The Chinese consul, in a rage of charity, decided to give the population of Curaçao a valuable and educational gift. Of course, we must take the Chinese culture into account because they are very sensitive when it comes to etiquette.
She decided to give our National Library 500 books, including the necessary racks.
The library now has a problem, because they don't know if the books are in Mandarin, Cantonese or if they are instruction books on how to make Dim Sum, or how to kill our King Willem Alexander with chopsticks!
Maybe they're Chinese porn stories or how to repair the start engine of a Ford Pinto.
Those books need to be registered by title, name of the author, and a short synopsis of the content on its cover so that somebody knows what the book is all about. The knowledge of the bookworms in the library does not get any further than "Saté ku batata" (Kebab and fries) and “Nasigoreng,” so that does not help much either.
To return the books would be an offense and somewhere we are supposed to do something like that as a counter gesture, sending 500 books (in Papiamento) to Hong Kong and sending a wanderlust union leader or politician along to help them set it up and help with the translation of the books and to set up the catalogue so that we can get rid of that one.
Very often I find situations like that on this rock and they make my day and again and again; they make me laugh my butt off!

Arthur Donker

Disputes occur at all times. Sometimes they are big, sometimes small. Sometimes of a principled nature, sometimes they deal with (small) earthly matters. Disputes can exist between people, but also between countries. There are also (strong) disputes between the countries within our Kingdom. When it comes to disputes when making a certain choice, and a choice has to be made, the question is how you can best solve those disputes.
Let us focus on disputes within the Kingdom, between the four countries: the Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten. A possible model for dispute resolution is to use the principle that the majority decides. That is a numerical solution. The majority decides in a parliament. So, the majority in parliament has the power.
If the parliament is part of a democratic legal order and there are independent and fair elections, then you can say that there is a political legitimacy for this method of decision making. That is not to say that every decision made in this way is also morally legitimized, but that issue is of a different order.
But what about the Kingdom Council of Ministers, which is dominated by the members of the Dutch cabinet? Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten each have one Minister Plenipotentiary and are by definition in the minority. Here too the majority decides, whereby the ministers of the Dutch cabinet speak with one mouth and therefore all vote the same.
The majority have the power here (I will pass on the existing appeal procedure and the criticism of this). But is that just as fair as important, perhaps principled choices regarding the Kingdom must be made, and there are fundamental differences of opinion about this? The four countries within the Kingdom still consider each other as equal? Does power play not fit? And that is especially true if disputes are of a legal nature.
If disputes relate to (the interpretation of) the Statute for the Kingdom of the Netherlands (or the interpretation of Kingdom Acts), then it is obvious to opt for an independent settlement thereof. Pushing through a certain interpretation because you have the majority (the power), shows little respect for the other – equivalent – countries.
The Supreme Court – as the highest court in the Kingdom – enjoys authority, also on our side of the ocean. It should not be very difficult to add a Kingdom Chamber (a kind of constitutional section) to the Supreme Court. That Kingdom Chamber may be charged with settling disputes relating to the Statute (and to Kingdom Acts) and making a ruling binding on those countries for those disputes. This is a dispute resolution method that suits a mature Kingdom.
Article 12a of the Statute for the Kingdom of the Netherlands contains the following assignment to the four countries:
Under Kingdom Act, provisions are made for the treatment of disputes under Kingdom Law between the Kingdom and the countries.
Discussions on the dispute settlement have been going on for about eight years now. However, the subject is not that difficult, so other issues are playing, including probably the fear of giving up a bit of power. The Dutch government has to get over that now. After all, it is 2018. A Kingdom Act with which a dispute settlement is brought into being can take effect this year. But only if the will is there to really come to a solution.

By Karel Frielink (lawyer)

Dear Editor,
I would like to address the issue of the vast number of unmarked vehicles using the roads – vehicles with no number plates, some with W and some have no road tax stickers. If by chance any of the above vehicles are involved in an accident, and most of the time the driver drives or runs away, there is no identification so that they can be prosecuted, especially if they are in the wrong.
I am calling on the authorities to do something to stop this trend a.s.a.p. Law-abiding citizens are paying their road tax, etc. (insurance) and it is unfair for them to suffer loss as a result of such occurrence.

Concerned resident
Name withheld at author's request.

Dear Editor,

On Friday, June 1, I read with great interest the article entitled ‘Neglect and backlog’ in Statia, Knops tells MPs, in your esteemed paper. Knops stated, and I quote, “The situation is serious, the neglect and backlog even more extensive than previously thought and visible and noticeable in virtually all areas”. Knops also said the situation in Statia is of such a nature that “it will take a long time to realize tangible effects for residents”.

In a 1975 report, written by Abraham van der Mark, it emerged that many reports have been written about challenges that exist(ed) in St. Eustatius over the years. In one instance, it was pointed out that in 1971, Croes and Tijssen, Netherlands Antillean Minister of Social and Economic Affairs and Director of the Department of Social and Economic Affairs respectively, visited Statia for a day and painted the following picture: “St. Eustatius presents a picture of an impoverished island, which has been entirely left to its own fate”.

In a ’74 editorial in Statia, it was stated “Presently there isn’t much going on today than what has been going on a couple of weeks ago. One could easily change a couple of weeks into a couple of decades….”

Abraham van de Mark made mention of the fact that all the reports written about Statia talked about the same things, namely: the lack of a good administration, problems of communication, poverty and economics. He went on to say that one should save him/ herself energy by simply copying one of the reports written in earlier years. With this knowledge in mind, I therefore struggle to understand why one believes that the Dutch take-over of the island has led to ‘new discoveries’!

I will not deny that Statia has been faced with many challenges over the years, but negative perceptions by the well-intended researcher have added fuel to the fire. Van der Mark talked about this in his 1975 report: “The negative descriptions in the many reports (mostly written with good intentions) have contributed to a negative image of St. Eustatius and to stereotypes about its population. This image and these stereotypes are dangerous because if men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences”.

In the many reports written about Statia, the recommendations given were always provided by the authors of the reports, external consultants who visited Statia for short periods of time. One should therefore ask the following question: Who are the ones responsible for seeking solutions for the structural problems that exist in Statia, problems made worse by the findings of the well-intended foreigner?

Xiomara Balentina