GREAT BAY — To visit Philipsburg today is to see how the declining benefits of cruise tourism and lack of government support have turned the city into a hustlers’ arena. Hundreds of street advertisers and vendors, many of them illegal immigrants, compete with one another for customers for the shops, bars, the city’s beach and island tours. Often heated discussions ensue, and sometimes even fights. Cruise passengers reach town on foot, after a ten-minute walk, or aboard a water taxi that drops them off at one of three piers connected to the boardwalk. Tens of barkers await the tourists at…
Author: The Publisher
Dear Editor, Marva was born in Aruba to a diverse family with roots throughout the Dutch Caribbean including Sint Maarten. At age 7, her family chose to relocate to Sint Maarten, Upper Princess Quarter, and ever since she has made Sint Maarten her home. Marva has been an educator for over 36 years and as such has experienced a very broad spectrum of the educational system in Sint Maarten. She started her career in education as a kindergarten teacher and has had the opportunity to continue to develop herself throughout the years; being able to fulfill various functions from teaching…
PHILIPSBURG — Member of Parliament, Wycliffe Smith, said that he is not pleased that the urgent public meeting, requested by his predecessor MP Claude Peterson of the SMCP Faction in Parliament, was postponed. On October 23rd, 2019, former MP Peterson requested this urgent public meeting of Parliament with the Minister of VROMI to discuss the land situation with regard to Mr. Denicio Wyatte. Seven days later, on October 30th Peterson followed up with a second letter again requesting the urgent meeting. Eventually, this meeting was scheduled for December 6, 2019, a whole month later. So much for urgent public meetings!…
Dear Editor, Viren Vinod Kotai was born on Sint Maarten in 1995, right in between the two major hurricanes Luis and Marilyn. He attended the St. Dominic Primary School and then went on to complete the St. Dominic High School at the very young age of 16. His next educational stop was Canada where he completed the associate level in Accounting and Finance at St. Mary’s University in Halifax Canada. Due to his passion for sports, he transferred to Niagara College Canada where he graduated in 2017 with an Advanced Diploma in Sport Admin/MGMT. From a very young age Viren…
PHILIPSBURG – Angelo Brill has been elected President of the new board of the Oualichi Soccer Association (‘Oualichi SA’). Brill is replacing outgoing president, Dagmar Daal, who will remain at the club as an advisor. Brill is also joined by Richard Hazel as Treasurer, Whitney Walsh as the Boardmember overseeing the Women’s Team and Joel Wilson as the vice-president/secretary. Joel Wilson will be overseeing the men’s team. Since its inception in November 2012, followed by its official establishment on May 21, 2013, the Oualichi Soccer Association by its founders, the twin sisters Dagmar and Danaë, and Nancy Joubert, initially focused…
Dear Editor, My first order of business after being sworn in as a Member of Parliament was to send a letter, dated November 25th 2019, to the Chairman of Parliament, requesting him to reconvene the meeting concerning the Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) that was adjourned on November 4, 2019. Unfortunately, this meeting was adjourned due to the fact that members of the new coalition of 9 progressively walked out of the meeting prior to the handling of the motion submitted by former SMCP faction leader, MP Claude Peterson. The motion, submitted by Peterson, was to satisfy the bondholders, who…
PHILIPSBURG – The Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) issued a public statement against St. Maarten during its fiftieth plenary meeting in Antigua last week. This is due to the country’s failure to comply with legislative measures against money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Finance Minister Egbert Doran played down the significance of the public statement, saying that it “did not urge other countries to impose counter measures on St. Maarten.” This is however standard procedure. CFATF executive director Dawne Spicer already told parliamentarians during a central committee meeting in February that a first public statement would point out…
By Dr. J Foundation November 28, 2019 We wish to provide clarification on the status of the Hurricane Irma Re-integration Temporary Shelter program (H.I.R.P.S) which was established by the then Ministry of VSA in collaboration with the Dr. J Foundation. The shelter is managed by the Dr. J Foundation The shelter program was established as a two years program in the beginning of 2018 and is fully financed by the Government. The aim of this program was to provide temporary living arrangements, support, the necessary assistance and guidance for the persons misplaced by Hurricane Irma that would have otherwise been…
By Hilbert Haar Let me make one thing clear before writing anything else. The real winners and losers will become apparent only after the January 9, 2020 elections. But I still think, quoting Greta Thunberg, that “change is coming whether you like it or not.” I already outlined the first indications of imminent change based on the strength of the lists of candidates the seven parties have presented. That analysis showed that the National Alliance list contains the strongest voting power. It leaves all other contenders far behind. The re-established United People’s party is at best a dark horse in…
By Hilbert Haar The interim government led by Silveria Jacobs currently consists of five ministers – one from the United St. Maarten party (USp) and the rest are all with the National Alliance (NA). Until the remaining two ministers – proposed by the USp – have been sworn in, the Council of Ministers is practically a one-party affair. Does that matter? Yes and no. For the decision-making process in the Council of Ministers it is irrelevant whether the two remaining ministers are there or not. This is because decisions in the council are taken by a majority of votes and…
