A few months before Irma, I got a request from the VROMI Minister on his official VROMI Government letterhead (with what appears to be a Black Power fist as part of that official letterhead??), requesting a donation of FLS. 5,000.00 towards a plan to put two very tall flagpoles with huge Miami- dealership-style SXM flags in strategic locations: one on the Bell property above what was once Harold Jack's look-out stand and one in the (now not so) Great Salt Pond, at the combined cost of well over US$ 150,000.00.
The idea was to before November 11, 2017, have a prominent display of our National Flag in places where if people took selfies, the flag would proudly be displayed in the back ground, in an effort to increase National Pride awareness. Nothing wrong in my opinion with the basic premise or idea, but I questioned the huge price tag of this project, knowing all the other more pressing needs of the country. A simpler version, even then (pre-Irma), would send the same message of national local pride.. But now post Irma, with so much suffering throughout the community still very much in play and us as a nation asking third parties to send help and funds to re-build SXM, for our Minister of Infrastructure to press on with this project using taxpayers Guilders is nothing short of ludicrous and irresponsible behavior in my opinion. Unless of course I am missing something and he has gotten 100% private sector funding for his pet project. Then I apologize in advance to the Minister and question the sanity of the lunatics that are providing the cash.

Michael J. Ferrier

Attached is a picture taken at the Ex-Harold Jack location on Saturday October 21, 2017 at around 5:15 PM. Notice the VROMI Dept car and the Minister's dark tinted MR-6 official vehicle at the site.

Dear Editor,
I was shocked by the actions of the post-hurricane looters 22 years ago after Hurricane Luis, but I was even more shocked by the number and boldness of the looters after Hurricane Irma. I was told by a witness that a large number of them had begun looting CostULess during the eye of the storm, that is, before the storm was over. This action was clearly planned in advance. They certainly cast a very dark, irremovable blemish on our beloved island that may take generations to go away.
What does this say about our multi-national population? Some looters were certainly born here, but the majority are obviously from the surrounding English- and Spanish-speaking Caribbean islands. Since St. Maarteners are outnumbered by at least seven to one, if not by a bigger quantity, it is safe to assume that the vast majority were not local St. Maarteners, but belong to the multitudes of undesirable aliens our government allows to freely enter our country; enter and stay, that is.
A couple of years ago, the Census Office published information about the many different nationalities residing on St. Maarten. It was mentioned that the Spanish-speaking population – 8,000 plus at the time – had surprisingly surpassed the number of Haitians on the island. They have become the biggest non-Dutch nationality on St. Maarten.
One lady called in to Laser 101 to report that there were people stealing brand-new cars from a car dealer in Cole Bay. She saw and heard the looters in action and remarked, “All I could hear was Spanish.”
Similar words were expressed by a volunteer who was helping to distribute food. He was overheard saying, “I can count the St. Maarten people on my fingers. All I hear is Spanish.”
I think it is safe to assume that a large number of foreigners residing on this tiny island are unskilled and therefore unemployed. Those who are employed are mostly self-employed. I wonder how many, if any, of those self-employed foreigners pay taxes? It has always amazed me how a 37-square-mile half-an-island can support tens of thousands of non-Dutch people, many of whom are undocumented and unemployed. This is no undoubtedly a huge burden on the economy of our island.
The entire burden of running this island lies squarely on the shoulders of St. Maarteners and those who are living and working here legally. How much longer can this go on? Isn’t it high time for those in authority to get serious about cleaning up the chaos we are in? It seems all they ever do is talk. Much talk and little or no action translate into a non-functioning, ineffective government.
The looting in Philipsburg could have easily been prevented had our government learned from the aftermath of Hurricane Luis. I don’t remember hearing about any looters being arrested at that time. Consequently, a much larger and bolder number rose up against the community this time around. This time our police officers, with the help of their colleagues, have done a remarkable job by arresting a large number of them.
However, after all the unspeakable damage they have done to their host country, they are set free and given a few hours of community service. Worse yet, they have been told “to be remorseful and bring back the stolen goods and ‘we won’t search your homes.’” Unbelievable! The Prosecutor might as well have told them, “Just go home and behave yourselves until the next major hurricane comes along.”
If I could have things my way, I would publish and distribute a booklet with the pictures and full names of all those arrested for looting, and also mention the districts where they live. Our people have the right to know who the thieves among us are. The illegals who are not from here should be unceremoniously kicked off the island, put on a black list and never be allowed to re-enter the country. Maybe those who are from here would be so utterly ashamed of being exposed as a thief that even they might leave the island.
But, of course, this is not going to happen. Our lawmakers would rather hide behind the foolishness they call political correctness than muster up the courage to deal with the sad reality. It’s not as if the thousands of undocumented and the now unemployed documented aliens can vote for them.
How far should a country go to protect its citizens from unproductive, non-taxpaying, non-contributing and therefore undesirable “guest workers” who come out of the woodwork during and after each hurricane?
Some years ago, a former co-worker told me about a trip he and his wife had made a trip to a South American country. The immigration officer at the airport asked him, in the hearing range of the other arriving passengers, where he would be staying, how long he was planning to stay, and ... if he had enough money to support himself during his stay. He was caught totally off-guard by the last question.
He told the officer how much money he had on him and was even more humiliated when the officer growled in a not-so-friendly tone, “let me see the money!” He actually had to take the money from his wallet to show the officer. “I felt so embarrassed, Mr. Hodge, I will never again go back there.”
I would never agree with such humiliating treatment by an immigration officer. However, I do think our government is extremely careless when it comes to the admission and expulsion of aliens. This carelessness comes at a very high cost to our local people, our economy, and yes, even our reputation abroad.
Suitable foreigners - those who invest their money here, have a job (that cannot be done by locals) waiting for them here, or have services to offer that are not (sufficiently) available on the island should be welcomed and embraced. However, not all aliens are created equal. It takes a catastrophe to distinguish the good from the bad. If only our government would learn from and appropriately act on lessons from the past.

Clive Hodge

Fraud and corruption, it seems to be in the genes of KPMG. Even the construction of their own headquarters in Amstelveen was a fraudulent affair, one that involved millions of euros. KPMG offers its clients customised work. That can be messing with the books, such as with the Vestia housing corporation, or misleading numbers at the now bankrupt, Imtech; Foreign bribes (Ballast Nedam) and the payment of bribes (SBM Offshore) or large-scale fraud (as in Weyl meat processor).
As a rule, the accountant comes away with a settlement, which never teaches them a true lesson. Also in the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament, I constantly come across KPMG when a business fails financially; even recently, when we had to pull the plug from the new population register in the Netherlands. A terribly expensive ICT project, 100 million euros was discarded, under the supervision of KPMG. The company can provide financial advice and carry out all kinds of constructions. In fact, KPMG can even do research on fraud!
All of those different tasks are at odds with one another, especially in the Caribbean, where I often encounter KPMG's name in scandals. We must now prevent this company from having a role in the economic reconstruction of St. Maarten.
St. Maarten’s gambling boss Francesco Corallo is currently in custody in Italy, where he is suspected of bribing influential politicians surrounding former Prime Minister Berlusconi. The accountant of Corallo was KPMG. This bribery of politicians took place via Fortis Bank, which was controlled by KPMG again. The fact that the accountant seems to do the books of all kinds of gambling bosses is not surprising. KPMG also plays an important role in many government companies on the islands; also at the Curaçao telecom company UTS.
This makes illegal gambling possible worldwide, with a lot of criminal money being laundered. A very large insurance company on the islands is ENNIA, where many people have a mortgage, a pension, health insurance or insurances for damages. Iranian oil billionaire Hushang Ansary just took hundreds of millions of euros out of the company, the Dutch media reported. ENNIA is controlled by KPMG.
The influence of KPMG on St. Maarten and Curaçao is great, in the financial and legal world, but also in politics. These worlds seem connected through shady networks. Regularly I hear of the ‘Grupo Sopi’ (soup group), founded by KPMG people, where bankers and supervisors supposedly do business with politicians over a bowl of soup. Sometimes we tend to forget that KPMG is an accountancy business. This is a company that has to check annual accounts in order to prevent fraud and corruption.
In real life, it seems to be a company that would like to appeal to criminals. On the initiative of the SP and the VVD parties a few years ago, an investigation has been launched into the connection between the upper world and the criminal world on St. Maarten and Curaçao, especially between politics and the (illegal) gambling industry. The new Dutch Government has decided to continue that research in the coming years and to provide a great deal of resources and means.
I fear that we will encounter the name KPMG more often in those investigations. The accountant, of course, also has the task of investigating possible maladministration in his own company, but I never hear anything about that. If I was a Commissioner of KPMG, I would not rest before all the criminals left the company. Unfortunately, I am not a Commissioner of KPMG. Laetitia Griffith (VVD) and Jolande Sap (GroenLinks) are. I would like to appeal to these former colleagues to break the silence and to seriously investigate.
The Dutch Government is currently working on a 100 million euros reconstruction fund for St. Maarten. Consultants have undoubtedly already set their eyes on this fund. It probably has the attention of KPMG which of course would like to be involved in such projects. But we should not do that this time. The Dutch Government puts high demands on the integrity of members of the local government to prevent the money falling into the wrong hands. So I think a boycott of KPMG is in place.

Ronald van Raak is a Member of the Second Chamber for the Socialist Party (SP)
His columns, including this one, are regularly published on ThePostOnline.

Dear Editor,

  Does hierarchy of opinions exist? If so, who gets to decide what's best for us? One of the greatest thinkers of the 20^th century, Michel Foucault, wrote extensively on Power and Knowledge. He argued that there was a certain relationship between Power and Knowledge and, in order for some things to come to the surface, others inevitably must be suppressed.

  Unpacking Foucault's Systems of Thought amounts to mental gymnastics and exhaustion. Foucault wrote almost as if not to be understood, but his ideas, once comprehended, can illuminate one's understanding of the way society is structured.

  Some categories of opinions are discriminately placed on a pedestal, preserved and kept there indefinitely in the service and furtherance of certain objectives and ends. Thus far, there is no universal consensus on the superiority of one viewpoint over another. Views are just what they are – views, and the associated images you see depend on which lens you're peering through.

  However, an undue confidence in one's opinions at the expense of all others severely reduces our capacity to tolerate and regard considerations and mental surveys of others.

  The sources of this excessive confidence are numerous, with some exerting more influence than others on the importance they ascribe to certain opinions. For instance, let's suppose that two minds, one schooled, the other unschooled, are invited to give their opinions on a rather simple matter, something that requires no intellectual training or background knowledge, just a routine, daily occurrence. The observations of both participants are equally insightful and innovative.

  Given, then, that all other things are equal, whose opinions, then, get the coveted wink of an eye when our tendency to rank others kicks in? We know all too well where the preference shifts, and understandably so, since the products of institutions of learning are considered morally and intellectually superior to non-initiates. There is a predisposition to hold in esteem opinions that emanate from those who have undergone extensive refinement or improvement of mind by formal education.

  Their opinions, like everyone else's, are all based on grounds short of proof, which is what one's opinion actually is. However, quite often their views are mistakenly interpreted as competent enquiry, unfavourably and prejudicially accepted as probable – that which is, or may be expected to happen, or prove true or correct. We continue to witness the devastating effects of this bias across the globe.

  Conversely, the creative opinions of those who for varying reasons were unable to acquire, at the very least, a secondary level of formal education are constantly overlooked and placed nowhere close to the top of the pyramid of opinions.

  This huge storehouse of opinions and creativity are relegated to the fringes of society, without due consideration, and we observe this unfair practice being perpetrated by other privileged groups in society, too, which is not just restricted to those who have been adequately schooled. This privilege crosses borders to include those who have climbed the social ladder by whatever means, and exert tremendous influence.

  The judgment of those whose reservoir of intellectual and socioeconomic capital is greater than the remainder of the whole of society is accorded more weight. Is it by design that the opinions of these groups of individuals are given considerably more importance than others?

  There are views that are a threat to the status quo of society and are interpreted as "revolutionary." They operate outside of the "intellectual" and "emotional safe spaces" of the gatekeepers and are not allowed to come to the surface. All available resources are marshaled to suppress and portray these opinions as destructive and inferior.

  We seek opinions to gain control over the unpredictable, for in all of us there is a psychological need for reassurance, if we are to create order and sense out of events to give them focus and direction. We champion the views that fulfill this need, and seldom confer meaning and value to those that are contrary, because they bring us "divine displeasure."

  The economy of opinions permits only that which ensures order. Any view that attempts to upset and destabilize this equilibrium is attacked and, in some cases, violently too. If we recognize that our opinions are just ideas that are believed to be true, and a propensity to accord a greater value to some opinions and less to others is a basic human tendency, then we might increase our capacity to tolerate, consider and contemplate the views of others.

Orlando Patterson