Dear Editor,
it is not my intention to make this a long letter. but sometimes when I say A I'm obliged to say B also so here we go.
As I was getting into my car after leaving church on Sunday morning, A gentleman in a pickup wanted a word with me. His accent sounded local and he asked me if I am still proud to be a Sint Maartener. I assume that that came from the fact that I am always advocating for government to determine who is a Sint Maartener.
I answered him "Are you?" and asked him if that question was well thought out before asking me. There are a whole lot of factors and thoughts which could have ignited that question, and why would he feel justified to ask me that question?
So I asked myself “why now?” Yes, why now that question. I do not think I should answer that question, so I am thanking that person for asking me that question and I am asking it to whoever reads this letter and feels him/herself entitled to answer it. “Do you still feel proud to be a Sint Maartener?” That is a loaded one.
But for discussion sake let me ask it this way. How would you feel about yourself as a voter to know that you were instrumental in providing your country with seven governments in seven years with the same people heading those political party lists?
But it is the following anser that I got from also a gentleman which really got to me. After looking for some advice from me, I referred him to the police. His answer floored me. "Boy I don't even call they no more, they don't come out of the car. It don’ matter whether you old or not, they don’t know how to address you” and he continued. He must have noticed the change in my demeanor, because he said “thank you” and left.
But when I have to read that Alegria ignores court case and demolishes restaurant I have to ask “Whose fault is it?” Let me put it this way. I have mentioned this several times before and I will repeat it: Everything that happens in the country, good or bad, is the responsibility of government. What I know is that “follow the leader” could either lead to good or to bad.
What I also know is that for the last seven years the leaders have only shown us bad things. When I see the last and one of the biggest disappointments on the side of government I say anything can be expected because people in government are the foremost demonstrators how to form and execute a coup. They make the East people look like amateurs. And they have the guts to fight the law on integrity.
I said that before and someone said to me, “But Russell, you self told us that if a donkey kicks you that is normal because that comes natural to the donkey. So why not expect they in there to fight the law on integrity?”
Granted, someone has to come to their senses and start somewhere, but Mr. Maurice Lake has strange timing. Apart from what he said about the University, nothing is new, but there is an election looming. Until these politicians and people in government start doing the right thing, if the Luis’ and the Irmas don't finish us government will.
Hopefully this throwing down of government work against them and the people get rid of them including Brownbill because he just reach there and is proving to be one of those kind also. I said 13 of the 15 and six of the seven.
I intended to spend a relaxed Sunday, but that question about still being proud to be a Sint Maartener did not sit well with me.
Since we are questioning, I would like to ask all of those politicians who have been in government for a while now to look in the mirror and ask themselves: What have I done for the people of Sint Maarten who have kept me in government so many years? And then I would like for them to look in the mirror again and ask: What will my legacy be?
I am sure that there are whole lot of people who were not born on Sint Maarten but can look in that mirror without being ashamed to ask themselves that question. And you know that they will come up with positive answers.
Should not government extend a helping hand to people who are down as opposed to kicking them when they are down?
Russell A. Simmons
The multi-billion-dollar oil refinery that was to be constructed by Guangdong Zhenrong Energy (GZE) in Myanmar failed miserably. This was confirmed last week by the Myanmar Investment Commission.
Dear Editor,
You drive around the island these days and there are certain ironies that just make you smile. In the face of catastrophe and natural disaster, there are certain simple truths that are so self-evident that words simply cannot do them justice and only their very images tell the whole story.
Dear Editor,
Many of us are very high happy that we have electricity, water and some cases Internet and cable connections. However, there are many of our brothers and sisters that to date are still without these facilities. We have been approached by many residents in the districts of Dutch Quarter, in particular the Garden of Eden and in Middle Region, the road in the vicinity of the family Beauperthuy that still don’t have electricity connections and will not receive such until the first quarter in 2018.
In all honesty we must commend the workers, the management of N.V. GEBE and those workers from the Curaçao company who have done a fantastic job in restoring electricity to the island. However, from reliable sources we have learnt that the workers from Curaçao are leaving the island the early part of this week and that with them leaving it will cause further delay with the electrical connections to those areas mentioned above and others.
We have therefore forwarded a letter to the Minister of VROMI and responsible for NV GEBE to intervene in this matter. On behalf of those many residents we have requested the minister to take up contact with the management of N.V. GEBE to extend the stay of the workers from Curaçao for at least two more weeks. This would allow them to assist in finalizing those connections to those many areas mentioned above and others such as the St. James Estate in Defiance.
We also know that many of the workers of NV GEBE and the management have performed above the call of duty after the passing of hurricanes Irma and Maria. However, by extending the stay of the workers from Curaçao it would allow the workers from NV GEBE to get the much needed rest to continue with the underground program and other electrical plans that are in the pipelines. But at the end of the day there must be light in the tunnel for those residents without electricity now especially with the Christmas season fast approaching and the New Year 2018 right around the corner.
Lenny F. Priest
Leader, One St. Maarten People Party (OSPP)
Dear Editor,
I am very concerned about the future of my St. Maarten. As a community-spirited person, I have never witnessed or experienced anything like this in my life. Hurricane Irma brought out the good, bad and ugly in some of our leaders, parliament, government, ministers, and employers when the people needed our help the most.
Government’s first duty is to protect and help its people after any disaster, not to play politics with their lives.
The people should never forget that government is ourselves and not an outside power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not the Governor, Members of Parliament and Government Officials, but the voters of this country.
As Dutch State Secretary of Home & Kingdom Affairs Raymond Knops stated, restoring people's lives is pivotal in the recovery phase. Our main priorities right now should be to create housing, jobs, helping people with building materials with their roof and restoring our business economy.
These upcoming months would be very trying and hard times for our people who are still hurting under these challenging times. This is the time when Government, Private and Insurance Companies, Red Cross, Hardware Stores, Banks, Medical Center, Churches, Community Councils, Community Leaders have to come together and network as one to help our people get back on their feet.
It's amazing to hear the stories from the people of how they have been treated unfairly by the Insurance Companies and some banks on the island in trying times.
Some businesses abruptly changed their customer policy after Hurricane Irma and not paying their workers which is not in the general interest of the people.
This is the time we have to pray, communicate, plan, and put our differences aside and unite as one people to build back St. Maarten and help our people in the recovery phase. Government needs to take the lead in the recovery phase as Representatives of the people and stop the political blame game which just shows the people how unprepared you were prior, during and after Hurricane Irma. We need to stop the selfishness, put aside our egos and start working together to address the pressing social issues that are affecting our people.
As I go in the different districts and listen to the cries of our local people after Hurricane Irma, a lot of our local people are under a lot of stress, no roof, no jobs, no food and government is playing a lot of politics.
Our elected representatives need to communicate their short term, immediate and long-term plans and vision/goals to the people. Right now, we are seeing a lot of ad hoc, reactive decision-making and planning instead of coming with a list of concrete priority projects for the future development of our island and its people.
I am not perfect and have learnt from my mistakes and humble myself during this trying period in the general interest of our people. I pray that some of our political leaders and Representatives stop priding themselves from their mistakes and be more humble during these recovery stages of our island and go out and hear the cries of the people. We need to be more realistic and start governing our island in the general interest of our people.
Around election time, we going to see a lot of quick fixes and self-promotion of achievements of projects for the people. Public Officials should not spend public money to promote themselves, but developing time and resources to help and communicate with our people, understanding their needs and explaining what Government is doing for the people. Government has to be more open and transparent with their priority projects for the people.
I am still to see a constructive concrete plan of action from Government to bring hope to our people after the passing of Hurricane Irma. What is our concrete plan and timeframe to bring back our hotels up to a better standard, bring back overnight tourism, get investors, helping our seniors and residents put back on their roof?
What is our marketing plan to promote our small local hotels? I don't see any creative thinking within Government. Everything is reactive instead of being pro-active of governing this Country. I read in the newspaper of drawings for our local vendors but still the Minister of Economic Affairs has yet to meet with our local vendors of the Marketplace. The local vendors want to hear from the Minister in charge of the Marketplace who represents them instead of the Market Officer.
Good Leaders or Employers have to know how to communicate with their people in these trying times.
Right now, we are seeing a big disconnect of lack of communication and providing information between Government, University officials, Employers and its people. Everywhere I go the people have no clue what the short, intermediate and long-term plans of Government are after the passing of Hurricane Irma.
I also fully agree with the University of St. Martin students that we need to restructure the Supervisory Board of Directors of USM and they should apologize to the students and staff of USM for the way they have communicated the news to the students and staff. The Supervisory Board has to update the Management and staff of USM on the future direction of the University and for them to communicate better to the faculty and students.
Right now no one knows the future direction of the University other than it would open back for a semester, date still unknown to the staff. This has really set back the degree and GED students for this semester in which some of them who need to sit the GED exam in December. USM has gotten away from their vision and mission statement in which the co-Founders the late Dr. Wathey and the Honorable Husang Ansari had established the University.
I also would like to hear from the Honorable Husang Ansari as one of the existing Co-Founders of the University of St. Martin. We need to get back to basics and put a USM Advisory Committee together with the right educational people in place to look at putting a concrete financial solution for USM, improving its curriculum instead of a temporary plan for one semester.
We can't continue to run our local University from semester to semester without a permanent solution. Government also needs to find a permanent solution for our highest learning Institution on the island which has been established to educate, train and develop our people.
In closing, let us come together as one and communicate to help our people get back on their feet. Let’s bridge the gap as French and Dutch Government Representatives under one vision to make our friendly island number one in the Caribbean and the world.
My vision is to rebuild our island to continue to be the number one destination in the Caribbean and the world and to empower our people to live comfortably in their beloved island.
Maurice Lake
