Dear Editor,
A lot of indignation reigned during the discussions on the appointment of a quartermaster by the Dutch government and rightfully so. The Dutch Minister (Plasterk) has, however, remained undeterred and firm: “The quartermaster will come, it was an agreement and St. Maarten procrastinated.” Did we?
The government of St. Maarten learned of the appointment via the press, evoking a caution from Finance Minister Gibson that newspapers can be wrong. True, in this world of “false news,” even newspapers can be tricked. However, in the Netherlands, this news was an orchestrated part of simultaneous and official publications. Algemene Nieuws BZK; Rijksbelastingsdienst of January 13.
Hans Leijten, a celebrated Marechaussee in his own right and his departure from the tax department, after barely a year has evoked mixed reactions. Some say he did so in disgrace, others say he refused to be the fall guy. Fall guy for whom?
Plasterk is not contesting this election.
The VVD party of Prime Minister Rutte has some serious issues. The VVD has seen the demise of four top persons due to the van Teeven Affaire, the last one (they hope) being Verscheuren.
While the van Teeven Affaire played out in the Justice realm and Justice officials had to go, the Dutch tax office is facing its own perils. State Secretary for Fiscal Affairs Wiebers (VVD), has admitted his shortcomings to the Second Chamber. An investigation into affairs at the Dutch tax department is not flattering and that is putting it mildly.
No sooner did Leijten resign, or it was announced that he will be the quartermaster for St. Maarten’s doomed Integrity Chamber. No sooner did he resign or his successor was appointed. And we must believe this whole affair is not bigger than the Integrity Chamber on St. Maarten? And we must feel guilty? Guilty of what?
S. Wescot-Williams, MP (DP)
Dear Editor,
The Minister of Finance wants to collect a government departure tax from people departing the country from the airport or from the harbour. There are whole lot more ways to leave the island, but he will have to decide that also.
My first question as answer to that is, when the Minister of Finance is going to have the controllers in the finance department go into those food-supplying businesses and do the necessary. When are they going to forbid the owners of supermarkets from raising the prices of the same products every time they go into the same container or warehouse and take out some more cases from the same shipment. When are they going to control the outdated products on the shelves and make sure that they can be identified so that the shopper can decide whether to buy it or not with conditions (reduced price); this or take them off the shelves.
So, there are a lot more things that continue to weigh on the people and no one makes an effort to remedy them. The pensioner did not have a choice whether to collect their money at the receivers or the bank, It was decide at bank. No one cared what the bank charges were. No one cared whether the pensioners could go around with a computer or not. Collect it at the bank or by the ATM, whether there were bank charges or not, whether there was a certain risk or not. For instance, because the banks are not open on weekends, if I need money for church collection in the weekend I would have to go to an ATM and there would be charges for that (for instance 52x 0,50) not forgetting the one per cent involving US$. Pensioners pay taxes, pensioners pay the same fare on the bus and I can continue with all the things which the pensioners, whose income has been almost halved, have to pay equal to everyone else going forward. The old age pension is a laugh. A mere 22 per cent of the working population pay taxes including the pensioners.
When we continue to profess that the older employees are more conscientious, more responsible and produce more than the youth and we have extended the pension age, why should we have to continue paying for the non-producers (taxes). Because the pensioners’ salaries have not been adjusted over the years, I believe that it is more than time that government have others pay taxes and exempt the pensioners, who all have paid into the pension fund for no less than 35 years or more, from government departure taxes, bank charges etc.
We are the pioneers and should be treated as such. We brought and kept St. Maarten to where it is today so that so many others could enjoy and earn well and even better than expected while, we, the pensioners continue to struggle. While we are on the subject of taxes, may I suggest that there be a separate database for persons with working permits from that for persons with resident permits both by Immigration as well as at the Census offices. Why? So that no working permits should be reissued /extended without a declaration stating that one’s taxes have been paid.
By the way, I think that Minister Lee has been in government long enough to know that it is irresponsible not to have an eye specialist on the island and still not do anything about it. Again it is in the interest of the people and nothing is being done about it.
Yet another reason for the people to think of that now common phrase, “What's in it for me?”
Russell A. Simmons
(Curaçao Chronicle)
In 2000, UNESCO issued a set of guidelines for improving primary and secondary education across the globe by 2015. Unfortunately, for the students of this island, much of the importance of that resolution appears to have been casually dismissed, as only a few of the proposals are now fully implemented. As we witness a worldwide economic shift, a large part of Curaçao’s ongoing success will require adequately preparing its primary and secondary students.
Dear Editor,
Lee Halley, as a young man, had a vision, a dream to someday have his own fishing charter business on the same land and water where his father, brothers and many Simpson Bay fishermen kept their fishing boats. Lee’s hard work, determination, dedication and Simpson Bay Pride made that dream come true – a dream that, after 30 years, grew into what is now Lee’s Roadside Grill & Deep Sea Fishing.
Closing Lee’s Roadside Grill will impact our lives, the families of our 30 employees, our suppliers, contractors and the Simpson Bay community. At a time when the economy is hurting and crime is rising, the Government of St. Maarten should be supporting and protecting the local businesses instead of tearing them down and selling them out. The Government of St. Maarten must start defending the rights of the local people and must stop putting the rights of foreigners ahead of our own.
Lee’s Roadside Grill is one of the few buildings left on St. Maarten with a true Caribbean look and feel. All over the world people are trying to re-create that same ambiance but our St. Maarten Government continues to allow the destruction of what makes our island unique.
Let me say it again, the St. Maarten Government has the authority and the power to stop the removal and the demolition of Lee’s Roadside Grill. They have a history of taking property back from people. Take for example the land next to BBW in Simpson Bay. That land was not long leased but instead owned by the many heirs of the Lejuez Family. Yet through a very strange and speedy process, the government managed to take that land away from the Lejuez family and long leased it to the Gioia Brothers.
Speetjens has no legal rights to the land where Lee’s Roadside Grill is situated because they did not comply with the long lease conditions to build and operate a marina on that location within six months of obtaining the long lease. So you have to ask yourself why Government does not want to take this land back from Speetjens? Why would they be willing to ruin the lives of so many people? Why would they want to tear down a landmark of this island? Why are they putting the rights of foreigners before their own people?
Ileana Halley
(Curaçao Chronicle)
Congratulations! The Curaçao Corps Consulaire has a new board consisting of Dean Karel Frielink – Honorary Consul of Germany and members Margaret Hawthorne –Honorary Consul of the USA, Ivan Moreno jr. – Honorary Consul of Belgium, Paul van de Laarschot – Honorary Consul of Hungary and Paul Pradin – Honorary Consul of France.
According to the latest press release of the Curaçao Corps Consulaire, 33 countries are currently accredited via an “honorary” consulate or mission on our island. This figure may not impress many people as there are 195 recognized countries in the world, but it quickly becomes daunting when we realize that the official 33 accredited missions in Curaçao represent about half of the world population, 3,500 million souls.
This is something that we should definitively not underestimate. Dean Karel Frielink gave a good and strong introductory statement in which he emphasized the importance of our Foreign Office in Willemstad to be equipped with the necessary manpower to do the job. I would have added to this phrase: “highly qualified manpower.”
We cannot afford to repeat the diplomatic blunders since 2010. First and foremost, we need people who have what it takes to give (political) guidance to foreign affairs. In my view, the importance of foreign relations lies in good cooperation among countries in order to have a safer, more prosperous world and to be good world citizens. To achieve these there is an important and active role to be played by the Curaçao Corps Consulaire.
When I was member of the UN diplomatic corps we had regular meetings with other foreign missions as well as representatives of local Governments. The latter is clearly not the case in Curaçao. This needs to change. In my view the Curaçao Corps Consulaire needs to engage some of these areas in the coming period using diplomacy as a tool for good governance, human rights, inclusion, climate change, more economic opportunities and amplifying of our own foreign networks.
Foreign relations have changed in ways our forefathers never anticipated in 1954. We must be bold in order to rack up the gains from the new opportunities out there. Let’s do it together.
By Alex Rosaria
Former Member of Parliament
