UD Board: “In order to appease the part of the St. Maarten governing coalition that wants to say “thanks, but no thanks” to the Netherlands, the government finds itself between a rock and a hard place.” When Prime Minister Jacobs took over from PM Leona Marlin, she knowingly accepted and continued with the State Secretary as her counterpart. Everything that the Leona Marlin cabinet was criticized so heavily for, was still accepted by the current government without as much as a whimper, to mention a few: hospital, airport, pension law, liquidity assistance, border control, etc. AND the negotiations with State…
Author: The Publisher
Dear Editor, A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically it has sometimes been synonymous with ‘republic’. The noun ‘commonwealth’, meaning ‘public welfare general good or advantage’, dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth or the common wealth – echoed in the modern synonym ‘public wealth’) it comes from the old meaning of ‘wealth’, which is ‘well-being’, and is itself a loose translation of the Latin res publica (republic). The term literally meant ‘common well-being’. In the 17th century, the definition of ‘commonwealth’ expanded from its original sense…
By Hilbert Haar When any government announces the “restructuring” of a board or of any organization that is supposed to be independent from the political decision makers, I always become a bit suspicious. The questions that come to mind are always the same: why and why now? When Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs recently announced a restructuring of the Social Economic Council (SER) my alarm bells went off – and they seldom fail me. What is it exactly that bothers our Prime Minister whose department of General Affairs is responsible for the SER? An evaluation – really, the PM needed one…
CAY HILL — Wednesday night, Windward Islands Health Care Union leader, Brunilda Illidge, informed StMaartenNews.com that the St. Maarten Medical Center’s Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Marco Meulenman, has submitted his resignation. “Victory is ours!” Illidge wrote. In an interview Thursday morning, Illidge explained StMaartenNews.com that she was informed yesterday by SMMC’s management that the CFO had submitted his resignation. Management told Illdge that the CFO stated that he had decided to resign because someone threatened him. According to the CFO, he had received a letter threatening him and his family. Illidge said she advised management to ask the CFO for…
To the forces with a hidden AGENDA and ULTERIOR MOTIVES! 1) Take warning the writing is on the wall! 2) Stop fanning, feeding and fueling anger, hurt and desperation! 3) stop the division of our wealth only among the FAVOURITE FEW and include the WEAK and NEEDY who are also part of the community and country St. Maarten! 4) first and foremost preserve, protect, and promote the INTEREST and DEVELOPMENT of our people before taking on that of the whole wide world! 5) last but not least: Charity starts at home! When your neighbours home is on fire wet yours!…
PHILIPSBURG — MP Grisha Heyliger-Marten’s has put decolonization once more on the political agenda; reason for StMaartenNews.com to look at available alternatives for St. Maarten’s current constitutional status. How do you go from autonomy – with supervision over your finances and your judicial system – towards a system whereby you have a bigger say without going completely independent?
PHILIPSBURG — St. Maarten’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will drop 25 percent this year as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. This appears from a note written by a team of the International Monetary fund (IMF) after its visit to the island on June 19. The IMF assumes that financial support measures will remain necessary until at least December of this year, but that there is a risk that these measures will be needed even longer. At the end of this year, the country’s financing gap will be 429 million guilders ($139.7 million). Tax revenue in April-May dropped by 48…
PHILIPSBURG – In a press release dated June 23 the Ministry of Finance has announced new rules for payroll support; they are retroactively effective per June 1. The new rules follow the recommendation by financial supervisor Cft to implement a 1:1 ratio for turnover loss versus payroll support. The new rules make the payroll support program less expensive and they negatively affect all qualifying companies. The payroll support is now set at a maximum of 60 percent of SZV-wages with a maximum of 5,651.36 guilders ($3,157.18) per month. Companies that can prove turnover losses between 20 and 59 percent will…
By Hilbert Haar Same dog and not even a different hat; that is the best description I can come up with for the so-called research of UP faction leader Grisha Heyliger-Marten into the matter of decolonization. Heyliger-Marten recently approached me with the offer to send me her research about this topic. Always ready to keep an open mind, I gave her my email address. I subsequently received an email with a link to the research, but when I clicked on it I got a message that labeled the link as suspicious. I informed Heyliger-Marten about it, saying that I was…
Mr. Editor, I listened with great interest to the radio interview given by former member of Parliament, Mr. Theo Heyliger, on Monday, June 22, 2020. Firstly, it is excellent to see Mr. Heyliger in good health after his diagnosis in 2019 and I wish him continued recovery and health. Media Blitz This is the second interview given by the former MP in a week, and while it was unclear what the overall purpose of the media blitz was, after the first interview, and subsequent press releases by the party he once led, I think the people can see the story…
