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

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,
As an Educator teaching 25 years at the University of St. Martin (USM), I would like to humbly give my advice and solution to the Minister of Education on how to save our University of St. Martin. I fully understand the situation our Government is being confronted with. The shortage of income for this year and the coming years for the entire country is something we all have to face and therefore it is impossible at this point and time to commit to any type of monetary assistance to the University, but we need to be creative in seeking a solution.
This is where creative financing comes into the picture within Government. Governments just can't continue to depend on just one source of income such as taxation from businesses and the residents, but should start executing other sources of revenue-generating measures to meet the demands within government.
Mr. Editor, as Leaders and Elected Representatives of the people, education, education, education is what we should set as priorities within Government and go the extra mile to make exemptions and amendments to our Budget 2017 and draft Budget 2018.
All political parties that ran in the last election had education and higher learning institutions at the top of their political manifestos. The question is how much has been achieved since the third annual Governor's Symposium on July 2, 2014, at The Westin "Education is the Foundation to sustain democratic way of life." The Foundation of any society is its commitment to the community.
As St. Maarteners we should love and support each other the way that we should in order to build up our community, society and Institutions.
Over the years, I just find It "simply amazing" the way we treat our highest learning Institution on the island. USM has produced some of the best local professionals who hold key positions within the public and private sectors of St. Maarten. The strength of USM has always been its students who have a good track record in the public and private sector and attending other Universities abroad.
It’s a national shame that throughout the years the University has still not been recognized and even more shameful that less than one percent of our National budget for Education goes towards the University of St. Martin. It's very embarrassing for USM to travel abroad in meetings with other top Universities and when asked the simple question if our University is recognized by Government, they must answer “no.”
As a former Member of Parliament, I can remember championing the draft Harmonization Ordinance which has been recently passed in Parliament by the Minister of Finance and the draft Tertiary Ordinance which to date is still going through the process to recognize the University of St. Martin. Simply Amazing....
Mr. Editor, My first job since graduating and returning back to St. Maarten in 1991 was teaching at USM as a Faculty member of Johnson & Wales University. I also was the first President of the USM/Johnson & Wales Alumni Association in St. Maarten. USM has more than 750 Alumni, many of whom have gone on to work internationally and locally in various sectors.
The point I want to make is that I have seen USM develop and progress and have witnessed the highs, lows, the political games and the struggles of USM over the years to change its image and try to become an accredited and recognized University within its own Country.
We as a community and alumni should be able to give back to our local University and help to build back this invaluable Institution. Giving back comes in so many forms, including financial subsidy, but all forms of support are appreciated.
USM should also make their Alumni feel as if they are a part of the University by organizing homecoming events, workshops, fundraising galas and keeping them up to date with University events and achievements.
I fully agree with the Minister of Education that the USM Board has to comply with the subsidy ordinance and hand in their outstanding financials to government, but that shouldn't hold back the process of helping our highest learning Institution on the island.
USM is a private non-profit organization in which not only Government has a role to play but also the Board of Directors of USM, that also needs to carry out their responsibilities and step up to the plate and start governing, leading and executing the vision of the University of St. Martin. The Board of Directors has a strategic function in providing the vision, mission, policies and goals of the University.
Fundraising is one of the major responsibilities of a non-profit Board of Directors/Trustees. We have to remember USM is not a Government-owned Institution and we all have a responsibility to USM as Board, Management, and Faculty and Alumni graduates.
The question, however, is are we doing our part to recognize and feel proud of our University? We need leaders who are not just followers that just talk about the problems without giving any solutions. True leaders think and talk about the solutions to change. This includes wanting to change the negative image of our University.
My humble advice and solution to our Leaders in government is to amend the Budget 2017 to give USM part of the funding this year and increase USM’s subsidy to 3 million guilders on the draft Budget 2018 to save our University.
I know the next question will be: Where are we going to get the 3 million guilders from? As a former Minister, my humble advice would be to take it from the different Ministries which always have a surplus at the end of the year because most of the time they can't execute their proposed projects. I would like to know if all Ministries in government have a shortage of funds for this year.
Government has to set priorities, improve their financial management and cut back on some wasteful spending and cut back on some of our associations/organizations abroad that give no return of investments to the island. Government also has to make it a priority to finalize the draft Tertiary Ordinance. Parliament should follow up to make sure the Tertiary Ordinance is finalized with the input of USM and go through the process to Parliament.
Mr. Editor, when it comes to our own local Highest Learning Institution and local professionals, we love to put them through the grinder of procedures and not give them the recognition for their hard work. Why? That is the same feeling I have with our own local University which we are failing today. Not to have recognized and accepted our responsibility over the years. But today, we can blame USM for their failures and shortcomings in which we also should share responsibility making it almost impossible for USM to succeed on its own island.
In closing, I would like to thank and wish the President of USM, Mr. Guadeloupe, who has tendered his resignation, all the best for all the hard work and sacrifice he has dedicated over the years to put USM on the map. We have lost a good, hard-working local professional who has the University at heart.
I am sure he has learnt over the years the political games, egos, characters that have been played with USM’s future. But, I foresee USM rising again in the near future once again with a revised vision, strategic plan and put as a priority with creative financing on our National draft Budget and recognized by our Government.
Mr. Editor, this is the time our leaders have to be creative, innovative, solution-oriented and use the SMART method (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely) for finding concrete solutions to move St. Maarten forward.
USM is facing dire times, can we not come to its aid as one community?

Maurice Lake