Dear Editor,
On February 26th the people of Sint Maarten spoke by means of the ballot. They said that they do not trust one party with an outright majority and that they still prefer to have a national parliamentary coalition. With the 15 parliamentary seats now distributed among four parties in a 7-5-2-1 composition, the voters have given the political parties a tall order.
Listening to the general public, I am hearing that the people of Sint Maarten would prefer a national government, which includes all parties. The Governor, in his assignment to the “informateurs,” referred to the broadest possible based government, which includes as many parties as possible. Of course, each party would have preferred to have obtained 8 or more seats in order to have a majority in Parliament. However, the people have spoken and their voice, according a popular Latin saying, is the Voice of God. “Populi Vox, Populi Dei”!
It is important to note that the formation of government after an election consists of two very distinct yet very interrelated phases. Phase one is the formation of a parliamentary coalition in order to obtain a majority of seats in the parliament or the legislative branch of government. This phase is finalized with a government accord or agreement. Phase two is the formation of the executive branch of government. This phase is finalized with a governing program and the appointment of Ministers.
At present, Sint Maarten is going through phase one. In the past, phase one was usually skipped. It became normal that almost immediately after the election results were announced political parties would sign an agreement to form a coalition purely based on numbers. This practice has proven not to be effective, because within a matter of months coalition members would realize that they were unable to work together in the coalition. This realization then brought about shifts in parliament which resulted in collapses of government. In the last eight years we have had several coalition changes in parliament which has led to some seven different governments.
Being very concerned about the recurring instability in parliament and government, the SMCP included stability in its Manifesto as its first point of departure. For SMCP, everything hinges on stability! SMCP went even further and outlined various steps that could lead to stability in parliament and in government.
Step one was simply following the procedure of utilizing an informateur in phase one and a formateur in phase two. The informateur’s role is to gather information from all of the winning parties concerning their vision, philosophy, principles, plans and projects, etc. He/she would then be able to ascertain fundamental differences, compatibilities and common aspects, non-negotiables, etc. among parties. After compiling all relevant information it would be much easier to ascertain which parties would be best able to form a durable coalition for the next four years.
SMCP is pleased to see that the Governor is following the in/formation procedure. On March 1st, 2018, he appointed two informateurs, namely Mr. Jan Beaujon and Dr. Nilda Arduin who are to report their findings as well as their recommendations no later than March 12th.
People are so accustomed of hearing which parties “form the government” the day after elections that they are all wondering now what is going on. Let me assure you that even though you do not hear anything, a lot of work is going on behind the scenes. Parties are now required to reflect on how they intend to move Sint Maarten forward once in parliament.
The Governor has presented some serious questions which need answers. Questions related to the reconstruction of Sint Maarten, the relationship with the Kingdom, the next hurricane season, the landfill and waste management as well as how to involve the social partners in the rebuilding of Sint Maarten.
In addition, SMCP is of the opinion that phase one can also serve as a cool-off period. After all, political parties and their candidates have just campaigned against each other. They may have said negative and disparaging things about each other. If such is the case it is impossible to immediately forge a relationship. Hence, there needs to be a time of reflection and reconciliation. Phase one of the formation process enables party leaders to do this as well as concentrate on what mandates they will give to their MPs in parliament with regard to legislation, supervision of government, budgetary control and interaction with the public of Sint Maarten.
After March 12th the people will hear which parties agree to form a parliamentary coalition and why they believe that they can work together during the coming four years. SMCP is hopeful for a national parliamentary coalition, if this is not possible then the broadest possible based coalition. In any case, SMCP is ready to serve the people of Sint Maarten for a change in both the legislative as well as the executive branches of government.
In the following article, I will elaborate on phase two of the government formation process, namely, the formation of the executive branch of government, i.e. the Council of Ministers!

Wycliffe Smith
Leader of the Sint Maarten Christian Party

Dear Editor,
Two weeks before the NBA All- Star Game which took place last February, a storm without peer broke loose in the basketball world and arguably also in the larger field of international sports, and such especially because of the turn it took. The first swing in what became like a heated debate was taken by the duo of LeBron James and Kevin Durant, two of the most famous basketball players of their generation.
In an interview they had a couple of days before the All-Star Game, they had expressed very sharp criticism on the actual president of the US, Donald Trump and his style of performing politics.
In her turn, Laura Ingraham, host of the Fox News, which is the major TV channel/ protagonist of the conservatives in the States, reacted with a very personal attack against LeBron and Kevin. She told them, among others, to “shut up and dribble”, particularly because, according to her, they do not even have enough education to dare mess with politics.
Kevin answered Laura, calling her attack racist, as there were various white celebrities in the basketball world who also have criticized Trump without Laura attacking them. And LeBron just said that he did not worry about Laura and that he would continue expressing himself as champion for the many, especially youngsters in need, and to promote social justice in America.
Within a couple of days, many public figures in the basketball and sports world in general came out supporting LeBron and Kevin for all they and other famous basketball players were doing to improve the lives of especially youngsters in need. Very notable, for example, was that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, publicly declared that he was very proud of his players.
But the one who brought the discussion to a more profound level was Gregg Popovich, the famous coach of San Antonio Spurs, who defended the criticism of LeBron and Kevin by referring to the First Amendment of the American Constitution, which, as a human right, establishes the liberty of each citizen to express one’s opinion, inclusive on politics, irrespective one’s race, religion, sex or economic position.
By doing that, Gregg, arguably for the first time in sports history, publicly touched on The Great Political Question of where the sovereignty, the seat of the maximum political power in a nation, rests. The answer to that: with the people of each nation, which people’s sovereignty, the same as with the human rights, are recognized in the constitutions of almost all the countries in the world, although they, in reality, too often, are not being respected by the governments and politicians the way that should be.
One great importance of the right of expression of opinion by each individual person as a pillar of the people’s sovereignty is that it also includes the capacity of each person’s self-activity to, with one’s personal talents, develop one’s life to the maximum and also contribute to the progress of one’s country.
Laura, of course, in her next program, reacted to the criticism on her in which she brought two conservators of colour, whose rebuttals disappointedly remained personal (LeBron’s does not represent the values of the black community) and calling LeBron’s and Kevin’s ideas Marxists and socialists without further motivation. And while Laura called herself a political pundit, she did not touch on the Great Political Question.
Consequently, LeBron and Kevin clearly ended winning the debate, although a few points should be taken away from them for the use of certain words they would not have spoken in the presence of their mothers.
It should be applauded that sports persons like LeBron James, Kevin Durant and others, once they have reached a position of great celebrity and material fortune, use that not only to their own personal benefit, but also to that of those less fortunate. Therewith they give very clear example not only to sports persons and others in privileged positions, but particularly also to politicians around the world (thus also by us in the Caribbean) to do more to help their citizens use their capacity of self-activity for major progress of themselves and their community.

Elco Rosario

The complexity

of we hair insanity

Is yuh hair from here

Black woman you boosting

yuh from here

But yeh still wearing another

woman hair

And yuh looking fo ah man

who got good hair

For you can't stand te make

Ah pignin with picky hair

So yuh now judging a man

By looking at he hair

So he good or he bad

Depending on he hair

And that is if he born here

Or whether he come from

Elsewhere

So please tell me what is bad hair

Is it Negro hair

And what good is there

in good hair

Apart from costing you dearer

Remember it was your father

And your mother

Who you say you love so dear

work soo hard to give you that hair

And now like a ungratful deer

Yeh choose to wear

Another woman hair

So be careful what hair

you wear

Becuz if t'aint your hair

Then t'aint from HERE

Even though yuh born HERE

Part of you ain't from here

So stop boosting

You from here

Since you damn well know

The hair yuh wearing come

From elsewhere.

Big Ray

To my black sisters

Thanking JL for her valuable contribution

Dear Editor,
It saddens my heart to see the condition of the dogs of the Sheriff department. The person that is taking care of these dogs does not know at all what they are doing. The dogs are underfed, they are not given the right food to eat, they have parasites, look at the way those dogs look, they are taken advantage of.
Those dogs are guard dogs as they say, and these dogs are being paid for to do a job so they should be fed properly and be treated right. Cooked rice cannot sustain the dogs, it makes them sick, they need water just like we do and need vitamins, dewormed and good source of protein in food to be fed 2x on a daily basis. Am asking the Animal Foundation to please look into this situation. Example: take a look at the police dogs in the USA and see the difference.

Annette Hodge