Dear Editor,

It is with great pleasure that I read in your newspaper of January 7, that Prime Minister William Marlin said that Government will be looking into the possibility of allowing St. Maarten students pursuing studies in the Netherlands to vote in the upcoming election in September. Especially so, because I championed this constitutional right of our citizens residing overseas since 2013.

It would have been nice to receive support for it then, especially when all the arguments word for word, used by the honourable Prime Minister were used by me in 2013, when I first had my article on this issue published in your newspaper. A year after my first article on this issue, the then honourable Member of Parliament Mrs. Gracita Arrindell championed the cause in an article she had published in your newspaper, after which, I published a second article on this same topic.

The difference between the championing of the cause by Mrs. Arrindell and PM, William Marlin versus mine, is that I did not exclude other citizens of this country merely because they do not reside here any longer. After all, this is the constitutional right all Dutch citizens born in the Netherlands have no matter where they reside within or out of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Are we to discriminate against and refuse this democratic right to our citizens just because they choose to live overseas like the sister of our Prime Minister did?

My son also choose to live overseas. His reason was that the subject he studied for does not provide work opportunities for him here yet. However, if this opportunity for work never presents itself does this mean that he might not want to come back in his old age and enjoy his pension here? After all, I was born in Curaçao but spend the majority of my life (40 years) on St. Maarten, building a future for him and his sister to benefit from. It is their inheritance and the only place they call their country.

My son, who by the way was born here, speaks of Canada as his second home; second is the key word here. On top of that, they look forward every year to come here on vacation and spend time with their loved ones and friends whom for the greater majority are citizens of this country. Am I to believe that they may not have a say in how this country is run? Did we ever stop to consider that when someone made a choice to live overseas it might be because of lack of opportunities back home and greener pastures elsewhere?

We are a tolerating country that permits over 114 citizens of other countries to call St. Maarten their home, all in search of greener pastures. They number thousands. They get a passport and with it, the right to vote. Yet our own are discriminated against and are told you made a choice to live overseas. Shame on those of us for thinking so little of our own. Think of all the non-purchased votes, the educated votes and the want my country to one day be a place with a government to be proud of, votes we are denying by excluding all born-here citizens residing overseas, the right to cast their votes.

If it can be done for a selective group, then it can be done for all citizens of this country. Yes, we should start with Holland, but not start with students only. I too hope. Only I hope that we one day, sooner than later, will not look down on our own but rather lift them up as part of “we” that they are.

Louis Rudy Engel

Dear Editor,

Before I bite into the topic at hand, allow me to wish everyone a most blessed and rewarding year. I sincerely hope that 2016 would be the year when each individual pursues intellectual and economic opportunities to advance one’s current situation.

   Now that this is out of the way I can proceed with what I perceived to be a situation that is worrisome. First, I became very disappointed when I listened to the speeches that were presented by our Prime Minister William Marlin. With all the turmoil that the island has experienced in 2015, I expected to have heard words of comfort, tranquillity and togetherness – expressions that should have reflected the reason for the season.

Likewise, whenever a prime minister delivers his or her New Year’s address, it usually sets the tone for hope – a moment that inspires one to think of creative ways to move forward. In my view, both speeches fell short of their intended messages.

   It is a known fact that Prime Minister William Marlin does his presentations from the heart; here is where he connects better with the people. Therefore, these prepared speeches did not help him at all. My conclusion is that the prime minister did not write those speeches nor did he peruse them in advance. This is not good and for this reason; I am urging the prime minister to write his own speech or simply revert to the medium that he is comfortable with. From the two bloopers it is evident that his speech writer is hanging him out in the sun.

   Secondly, there was a big uproar when members of the then coalition presented the governing accord to the past government. Beside the lack of content, realistic initiatives and the time frame in which these proposals were to be achieved, the separation of powers was a real sticking point of the discontentment. Now that the situation is different it okay for the new council of ministers to organize a retreat that included the eight Members of Parliament who support the government? Doesn’t the separation of powers still exists?

I understand clearly that there is a limited amount time allotted to accomplish certain initiatives, but it does not mean that integrity must be compromised or ignore the fact that Parliament still oversees the running of government. There is absolutely nothing wrong in having the retreat to level out certain issues, but the gathering should have taken place among the council of ministers only. When the logistics have been finalised, then the government takes it to Parliament. In the House of Parliament is where parliamentarians approve or disapprove how government intends to run the country.

   Is this the trend that will be set for the next nine months? If government is going to collaborate on its moves with the coalition of eight, how objective can they be when government is called into Parliament? This is a serious problem and members of both branches are treading on dangerous grounds. Why is it that parliamentarians, who support any coalition, have to always be in the middle of negotiations that government is solely responsible for? It does not take a rocket scientist to find out the main reason. It is because parliamentarians are tied to individual ministers and regrettably, this has been the most detrimental aspect of governing this country. This is why the island has witnessed the consistent breaking-up of governments – parliamentarians take pleasure in holding ministers hostage, every single time.

In another article, I will touch on the issue of political reform, because until parliamentarians are sacked with not having the privilege of selecting their individual ministers, politics will be business as usual.

Joslyn Morton

Dear Editor,

I took the liberty to read Prime Minister Marlin’s New Year’s address and needless to say, I am delighted that he has finally left the BBQ gambling pit and only now realizing what is going on in Sint Maarten, yet missing what has really happened in his absence.

Prime Minister Marlin stated that he wants to open a help desk for the elderly, but little does he know or was not informed by Minister Lee, that former Minister De Weever already opened one. In addition, it also included the physically challenged.

Secondly, he mentioned the Employment Fund which he still needs to figure out, but he should review the Employability through Training Programme which was started and executed by Minister De Weever and then mainstreamed into the regular work of Labour and Social Affairs.

Young and unemployed people need to be registered, assessed, upgraded, matched with an appropriate participating business and trained before being employed short-term, and hopefully when those persons apply themselves on the job, they can be hired permanently.

Financial and medical assistance has and can be provided to them during this period to assist them. The laws are already there and the process is also in place, so I doubt that in less than nine months anything will be done except making empty promises again.

Prime Minister Marlin claims that his Employment Fund will address the nagging unemployment issue, which he assured has increased. I am kindly asking the good Prime Minister to check his facts, because during my tenure unemployment actually decreased and it is documented even in the census report.

Instead of just being critical, it is more important to be honest and acknowledge what has been done. Even the media are critical at times and they too need to question what politicians are saying. After all, they printed the stories of the opening of the Boasman help desk for the elderly and physically challenged, Employability through Training along with the unemployment figures.

We should all constantly be looking for ways to improve, educate and become more efficient and objective, instead of gambling with Sint Maarten’s future.

Independent Member of Parliament

Cornelius de Weever

My Fellow Citizens,

St. Maarten needs a fresh start.

Since we have obtained our status as a country within the Dutch Kingdom on October 10, 2010, some very turbulent years have been experienced. Within a five-year span, we have endured five different governments with no improvement of performance from any of them.

While campaigning for the achievement of this new country status, the leaders of the country promised the people of St. Maarten that the quality of life would be much better than what they were experiencing in the former Netherlands Antilles. However, to date all indications are that the only persons who have benefited from this new country status are the politicians who were elected to office and those who were appointed as ministers. The salaries of these politicians are the highest within the region and higher than many other countries out of this region.

It is fair to say that as a young democracy, St. Maarten can claim the title for the most changes of government within a five year period in the Guinness book of records. Besides all this, the whole debacle around the vote of no confidence and the national decree to dissolve parliament has made us the laughing stock of the Caribbean region. It is unheard of that a government receives a vote of no confidence and turns around to issue a national decree sending home the very same parliamentarians who appointed them as ministers.

There are many who are screaming for changes within our constitution and it is my opinion that we must elect mature members to parliament, members who will put country above self.

During the radio program People Voice a caller stated “our constitution was made for adults and not for children.’’ This is a clear indication once again that those elected members since St. Maarten became a country within the Dutch Kingdom never took their oaths to work on improving the quality of the lives of the people seriously. Instead, their focus has been on themselves, their inner circle and that of their families.

Through the course of that five year period, the best attendance record they can present is the collection of their salaries at the end of each month from which none of them have ever reported absent. It is therefore very important for you as citizens of this country to take time out to review their attendance records for the year 2015 which should be available to you in January 2016.

Additionally, you should make it your business to also review their contribution in parliament, whether it is in the form of presenting motions or proposals that would have improved the quality of your life.

Taking just these two factors into consideration, most of them would not be re-elected to parliament of St. Maarten September 26, 2016 as their contribution amounted to zero.  

Our emphasis should not be on the next election but on the next generation, our future leaders and all the citizens of this young nation.

We are a very resilient people and as such we cannot and will not give up hope for this New Year 2016. With the same speed that the national decree was signed to change the snap-election that was slated for February 9, 2016, and changed to September 26, 2016, we expect the commercial rates that NV GEBE is charging our school boards to change to residential rates.

How can education be a top priority on any government agenda while they are preventing school boards from being able to provide our children with state of the art computer centres and our parents from being able to get a reduction in the school fees based on the savings to be derived from the difference in the rates?

Isn’t it about time for NV GEBE to invest in solar panels in order to be better able to assist the schools in getting a reduction of their monthly utility consumption and thus generating another form of saving which can be used as an investment for the betterment of our education system?

Isn’t it time that the government together with the St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF) invest in the land acquired Over the Bank next to the Vineyard Building to build low-income houses for rent and for sale to our teachers, nurses, policemen and other young professionals?

If we can finance a security contract in the amount of US $2.2 million at the harbour without it going on bid and if our port can acquire a loan in the amount of US $10 million from the Social Security Insurance (SZV) to settle an out of court claim without receiving anything in exchange, then we should be able to build low-income houses for rent or sale to our residents, thereby reducing the cost of living.

This will also lead to the creation of the much-needed jobs within the construction industry. It is a known fact that 40 per cent of one’s salary either goes into your rent or your mortgage which is much higher than most rentals within the region.

St. Maarten needs a fresh start.

The amendments to the labour laws pertaining to the abuse of the short term contracts have been stuck between parliament and the higher councils over the last four years with no interest from parliament to finalize those changes that would be beneficial to the ordinary citizens of this country.

In December of 2013, a motion was unanimously passed in parliament for the government to conduct a study on the minimum wages. Up to this date, neither parliament nor the government have seen it fit to conduct or follow up on this study as they would not benefit in any way from the outcome of this study.

The bottom line is that we must come up with a living wage that is beneficial to the ordinary people as the cost of living is constantly rising.

The OSPP has proposed a loan guarantee program that would allow our young people the opportunity to start their own business. Small business is the back bone of every economy and it creates many jobs. Even though the country was plagued by the

ship-jumpers over the last five years, none of the governments saw it fit to address electoral reforms.

The Marcel Gumbs Cabinet needed it to motivate their decree to dissolve parliament and call snap-election; the Marlin Cabinet needed it as a reason to motivate the extension of the election to a later date. It is clear to see that things would have continued as business as usual if not for these recent developments to dissolve parliament.  

   This New Year 2016 is an election year and we must make the playing field more level for all the political parties. The electoral council has its role to play but there must be some more far-reaching changes within our electoral laws and as the OSPP, we will be submitting some changes that we have envisioned for the betterment of St. Maarten elections, hoping that the government and parliament would consider those proposals and not ignore them as they have done with many others submitted before.

   There is no doubt that St. Maarten needs a fresh start to make good on the many promises that were made during the campaign for the status that we are enjoying today.

We need to focus on more social programs within our communities. We must activate and fund all the community councils to implement social, sports and cultural programs within our communities.

The 13 million guilders to be spent on the expansion of the prison would have been better spent on preventative programs as opposed to building more prison cells to incarcerate our people.

The expansion of our medical centre is a must as we are spending millions of guilders referring our patients to other countries. There have been enough studies done on this issue and we don’t need more. What we need is action. We boast about over one million cruise passengers calling on St. Maarten on a yearly basis but yet we don’t have a program in place to convert a percentage of these cruise passengers to hotel guests that would stay at least four to five days.

The OSPP is up to the challenge and we will continue to submit our proposals and questions to parliament and to the government now and after you send us to parliament on September 26, 2016. Our goal is to make St. Maarten a better place for all of us to live happily – residents and tourists alike.

   On behalf of the OSPP family and my family we want to wish you a very healthy and prosperous New Year 2016. May the good Lord continue to bless this young nation St. Maarten as better days are ahead for all those who trust and believe in Him.          

Lenny F. Priest

Leader of One St. Maarten People Party (OSPP)