usually under the pretext of maintaining “law and order.” But whose law? And whose order?
St. Maarten, as a so-called “autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands,” is nothing more than a glorified colony. The current constitutional arrangement creates the illusion that the Kingdom Government (read the Dutch Government) is only responsible for defense and foreign affairs, while ALL the other matters are in the hands of the “autonomous” countries. The reality, however, shows clearly that this is not so. The judicial system is a perfect example. The judges are appointed for life by “royal decree,” in other words, by the Dutch Government. The same goes for the Attorney General, who, in the case of St. Maarten, does not even reside on the island.
But what is more germane to the current discussion is the mantra that we should “let justice take its course.” Nobody would have any problem with that if, indeed, we were guaranteed that such a course would not deviate in any form or fashion from the principles of natural justice. These include that you will be judged by your peers, in other words, by people who look like you, speak your language, are part of your community and culture, and are sworn to fairness and impartiality.
This is absolutely not the case on St. Maarten. Let me illustrate my point. Would any Dutchman or -woman agree to be judged by a court in Amsterdam composed of Zulu judges and prosecutors, speaking Zulu, (oh, of course, with interpreters) and with the highest court to which they can appeal located in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa?
I can hear the outcry already with shouts about this being an infringement of human rights. But the situation gets even worse on St. Maarten when other factors are taken into consideration. For example, in the pending prosecution of Theo Heyliger, the Prosecutor’s Office states that the politician is alleged to have committed bribery between 2012 and 2013. That is some six years ago! And only now did the Prosecutor seek authorization to go ahead with the case?
In another well-publicized case involving Regina LaBega, the former Managing Director of Princess Juliana International Airport, and yours truly, the allegations of criminal wrongdoing go back to 2010, when she was Director of the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau; that is eight years ago!
The so-called “Constitution of St. Maarten” acknowledges the adage, “justice delayed is justice denied,” when it states in Article 26 that “In the establishment of their civil rights and obligations and on prosecution for a criminal offence, all persons have the right to fair and public handling of their case, within a reasonable time, by an independent and impartial judicial institution.”
Is six years a “reasonable” time to handle an investigation of alleged “bribery”? Is eight years a “reasonable” time to bring a case of alleged “fraud and embezzlement” to court?
Let us put this in broader perspective: we are talking of a jurisdiction (St. Maarten) with a population of 40,355 inhabitants (according to official figures) occupying a territory of 16 square miles! Even in countries with infinitely larger populations and geographic areas, five years’ wait for a case to be brought to court would be seen as a violation of the human rights of the accused.
The British author and poet Walter Savage Landor once said, “Delay of justice is injustice.” But in St. Maarten, the delay of justice is not only injustice, it is punishment, even torture, which is proscribed not only by the United Nations, but also by the island’s “Constitution.” How do you live a normal life, with the Sword of the Prosecutor hanging over your head for years? How can your family live a normal life while they’re expecting that early-morning knock on your door, Gestapo-style, for you to be shackled away in front of your children and loved ones, for so-called pre-trial detention? How do your children go to school as if nothing happened?
It was Cicero who said, “The foundation of justice is good faith.” How can anyone have “good faith” in this justice system?
I shall reserve the discussion of the presumption of innocence until proven guilty for another day. Meanwhile, let me take some poetic liberty to conclude with a variation on an African proverb: A hen cannot expect justice from a court comprising foxes.
Fabian Badejo
