Dear Editor,

  Whilst the socio-economic developments on the Island are on the rise, namely the inter islands transport ferry service and the new ban on single-use disposables, government should also look into the possibility of subsidizing or seeking alternative cost-efficient  cargo/freight services to the Island, as this will play an integral role towards the advancement of the economic sector, particularly the small businesses which make up an estimated 90% of the island’s economy.

  This added value will also relieve entrepreneurs, supermarkets and hardware stores of the stringent measures put in place as a result of the Covid pandemic, which also impacted the hospitality food and beverage sector.

As a result of the new measures, namely the ‘ban on single-use plastic’ which was enforced particularly in the hospitality sector and supermarkets. This brought an additional cost of 2-4x the amount spent on regular disposable products that is now being absorbed into small business profits. The subsidy would also help to ease with the general increase in food, gas and construction materials.

  In speaking with several supermarkets, restaurants, guest houses and entrepreneurs, we are all in agreement that a subsidy of at least 30% would indeed be not only necessary, but imperative for the cost of goods and services to maintain some form of normalcy. This will also be more in line with the favourable increase in minimum wage, rather than having prices go up even further, we can now level the playing field.

Vaughn M. Sams

Dear Editor,

  I can remember growing up the old people used to say “Confession is good for the soul”. So at times when messing with my siblings I would tell them that confession is good for the soul and that they should tell our mother what really happened. One day when my father overheard me talking to one of my brothers, he called me and said to me, “Get the Bible, look in James and see what it says about confession and let me know.” After a while I found an explanation of confession in James chapter 5 from verse 7 to 20. Later on my father told me that “true confession is good for the soul”.

  On reading what was written about the Chairman of Parliament concerning his apology it reminded me of my father’s observation concerning confession. According to the paper, Chairman Brison says that it was done in a moment of frustration. I am not an English professor, and I am not about trying to put words in anybody’s mouth, but if I understand well, frustration occurs as a result of not getting the result one wants. So, can I assume that the Chairman means “it was the result of frustration?”

  What I know also is that when one has a lot of not-so-pleasant things on one’s mind it causes frustration and then the following sayings can come into play: “What soberness conceals, drunkenness reveals” or “He speaks in his drink, what he thought in his drouth” or “A drunken man’s words are a sober man’s thoughts”.

  Mind you I was not there so I cannot say anything about anybody’s condition, nor state of mind. So my question is, if I have all those beautiful thoughts about a person and I am ready to bestow so many accolades on that person, and even go as far as to compare her to my mother, why would the first things that come out of my mouth about her, “in a moment of frustration”, be demeaning and insulting, in the presence of others?

  Dear Editor, to that I say, “What the heart thinks the mouth speaks” ( in Dutch, “waar het hart van vol is loopt de mond van over”). So to me it is clear where that letter of apology was compiled.

  Politicians have to understand that not because a person voted for them means that that person is gullible. There are several reasons why people vote for a person or a party. For instance, what’s in their manifesto, the party program, party loyalty, the lesser of two evils, etc. And not because they are fools. The people have come to realize that when more people vote, it gives everybody a better chance.

  For me this has nothing to do with party preference, it tells me that the one who compiled or okayed that so-called letter of apology qualifies the people of St. Maarten to be fools and that they do not realize what is really happening here. A frustrated person does not write an apology that takes up almost one third of a page of the newspaper. Also, what Chairman Brison did was not an indiscretion.

  And even if the Chairman spoke those words in the privacy of his home, there is where he felt safe to be able to insult Mrs. Heyliger in the presence of others.

  I have written it before but I will write it again, Everywhere else in the Dutch Kingdom, a whole lot of politicians have been investigated, indicted, even incarcerated for wrongdoing in government. Instead of doing like those people in government in the other countries of the Kingdom, who usually “take a French leave”, we in St. Maarten will fight our case all the way to the high court, knowing that we have a slim to no chance of winning, while all through the process they are washing their dirty linen in public.

  So, I am curiously waiting for the next move, because it is the Minister and the Chairman who are in hot water.

   I know that there are provisions to deal with this situation The Chairman of the Parliament of St. Maarten still does not realize that “not because something is not wrong, it is the right thing to do”.

  This is called “ethics”. He has proven over and over that he has no regard for the position that he is occupying. I believe that he is conflating responsibility with power.

  By the way, according to the Chairman, Jurendy took his like a man, so the Chairman should also take his like a man and do the honorable thing. The people of Sint Maarten are fed up with being constantly embarrassed by our people in government.

Russell A. Simmons

Dear Editor,

  If you are on social media these days you would have immediately noticed that the people of St. Maarten are sharing pictures, videos and speeches of the Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley. Popular saying goes that you should never lift a politician too high, but Mottley is on a roll as a global leader. Compared to St. Maarten’s Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs, the PM in Barbados must seem heaven-sent to many here. And on Monday, November 1, Jacobs showed us exactly why people do not hold her on high.

  The Prime Minister of St. Maarten shamed herself on live radio on Monday morning when she did not rebuke Chairman of Parliament Rolando Brison. She did not even distance herself and her party from Brison’s grotesque comments. She condoned his comments towards women, she condoned his wheeling and dealing, she condoned his narcissism, she condoned political victimization. Shame on you, Prime Minister.

  She did this by stating that Brison’s recorded statements were out of context and in anger. Seriously, Prime Minister? So, was that not his voice and did the words not come out of his mouth? By being Brison’s biggest apologist and not addressing the serious implications for the country, Jacobs condoned every single thing Brison uttered on that recording. And that is beyond shameful. Shame on you, Prime Minister.

  It was disappointing to see the Prime Minister, a woman, sit there and condone Brison’s tearing down of another woman. Then again, this is the same Prime Minister who took a week to say anything about Minister Doran’s disrespect towards the Ombudsman, also a woman. Shame on you Prime Minister.

  The Prime Minister is an educator by profession. But instead of using her position to live up to the honorable ideals of an educator and respect the trust people placed in her to lead them, she has personified the saying “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. The Prime Minister apparently has lost her moral compass or perhaps she never had one. She is now protecting her power base at all costs, even at the cost of losing her soul. Shame on you Prime Minister.

  Finally, a word of respectful advice to the Prime Minister: All of your media appearances lately either start or end with a speech that’s somehow meant to be motivational, like you are a teacher in front of a classroom talking to children. But because you have shown that you are unable to live up to your own examples, I have a request: please stop preaching to us. It’s condescending and insulting, especially after defending a narcissistic, misogynistic, unremorseful and verbally abusive individual like Rolando Brison. Your words carry no weight. Shame on you, Prime Minister.

Name withheld at author's request.

Dear Editor,

  Spare the rod and spoil the child is true saying. This is not about what the old people used to say, this is biblical (Proverbs 13:24)  And if you are aware that the child deserves to be punished, and you don't do so then this could be adverse intentions.

  In this case it is the people of Sint Maarten who are being affected. By now, we should know that this is exactly what happened to Chairman Brison. He messed with the controllers while doing their job. They 'kijk door de vingers'; while IPKO was waiting for him, he was playing some kind of a sport.  He received a slap on the wrist. Superman, Batman or even Santa Claus have assistants, but he felt that he could take on the Coharis gang alone. All he heard was this damn boy is embarrassing us. He seems to be a night bat, so  island-wide curfew was not put in place  for him. He broke protocol. The next thing you know they started calling him a crackhead, but they still have not done anything. I thought, "How much more are his colleagues going to take?

  Yes, how much lower can they go? But then I listened to that tape, which by now has gone viral, I decided this lunatic has to go. And then again, I heard something which was, "When last  did we get through a week without our leaders embarrassing us?" I have constantly written to you about our people in government being indicted and incarcerated, and that the people of Sint Maarten do not deserve this, but I have never felt so embarrassed as after listening to that tape.

  Chairman Brison did all of the above and it seems as if that internal "code of ethics" was about to protect him again. But technology, yes technology, got the better part of him. Nowadays everybody has a cell phone because a cell phone does everything.  Nobody trusts anybody anymore, because nowadays they never know who’s going to throw down the government.  Too bad for Chairman Brison.

  Nobody is going to catch me mumbling words because as I always say, I am responsible for what I write.  There are certain things instilled in me from childhood.  I started off my letter with one and another one is that 'the truth will set you free'. My mother used to tell us, "You don't have to say everything, but whatever you say must be the truth." I hear that his own party members are asking  for his resignation, so I wonder what they are going to do about that "code of ethics"

  I hope he does not have an ace up his sleeve, which could mean forcing a lot of people’s hands, delaying  him being ousted, which is totally not fair to the people of Sint Maarten.

 I believe that ethically the complete Parliament should call for his resignation. He is behaving as if the government (the people) is his to do as he wishes with, holding that position. This is embarrassing to the people of Sint Maarten, and if the members of Parliament do not demand Brison's resignation, they will be showing the people who they really are. So, if they want to be respected, this should not be, 'it is not up to me', they all should have the dignity to en bloc demand chairman Brison's resignation. Do we really want to continue this trend? Do the people of Sint Maarten deserve to  continue to  be led by a "yob"? I do not think that I have to remind the people of Sint Maarten of the popular saying, “From where the fish does start to rot. The same way that that tape has gone viral, it is up to Parliament to show the world now who they really are.

  Who is really to blame? I would say they did not bend the tree in time, so they now they have to chop it down.

Russell A. Simmons