Dear Editor,
To say that the relationship between the Netherlands and the three Caribbean countries of Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten (constitutional states) is strained is an understatement.
The Kingdom Charter, a document that is some 67 years old, is supposed to have established a mutual respect for all involved and adhering to the principles of democracy and, might I add, good governance. However, experiences over the years and recent developments have proven to be otherwise.
The Council of State made some references to what investments should be made to improve this relationship. While conditions are things that even financial institutions such as banks require to obtain a loan, the ones set by the Dutch government will not lead to improvement in our finances but further deterioration and increase in poverty. I will remain adamant that the only recourse for financial improvement is debt cancellation, not debt restructuring.
I have the highest respect for the Council of State but what I have an issue with is that their advice is not binding due to no fault of their own but the insistence of the Kingdom Council of Ministers to maintain the possibility to have the final say. This behavior will not improve the relationship between the Netherlands and the 3 islands of Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten.
The procedures that must be followed to establish a Kingdom Law is a prime example of inequality when it comes to numbers. What should be considered is the impact it will have on the countries concerned, including the Netherlands.
I concur with the Council of State with its reference to trust which is a cardinal prerequisite for cooperation. The democratic deficit has not yet been addressed. The long-awaited dispute regulation has finally found the light of day again. But for me, as long as the advice is not binding, I will not accept the Law.
What must also be recognized and accepted is the pivotal role the Caribbean islands have played in the economic development of the Netherlands. I say this in lieu of a document on Britain’s slave trade written in a report done by the “Public University of Glasgow” and I quote, “A nation that does not understand its history and the roots of its wealth will struggle to understand how power, finance, politics and economics works.” End of quote. My interpretation of that phrase is that without us there would be no them.
I welcome discussions based on mutual respect for the human rights of all peoples in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Then and only then will our relationship improve.
MP George Pantophlet
Dear Editor,
This topic is for people to think critically. From about 1960 until 1990, parents used to teach their children first about God, and then to get an education to make a good comfortable and quality life.
Unfortunately, that thinking is not enough to achieve a good quality of life. We have to go back to basics; we have to teach them about God first, and then teach them there are only 2 genders. We have to teach our children that God created men for women, and when they grow up, it is only the natural quality of life for men to marry women.
We have to teach them that men and boys go to the male’s restroom and women and girls go to the female’s restroom. We must teach our children that God made women and men differently because it takes two of opposite sex to create a new life. They must learn about a natural and decent quality of life, which is for a man to cohabit with a woman, and not with the same sex, which is unnatural.
You might ask me, but why teach that? The reason we have to teach this is that the world with the spirit of the age –be it the music industry and the movies and television – is painting a different picture with the intention of deceiving people.
To control people, you paint a picture that you want them to believe, say or show it over and over, and then it becomes acceptable. The acceptability of evil will produce a poor quality of life.
The big question is what do we accept as normal or good quality of life? Is education and having money and vanity a good quality of life only? Is a good quality of life a male and a female, which constitute a real family, even though they may not have money or graduate with education?
Is a man married to a man or a woman married to a woman, who is highly educated with lots of money living with children as father and mother a good quality of life? Does a good quality of life constitute the amount of money you have or does a good quality of life have to do with good moral character?
Would you accept your son to cohabit with a man and accept it because his partner is rich? Would you accept your son to marry a prostitute, if she is the breadwinner in the family? The point is this, what is a value and a quality life for you? Would you accept your children to spend some time with a rich paedophile?
The world we are living in presently has changed and the coward society is afraid to confront it. Parents and society are not teaching our children the values of life. We left it up to sports icons, media icons, movie stars and singers to teach our children what is good, and those are exactly the people who are deceiving them.
Many churches now are in bed with the popularity; they are using popular figures to see if they can promote Christianity. Jesus made it crystal clear, "a friend with the world is an enemy of God."
The conclusion is: do we value life, or what is a good quality of life?
What you accept is what you deserve. Freedom does not come free, and good quality of life is determined by your lifestyle, if it is pleasing to Christ or not.
I am not here to judge any person; the point is to identify who are you and what do you stand for?
Whatever you accept, be it bad or good, the consequences are yours to live with. Please do not blame the world. God gives you a mind to think for yourself.
The point is this, you cannot run from evil, it will come to your door sooner or later. You can choose to give in and accept, it or confront it and defeat it.
The end result is what determines your destiny. Value life and choose the good quality God has made it to be.
Choices have consequences, therefore choose wisely!
The Patriot Miguel Arrindell
Dear Editor,
I would like to encourage persons in the community to join the war against COVID-19 infection by registering and getting vaccinated against the disease.
An impressive number of people of all ages have already taken the vaccine, thanks to various promotions and public service announcements. However, there still remain many in the community who are adopting a “wait and see” attitude or are flatly refusing to be vaccinated at all.
I have recently had my second shot of the Pfizer vaccine. I respect the views of everyone, whether they choose to take the vaccine or not. However, I believe that unless more in the population take the vaccine than do not, there is a greater chance that COVID-19 will be around longer than necessary, and it may even give other variants of the virus a chance to take hold in St. Maarten, as they have in the ABC islands of Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire.
Herd immunity makes it possible to protect the population from a disease, including those who cannot be vaccinated, such as babies or those who have compromised immune systems. Using the concept of herd immunity, vaccines have successfully controlled deadly contagious diseases such as smallpox, polio and many others in the Caribbean community. We can make part of the infusion.
For me, it’s all about herd immunity, which will make it more difficult for the virus to spread in St. Maarten.
If achieved in our community, herd immunity will allow us to move back towards pre-COVID normalcy and help protect vulnerable people and hopefully restore our tourism-based economy.
This is the main reason I made a point of taking the vaccine myself and I feel the need to share that with others, as other prominent persons and organisations in the St. Maarten community have done, as a means of supporting the various teams that are administering the vaccines in an impressive and efficient manner in St. Maarten.
My gratitude goes out to all the front-liners in the medical field.
Helen Salomons, General Director
St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF)
The man who has learned to finally forgive,
is indeed the man who has now learned to live.
The man who bears without tears, but with laughter,
the pangs of his hunger,
is the man who has conquered his fears from yonder.
The man who transcends selfish, egoistic, and suffering ways,
to spend all of his days,
comforting and soothing souls trapped in a maze,
is the man who ought to be perpetually in our gaze.
The man who understands his wretched condition,
is shared by many communities of the human population,
will always empathize with those constantly ostracise.
The man who educates himself,
only to elevate himself,
is the man whose conscience has neglected to motivate,
the vast remainder of life that partakes.
The man whose consciousness is strong enough,
to embrace life’s myriad of fortunes and misfortunes,
is the man whose life will illume just like the harvest moon.
Orlando Patterson.
Dear Editor,
Anguilla’s politicians see us as a zero-sum game. They are self-serving and full of themselves. They are overpaid for the little bit of work they do, collecting a pension after 10 years of service from a system to which they contributed zero. Not only don’t they contribute to the pension fund, but they also collect a fat gratuity check on the way out. They drive around in a government SUV, not to mention that gas is paid for by the government. Folks, you must suspend belief to believe this sort of thing.
There are those gifted with alternative options, and then there are those who have only one option, living on the rock no matter what. It’s incumbent upon us to forget about the party system and heed the clarion call to defend and preserve Anguilla for future generations. We have come too far and have put too much in that beloved bone-dry rock to see lignum vitae and ground lizards take precedence over us.
Martin Luther King Jr. said, “We remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Once again, we are hoisted with our own petard. Do we honestly expect the British to look out for our best interests? They don’t care about the BAMEs (Blacks, Asian) on their island, much less the ones on a rock some 2,300 miles away.
As it stands right now, the trees and lizards have it a lot better than us, for they are protected. The Brits will spend 285 billion pounds for an unusable airport on St. Helena, where it takes a jet three tries to land, while we, like the albatross, are straddled with a 500-million-dollar debt. They will develop the Falklands’ fishing industry but are happy to let others poach in our territorial waters. The last White Paper stressed the importance of partnership between the U.K. and its territories. Can anyone genuinely point to any association that has existed between us?
The late U.S. Congressman John Lewis implored us to get into what he referred to as “good trouble” His warning applies to anyone, anywhere, who becomes an agent for good. Whether it’s Myanmar, Hong Kong, China, or the good old USA, in his 1960 inaugural speech, John Fitzgerald Kennedy encouraged his people to: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” So, my fellow Anguillians, your country cries out to you, “What will you do for me?” Are you willing to fight for that which our forefathers left for us?
’Til next time, may God bless Anguilla.
Tyrone Hodge
