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As IAM constantly bringing about Public Information and Awareness to the People of Sint Maarten/ Saint Martin, I thought that it would be very timely to share this much needed information to the People of this Nation, referrimg specifically to this Annaul Royal Ceremony.
All that I normally do is search and research information that should be readily available to our People. I have continuously kept saying that we need to understand the make up and culture of our People, with the facts and realities that normally most of our population will not search online to gather much needed information that would normally be to their benefit. And so I constantly kept repeating over and over again that through Constant Visual Public Relations Campaigns, we must disseminate these types of Public Information to our General Population, and in particular our grassroots, elderly, as well as those without internet access, for one reason or another.
Great examples of how we are able to effectively reach these segments of our Population is now seen during our Carnival Celebrations with all the Promotional Billboards on our public main roads. The same that is done during Election Campaigns with the Posters and Billboards as well. IAM so very sure that you are by now getting my point. Because the very sad reality most of the times is that our Population who needs to be assisted and informed the most, are the ones falling through the cracks, due to the fact that they will not go online to gather such information. And sadly, most of the times the process is too complex, discouraging them at times to not further pursue such opportunities. But the fact of the matter is that those of us that are responsible for constantly bringing the Information to the doorsteps and homes of the People, are failing in this area, believing that these online processes are more than enough. While we encourage, accept, and embrace future technological transformation, we must be cognizant to the reality that we must continue to hold the hands of those as well who are not able to keep up with all this advancing in technology, and so we must carry them along on this journey into the future, so that no one is left behind. The simple solutions are there.
And there are professionals, as well as community organizations, foundations, as well as educational institutions that are able and capable to assist in this process.
But I will get back to this point that I have been alluding to in another Article, and will do so after the Carnival Celebration so that I can get the attention of our People who needs the information the most without any sorts of distractions.
Let me get into this subject matter.
We will be once more celebrating the birthday of King Willem Alexander on Monday April 27th 2026, and I wish to share following very valuable information regarding the process as to how one becomes the Recipient of a Royal Decoration. And in this case, IAM referring to Country Sint Maarten, within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
-The approval process for Royal Decorations in Sint Maarten goes through RODAC, which is the Royal Decoration Advisory Committee, as well as several government layers before reaching His Majesty King Willem Alexander of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Here’s how it works:
-The Sint Maarten Royal Decoration Nomination Process is as follows-
1. Anyone can nominate someone, whether it is a family, friend, neighbor, colleague, or someone out of any organization or institution.
The First step would be to contact RODAC directly to start:
-Royal Decoration Advisory Committee.
Attn: Ms
Cassandra Janssen, Secretary
P.O. Box 943, Philipsburg, Sint Maarten
Email: RODAC@sintmaartengov.org
2. RODAC drafts a recommendation/ reviews the nomination and prepares a recommendation.
3. RODAC sends its recommendation to the Honourable Council of Ministers. COM decides whether an official nomination will be submitted.
4. If the Council of Ministers approves, the nomination goes to His Excellency the Governor. The Governor and his Cabinet adds their own recommendation and forwards it on.
5. The Governor submits the nomination and recommendation to the Civil Honours Council at the Chancery of the Netherlands Order of in The House of Orange-Nassau, The Hague. This Council makes a final recommendation.
6. The Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations BZK, along with the State Secretary of BZK receives the Civil Honours Council’s advice and decides whether to put the nominee forward to His Majesty the King.
7. If the Minister of BZK agrees, a Royal Decree is drawn up and presented to the King for signature. No honour can be awarded without the King’s signature.
Key points to know:
-Deadlines matter.
-For the King’s birthday honours list, nominations must be in no later than June 1st of the previous year.
-For special occasions, at least 6 months before the event.
-RODAC is step 1 for Sint Maarten. -Awards are usually given on the last working day before King’s Day.
So the process is as follows:
You → RODAC → Council of Ministers SXM → Governor → Civil Honours Council → Minister BZK → King.
I do hope that this was clearly understood, and that the Population of Sint Maarten now knows in detail how this Annaul Process works more or less, as well as what Timelines to expect all Steps to take place.
And should my information to the public as received, researched, and presented, not be at all accurate, I would refer to all the information being downloaded Online.
Achken Roberto Richardson-IAM
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