PHILIPSBURG — Member of Parliament Frans Richardson, through his attorney Sjamira Roseburg on Wednesday said that he definitely feels targeted and fully intends to fight for his freedom and innocence. Richardson is in restrictive custody and cannot have any contact with anyone other than his lawyer and law enforcement. Richardson still has faith to have a fair trial. His first case has been indefinitely postponed. This second case feels like a targeted attempt. The hardest part however, is not being able to have contact with or see his family. His two young children, his wife, his mother all have to…
Author: The Publisher
Dear Editor, A remarkable report about aviation and government caught my eye in your online publication recently. It is a global phenomenon that small airlines are generally not profitable. In the Caribbean they are almost never profitable. Companies that are owned by the state are seldom profitable, particularly in the Caribbean. In Sint Maarten they are also seldom profitable unless they benefit from concessionary income. What a pleasant surprise to see that Winair, operating entirely in the Caribbean and owned by the state, produces a profit for it’s shareholders. How nice to see that the trend of unprofitable airlines in…
By Hilbert Haar Suppose I wrote that St. Maarten’s political system is rotten to the core. What would the predictable reaction be? Here are some ideas: I am a Dutchman, I don’t even live in St. Maarten, the Dutch have an agenda …. And of course I would get historian Will Johnson on my back for “making all kinds of accusations against local politicians.” Well, so be it. St. Maarten’s political system is rotten to the core and – to use a familiar cliché – the proof is in the pudding. The experience of the past, say, ten years, clearly…
By Hilbert Haar Is screening candidates for positions on supervisory boards of government-owned companies a good idea? Definitely. In fact, I am almost taken aback by Prime Minister Romeo-Marlin’s decision to amend the national decree that regulates positions of confidentiality and the mandatory screening candidates for these positions have to go through. Why? Because this change seems to be designed to put a stop to appointments of malleable supervisory board members who function as the puppets of their political masters. The screening by the national security service VDSM (Veiligheidsdienst Sint Maarten) will come on top of the stipulations laid down…
PHILIPSBURG — During last week’s press briefing on Wednesday, August 28, 2019, Prime Minister Leona Romeo-Marlin addressed the issue of the screening process at government-owned companies. The Prime Minister explained that it is the norm that members of the management boards of government-owned companies are screened prior to them being appointed to their functions. Contrarily to this procedure, members of the supervisory boards of government-owned companies are not normally screened. “The fact that members of the supervisory boards have access to all documents and take decisions together with management, government is of the opinion that it is necessary to have…
Dear Editor, The decision by the Prime Minister to screen appointed members to the Supervisory Board of Directors of government-owned companies is commendable and should be welcomed by all. In executing this decree the Prime Minister should also require that a profile for such a position be drafted and used as a basis for appointing persons to these positions. She should even go as far as subjecting these positions to a recruitment process whereby applications have to be submitted, interviews carried out and character testing and assessment undergone. Present members not having gone through this process should be asked to…
PHILIPSBURG — The Honourable Stuart Johnson Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport & Telecommunication (TEATT) returned to St. Maarten on Sunday following a meeting of the Dutch Caribbean Air Navigation Service Provider (DC-ANSP) Shareholders meeting at the Renaissance Resort in Curacao on August 30. Johnson stated on Sunday that the meeting provided a clear direction for the Aviation Service providers in the region as crucial topics were addressed. One such topic of discussion was the debts of Insel Air which was declared bankrupt earlier this year after failing to attract investments. They have since then lost their Air Operators certificate.…
Dear editor, If you claim ownership of land and problems occur about the claim, you can go to court and ask a verdict. The judge will check the claim related to the civil code and eventually other legislation in effect. If you don’t agree with the verdict you are entitled to appeal this verdict to see if the higher court has the same opinion. This will cost a few hundred guilders of procedural fees as well as a few thousand guilders for a lawyer. If you lose, you might have to pay a (big) part of the legal costs of…
Dear Editor, The integrity filled TBO (Team Betterment Oppression) that is being permitted to create havoc here. This team of Dutch investigators have a modus operandi (MO) which can be qualified as abuse of the law. There is a difference between suspects and witnesses in our law. TBO, to make their chances of conviction better, now make everyone a suspect in their investigation, just to eliminate them as witnesses in the investigations. When you make persons a suspect ,you scare them into talking not about themselves but about others. So from suspects they can now get witness testimonies for other…
POND ISLAND — On Thursday, August 22, 2019, Winair conducted its annual general meeting of shareholders in the Council of Ministers meeting hall. Main agenda point was to review the 2018 fiscal year financial results. Present at the meeting were Prime Minister Romeo-Marlin, Minister Smith, Minister Geerlings, Minister De Weever, and Minister Johnson – all representing the Sint Maarten Shareholder -, and Mr. Cor van Wijk as the Dutch Shareholder representative assisted by Mr. Chris Johnson representative of the Netherlands. On Winair’s side, present were the executive board consisting of Mr. Michael Cleaver as CEO and President, and Mr. Roberto…
