by Jacob Gelt Dekker Statia’s delusional political leader, Clyde van Putten, insists that St. Eustatius is an easy prey to be ransacked by Dutch Marines. The incident of 1780, was for van Putten as if it happened yesterday. The worst hurricane ever razed most of the island to the ground, and killed at least 4,000 people. Our modern concept of international aid after a natural disaster took quite different proportions for England with Admiral Rodney, who regarded it as a prime opportunity to plunder what he could. The wealth that Admiral Rodney ultimately stripped from Statia and Saba was more…
Author: The Publisher
Dear editor, St. Eustatius, a Public Entity of the Netherlands was recently placed under direct Dutch rule after the ‘Committee of Wise Men’ concluded in its report that there is a “gross neglect of duties” on St. Eustatius. The report further characterized the administrative situation on Statia by lawlessness and financial mismanagement, but the report was also critical of the Dutch Government’s role in the development of the situation in Statia. In 2009, the UK government imposed direct British rule on the Turks & Caicos Islands for three years, after evidence of government corruption and incompetence was found. This move…
SXM Airport Opens Temporary Departure Pavilion to Improve Passenger Comfort Simpson Bay — Passengers departing from the Princess Juliana International Airport, SXM, will as from Friday, February 9th, 2018, have a much improved experience as they will be leaving from the Temporary Departure Pavilion which has been erected to enhance their comfort. The Pavilion, which was officially inaugurated at 11am Friday morning, is a fully airconditioned tent and replaces the luggage processing area previously used as the temporary Departure Hall. Photo Caption (R to L): PJIA COO, Michel Hyman; Director of Tourism, Rolando Brison; PJIA Acting CEO and CFO, Ravi…
Dear Editor, My test for evaluating candidates for the upcoming election is to question them on how easy it is to make things better on Sint Maarten. If they claim it is easy then they drop on my ratings. Much of the conversation about our political future seems to be based on the assumption that leaders in the past have been “bad”, and if “good” people were to be elected all would be well. It seems to me that whether or not the people are “good “ or “bad” they also have to have a full understanding of the tasks…
Simpson Bay — On the Facebook page of Lee’s Roadside Grill the announcement has been posted that Lee’s Roadside Grill closed its doors at the Simpson Bay Lagoon location after 32 years of business. The post reads “Lee and I would like to thank all our family, friends and customers, far and near, who gave us their support, help, kind words and love.” We can only assume this is the wife of Lee who made this post on their Facebook page of the bar and restaurant. “When one door closes another one opens and folks we will re-open, where? We…
By Dr. Francio Guadeloupe, Jordi Halfman and Nicole Sanches When your house is on fire you do not fight about who is to blame or how the fire may have started. Before you do anything else, you try to minimize the damage and then you try to extinguish the fire. Burning houses. That seems the best way to describe the current situation on Sint Eustatius (Statia) and Sint Maarten: Caribbean parts of our Kingdom. The Statian government has been sent home by Secretary of State Knops. According to the Dutch government, this is due to an administrative culture best characterized…
Philipsburg — On Friday February 9th at approximately 02.45 p.m. information came into the Emergency Dispatch of two unknown men suspiciously loading a white panel van with two large duffle bags. While loading the van an object which looked like a fire-arm dropped from one of these men. Immediately after receiving this information police patrols were ordered to intercept this van which was driving in the direction of Philipsburg. Shortly after the panel van with only the driver was stopped in front of the Sonesta Great Bay Hotel. During a search of the van two duffle-bags were found, each containing…
By Hilbert Haar The abuse of short term labor contracts has been a bee in the bonnet for many a politician over the past years. Friday was the time to pass legislation that would have been a good step in the right direction but the opposition parties stayed away from the meeting of parliament where this decision could have been taken. And therefore, chairman MP Theo Heyliger had no other option than closing the meeting; it will be rescheduled for another day. So what is this all about? Are our parliamentarians there to serve the interests of the people who,…
Philipsburg — The Cft board has visited St. Maarten and Saba this week. It was the first visit of Cft after the devastating Hurricanes Irma and Maria in September. On Saba we discussed financial and reconstruction matters, and concluded that financial management is of a high level. For Saba, the year 2018 promises to be one with many opportunities and challenges, for example the restoring of the harbor and the airport runway renovation. St. Eustatius has not been visited this week due to the announcement on Monday of the law on dereliction of duties and its passing on Monday and…
Philipsburg — The Basic Police Training (BPO) for the recruits that was postponed last year due to the passing of hurricanes Irma and Maria has restarted. Chief Inspector Rob Appelhof from Police Academy in the Netherlands in charge police training for the Dutch Caribbean has again arrived on Sint Maarten to restart this training. Rob Appelhof regularly travels to Sint Maarten on work related visits and was also on the island during the passing of hurricane Irma. He commends the police force for a job well done in the aftermath of the hurricanes with the focus on keeping Sint Maarten…
