Dear Editor,
A good Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations is a clever man who lets government run smoothly, working silently in the background. You can say a lot about Ronald Plasterk, but this isn’t one of those things.

Dear Editor,
The behaviour of what was happening during the eye of the storm (Irma ) and after the storm was a display of evil in men’s and women’s hearts. What was displayed in the streets of Philipsburg is the past decades of the lack of family values and not proper upbringing of the young men and young women. The lack of respect for order and law and respect of people’s property which is the disobedience of God’s laws much less man’s laws. Vulgarity was also in action.
Gen. 6.5: The LORD saw that human evil was growing more and more throughout the earth, with every inclination of people's thoughts becoming only evil on a continuous basis.
More shameful is to see some parents have their children helping them steal or loot. I remember well as a young man President Ronald Reagan said a nation not under God is a nation gone under. The next step will be the Jobless rate climbs and the increase in private prostitution will also skyrocket.
The virtues of so many women and men is non-existent. A virtue is a trait or quality that is deemed to be morally good and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being. We do not have much relationships any more, what we have now is an animal farm, many men and women have 2 or 3 other children by different partners.
The practice or condition of being married to only one person at a time is out of style but not for God. The condition of having only one mate is like sin now. The norm is for women and men to have 2 or 3 partners. This is what children see in the daily lives. They see mother and father cheat, so cheating stealing and looting is now the in thing or normal thing.
The facts are we have ourselves to blame for the continuous evil we saw during the eye of the storm and when the storm passed. Ask the young people when last their parents carried them to church or do their parents teach them about a loving Savior Jesus?
Prov. 19:13: A foolish child is a ruin to his father and the quarreling of a woman is a continuous dripping.
What we saw during the eye of the storm was the human heart not only enjoying and tolerating evil but worse, bragging about what they have done.
Matthew 24:12-13: And because lawlessness will abound , the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
Psalm 73:7: From their callous hearts comes iniquity; their evil imaginations have no limits.
Romans 6:12: Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.
Romans 12:21-21: Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Mark 7:21-22: For it is from within, out of a person's heart, that evil thoughts come – sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.
The conclusion is this: stop the continuous evil. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Choices have consequences, choose wisely and choose good.

The Patriot Miguel Arrindell

Dear Editor,
In ancient times natural disasters were always blamed on the politicians. And in this case with Irma I agree full-heartedly that I believe the same today.
The frustration over the pretentious governments on both sides of the island that has angered the people to the max has finally exploded in a disaster so big that it will unite the people and the small businesses. The politicians better help them as real as they can, or they will end up as the aristocracy under the blade of the guillotine.
Politicians need to have certain virtues, abilities. It was figured out in the same ancient times. Then some entities spoke of the “Wise Men” who made the laws. The “wise men” needed to have certain skills, or they would not be able to fulfill their functions.
Here are 9 virtues as they gave as advice to the Emperor, the Supreme and Sacred Ruler. Such rulers do not exist today, or they are the men behind the controls of HAARP. If they had any of the 9 virtues we would not be in the mess we are, read on to the end.
Virtue Nr. 1: Affability coupled with dignity.
Nr. 2: Liberality with Standfastness.
Nr. 3: Hard Frankness with respect.
Nr. 4: Ability to reign with dedication.
Nr. 5: Docility with boldness.
Nr. 6: Honesty with Friendliness.
Nr. 7: Easy unconstraintness with discrimination.
Nr. 8: Boldness with sincerity.
Nr. 9: Braveness with righteousness.
If one person has three of the virtues He is good to lead a group.
When he has 6 he can manage a business of State.
And one who has all 9 virtues will be honored for appointments in the highest places.
Do some soul-searching, cabal of ruling elite: Do you have even one or two of these virtues?
Keep studying thyself.!

Chamba Chada

Dear Editor,
The terrible devastation inflicted by Hurricane Irma has been already more than a month ago. Already more than a month ago Irma took away the blanket of already existing major issues on our island. Nothing can be hidden anymore, everything has surfaced, beyond the effect of the immediate damage to infrastructure, buildings and the social economy: the major shift in the cruising industry worldwide, the tourism industry for Sint Maarten already in decline, the social health issues, the poverty, unemployment, etc.
Ima made this very visible and increased the urge to address those issues on a structural basis. Damage control and cleaning up as we are used to after hurricane impacts cannot be sustained any longer. Irma marked a point in history for Sint Maarten and its people, which is irrevocable. We cannot go back anymore to the pre-Irma state. Irma made things clear – Irma changed everything – Irma makes everything to be reconsidered.
UPG not only firmly believes this mark in history can be turned positive; our Sint Maarteners have been actually working on a new future-proof fundamental way before the hurricane struck.
The point of celebrating our 7th year of the State of Country and praising the fact we got everything right in those seven years, seems irrelevant in relation to the tremendous challenges we are facing as a nation for the future. Not only irrelevant for the future, but also puts up a virtual barrier to work together.
As you said, Mr. Marlin, and to quote you “certainly, unemployment will also be a formidable challenge. Addressing these and other issues unleashed by the onslaught of Irma and Maria will require a massive infusion of funds”.
Not only will this unemployment issue require a massive infusion of funds; at the same time it requires a new economic model to sustainably cover those costs. Otherwise, this will cause an additional cash drain in the future of our island, which we cannot afford ourselves.
We are an independent country with our own government and our responsibilities. At the other end we already were fully dependent on external sources, like our almost indefinite dependency on the tourism industry. And now we are fully dependent again on the help of external sources all over, like The Netherlands government, EU, UN, IMF, and a whole range of other bodies. We are a nation, but simply the devastation is way too large and too much to handle for a small country like Sint Maarten without accepting and allowing help.
Even now, as it seems we are expecting the first commercial flights as well as the first cruise ships, still evacuations of people from the island are taking place as we speak.
Therefore it is not losing face, it is not losing pride or independency, it is a matter of working together to simply survive: as people, as country and as economy.
As Sint Maarteners in UPG we know, feel and understand the sensitivities and tension within the existing constitutional situation, the strengthened dependency from the Kingdom today.
Especially adding those last paragraphs together, what is better than a group of young professional Sint Maarteners who have the passion for their island, their economy and want to help you with everything they have.
There are people out there who are willing and capable for professionally facilitating the planning process and as well as are able to act as a sensible interface in the complex arena of our nation, the Kingdom and the world beyond. Your own people!

Unleashed Potential Group
The Unleashed Potential Group is a group of multi-disciplined, young professionals from Sint Maarten, mixed with seasoned and senior experience from the Netherlands. Passionate, full of energy, pooling personal strength together to jointly creat valuable things. Changing and improving the social economy of our island from the inside-out. Power to build togetherness and solidarity in the community of Sint Maarten.