Dear Editor,

So Nagico and the Airport are at odds about the claim. I was shocked to read that. After all, everybody knows that insurance companies are the warmest and fuzziest companies and always there when you need them and always happy to help. Just kidding about that. Quite the opposite in most cases. My stateside lawyer Vinnie the Psycho used to say, “All your insurance policy is, is a license to sue the company that wrote it.” And in my experience, he was spot on with that.

Nevertheless, here we have the Airport. They bought the best and most expensive insurance money could buy. It fully covered every possibility from Alien invasion all the way to Zombie apocalypse and everything in between. From what I read, there is no disagreement on that. The Airport paid its bills on time. Nobody disagrees with that either. So, what’s the problem? Simple. The adjusters that wrote the repair estimates for the Airport say it will cost a billion dollars to fix it, and the adjusters that Nagico used say it will only cost $36.75.

Not of course, but they really are that far apart. Why? Simple again. As example, the Airport’s guys say things like, “The entire airco system has to be torn out and a new one flown in from Mars at a cost of 30 million dollars,” and Nagico’s airco guys say, “Oh no, we can fix it with a meter of wire, two balls of twine and some duct tape at a cost of only $3.50.” So, who is right? Neither of them, obviously, and both are posturing like Neymar rolling on the ground clutching his ankle.

The answer to all this is obvious and simple and came straight out of the mouth of the managing Director of Nagico a few weeks ago when, assuming I’m quoting him correctly, he said, “We aren’t in the construction business.” Exactly! And neither is the Airport, so neither of them knows what they are talking about.

So ... since Nagico is the one writing the checks and the Airport is the one getting the building done, the answer is crystal clear. Nagico becomes the General Contractor for the project. They hire the subcontractors themselves and get the work done. The Airport hires a small team to supervise and oversee the work every minute of every day. A Professional Engineer to supervise the structure, a professional electrical inspector, a professional HVAC inspector and three supervisors that sign off on every single thing that gets fixed, as it gets fixed before the next thing gets started.

In the end, Nagico gives a five-year warranty on all work completed. The end result is that Nagico gets the work done at the lowest possible cost and the Airport gets their building back the way it was without any worries. Nagico trades money for ultimate liability. They don’t pay a dime more than they have to, but they become directly and singularly liable for the workers they hire and the quality of the work that gets done.

Court case notwithstanding, they could make that deal in two hours and get the contracts written and signed by the end of the week. And I’ll bet that the new airco wouldn’t even have to come from Mars after all.

Steven Johnson

Your Excellency!

We took note that your Excellency conducted meetings with the Secretary-General Mr. António Guterres and the Security Council last week at the United Nations Headquarters in New York which will go down in history as a “black mark,” a historic betrayal of our peoples of the Antilles as the Dutch never lived up to their agreed and signed Charter of the United Nations in 1945, which promised and comprised a freedom and equality for all people in the Kingdom.

The Dutch government orchestrated your Excellency mission to mislead and deceive the world, the United Nations, the European Union, Caricom, and the Caribbean and Antillean peoples. This moment is considered as of the same weight as the biggest Dutch lie in history when in 1955 Mr. Johan Beyen as Minister of Foreign Affairs assisted by Prime Minister of the Netherlands Antilles, Mr Jonckheer, misled the United Nations that they represented the free people of the Netherlands Antilles, and absolved the Netherlands from reporting obligations and removing us from the list of Non-Self-Governing Territories (NSGTs), and betrayed us, the descendants of the enslaved and colonized peoples, which inherited and acquired the full rights to freedom and equality as the Dutch in the Netherlands in Europe.

The main themes discussed or addressed at your meeting, were based on the emerging threats of climate change and the possible consequences for our islands. Furthermore, the situation with neighboring country Venezuela was questioned about which the Dutch parliament passed a motion last month to seek support from USA, France and Great Britain to build a robust defense. This action was reported by us to the Caribbean region as using us, the ABC islands, as provocation to a peaceful Caribbean seeking unity and integration, towards a possibly armed conflict: a disaster to the Caribbean, worse than the climate threat and hurricanes, as the Caribbean mostly depends on tourism as main economic pillar.

The course of events leading up to the government and the permanent representation of the Netherlands or Kingdom to the United Nations deciding to as a last resort to use our own people, your Excellency, a Prime Minister of a government which the Dutch has the total control over, through their budget, by a Commission of Financial Supervision (CFT) and total control over the Judiciary system, is a shame and mockery to democracy.

Our question to your Excellency is whether the Secretary General Mr. António Guterres was asked his view on eradication of colonialism and whether the Security Council members’ main objectives remain to protect human rights and to defend the ones that cannot defend themselves against abuses, and, if they were informed or requested an opinion:

- on the fact that the Dutch government blackmailed, extorted and overthrew a legitimate government in St. Maarten after the devastating hurricane last year and forced a new election and will only provide monetary aid for re-construction only if their limited autonomy and democracy and border control is surrendered back to the Dutch government;

- on the un-democratic unilateral action and intervention of the Dutch in Sint Eustatius in February 2018, removal, and overthrow of the legitimate elected democratic governance through abuse of legislative power with the police and military force on standby, and appointment of a non-democratic colonial ruler and government ruling the Statian people;

- on the recent mid-May adopted motion of your own Curaçao parliament majority condemning the Dutch intervention on Sint Eustatius which your Excellency’s party did not support and did not show solidarity and brotherhood towards your own Caribbean sister island;

- on the situation on your sister island Bonaire where the people are being ruled in a status against their wishes that they democratically and legally rejected and that the Bonerian people became a minority on their own island in short space of time since the open immigration and illegal annexation on October 10, 2010, and were embedded under unequal rights in the Dutch Constitution in October 2017 and are facing a systematic process of ethnic cleansing and displacement, an inevitable path of being eradicated?

These are some of the questions or issues which we wished and hoped that you would have raised and brought to the attention of the international community, the United Nations, instead of being a henchmen for the Dutch against your own people to help to destroy the Caribbean in the same way your predecessors destroyed the Antilles on 10-10-10. As silence to injustice is consenting to injustice, in your silence on the violation of your fellow brothers’ and sisters’ fundamental rights as declared by United Nations, your Excellency is consenting to crimes against humanity.

Finally, as our history has taught us that the Dutch mastered the divide-and-rule game, have institutionalized colonialism and racism, and have rewarded up today the traitors of their own people for being loyal to the Dutch government with Royal con-decorations and positions of power and income, we can only hope that your Excellency will realize that our only salvation as Antillean-Caribbean people is by uniting back with our own people and reject this new wave of Dutch re-colonization, and we hope that your Excellency as a leader, a prime minister, will respect, protect and comply with the rights of us, your brothers and sisters, the Antillean people.

Respectfully,

James Finies

Bonaire

Dear Editor,

As a community-spirited person, I saw a headline in your newspaper dated April 28, 2018, that got my full attention which stated 24 royal decorations, none from St. Maarten. In the article the main reason no-one from St. Maarten was nominated for a royal decoration had to do with the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma in September and therefore the lengthy applications process that has to be filled in by the Royal Decorations Committee before October.

Mr. Editor, I had a hard time trying to understand why our local Royal Decorations Committee chose for some odd reason not to send up any of their nominations which should have been done and vetted before Hurricane Irma. I think there needs to be more publicity carried out by our local Royal Decorations Committee on how anyone can recommend and complete an application to nominate somebody who has contributed to their community and island for a royal decoration.

The Committee then can make sure all relevant information is factual, screen and vet the potential honoree’s credibility and then send in the application to the Governor who forwards it to the Kingdom Committee. I also would like to recommend that our local Royal Decorations Committee give out the application forms to all the different community centers, public library and other easy access points where the average person has access to the forms.

I also would advise the Royal Decorations Committee to put the names of all past honorees with a text of why they have been recognized in our local museum or library for student projects and the community at large to get familiar with their local heroes and heroines. This will also teach our young people how to honor and recognize our own leaders and people who have contributed to our beautiful island in some form or fashion.

Mr. Editor, as an educator, I give my students a research assignment to write a brief report about their favorite leader or manager. To my surprise, none of the 14 students could mention a leader or manager from St. Maarten. The main reason is that they didn't select our leaders because there is not much written data in the public library about our leaders, and secondly, they are too busy to be interviewed.

St. Maarten has a lot of persons who have given so much to their community and island who still go unrecognized today. When I think about within my own family, especially my father Gordon Morris Lake, better known as “Mooch,” I can write a book about him being the best diver, the best fisherman in the Caribbean who has represented St. Maarten for several decades in tournaments all over the world. He has won swimming races to Anguilla seven times; he was a great soccer player and was the chauffeur for five Lt. Governors of St. Maarten. He has given back so much to the St. Maarten community out of a good heart.

Another person of whom I am very proud is my brother, Tony Lake who is the only St. Maartener to be inducted into New Hampshire School of Tennis Hall of Fame in the United States. You know what it is to be inducted into a New Hampshire School of Tennis Hall of Fame in another country, but it goes unrecognized in your own island.

Other local unsung heroes are Rafael Skeete, Marco London, Aston Lake, Jerry Morris, Marcia Cooke and many more too numerous to mention.

In closing, I wish our local Royal Decorations Committee much success and I hope they take some of my recommendations and points into consideration for this year. Applications of honorees and getting the community more involved by making the application forms more accessible for the average person would lead to a more exciting and transparent process.

Maurice Lake

Dear Editor,

Greeting to the people of this beloved island, Sint Maarten.

July 18, 2018 marks the centenary of the birth of the freedom fighter and defender of justice, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. Respectfully called by his clan name, “Madiba,” he rose up against an apartheid South Africa, using his intellect and non-violent approach to stand up for the right of all people to be treated fairly. In doing so, Mandela represented not only himself and his clan, but all South Africans and the large community of oppressed people around the world.

We are called to honour those who fought for our right to be free, and to be treated equally. We pay homage to those, Madiba as well as men and women like him, who have acted in the interest of the people, even to the point of self-sacrifice. We declare our appreciation for the fruits of their labour that we are privileged to enjoy.

Madiba said, “No country can really develop unless its citizens are educated.”

As we reflect on the struggles that our fore-parents endured and overcame, we must also look ahead to the future they dreamed for us. A life of liberation with unity, love and progress for all – this is the vision that still lies before us.

We have built into our DNA the spirit of resilience, to see the hope for a greater comeback after the setbacks. As the flamboyant tree blooms, so we as a people stand tall and splendorous just ten months after the worst storm to hit our island. Yes, there is yet a lot of recovery needed. Many roofs are still covered with tarpaulin, schools need further repairs, and many persons are without steady income.

This is when the true nature of our culture must shine. There is a risk of losing our identity to desperation – to revisiting the dregs of looter mentality – stealing from each other because one feels justified by his circumstances. We must resist this temptation and denounce any practice of it. As the friendly island that welcomed many to our shores, we must teach those who have joined us and our younger generations that this little island is a safe place for all. As Madiba said, “Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.”

We will look after the interests of our families and our neighbours. As the saying goes “It takes a village to raise a child,” therefore we must play our part in taking care of the next generation. They will become our crown of stars or thorns in our sides, so we must play our part. When you see a child or an adult, say “Good day,” give a smile – small gestures that go a far way. Manners takes us through the world and a smile goes a mile long.

As outlined in our Governing Program which is available to all via our Government’s website, this Ministry in partnership with other relevant authorities, will be focusing on rebuilding our schools to make them disaster ready, preserving our culture and promoting our national identity, adapting the education curriculum to meet the diverse needs of our economy, integrating technology for a smart IT market, and creating employment opportunities for our youth.

Together, we can ensure that the negativity that seeks to invade us does not take root and redefine who we are.

Together, we will educate and legally integrate those who believe they were born to be here and want to adopt the Sint Maarten Way of life.

Together, we will preserve and promote our culture and identity.

In unity, we will shine as the rare pearl of the Caribbean that we are.

On behalf of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports, I wish you and your children the true joys of celebrating Nelson Mandela Day.

Wycliffe Smith

Minister of Education, Culture Youth and Sports