Dear Editor,
The entire thought of St. Maarten becoming independent has been mind-boggling to say the least. I would like to provide St. Maarten’s residents, citizens and especially the 12 Members of Parliament with some crucial questions to ponder when considering whether the decolonization (i.e. independence) process of our beloved island will be the right move. Please consider the following:
1. Would you like to have a St. Maarten passport? One’s identity or heritage does not come from a passport; it is instead engrained in our community and personalities. The essence of a St. Maartener shall never be lost simply due to the passport one holds. Rather we must focus on the advantages of our current right to a Dutch passport, which has afforded the island’s people great opportunities worldwide like enabling our children to obtain quality degrees and easy travel for all. A new country status passport comes with many obstacles for citizens. Like other independent former colonies, we may face having to submit visa applications to travel, long waiting times, costly fees, the gathering of many documents, and the possibility of being declined to travel. These new immigration procedures and regulations will heavily depend on the deals that our government will create with the rest of the world (including the Netherlands). In addition, we must factor in costs for the technology and creation of passports.
2. Will St. Maarten have embassies set up in other countries so that citizens can seek help if needed while abroad?
3. How will Sint Maarten handle a natural disaster or global pandemic?
i. Shall we train KPSM [police – Ed.] and VKS [colunteer corps] on military and humanitarian assistance?
ii. Send our negotiators with limited global experience to negotiate with other countries for financial/military/humanitarian assistance to then be financially shackled to a stranger?
iii. Form our own military overnight and spend the money in our own personal bank accounts?
4. How will St. Maarten pay back US $1.2 billion in debt and replenish the coffers to the point that there is a healthy reserve? Or do you believe the Netherlands will pay us billions in reparations? Whether it is deserved is not in question; it is simply the reality that what we deserve and what we get are rarely ever equal. Perhaps you think the Dutch will forgive this debt, just like after 10-10-10; except, our Parliamentarians have now told the Dutch that we are ungrateful for their zero per cent interest loan and that they are racists.
5. Do you believe that we can run our entire economy on tourism alone? Or what “get rich quick” ideas do you have that we can use to create a multi-pillar economy? The proof is in the pudding, COVID-19 and hurricanes have proven tourism is not cutting it.
6. Who will establish an official central bank for St. Maarten?
7. What will be our official currency and how would that switch take place? Can you imagine a product costing NAf. 5 and switching over to US $5, while our salaries are converted by the exchange rate? Yes, this can happen, as it did in Saba when they dropped the guilder. Before even suggesting an official St. Maarten dollar consider the Jamaican dollar, Aruban florin and other lower-valued currencies as you ponder.
8. How will we be viewed and included on the international stage with the World Bank, World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund, Financial Action Task Force, United Nations, Small Island Developing States, etc.?
9. Who is truly qualified to represent us in foreign relations and speak at for example, UN assemblies?
10. Are you willing to trust existing powers on the island to preserve instead of giving up the rest of the country to more foreign investors?
11. Are you willing to make Sint Maarten a tax haven and foot the bill for foreign investors, yourselves and visitors?
12. Have you considered the medical and mental health fields?
i. Where will our doctors, psychologists and psychiatrists study and train?
ii. Where will we get medical supplies?
iii. Will there still be agreements to fly patients to the Netherlands, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic?
iv. Do we have a reliable mental health system?
13. Have you considered our judicial system?
i. Where will our lawyers and judges study and train?
ii. What bar exam will they sit?
iii. Who is qualified to that degree to set up such a system correctly?
iv. Will we have a Supreme Court? (Consider the fact that the small claims court has struggled to get up and running properly.)
v. What about the checks and balances? Do we have an independent reliable judicial system that will hold the government accountable for failures to maintain quality of living?
14. Are we keeping the copied Dutch Laws and civil law system in place and has this legal system met the needs of our island thus far?
15. Are you willing to start paying customs duty fees/taxes and administrative/processing fees for shipments on top of the already high costs? The United Kingdom, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago are prime examples of such repercussions. Surely, we will not be able to remain a duty-free island.
16. Do we have a strong infrastructure in place?
i. Telecommunications
ii. Environmental protections
iii. Sewage systems
iv. Quality roads
v. High quality and environmentally conscious utilities
vi. Proper streetlights
vii. Proper waste management (i.e. the dump)
viii. Healthcare system
ix. Honest and affordable insurance system
x. Welfare/financial aid system
xi. Disaster management, etc.
17. Have you considered our education system?
i. Will we continue to teach Dutch at schools?
ii. Is our education system ready for independence?
iii. Where will our students go for college and who is paying?
iv. Do you have 50-150,000 (US$/euros) lying around for each child?
v. What about education for special needs?
18. Will we start having property tax?
19. What will happen with the Treaty of Concordia?
20. Despite having more questions, I conclude with this: Do you see the reality of independence for St. Maarten and would you still stand proudly with the 12 Members of Parliament on this ad hoc decision?
Let us start a community-wide discussion, as this will broaden our minds and collectively create a dialogue for a responsible way forward for St. Maarten. We should no longer have to joke about #SXMIsNotARealPlace, instead we can one day become a #RealPlace to be truly proud of through peaceful, honest and forward-thinking partnerships within the Kingdom and beyond.
Bear in mind the difference between independence and freedom. Independence is earned by becoming responsible and accountable for one’s own actions and duties, which we truthfully have not earned. Freedom is a state of “being, of which we are nowhere near at the moment. Instead, we only have a false sense of freedom from lack of structure, ordinance and our rebellious behaviors.”
Our false sense of freedom is what has created both external chaos and inner turmoil. Independence will not give us freedom, as if we “free” ourselves from the Kingdom, we will only imprison ourselves to our own past mistakes, lack of responsibility and failed accountability. A burden of pain I do not wish on my people.
Join me Sint Maarten, let us stop, think and rebuild, stronger, smarter, better, together!
Deedee Johnson LLB
Dear Editor,
We have had many Government fails and falls since 10.10.10 much to our shame, We had resolved last election this was not going to happen again.
I question today if this has taken place and nobody noticed. The question seems absurd. But allow me to explain.
Some time ago there was an incident in Simpson Bay involving the President of Parliament where he was construed to be interfering in the legal shutdown of a restaurant. It became clear that his status does not permit him to give instructions to the authorized agencies that were simply doing their job. His powers did not extend outside the boundary of Parliament and that the rightful authority was the Minister of TEATT [Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication – Ed.], who as it turns out was acting in the general good of the community. His defence that he perceived a wrong and this inspired him to take action was complete rubbish. It is now clear to all, that what he did was illegal, because being a member of parliament does not grant you executive privilege.
How then is it possible that an individual member of parliament, or even a group of parliamentarians are allowed to commit the same transgression with impunity? A group that has no executive standing. I am referring of course to the submission of a petition to the UN in a matter that seriously affects the national security and interest of our island. Has our Prime Minister been overthrown, and the people knew nothing about it? By extension therefore this Choharis law firm is acting without any legal basis, claiming to represent the people of Sint Maarten.
But since this law firm claims to be representing the people may we know exactly who is paying the bill? Because this matters; regardless of who they claim to represent, ultimately it is the party paying the bills whose interest is being sought. If it’s from Dutch liquidity funding then we can now safely abandon any opposition to the COHO [Caribbean Body for Reform and Development – Ed.], because the fears have been validated. But worse than that, the funds could be coming from an entity seeking to corrupt our justice system. This question needs to be answered right away.
I call on the honorable Silveria Jacobs to please stop this insanity, these people are standing in your shoes and you have an obligation to the people of Sint Maarten, to protect that role.
I would like to thank the three members of parliament who called foul on this, for their decency. There is a proper way to go about this, but this has been deliberately circumvented to avoid transparency. Shame and ingratitude are the words that come to mind.
Concerned and embarrassed citizen
Name withheld at author's request.
Dear Editor,
Please let me explain what “the spirit of the age” means.
Presently in this world, including St. Maarten, we are living in a time where Jesus Christ is beginning to pull back His grace with people who outright reject him.
The reason Christ is doing this is that (Genesis 6:5) “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” As you can see, lifestyle is the true evidence of who lives pleasing to God or not.
Please understand, the intention is not to hurt or to offend people. But the reality is, the truth is offensive. The truth is nothing to agree or like but to accept and change for the better.
In this world presently leaders of the spirit of the age are making laws for sinful acts to be acceptable and much worst to be glorified. As you can see in the USA there is a transgender person who is the executive branch of the United States Government. Worst yet, some people in the Democratic party in America are interested in introducing legislation of teaching young children in America how to accept homosexuality. The same actions are happening in Europe. All this action is what is meant with the “spirit of the age”. While at the same time people are pursuing removing all ten commandments laws from all courtrooms.
These actions are an outright rejection of Jesus Christ. Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
Every day as the majority of people separate themselves from God, judgment becomes closer to us. Humanity, in general, has chosen the point of no return. Notice how we allow the government to take away our freedoms to impose mandatory actions of a few scientist’s beliefs, but outright reject our omnipotent (one who has unlimited power and authority) creator who is God with the son named Jesus. Our actions and our lifestyle we embrace or live depict who is our God.
I will quote Jesus and let his words judge you so people do not hate me, the messenger.
John 8:44-47: “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convict Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God's words; therefore, you do not hear, because you are not of God."
The conclusion is 2 Corinthians 4:4: “The God of this age has blinded the minds of the unbeliever so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
The spirit of the age in the world is inspired by Satan and produces lifestyles and doctrine of what God does not approve of. Be careful of any political party or political leader who does not believe in the values and doctrine of Christ. Separation from church and state is okay, but never from Jesus Christ.
Choices have consequences, choose wisely.
The Patriot Miguel Arrindell
(The following letter was sent on Thursday by former Minister of Finance Perry Geerlings to Mr. Peter C. Choharis of The Choharis Law Group, PLLC in Washington. Mister Coharis presented a petition on behalf of St. Maarten's parliament to the United Nations on Tuesday.)
To: The Minister of Education, Drs. Rudolphe Samuel
Head of the Division of Examinations, Drs. Yvette Halley,
Research Officer, Division of Examinations, Mrs. Joan Kartokromo,
By means of this letter, we, the people who are waiting to take the naturalization exam, are kindly asking when will this exam take place?
Some of us have been waiting for years and have no idea when the exam will be scheduled in the future.
Whenever we contact the office the response is very rude and no official information is given to us.
Last November 2020, a few persons were contacted to take the exam and others who had also registered were not notified. So, we would like to know what is the basis for only picking and choosing some people for this exam?
We believe that it is the right of every non-Dutch resident who contributes to the island to become a Dutch citizen once he or she meets the requirements. One of the requirements is the naturalization exam and we believe that the right to do this exam is being withheld from us by the Division of Examinations.
Mister, can you please request this Division to get in touch with the people who are registered and have the Division publicize the date of the next exam as soon as possible so that everyone is given a fair chance.
Thank you for your assistance in this matter.
Name withheld at authors request
