By Wycliffe Smith The human factor is the most important element in maintaining or destabilizing government. The Informateurs’, Dr. Nilda Arduin and Mr. Jan Beaujon, in their Report of March 2018, entitled “More than the Numbers”, presented the formula for good governance and for stability of Government. Note that in this article the term “government” refers to Parliament and the Council of Ministers combined. The Informateurs, after discussions with the political parties and various stakeholders in the community, came to the conclusion that the two main requirements for good governance and stability of Government are: (1) a well-defined governing program…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG/WILLEMSTAD – Lottery king Robbie dos Santos has been released from prison today. This morning the Court of Appeal in Curaçao ruled that the Public Prosecutor’s Office has not provided sufficient evidence to detain Dos Santos any longer on suspicion of involvement in the murder of politician Helmin Wiels in Curaçao. At a quarter past one this afternoon Robertico dos Santos (62), the owner of Robbie’s Lottery, left the prison under loud cheers from family, friends and workers who were waiting for him at the gate. He had been detained in Sentro di Detenshon i Korekshon (SDDK) in Koraal Specht…
ARUN JAGTIANI: “I’m please to officially announce that a few weeks ago, I partnered with Cani TV to produce season 2 of “Talking Politics with Arun Jagtiani”. “We have just finished production on 14 episodes which features interviews with 2 candidates from each of the political parties contesting the upcoming Parliamentary elections. We tried to highlight one incumbent and one new candidate from each party. With the exception of 2 parties we accomplished this formula.” “We did our best to create a very neutral platform – hence the black & white concept – and wanted to allow the viewers the…
By Hilbert Haar Litter irritates people – some more than others. The St. Maarten Pride Foundation has been fighting littering like forever on our island and still people feel no shame to leave a mess on – for instance – Mullet Bay beach after a joyful weekend of playful water-fun and (probably) serious drinking. The pictures on Facebook, and at times in the local newspaper, tell the story: some people are just not born to clean up after themselves. But what if all that garbage had economic value? Would that change the dynamics? This thought entered my mind after having…
Reminder: election candidates are running for office in Parliament, not to become a minister in government. Each political party that obtains proportional representation in Parliament via its candidates and is invited to form part of a majority coalition, negotiates a governing program setting out the priorities for the country for the coming governing period, which hopefully will last a full term of 4 years. Based on the agreed upon governing program the parties then select and appoint persons to be ministers whose cabinets and ministries will be tasked with the execution of the governing program. Tackling issues such as declining…
PHILIPSBURG/WILLEMSTAD — Following the recent bank run on the partly government-owned Girobank in Curaçao, some of the clients of the fully government-owned PSB bank also withdrew their deposits. Management of PSB bank, which has offices in both Curaçao and St. Maarten, was quick to respond that ‘the situation is stable’. Despite assurances to the contrary, public confidence in local banking has taken a nosedive. Clients of Girobank want to sue the bank, the newspaper Extra reported yesterday. The account holders also feel let down by the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten (CBCS), which has maintained for years that…
Dear Editor, SMCP, letter for letter, stands for the following: 1) S / Smart and Stable Society 2) M / Management Managing their Motivational Movements 3) C / Consciously Considering their Communications with the Community 4) P / Properly Preparing the People S.M.C.P. / SINT MAARTEN CHRISTIAN PARTY is a Smart (wise) party full of Movements (actions) and very Conscious (aware) of what belongs to the People (public), and therefore the Nation of Sint Maarten. Linda York Candidate #10 Sint Maarten Christian Party (SMCP)
Philipsburg — The Electoral Council would like to remind all political parties contesting the upcoming parliamentary elections that in accordance with the National Ordinance on Registration and Finances of Political Parties, the political parties are required to make their manifestos public in a timely manner. In order for the public to make a well-informed decision, the political program of a party should be published around the date of postulation. To date, only the Party for Progress (PFP) publicized its manifesto for the 2020 parliamentary elections on Postulation day, 21 November 2019 and presented it to the Electoral Council on 4…
~ “Terrance Rey is a qualified, experienced, committed and passionate candidate” ~ PHILIPSBURG — The words qualified, experienced, committed and passionate describing the number 12 candidate on the Sint Maarten Christian Party (SMCP) list is none other than Atwell Terrance Rey, a candidate with over 25 years of experience in business development, internet startups, e-commerce and technology; with over 15 years of experience in the travel, tourism and aviation sectors; and, most importantly, with a solid basis of 9 years of experience in Parliament and Government as Policy Adviser, serving from 2010 to 2012 in Parliament and from 2012 to…
St. Maarten is a very religious island. The separation of church and government was never a discussion point until the appearance of the Sint Maarten Christian Party, SMCP, in the political arena in 2015 and with the one seat the party managed to obtain in the 2018 elections, it has forever changed the political landscape of St. Maarten. In all the discussions about the separation of church and state, the word ‘Christian’ in the SMCP party’s name seems to evoke the most emotion in certain people. But what needs to be clearly understood is that the Sint Maarten Christian Party…
