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.

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,
Hurricane Irma has exposed the truth about our parliamentary system. Our parliamentarians, for whom we voted directly, have no say. It has been more than a month, since the passing of the most devastating hurricane ever to hit St. Maarten and Parliament has not yet been fully briefed on the post-hurricane disaster management situation and on the recovery plans ensuing Irma. It is sad when the highest legislative and supervisory body in the country is still unable to get clarity on what transpired in the wake of Irma.
Likewise, it is unacceptable that this body has not yet been apprised by Government concerning the financial, economic and social plans to get St. Maarten back on its feet. According to the looks of it, the agenda is set by the Prime Minister and not by Parliament. Therefore, Parliament must wait until the Prime Minister’s agenda is cleared and until he has been able to get around to preparing the answers to the questions posed in Parliament. Meanwhile, Parliament, our highest supervisory institution, simply waits and does nothing!
Listening to the two sessions of the Central Committee of Parliament held thus far, one could sense the frustration and dissatisfaction among several Members of Parliament. MP Perry Geerlings has taken his frustration to the media via a letter to the editor. MP Tamara Leonard has directed her letter, posing several questions, to the Prime Minister. And MP Sarah Wescott-Williams expressed her dissatisfaction in a draft motion that was presented to the Central Committee. The motion has received sufficient support to be discussed in the next meeting and hopefully thereafter it will obtain a majority of votes in a meeting of Parliament.
Given the manner in which the Irma situation has been handled thus far, it can take weeks before this motion can be passed in Parliament. Then, if it is passed, its execution will depend on whether the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers are willing to give it priority. Up to now, with the exception of a motion of non-confidence, Government does not take motions, passed in Parliament, very seriously.
If Parliament passes this motion, will the Government accept the instructions and agree to execute them in a timely manner? Will the Prime Minister agree to update Parliament in a weekly question-and-answer period? Will he agree to open and strengthen the line of communication with the Kingdom? Will the Government follow up immediately with draft legislation to empower the community councils?
These and other instructions in the motion, presented by MP Wescot-Williams, are noble but the execution thereof will depend on how seriously Government views the supervisory role of Parliament. Ignoring motions or delaying their execution is common practice for Government and apparently, there is nothing that Parliament can do about it. Parliament is helpless and dependent on the goodwill of the Prime Minister and the other Ministers. Currently, parliamentarians are going through the motion of attending meetings and giving a semblance of working, but in reality, it is accomplishing nothing.
For example, if the Prime Minister informs Parliament that he needs a week or a month to prepare the answers to Parliament’s questions then Parliament just has to wait. Also, if the Minister informs Parliament that Government needs a year or more to prepare the legislation on the empowerment of the community councils, then Parliament has no other choice than to wait. If the Minister does not care to give further clarity on the issue of the closing of the borders then Parliament can let it slide or it can request a parliamentary investigation. These are but a few examples to indicate how difficult it is for Parliament to move forward if it does not have the support, cooperation and goodwill of the Government.
Parliament has allowed itself to believe that it is totally dependent on Government in the situation of the aftermath of Irma. However, instead of going along with the schedule and timetable of the Prime Minister, Parliament could have convened emergency meetings outside its normal schedule. What is wrong with calling urgent or emergency meetings during the evening hours or in the weekends? Just last Saturday the Parliament of Dominica convened an emergency meeting.
If legislation is needed then Parliament can also commission the drafting of the ordinance instead of waiting for Government to do so. Given the state of recovery of St. Maarten, Parliament should be proactive. Parliament should start working on draft laws that it deems necessary to move the country forward. For example, several MPs have voiced their concern regarding tax relief for the business sector. In this case, Parliament need not wait for Government but should commission the drafting of relevant tax amendments and present them to Government.
We often hear the phrase “a lame-duck government.” But hurricane Irma has clearly exposed our “lame-duck” Parliament. Irma has revealed that our parliamentarians, who we voted for directly, have very little supervisory authority as it relates to the functioning of Government. Our Parliamentarians seem to be helpless and the legislative and supervisory roles of Parliament leave much to be desired.
Parliament, our people need to see how well you are able to represent them, especially in times of crisis. Do not let us down!

Wycliffe Smith
Leader of the Sint Maarten Christian Party