PHILIPSBURG — On November 9th, 2022, His Excellency, Mr. Ajamu Baly, Governor of St. Maarten addressed the attendees at the Prins Bernard Culture Funds Caribbean Region award ceremony for the National Institute of Arts (NIA) on the novelty culture has on the island of St. Maarten. This novelty of culture defines the commonalities of a nation and ignites the creativity for national innovation that safeguards and develops St. Maarten’s social and economic well-being. At the ceremony, the Prins Bernhard Culture Fund Caribbean Region awarded The National Institute of Arts for its outstanding efforts in the fields of Arts and Culture.…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG — In her St. Maarten’s Day address, MP Grisha Heyliger-Marten reflected on two symbols that represent the people of the nation and “those born here and born to be here”. “Symbolism is important, and two symbols personally means a lot to me. These symbols arethe brown pelican and salt. These two symbols tie into who we are as a people”, Heyliger-Martin stated in her statement to the nation. According to the MP, the first symbol, which is the pelican, symbolizes resourcefulness,courage, and humility. “It also represents, generosity, loyalty, and sacrifice.” She pointed outthat in times of hardship, “this noble…
PHILIPSBURG — The Ministry of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations does not know Jacob A. Miedema, the representative of a Dutch consortium that claims to be negotiating the refinancing of St. Maarten’s liquidity loans. “Nobody within the ministry has been in contact with Mr. Miedema about guarantees on loans or any other topic,” State Secretary Alexandra van Huffelen wrote to Minister of Finance Ardwell Irion. Xavier Blackman, speaking on behalf of independent MP Grisha Heyliger-Marten, told StMaartenNews.com a couple of days ago that “Dutch technocrats know about the consortium’s offer to refinance their loans.” Related article: Mysterious Dutch consortium interested…
Dear Editor, Please permit me some space to address the general public. You see, there’s bound to be the usual political rhetoric about what the opposition did on Monday, 7 November 2022, in not granting quorum for the CC meeting about the unity flag, so let me be ahead of the circus. The coalition showed up in full force to remove a President of Parliament who was actually acting in an unbiased manner: scheduling meetings requested by both coalition and opposition members of Parliament. Note that there are meetings on the docket since 2021 that have not been called, as…
~ Comments and Proposals on follow up to Motions presented in the Dutch Second Chamber by Member of Parliament Drs. Jorien Wuite and other Dutch MPs ~ The following are just specific reactions and responses to the Three (3) Motions specifically mentioned in the article of the Daily Herald of Wednesday, November 2, 2012, as it relates to the Caribbean Netherlands. This all has to do with the Meeting of the Dutch Parliament dated, Tuesday, November 1, 2022. Motions proposed, accepted, and passed: A) Fast forwarding the Introduction of a Social Minimum, due to the harsh realities that an increasing…
PHILIPSBURG — The annual report of the parliament for the year 2020-2021 is a document that runs 274 pages, stuffed with information related to the function and authority of parliament, a financial overview, a picture gallery of the Members of Parliament and even an explanation of its logo. But the document also tells its readers how busy (or not) parliamentarians have been and how they voted on all the issues that came to the floor of parliament. The introduction chapter contains a recurring piece of misinformation, namely, that the parliament is the country’s highest legislative body. That is of course…
By Hilbert Haar MP Grisha Heyliger-Marten dealt a quick blow to her political adversaries after she was voted out of her position as chairlady of parliament. She cut all ties with the United People’s party (UP), a political vehicle established by her husband Theo Heyliger and established herself as an independent member of parliament. Who is the winner and who is the loser in this ugly dogfight? Heyliger-Marten held her head up high and rightly so, considering that the reasons the posse led by MP Rolando Brison came up with for her dismissal are laughable. But hey, that’s politics in…
PHILIPSBURG — MP Grisha Heyliger-Marten took her sweet revenge after the parliament voted her out of her position as president of parliament with an 8 to 7 vote by announcing her resignation from the United People’s party (UP) and by establishing herself as an Independent Member of Parliament. The UP is now left with just two seats in parliament (MPs Brison and Bijlani) while the coalition is dominated by the National Alliance that currently holds four seats. Heyliger-Marten’s move could very well mark the complete implosion of the UP. In the 2020 elections the party won 3,231 seats; Heyliger-Marten was…
By Hilbert Haar StMaartenNews.com publisher Terrance Rey wrote an interesting column for dossierkoninkrijksrelaties.nl about the phenomenon of stooges in St. Maarten. I’d like to add a few elements to his observations. A stooge, sometimes called a straw man, is somebody who fronts for somebody else. This way, the ultimate beneficial owner of a company remains in the shadows and if you are not careful, you have no idea whom you are doing business with. Stooges will remain in business as long as politicians do not take any initiative to change relevant legislation. How it works? Let’s say that somebody -…
By Hilbert Haar With the Silveria Jacobs government teetering on the brink of collapse, the question arises why governments apparently fall so easily in St. Maarten. The short answer is: village politics. Our little island nation has around 40,000 inhabitants. It is a place where everybody knows everybody. Years ago there was a complaint from The Hague: politicians were too close to the population. What a joke, if you realize that it is possible to meet any politicians on any day at the vegetable department of a supermarket. But what The Hague thinks about us is not the real problem.…
