Dear Editor,

I’m writing this letter before any unfortunate event takes place, like someone being hit by a 2x4, because afterwards all we can do is lament.

I am seeing construction debris sitting unprotected, but in neat piles next to construction sites on the island, even though we are already into Hurricane Season.

Don’t the owners/site managers realize that gale force winds don’t care about their neat piles, but will pick off the plywood full of nails, the 2x4s, the tiles etc., one by one and turn them into dangerous weapons?

I hope we are doing more than asking people to clean up their sites. This is an urgent matter of public safety and laws need to be in place and strictly enforced – now, before it’s too late.

Concerned citizen

Name withheld at author’s request.

Dear Editor,

Wow! Who could have predicted that Members of Parliament would call a meeting to determine the meaning of vote buying; an activity that is second nature to the majority of them? As a matter of fact, MP Franklin Myers has confirmed on the floor of Parliament, that all of them are guilty of such. So, what are they trying to prove? Is it because their conscience is stabbing them now, or are they intimidated by the fresh eyes of the justice system?

The longer this group of parliamentarians sits in Parliament, the more they reveal their inability to perform their duty. They have further indicated that they will push their agenda to the limit, but Minister Edison Kirindongo pulled up the hand brake and showed them he was not in the mood to play hopscotch – a clear indication that they were outfoxed again by their own game. MP Frans Richardson and MP Christopher Emmanuel also refused to play the game that has insulted the intelligence of the population. Oh, what a sad reality of successive incompetence and a complete waste of tax payer’s money!

MP Theo Heyliger has the gall to ask what vote is buying, when he consistently and deliberately goes to the schools to give out his dry-rotten pencil cases to the children. MP Theo Heyliger, this is a subtle form of vote buying and it should not be tolerated by the Department of Education anymore.

Over the years, we have had weak Ministers of Education, who could not make a decision to put a stop to this disingenuous gesture. How come MP Theo Heyliger is the only politician that is allowed to distribute his political paraphernalia in the primary schools? The answer is simple: the only reason he does this is to condition the children’s mind, while they are young.

If MP Theo Heyliger meant well, his name would never appear on each pencil case, nor made it his duty to deliver them in person. A sincere individual would have presented the pencil cases to the Department of Education for distribution. Furthermore, what has MP Theo Heyliger done for education in the past 21 years? Absolutely nothing, except a deliberate attempt to brainwash their young minds! Whenever a meeting is convened with regard to education, he never finds it interesting enough to attend, and so his intention is crystal clear. With this in mind, it is high time that Minister Silveria Jacobs ensures that all schools are protected from being used as a platform to promote political propaganda, under the disguise of educational materials.

MP Leona Marlin-Romeo too is worried about how the justice system views her newly- established foundation. Everybody knows the real reason this organization was put into place. It is only because the people no longer trust her that she is trying to save herself. When a person gives from the heart, there is absolutely no need to advertise that act. She creates this false impression just to get the sympathy of the public. How many of us do a lot more than MP Leona Marlin-Romeo, and we do not publicize our deeds?

My cousin Russell A. Simmons is so correct, when he stated that she will reclaim the donations through tax write-offs. So who cares about her fictitious little rendezvous?

I have stepped on MP Frans Richardson’s toes many times, but I must give him credit for his generous offerings, that have no strings attached. There is no other politician that supports individuals and organizations the way MP Frans Richardson does. How many times does he advertise these gestures? Zero! The recipients are the ones who do the talking.

MP Janchi Leonard also donates 1000.00 guilders to one of the foster homes every single month. Does he brag about it? No! This information was only revealed when he objected to a motion that was brought on the floor of parliament. MP Leona Marlin-Romeo needs to be at peace with herself and follow in the footsteps of her colleagues.

This is how some politicians enjoy toying with the people. Vote buying comes in various forms, but the definition is as clear as the blue sky. Those who strive on twisting the truth, will forever be seeking ways to defile the system, just to continue the political game.

Joslyn Morton

Dear Editor,

We are now at the beginning of the 2016 Hurricane Season with quite some activity in the Gulf of Mexico, which is no surprise. This usually is the announcement that the season is here. We can see changes in the wind pattern in the North Eastern Caribbean.

The comfort zone we enjoyed for quite a while is getting capricious. Hot days with moderate winds at times are replaced by strong winds followed by welcomed precipitation.

Florida and the Eastern Seaboard are paying attention to tropical updates, and we have to do the same. It pays to take a look at what happens at the west coast of Africa and the Cape Verdes islands also.

Usually early, at the beginning of the season, adverse weather conditions do spring up in the Southern area of the Gulf of Mexico. However, there are indications that tropical activity is brewing in the panhandle of Florida, and rather close to the Atlantic coast of Florida. Floridians had a good reason to be aware of tropical weather close to home for the last couple of weeks. When Florida is taking early steps, this is a warning for the NE Caribbean to initiate early basic preparedness and to be active in a short time to prevent damage to the home, persons and pets.

By all means, follow the instructions given to the public, unfortunately sometimes, the elusive public obedience crowd. What the public has to remember is that every person who lives and works on this island should have an I.D. card ready to show pertinent authorities when asked for.

St. Maarten/St. Martin is known to protect the island and their indigenous families. Because of that other people find this island being best prepared compared to other islands of the CARICOM.

Therefore, before, during and after a storm or hurricane, the islands may be surprised by an ‘increase’ in population. The island’s finances are not that strong to spend money where money should not be spent. Awareness and preparation should take priority in our minds and activity.

And, from now on, since the season is actually in full swing, most entities whether government, including the Coast Guard, and public organizations; the NGOs, should be on call so to speak. Have your hurricane map ready. Listen to the authorities. “I had no idea, I did not know,” are words that not too many people are willing to understand, in fact these are the words that are utterly annoying.

There is a lot to learn by reading the clouds. Clouds store a lot of information. Ask the computer folks.

Rudy Dovale

Dear Editor,

Earlier this week, we read that a young man of 21 years was gunned down in the city of Schiedam in the Netherlands. The fact that he was dark complexioned, and ethno-racial profiling among Dutch police officers in the Netherlands is condoned as an unfortunate security measure. It has caused many activists throughout the Kingdom of the Netherlands to argue that this is one of the outcomes of a situation where, it has become politically suspect to say that racism within the Dutch Kingdom is unacceptable!

In this contribution, we seek to say the new politically suspect as loud as possible: Dutch racism is unacceptable! “Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words can never hurt us.” Whoever wholeheartedly believes that this saying holds true all the time, and in every occasion, is either lying to themselves, or not part of the human species.

The fact is that words like stones can lead to suffering. It is true that the hurt produced by words is of a different kind—psychological rather than physical—but a hurt it is nevertheless. What is more, we remain silent when listening to these words, forgetting that these words can lead to actions.

The racist slurs hurled at chocolate-coloured Dutch pop icons, activists and TV presenters (to name a few; Sylvana Simmons, the poet and dramatist Quinsy Gario, and the rappers Kno’ledge Cesare and Typhoon), contest what they perceive as the racism embedded in the annual Sint Nicolaas and Black Peter celebrations, which many believe leads to psychological suffering.

In addition, the treatment that they and the many thousands of dark-skinned Dutch men and women (who do not have the benefit of being celebrities) receive because they allow opposing views, is unacceptable. If persons in the Netherlands tolerate that kind of psychological hurt, which we term verbal racial discrimination, they are destroying the very foundations of the social democracy they so cherish.

One of the building blocks of the democratic tradition, is the belief that everyone has a right and a duty to freely express their individuality, and therewith pursue becoming who they want to be; in short, making a life for themselves as independent and free individuals. In that pursuit, however, they have to take their fellow citizens and others with whom they live (denizens, irregular migrants, and animals as they too increasingly have rights!) into account.

The state, the government apparatus, is there for two reasons:

1) To ensure the human dignity of individuals who live within their borders and their endeavours to better express and make themselves by providing all kinds of provisions, such as equal opportunities to education and general healthcare, etc.,

2) And conversely, to offer overall protection by creating incentives (informative campaigns, punishments and fines) to prevent and curtail individuals’ acts that damage the social bond and unjustly cause suffering to others within the country’s borders – and due to the International Bill of Human Rights also outside those borders; the global common good.

It goes terribly wrong, and there are growing signs of this, when elected officials in the Netherlands become the chief instigators in the trend to demolish the social democratic tradition of their country. Let me furnish an illustration. A few days ago, in a TV interview, Mr. Halbe Zijlstra, the former State Secretary in charge of Education and Science, and currently Member of the Dutch Parliament for the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), stated that he condones ethno-racial profiling by the Dutch police. This was in reference to the discrimination suffered by rapper Typhoon, who was pulled over because the officer reasoned that a person with his dark complexion should not be driving such an expensive car.

He implicitly reasoned that the psychological hurt endured by Typhoon and other victims does not weigh up against – making selective use of sociological statistics – the general safety of the Dutch population, as everyone ‘knows’ that dark complexioned Dutch men and women commit more crime. Aside it is important to note that it is customary for politicians in The Hague to refer to dark complexioned Dutch men and women as allochtonen, meaning those who do not really belong to the Dutch soil or who do not have the right blood.

A case of racism dressed up in Sunday school clothes that makes Dutch Antilleans and Surinamese-Dutch (who like their grandparents have never carried any other passport than a Dutch one), not really Dutch! And the idea that Dutch citizens of Moroccan, Turkish, Eastern European descendant have it better because of their lighter skin tone and other physical features is a lie. Individuality, autonomy, and the right to make oneself, are sacrificed when one is a dark complexioned Dutch man or woman, and the latter are told that they should find that acceptable!

Since one must take MP Zijlstra to be a reasonable man, a free and rational human being, we are sure that he would not condone that pink-skinned Dutch citizens, who hail from the Netherlands, living here in the Caribbean side of the Dutch Kingdom accept ethno-racial profiling. Zijlstra and we are guessing other politicians with the portfolio of the Dutch Caribbean would immediately respond. No amount of selective use of statistics, even if those statistics were true, would suffice in making it acceptable that the ‘somebodiness’ of individuals to use the term of Martin Luther King is disrespected. And so it should be!

Dutch racism in which ever form, whoever perpetuates it, ought to be unacceptable in any part of the Kingdom! And we have our share here too! Perhaps it is time that those in power consider a trans-Atlantic committee to rid us all from that blight that manifest itself in words and in deeds.

Dr. Francio Guadeloupe, President of the University of St. Martin (USM)
Dr. Adnan Hossain, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Amsterdam
Dr. Natasha Gittens, Director of the USM/SCELL
Drs. Jordi Halfman, University of Amsterdam
Ms. Geneve Phillip, Dean of Academics, USM
Drs. Lisenne Delgado, University of Curaçao
Drs. Sharelly Emanuelson, Founder of UNIARTE, Curaçao
Mr. Pedro de Weever, Lecturer at the USM