Dear Editor,

Not too long ago I wrote to you suggesting that politicians, among others, should read. I do not know with whom these people hang out, but I overheard some men during a discussion claiming that Frans won the election, but because Theo and William got the most votes, they gave them the most seats. This obliged me to listen closer because I did not immediately understand where they were coming from.

Why did I begin with that we should read? Because by reading we could know a whole lot more than by just sitting around and listening to opinions. Opinions we usually have as a consequence of people’s behaviour or what they say. When you read you have proof of where whatever you claim is coming from.

As that discussion went on I found out that the reason for coming to that conclusion is because Frans has more candidates with more votes than the other parties. Meaning if we placed the 124 candidates in sequence of the amount of votes per candidate beginning with the most votes, Frans would have more candidates closer to the top than the other parties.

I have not taken the time to verify that because for me personally that does not matter because that is not how the elections are set up. If those men would know the civics of this country they would have known how the country is governed and who can be elected to office and how. One of the things that I always stress on is that part of being patriotic is knowing the civics of your country so that you can know who you are in your country.

That was what I overheard, now this is directly from me: The same way they have been gathering around the offices of the different political parties during the campaign, those who are eligible should continue gathering around Theo Heyliger’s office for him to make good on that promise he so adamantly made concerning “permanent residence.”

I reacted to that promise a few days ago already but, now that it is not all the way UP, but that the NA-UP are negotiating to form a new Government the people should demand that the “permanent residence” that Theo Heyliger promised them be part of the negotiations, because he knew exactly what he said.

It is time enough for politicians to stop telling people what they want to hear and be forthcoming. This is something else I heard that I think deserves repeating so that the voters can hear other people’s reasoning on why William Marlin and his team decided to give back the harbour and GEBE to Theo. There is a saying “loose lips, sink ships,” so here we go. Marlin was hoping to get at least seven seats so that he could continue working with Sarah, because they had more ship jumpers on the other parties.

Taking that into consideration and feeling unsafe because he knew that all ended up in the UP party in the past, the decision was ticklish, but he decided to do like the rat whose tail was caught in the trap. He broke away from the tail and said the best of friends have to part. Also Marlin was okay with Emile Lee and could use Sarah’s leadership and experience in Parliament. It was do or die so he chose the lesser of the two evils.

I personally would have liked to see a lot more of the young candidates get in but we have to make do with what we got. No campaign reform, integrity issues still to be resolved; a mysterious Chinese Pearl; an in limbo Vorst land deal; SVB moneys being used for everything else but to take care of the pensioners in the right way; a white elephant in the middle of a swamp, so I am challenging all of them to put their money (I hope they earn it this time around) where their mouths are.

Last election when I mentioned that Theo Heyliger lost, a lot of people jumped on me because he got the most votes. I will be bold this time again and let them know that Theo Heyliger lost again. Hopefully the fact that nothing was accomplished in connection with campaign reform does not cause a backlash. We know that birds of a feather flock together and we also know that the cage always had a supply of seeds.

Five and three and two are still ten. When I told someone that, they told me that Marcel surprised them and the Governor also knows how to go about it now.

Russell A. Simmons

Dear Editor,

I can hear him saying “by the time Russell react to this in the paper those who fall for it already vote for me and that’s all I need. So here I go again. I was advocating and still am to get rid of the old politicians and put in new capable young people. Why? Because the old ones have not done anything for us after so many years and they have graduated from telling the people what they want to hear to dodging you, hiding behind dark glass, pretending to be speaking on the phone and even lying.

I am reacting right away to what candidate Theo Heyliger did on Saturday evening so that no one would think that it is because of the results of the elections. The intention is for it to be on your desk before the results of the elections.

From the time I was born I never know anyone born in the Dutch kingdom not to have a nationality. So when I read that Theo Heyliger said that it is ridiculous to have people without a nationality, knowing that he knows that that is not the case in the Dutch kingdom he is openly manipulating the people and that is ridiculous on his part.

Mincing words and making believe as if that is news to him. Does he really think that he can fool all of the people all of the time? Every woman who brought forth a child here on St. Maarten, especially of late knows where and how to go about registering the birth of that child and also, the procedures by immigration. And if candidate Theo Heyliger is insinuating that he does not know that then he is being manipulative.

He is not a leader because he has competent people who are working in that department who are on his party’s list as fellow candidates. The law is already so that once you are born on St. Maarten you can get permanent residence and even a Dutch passport. There are different conditions.

Neither Theo Heyliger nor any party leader can give anyone permanent residency on St. Maarten without going through the procedures. It has always been the practice of women who were here without permission to get pregnant and hide their pregnancy, have the child born here or on the French side of the island because of the immigration status and benefits.

Theo Heyliger, who has been part of Government the years of his political life, knows better than anyone else that this is an ongoing pain in the butt of the Immigration Department, because via his surrogates efforts were made to see who could get a passport or the same permanent residency that he is fooling the people about.

All of this in order to be able to manipulate the people to vote for him. A fox may lose its teeth but never its nature. De wet op de Nederlanderschap (the law governing the Dutch Nationality) is a kingdom matter and anything that is liable to affect that law has to be okayed by the kingdom, not Parliament.

I have written about this in the past, because of the then complaints from children who were living on the Dutch side, born on the French side, could not speak a word of French and in so doing could not get work on the French side, blaming the Dutch side for not taking care of them. Candidate Theo Heyliger knows this and is like I said being manipulative about it.

I wrote that those parents should be candid with their children and let their children know what their children’s immigration status is, so that they will not be caught up in this nationality fight. This will protect them against foxy politicians, making use of their presumed vulnerability for the politician’s political gain. Are these the same people who are supposed to be taking care of the people?

It is not now when it is crucial for votes, that candidate Theo Heyliger should be thinking it is ridiculous, he knew it from the time he got into Government, many years ago. Because of the Masbangu case I do not know what to make of candidate Theo Heyliger saying that he is packing his bag to move back into that seat.

When I’m under the assumption that the people are being manipulated, it could be in more than one way. Here I am praising one candidate for fighting to determine who is a St. Maartener in order that they can be first in their country and candidate Theo Heyliger is publicly inviting everybody to come and make children in St. Maarten in order for them to get permanent residency. In a case like this should not there also be more reactions?

Russell A. Simmons

Dear Editor,

In a short period of time NV GEBE has to say good-bye to another local managing director. It was not long ago that NV GEBE had to say good-bye to engineer Mr. Ir. Juluis Lambert. Now, for the second time, in a very short period we have to do it all over again. St. Maarten has lost another TH engineer – another role model for our youth to look up to.

In the short time he spent with us at NV GEBE, he has left a mark. On St. Maarten we don’t honour our own enough. For someone to become a TH engineer in the Dutch educational system they have spent a lot of years studying. The degree lies somewhere between a Master’s degree and PhD degree.

I met Mr. William Brooks on my first day of school, in the first grade at the Oranje School back in the day. We both were two six year olds with similar names, Brooks and Brown so the Dutch teacher at the time put us together in the front row. We spent the whole school year talking to each other. It was one discussion after another until we got a new teacher. This new teacher was a little stricter and reprimanded us every time for talking too much. The only thing I could remember of her today was her big afro.

Both of us went to the St. Peters Hillside School together when it was still part of Oranje School. (Oranje School in town at the time could not accommodate all the school children). We then moved to the Milton Peters College in different schools. As luck would have it we crossed paths again, this time at the University of the Netherlands Antilles in Curaçao. The discussions were similar to those we had at our previous schools.

Upon my return from studying abroad I began working at NV GEBE. It was not long before I began to hear that Mr. William wanted to work for NV GEBE and the politicians were dragging their feet.

As president of the Windward Island Chamber of Labour Unions at the time, it was logical that I could not let this pass by not expressing my opinion on the matter. We as a union wrote a letter to the executive council where we stated that we support this local engineer for Managing Director of NV GEBE. We would not accept anyone else but our own local engineer.

The Commissioner of Public Works blasted the union on the GIS press conference for our letter. We stood our grounds and in the end Mr. William Brooks was appointed. It was the first time in our history that we had a local managing director in a local company being replaced by another local of equal calibre. That was one of my proudest achievements in NV GEBE and I was instrumental in bringing this about.

We crossed paths for the umpteen time in our lives and this time we were both working at the same company – NV GEBE.

As I visited him in the SMMC for the last time it dawned on me that it would be our last conversation.

Today I have to say good-bye to a class mate, school mate and an NV GEBE colleague. Mr. William Books, rest in peace my brother until we meet again … So we may continue our discussions we started long ago.

Antonio Brown

ELECTION DAY TEDAY