Dear Editor, Endorsing the comments and observations by Sarah Wescot Williams and Melissa Gumbs regarding all the “noise” about De-Colonization, I ask Grisha Heyliger, Rolando Brison, George Pantophlet and all other noisemakers: What, according to your coalition, are Government’s immediate plans to: 1. Fix the potholes in our roads; 2. Get more controle over COVID19 by using mass testing, tracking & tracing; 3. Finalize repairs of SXM residents’ house-roofs damaged by Hurricane IRMA in 2017; 4. Tell us about their efforts to repair our schools and re-arrange our educational system, so all the students now left behind can receive a…
Author: The Publisher
By Hilbert Haar The spin doctors in Parliament, spearheaded by UP faction leader Grisha Heyliger-Marten are going all out in their attempt to sell their story about the decolonization process. So far, twelve parliamentarians fell for it – not only the representatives of the UP and the NA, but also their allies of the USp. Only MPs Wescot-Williams (UD) and Melissa Gumbs and Raeyhon Peterson kept a clear head and recognized the decolonization-drive for what it really is: a sneaky attempt to divert the public’s attention from the real problems St. Maarten is facing. On November 5, the parliament approved…
~ “Understanding the process requires extensive reading and understanding of international law” ~ PHILIPSBURG – In a statement issued on November 9th, the Faction Leader of the UPP and Second Vice-Chair of Parliament, MP Grisha Heyliger-Marten responded to statements from the opposition parties in Parliament regarding the decolonization process. “In the first place”, MP Heyliger-Marten stated, “I would like to point out that, to a certain extent, I can understand the “confusion” that the UD and PFP factions are referring to. The right to self-determination, decolonization, and international law are not complicated topics, but they are very specialistic part of…
PHILIPSBURG – Not all schools are fully adhering to the protocols and safety guidelines from the government’s Education Continuity Plan, Minister of Education Drs. Rodolphe Samuel reports in a press release. Inspectors found that in some schools floor markings had been removed, classrooms had been arranged differently from their approved layout, regular sanitation was not observed and staff members were not wearing the mandatory facemasks. Some schools still have to enhance the sanitation and temperature screening upon the arrival of staff and students. Three weeks ago exam students and special education students returned to their classrooms. A week later vulnerable…
PORT ST. MAARTEN – Port St. Maarten made history once again servicing CMA CGM Fort Fleur d’Épée, the largest container ship to ever call at the Dr. A.C. Wathey Cruise & Cargo Facilities. The vessel arrived in port on Friday, November 6, 2020. Measuring 219 meters in length and 36 meters in width and over 37,000 gross tons, the CMA CGM Fort Fleur d’Épée can hold a maximum capacity of 3,504 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU). “The arrival of this vessel also highlights the success of Port St. Maarten’s operational excellence platform that continues to ensure excellent service to our clients.…
PHILIPSBURG – The Court in Basse-Terre (Guadeloupe) sentenced Grenada-born Kathron Fortune in October to 30 years of imprisonment for the rape and murder of Angélique Chauviré in 2006. Fortune is currently serving a life sentence in a high security prison in the Netherlands for the manslaughter and murder on Luis Sarante Diaz and Edwin Rosario Contreras on December 5, 2016 after his escape on February 15 from the Pointe Blanche prison where he was serving a 19-year sentence for the execution-style murder of Aruban Ervin Margerita on May 11, 2006, in Rice Hill Estate. If Fortune ever gets released from…
~ Statements by MP André Bosman have now become our frame of reference ~ PHILIPSBURG – With all the pressing matters before us, such as the financial position of Government, the state of our Government agencies such as SZV, our healthcare and our fragile economy, the Parliament spent much of the past week discussing DECOLONIZATION! The Presidium of Parliament decided to quickly rush a Central Committee meeting and the following day a public meeting of Parliament to “establish a permanent decolonization committee” of Parliament. Only after objections from my part and others about the need for such a committee at…
By Hilbert Haar Before anyone wants to hold it against me, let me say this: I support the notion that slavery was wrong for one hundred percent. We may however have different opinions about who was responsible for the slave trade in the past and who should be held accountable for it today. I am not going to throw numbers around, because they do not change anything about how people on different sides of the fence perceive this ugly part of human history. There is no doubt in my mind that the parties involved in the slave trade included West-Africans…
PHILIPSBURG – The motion approved by eleven members of Parliament on November 5th is yet another indication of the crossed signals currently bouncing around the governing UP/NA coalition and an unfortunate preview at the lack of cohesion and collaboration being forced down the throats of the people. The public meeting had been called to formally establish a Permanent Committee for Constitutional Affairs & Decolonization for the Parliament of Sint Maarten. During the meeting to discuss the establishment of the Permanent Committee, Gumbs and Peterson expressed their support for the committee and praised the approach taken to create open dialogue and…
PHILIPSBURG — A multi-disciplinary team consisting of Immigration, Customs, Police (KPSM), Coastguard and Department of Maritime and Shipping, carried out a joint inspection on a sailboat that had entered the island on in the evening of November 4th 2020. This control was carried out on information received from several sources that the captain of the boat would be smuggling illegal immigrants into St. Maarten. The control that was carried out at the harbor in Point Blanche on the sailing vessel took several hours. It later turned out that nothing illegal or illicit was encountered on board the vessel. This investigation…
