Dear Editor,
In accordance with the conclusion of the Appeal Committee Study Financing (that the denial of study financing to Ms. Juliy had been legally wrong) the Minister of Education has decided to retract her original decision and to still honour Juliy's request on which I wrote two letters to the editor of this newspaper.
Juliy thereupon has signed the required loan agreement and the Education Department now has initiated the process to instruct the Finance Department to refund her certain expenses she has made, like for her ticket to the Netherlands, for her first monthly living expenses and for study books; although not for those expenses incurred by her mother for travelling with her.
With this process on its way, not only have many been proven wrong by predicting (thereby giving various reasons) that Juliy's quest for justice would never be compensated, but more importantly her trust in the government of the island of her birth has been restored.
Even for me, as her legal representative in this, it also has been a very gratifying experience.
In the meeting I had last Monday with Mr. Antonio Aventurin Division Head Study Financing for the Ministry of Education and his assistant Mrs. Yolanda Jackson-Martina I was again reminded of the, at times difficult, position a civil servant can find him/herself in, having to defend a government position, which may sometimes have serious flaws in it.
Mr. Aventurin informed me that the establishment of government's policy regarding study financing was the responsibility of a different sector of the Ministry than his and that indeed a beginning has been made to improve that policy, something that has been long overdue.
The meeting was a very professional and pleasant one and at the end I again have offered my assistance towards that process, something I had already expressed to the Minister herself.
The positive end of this story shows that although the struggle for justice many times can be a very hard one requiring much courage and perseverance it still is always worthy, not only as one's right but also as one's moral obligation, while meanwhile we also have to acknowledge that despite many things which still can and must be corrected, we can be fortunate to live in a country where democracy and justice (most of the times) ultimately are respected.
May Juliy's case serve as an example for many among us who practically have lost hope and have concluded that the powerful never will give in to what they see as an attack on their protected and privileged position, particularly when one belongs to a vulnerable social economic group in society.
My congratulations also goes to the Minister of Education who also has shown the courage to overturn her original decision to deny Juliy's request to be helped in pursuing her studies with government's assistance.
Elco Rosario
Dear Editor,
After reading Wycliffe Smith's letter in The Daily Herald on September 17 I agree with his sentiments that "St. Maarten deserves a parliament and a government that will govern with honesty, integrity and transparency where people come first and self-enrichment is denied." This is after all what every voter lucky enough to live in a democratic country would wish for as they cast their vote.
I have to disagree with his wish to see closer ties between state and religion and would say that you can't have democracy when the state is tied to religion. This is because religion, especially monotheist religion, is based on the tenets of exclusivity and elitism both of which go against the basic tenets of democracy, where every citizen is supposed to hold equal rights. Whenever the ties between religion and state are too close there will be certain sectors of society afforded special rights, because through their religious teachings they believe they are the chosen ones. Consequently, if you oppose this belief you are damned and therefore less worthy than the chosen ones making it easy to persuade the chosen ones to oppress you purely for a difference of opinion.
You just have to read the pages of this newspaper to see how states ruled by religious parties or personalities easily justify oppression, victimisation and outright warmongering and it's no wonder when their basis for these actions comes from passages such as:
"If you hear that in one of the towns which Yahwey your God has given you for a home, there are men, scoundrels from your own stock, who have led their fellow-citizens astray saying, "Let us go and serve other gods," hitherto unknown to you, it is your duty to look into the matter, examine it, and inquire most carefully. If it is proved and confirmed that such a hateful thing has taken place among you, you must put them to the sword; you must lay it under the curse of destruction – the town and everything in it." (Deuteronomy 13:12-16)
This passage clearly dictates that followers of the Christian religions should actively kill and ransack followers of other faiths.
Similarly the Koran states: "Their hearts were hardened, and Satan made their deeds seem fair to them. And when they had clean forgotten our admonition we granted them all that they desired; but just as they were rejoicing in what they were given, we suddenly smote them and they were plunged into utter despair. Thus were the evil-doers annihilated. Praise be to God. Lord of the Universe!"(6:43-45) Or more simply: "Those that deny our revelations shall be punished for their misdeeds." (6:49)
Sentiments such as these do not allow fair representation of the population or any form of equal rights of the citizens within a state and induce prejudicial views and actions against people who hold a different belief about how and why this universe was created. Add religious fundamentalism to this balance of power within a state and the results are horrendous, giving rise to wholesale massacre, civil war, expulsions of people from their homelands and international war crimes and crimes against humanity.
But this is just the rhetoric of terrorists, terror leaders such as George W Bush with his direct line to God who stated that it was unpatriotic to be American and not a Christian.
Tony Blaire who wished he had a direct line to God but who would have been laughed out of office by the British public, had he spoken like this. Vladimir Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church, Bill Clinton making the record of Presiding over the dropping of the greatest amount of munitions ever in one day over Muslim areas in the Bosnian conflict and this represents the so called moderate western democracies.
So keep religion out of politics, thank you very much and allow us to vote for politicians who will govern with "honesty, integrity and transparency, where the people will come first and self-enrichment is denied."
Peace, love and equality to every person on this planet, they are all your brothers and sisters.
Andy Murphy-Laws
Dear Editor,
It takes women to understand the suffering that our children undergo when they become victims of sexual abuse, and it will take women to make significant changes in all of the abovementioned judiciary domains.
It has been proven that women will not stand for this dispassionate attitude that has been displayed by members of the judiciary chain, who have refused to apply the full extent of the law with regard to sexual abusers of minors. After all, it is their kind who is forever inflicting this horrendous crime on our children, and so they have remained detached from the situation until it happens to one of their own.
The most precious gift one could ever give to children is to allow them to grow up in an environment that offers them the freedom to be who they are. To take away their innocence and have them experience being women and men is an atrocity that should not be tolerated in this so-called Christian society.
There is nothing in the world that can substitute for the joy of childhood. Here is where the formation of an individual takes place and if children are constantly living in pain, what would their adult life be like? Their childhood is just a mirror of their adult life that will be filled with promiscuity, mood swings, depression and a host of other problems. As I have said before, no amount of counselling can compensate for what these children have lost.
Sexual abuse of minors is taken much too lightly on St. Maarten and that is why molesters do what they want, because they have analyzed the judiciary system and are using the loopholes to continue their underground profession.
The system is to be blamed for this continual cruelty to our minors. I will repeat myself, children are not supposed to be subjected to re-live their ordeal through court proceedings, just to prove that they were sexually molested. The system needs to change! This drawn-out and embarrassing process, not forgetting the input of these unscrupulous lawyers, is what has contributed to the covering up of this horrendous crime that has been festering for decades.
We need women at the helm of these judicial institutions, who will take an impartial stand, but who are also willing to dig deeper into the situation to find out more than what meets the eye. The Court of Guardianship is an area in which we have seen tremendous change, compared to what it replicated in previous years. It is because we now have a Department Head, Richelda Rodriguez - Emmanuel, who will not tolerate the injustices that are imposed on our minors.
However, the avenue to expose sexual abuse of minors has to be expanded. It is not enough to ask persons to report the matter to designated headquarters. This format it is not the easiest way for persons who might be afraid to do so. Personally, I believe that our community police would be an excellent source of information, by them conducting random and consistent investigations on the matter.
In my opinion, when community officers are assigned to a district, they should be scouring the neighbourhood, in the same manner in which politicians canvassed the various districts during the recently-held Parliamentary Election. When these officers approach the community this way, they have a better idea of its dynamics, and people would be more inclined to release the information.
I am not in favour of having one police officer per district. Instead, there should be at least three to insure better protection of both the officer and the people; to offer the community a choice to select the officer to whom they feel comfortable to divulge the information and for the purpose of checks and balances. In addition, there should be a specially trained unit within the police force to deal with cases of sexual abuse of minors.
Furthermore, the people must be comfortable enough to speak out on this issue, with the confidence that they have the full backing of the judiciary system. There is absolutely no use that the community pours out its heart against this evil, only to be confronted with a judiciary system that appears to constantly side with the perpetrators. Then we will have a situation similar to our political system, where politicians have consistently ignored the cries of the people, and the only way to retaliate was to avoid the polls on Election Day.This community has the power to break the evil hand of sexual abuse of minors, simply because the process begins with every one of us.
Joslyn Morton
Dear Editor,
After reading Wycliffe Smith's letter in The Daily Herald on September 17 I agree with his sentiments that "St. Maarten deserves a parliament and a government that will govern with honesty, integrity and transparency where people come first and self-enrichment is denied." This is after all what every voter lucky enough to live in a democratic country would wish for as they cast their vote.
I have to disagree with his wish to see closer ties between state and religion and would say that you can't have democracy when the state is tied to religion. This is because religion, especially monotheist religion, is based on the tenets of exclusivity and elitism both of which go against the basic tenets of democracy, where every citizen is supposed to hold equal rights. Whenever the ties between religion and state are too close there will be certain sectors of society afforded special rights, because through their religious teachings they believe they are the chosen ones. Consequently, if you oppose this belief you are damned and therefore less worthy than the chosen ones making it easy to persuade the chosen ones to oppress you purely for a difference of opinion.
You just have to read the pages of this newspaper to see how states ruled by religious parties or personalities easily justify oppression, victimisation and outright warmongering and it's no wonder when their basis for these actions comes from passages such as:
"If you hear that in one of the towns which Yahwey your God has given you for a home, there are men, scoundrels from your own stock, who have led their fellow-citizens astray saying, "Let us go and serve other gods," hitherto unknown to you, it is your duty to look into the matter, examine it, and inquire most carefully. If it is proved and confirmed that such a hateful thing has taken place among you, you must put them to the sword; you must lay it under the curse of destruction – the town and everything in it." (Deuteronomy 13:12-16)
This passage clearly dictates that followers of the Christian religions should actively kill and ransack followers of other faiths.
Similarly the Koran states: "Their hearts were hardened, and Satan made their deeds seem fair to them. And when they had clean forgotten our admonition we granted them all that they desired; but just as they were rejoicing in what they were given, we suddenly smote them and they were plunged into utter despair. Thus were the evil-doers annihilated. Praise be to God. Lord of the Universe!"(6:43-45) Or more simply: "Those that deny our revelations shall be punished for their misdeeds." (6:49)
Sentiments such as these do not allow fair representation of the population or any form of equal rights of the citizens within a state and induce prejudicial views and actions against people who hold a different belief about how and why this universe was created. Add religious fundamentalism to this balance of power within a state and the results are horrendous, giving rise to wholesale massacre, civil war, expulsions of people from their homelands and international war crimes and crimes against humanity.
But this is just the rhetoric of terrorists, terror leaders such as George W Bush with his direct line to God who stated that it was unpatriotic to be American and not a Christian.
Tony Blaire who wished he had a direct line to God but who would have been laughed out of office by the British public, had he spoken like this. Vladimir Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church, Bill Clinton making the record of Presiding over the dropping of the greatest amount of munitions ever in one day over Muslim areas in the Bosnian conflict and this represents the so called moderate western democracies.
So keep religion out of politics, thank you very much and allow us to vote for politicians who will govern with "honesty, integrity and transparency, where the people will come first and self-enrichment is denied."
Peace, love and equality to every person on this planet, they are all your brothers and sisters.
Andy Murphy-Laws
Dear Editor,
It takes women to understand the suffering that our children undergo when they become victims of sexual abuse, and it will take women to make significant changes in all of the abovementioned judiciary domains.
It has been proven that women will not stand for this dispassionate attitude that has been displayed by members of the judiciary chain, who have refused to apply the full extent of the law with regard to sexual abusers of minors. After all, it is their kind who is forever inflicting this horrendous crime on our children, and so they have remained detached from the situation until it happens to one of their own.
The most precious gift one could ever give to children is to allow them to grow up in an environment that offers them the freedom to be who they are. To take away their innocence and have them experience being women and men is an atrocity that should not be tolerated in this so-called Christian society.
There is nothing in the world that can substitute for the joy of childhood. Here is where the formation of an individual takes place and if children are constantly living in pain, what would their adult life be like? Their childhood is just a mirror of their adult life that will be filled with promiscuity, mood swings, depression and a host of other problems. As I have said before, no amount of counselling can compensate for what these children have lost.
Sexual abuse of minors is taken much too lightly on St. Maarten and that is why molesters do what they want, because they have analyzed the judiciary system and are using the loopholes to continue their underground profession.
The system is to be blamed for this continual cruelty to our minors. I will repeat myself, children are not supposed to be subjected to re-live their ordeal through court proceedings, just to prove that they were sexually molested. The system needs to change! This drawn-out and embarrassing process, not forgetting the input of these unscrupulous lawyers, is what has contributed to the covering up of this horrendous crime that has been festering for decades.
We need women at the helm of these judicial institutions, who will take an impartial stand, but who are also willing to dig deeper into the situation to find out more than what meets the eye. The Court of Guardianship is an area in which we have seen tremendous change, compared to what it replicated in previous years. It is because we now have a Department Head, Richelda Rodriguez - Emmanuel, who will not tolerate the injustices that are imposed on our minors.
However, the avenue to expose sexual abuse of minors has to be expanded. It is not enough to ask persons to report the matter to designated headquarters. This format it is not the easiest way for persons who might be afraid to do so. Personally, I believe that our community police would be an excellent source of information, by them conducting random and consistent investigations on the matter.
In my opinion, when community officers are assigned to a district, they should be scouring the neighbourhood, in the same manner in which politicians canvassed the various districts during the recently-held Parliamentary Election. When these officers approach the community this way, they have a better idea of its dynamics, and people would be more inclined to release the information.
I am not in favour of having one police officer per district. Instead, there should be at least three to insure better protection of both the officer and the people; to offer the community a choice to select the officer to whom they feel comfortable to divulge the information and for the purpose of checks and balances. In addition, there should be a specially trained unit within the police force to deal with cases of sexual abuse of minors.
Furthermore, the people must be comfortable enough to speak out on this issue, with the confidence that they have the full backing of the judiciary system. There is absolutely no use that the community pours out its heart against this evil, only to be confronted with a judiciary system that appears to constantly side with the perpetrators. Then we will have a situation similar to our political system, where politicians have consistently ignored the cries of the people, and the only way to retaliate was to avoid the polls on Election Day.This community has the power to break the evil hand of sexual abuse of minors, simply because the process begins with every one of us.
Joslyn Morton
