Dear Editor,
The Oxford Dictionary defines “ego” as a person's sense of his/her own worth and importance. Conceit is excessive pride in oneself.
I recently learned a new term, stupid-stubborn; two self-explanatory words that need no definition. I didn't learn it from a dictionary; it was coined by my doctor. (She was describing me.)
I'm now beginning to think that the longer certain politicians remain in power, the more their ego, conceit, and stupid-stubbornness grow.
Our government has aggressively rejected the Integrity Chamber from day one. Yet, they don't want voters to believe they might have something (a multitude of shameful things?) to hide; things that, if exposed, could make them fall from grace and maybe lead to their downfall.
They keep repeating, "We have nothing to hide", nonetheless, they very strongly continue to resist the IC with all that's in them, even to the extent that this senseless power struggle is postponing the desperately-needed help from the Netherlands, who – thank God – is still willing to help an island whose government they claim is totally corrupt.
The fact that the Dutch published a long list of items they sent to St. Maarten as aid in this newspaper is an indication of their distrust of our government. They want the people of St. Maarten to know what they have done so far. The EU is also willing to send monetary help, but they apparently won't, if the Netherlands holds back theirs.
I thank God for our mother land, and Aruba and Curaçao who helped us get back on our feet after Hurricane Luis 22 years ago and are helping us now again. May God bless our mother land and our sister islands.
By the way, we are not hearing anything from the clowns who are totally against the Dutch and who are talking about independence. They must have gone into hiding.
In my opinion, any honest politician – one who has a clear conscience and nothing to hide – would very much welcome an Integrity Chamber. It would help to keep him or her honest. They can't use the excuse of not being able to pay for the IC, because Holland is willing to pay for it.
A genuine watchdog at absolutely no cost to the government is still aggressively being kept at bay.
As far as border control is concerned, the fact that we have tens of thousands of aliens (whether undocumented or not) on our island is proof positive that we have failed miserably to protect our borders and our interests.
Another sad fact nobody is talking about is that the majority of homes on the island are not insured, for the simple reason that homeowners simply cannot afford to pay the exorbitant insurance premiums. After this disaster, the already-unaffordable premiums are probably going to triple, placing them absolutely beyond our means.
A senior acquaintance, who has been here for several decades, recently told me he is seriously considering selling his home and going back to his island of birth, Aruba. There he will be able to live a stress-free life. He will never have to fear hurricanes, becoming homeless overnight, despicable looters, and having to pay astronomical insurance premiums.
This is certainly not the time for our politicians to nurture their egos and engage in a power struggle with the Dutch. The homeless and unemployed, and there are so many of them, are in desperate need of help, and they need it now.
If our politicians don't come to their senses soon, their stupid-stubbornness might even lead to us getting no help at all. And, yes, they will still want us to vote for them again after – rather if – we overcome this catastrophe.
I say “if” because we, including our government, don't have much more than a clue of the full extent of the damage St. Maarten has suffered. We now have thousands of people who are out of work; how are these people going to pay their rent or their
mortgage or, worse yet, put food on the table? Despair and hopelessness, such as not being able to feed your hungry children, will cause even good and peace-loving people to do desperate things. Bad things are likely to start happening.
Let's hope and pray that our politicians do come to their senses, stop this stupid power struggle with the Dutch and swallow their pride for the sake of the wellbeing of the people they are supposed to protect and take care of.
If we ever needed the honourable people in government to be competent and effective, and do the right thing, it's now!
Clive Hodge
Dear Editor,
A number of hurricane-stricken islands have been busy securing much-needed recovery and rebuilding funds in order to get their economies moving forward to protect and save existing jobs, and to create opportunities for new jobs during this process.
Country Sint Maarten is currently at an impasse where hundreds of millions of euros are concerned for its rebuilding process. Both parties, the Government of the Netherlands and the Government of Sint Maarten, will have to see how they can accommodate each other during this critical stage of the nation’s recovery process.
His Excellency Governor Eugene Holiday during a working visit to the Netherlands, informed Sint Maarteners at an event organized by the Sint Maarten House, that damage to local infrastructure alone is US $1.8 billion. This figure His Excellency attributed to an interim report of the work group who are busy preparing the National Recovery Plan.
The United States Virgin Islands (USVI) is expected to receive US $800 million in low-interest loans out of a package of US $4.9 billion that the U.S. Senate passed recently as part of a US $36.5 billion hurricane disaster relief bill that also includes Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico. Also, over US $500 million is destined for California for wildfire damage.
The loans for Puerto Rico and USVI are intended to cover disaster-related revenue losses and to avoid disruption of essential public services. This amount is separate from a request made by the USVI Government of US $5.5 billion.
Where it concerns the British Overseas Territories of Anguilla, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the British Virgin Islands (BVI), all islands have gross national incomes higher than the benchmark set by the World Bank for countries to be eligible for Official Development Assistance (ODA).
On October 30, a meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), will decide whether to issue an “emergency waiver” that would allow the aforementioned islands to qualify for the waiver for a short period of time for rebuilding funds.
In the meantime, the Premier and Minister of Finance of BVI Dr. D.O. Smith has secured confirmations from the Caribbean Development Bank and the European Union to support finding ways to fund the recovery of the islands. The Premier foresees a mix of grants and affordable borrowing to fund the territory’s reconstruction.
Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has been in Brussels holding meetings with the European Union (EU) about areas of collaboration and cooperation where the EU can assist the island.
The current impasse between the Governments of the Netherlands and Sint Maarten needs to come to an end quickly rather than later. As each day goes by, it means another day of rebuilding has been lost.
The differences in opinion and the stand taken based on principle by the two governments should lead to a middle ground where the people of the country are the winners in the end, because the losers in the end will be the people and the country overall with long-lasting socio-economic consequences.
Sint Maarten is a resilient nation which has transcended economically other islands in the region over the past 50 years. Today, we stand at the crossroads wounded, down, but not out. #SXMStrong.
Roddy Heyliger
Dear Editor,
Hurricane Irma and the other storms that followed brought lots of destruction and misery with them and for some, far more than others. However, just as the sun shines after the clouds dissipate, opportunities for development and progress can be sown and reaped, with some in relatively short time.
Our present focus however, is rebuilding of our country. Funds for humanitarian aid must be disbursed expeditiously. We all know that conditions are attached for receiving aid. However, the practice of giving aid and setting funds aside for disasters to assist developing and under-developed countries is one that has been taken up in budgets of all the developed nations to assist the developing and under-developed countries with their recovery. Conditions for disbursement of aid, financial or otherwise, were always prerequisites for qualification.
However, having an Integrity Chamber was never one of the conditions from any of the donor countries as far as I know. I see no problem with having an Integrity Chamber for St. Maarten and border control is a no-brainer in my book. Holland, again in my opinion, may not impose what I consider to be unjust and biased conditions on St. Maarten Government in order for St. Maarten to receive aid.
If it is to be that St. Maarten has an Integrity Chamber, then included in the conditions to establish such should be that the other partners in the Kingdom also have such an institution established post-haste and with a binding start-up date. This condition should entail immediate dismantling of the local chapter if this condition is not met by all the other partners.
Having said this, I move on to my contribution in the recovery of our nation. I presented a plan on the construction of a breakwater and boardwalk for the Maho Beach area. Benefit of this is that we have a better road infrastructure and safer enjoyment of one of the top world attractions. This plan should be included in the reconstruction plans for St. Maarten, as it contributes to our economy.
In my presentation, I proposed for the airport and harbor to bear the cost, as they are the source of entry and as such should contribute to the overall safety and beauty enhancement of our destination. However, these institutions have also experienced damage, as well as loss of revenue, and therefore cannot reasonably be expected to contribute to this project.
So my question is, if studied and found viable, can my concept be included in the National Recovery Plan?
We also have issues with large and deep water puddles on the roads. An engineer once told me that soak-away wells can be drilled for the water to drain into. Maybe this is worthwhile looking into. If found possible, this project will be a very affordable way of solving a major road problem in St. Maarten.
On the subject first mentioned at the beginning of my article on “Opportunities for development and progress can be sown and reaped, with some in relatively short time.” I want to present what I consider to be one of those opportunities I see for Government to capitalize on: St. Maarten National Lottery.
If what schoolchildren say is correct, then we lost the biggest lottery company of the island. This is a perfect opportunity to introduce a national lottery, which will bring money in Government coffers for development projects, as well as job opportunity for many. This can be done in less than 9 months and with complete transparency.
A Canadian Government-approved company which manages the National Lottery for Aruba offered to manage or set a lottery company up for Government. The control entails immediate transfer of sales information to the Tax Department. This means that the Tax Inspectorate is aware of the exact lottery sale amount at all times. This also means job opportunities, revenue for Government and development funds for our communities.
There is a saying that says: There is no bad that for good will not come. And I see a lot of good that can come out of this bad Hurricane Irma did to us. So if it is good, then let us just do it.
Louis R. Engel
Dear Editor,
The Safety and security of people and property is the number one responsibility of government. However, our negligent government, which includes the PM, the Minister of Justice and the Police Chief, knew for over 40 hours beforehand that cat. five Hurricane Irma was heading directly towards us, but did not issue a state of emergency and order all police officers, the VKS, the Coast Guard and the 50 or so military personnel that were on island at the time to secure their families and report to duty at 6:00pm on September 5 to stand by in barracks and be ready to be dispatched to secure the capital Philipsburg, the major food suppliers, hotels, and other business areas on island.
Both European and American forecast models were showing that Irma was going to pass very close or right over us more than 30 hours before as a strong cat. five hurricane. Why did the PM not issue a “state of emergency” on September 5? Why did the Police Chief and Minister of Justice not order all Justice Officers, which includes the VKS and the Coast Guard, to report to duty at 6:00pm on September 5?
Why did the PM not request 100 or so military troops and some Curaçao police offers to be sent to the island before, or right after the storm stopped on September 6? After all, it only takes 1½ hours for military transport planes to bring in troops and some additional Curaçao police officers from the military base in Curaçao. Why was no stand-by request made to the Dutch Minister of Defence and the Dutch Minister of Justice in advance for military assistance? Military troop transport aircraft can land in almost any condition. They could have landed at the airport one hour after the wind stopped.
I was watching the news before the electricity and Internet went down, and I saw that the governor of the state of Florida had already issued a state of emergency and requested everyone to evacuate the coastline of Florida and move further inland. That was four or five days before Hurricane Irma was expected to hit Florida.
I suppose we did not learn what happens after a cat. five hurricane from Hurricane Luis 22 years ago. So, no security preparations were made.
I understand from eyewitnesses that looters had already started looting the bars along Boardwalk Boulevard and some stores in Philipsburg after the sea started rising before the winds started early in the evening on September 5.
All hell really started to break loose during the eye of the storm, before the second half of the hurricane. Cost-U-Less and Le Grand Marché were broken into; the front hurricane doors were ripped off by looters during the eye of the storm. Early morning on September 6 before the winds had stopped hundreds, if not thousands were swarming Cost-U-Less and Le Grand Marché . I could see from my house pickup trucks and cars loading up.
By eight o’clock in the morning on September 6 processions of people on scooters, loaded pickup trucks, cars and shopping carts were carrying 42-inch TV sets and other stolen goods towards St. Peters and Betty Estate. This continued for three days without police doing anything to stop it.
A little later in the day on September 6 I saw some police cars driving by the procession of looters on L.B. Scott with their sirens blaring, but did nothing. Meanwhile, in Philipsburg they were breaking into the electronic and jewellery stores. Not one law enforcement officer to be seen anywhere!
Storeowners ran to the police station to tell the police they are breaking into my store. “Please help!” The police told the storeowners that they had no police officers to send, many did not show up for duty because they also had houses and families to take care of, they said.
What? What is the duty of the police? While most looters were foreigners, many locals were in between. We had security guards looting. We had government civil servants looting. We had some politicians’ immediate family members looting. We had employees looting the stores they worked at. We had mother and father looting with their children. We had Haitian women looting with their grown children. We even had some so-called Christians in church on Sunday and looting on Wednesday.
Again, most of the looters were foreigners and the children of foreigners! I overheard one Jamaican woman in a Chinese restaurant telling her friends that she was in Cost-U-Less and all she could hear the people speaking was Jamaican and Spanish.
I also saw some Guyanese and people from down-island carrying home looted stuff.
Many hundreds, if not thousands of people looted multiple millions of dollars in merchandise, much of it will not be paid by insurance, very few caught and given light sentences. What message do you think this sends to the criminals next time around? If one loots a can of milk, he is just as guilty as the one who steals a 40-inch TV.
No one was starving and hungry on the morning after Irma. Can one go and steal a rancher’s cow and say he was hungry? That rancher would have the right to shoot that person on the spot for cattle-rustling. Same for if one who steals a farmer’s crops. Let’s not try to make a thief the victim here.
One looter was beaten by cops and there was an outcry from some bleeding-heart leftist about police brutality. He should have not only been beaten. In my opinion, he should have also been shot, for he was not only breaking a zero tolerance curfew, but he was also looting (stealing). I support the police officers on this one. More should have been beaten and shot. If you act like an animal, you should be treated as such. If more were beaten and shot, next time around there would be no looting.
Zero tolerance should mean just that. Zero tolerance has become meaningless, a joke! Bleeding heart leftists were trying to make this criminal into the victim here again.
Well, on the third day I saw some military showing up at roundabouts standing there with guns in hand, no bullets in their magazines, watching looters go by in their loaded pickup trucks, cars, scooters and shopping carts and doing nothing to stop the looters. I asked one of them, “Why you are not doing anything to stop them?” He told me that they do not yet have orders to intervene. I suppose the PM still did not yet sign off on the “State of Emergency” after the third day of looting.
Zero tolerance only kicked on the fourth day after the storm, after almost every store, Chinese supermarket, liquor store and school were looted out. Our anti-business government has a track record for demonising the business community. It’s as though they wanted the businesspeople to be looted out. Some politicians told some of the businesspeople to “let the people take what they want, you have insurance”
St. Maarten has become a high risk dangerous place in which to invest and major investors have lost confidence. Unemployment will now skyrocket, thanks to the incompetence of our leaders. Non-Dutch citizens who were looting should be declared “enemies of the state” and should be treated as such, You don’t come to another man’s state saying you are looking to make a better life for yourself and through your actions to destroy and bring down that state. They should be locked up and be deported.
Guest workers with temporary work and residence permits who are now unemployed; should be given a day to return home, or be deported! No new guest work permits should be issued for another five years. Rebuilding should be done by Dutch citizens and permanent residents with clean police records, if not, they should also be deported!
Crime was alarmingly high before Irma. Less than one in 10 of every criminal case is ever solved. Those few minuscule cases that do get solved, criminal convicts get little or no time in jail. Most people do not report crime because they know that the chance of their cases being solved is little to none.
You may call me whatever names you wish to now! Xenophobia is a word created by fascists and used by cowards to manipulate morons!
Parliament still has a chance to redeem itself by sacking the PM, the Minister of Justice and the Police Chief for gross incompetence and negligence. By now you should know that I support the Dutch in invoking Article 51 to take over border security and install the Integrity Chamber. Don’t like it that way? Then I suggest you go for independence (plan B) and get out! On St. Maarten we have our own Robert Mugabe and his henchmen, and on Statia they have their own Idi Amin.
Some of my neighbours are thieves. Five houses down the road from me, I saw cars off-loading lot of looted goods into their apartments two hours after the storm, and two weeks after the storm, three houses down from me the police surrounded that house, called in the police flatbed truck and loaded up the truck up with fridges, TVs and lots of other goods from the house.
Some of my neighbours are thieves! Is your neighbour a thief?
When you import the ghetto, you become the ghetto. Good luck for the future St. Maarten. You will need it!
Peter Gunn
We have so many people who can't help themselves, I am one who doesn't have a home but I have Christ in my life. If the Government would accept the Lord in their life the people would not suffer so much but they only see it their way: the fighting with color Red, White, Green, Purple, Orange, Blue, and Gold and God knows what more
Get together and start by giving your lives to God and He is going to give wisdom to you all. Stop making bad and hurting moves, Prime Minister, Minister of Tourism, Minister of Labor, Minister of Vromi, Minister of Justice and Minister of Finance, the people are hurting.
If you don't put God in everything you do, the people are going to rise up and poor people are going to get badly hurt. Please, I am begging, stop it before it starts. People out there are still wondering where to start. I work hard for Government lose my home, beg Government for help and they never help me, but today have 40,000 people homeless. Only God can help the Government now, but all they are thinking is power.
First time in life I see this, it had five to six people try their best to help me. Mr. Hyacinth Richardson, Al Wathey, Lenny Priest, Mr. Silvio Matser, Julian Rollocks and Mr. Frans Richardson. Mr. Theo Heyliger would have helped, but the Dutch on his back know they want to be in control.
It's like when we were small: you do something and if your mother finds out you will get beaten and your brother and sister will hold that on you so you had to wash their dishes.
Please, the Government, don't let that happen to you. Turn to God, give your life to Him, ask Him what to do, hold on to His hands, He will see you through;
I know what it is to sleep in a car or a shack or from place to place. I gave my life to God and I am holding onto His hands, I am not letting go. If you need help go to the Universal Church any time, any hour, someone is always there to pray with you, or give me a call. I will be very happy to go with you.
Help the homeless
Roselind Avril Gumbs
