Philipsburg — A recently published story whereby Minister Lee was accused of using government fuel bonds to purchase fuel for personal use and misusing government number plate by a blog website is mistaken. “Sadly instead of investing time and energy into rebuilding the country, it appears that efforts will continue to be wasted blaming others and continued attempts at character assassination. I believe this is a sad attempt to discredit, delay or interfere with the screening process for a candidate minister. Unfortunately, I expect that these attacks will continue but I won’t let them distract my attention from the true…
Author: The Publisher
Simpson Bay — On Saturday afternoon, November 25th, 2017, around 4pm, a driver lost control over a cement truck coming down the hill on Peridot Road in Simpson Bay opposite Green House restaurant when the brakes apparently gave out. The cement truck tumbled down the road and ended up on its side wedged between the parkinglot of Greenhouse and the opposite side of the road, as can be seen in the photos below. Whether the driver managed to do this on purpose is at this time is unknown. Fact remains that a considerable disaster has been averted by this result.…
THE HAGUE – What happened on Friday in the Kingdom Council of Ministers to remove St. Maarten’s Prime Minister William Marlin from office is “at least close to the limits of what is legally admissible in our democracy,” says professor Gerhard Hoogers, a senior lecturer constitutional law at the National University Groningen and an honorary professor in comparative constitutional law at the Carl von Ossietzky-University of Oldenburg. Under enormous pressure from the Netherlands, Prime Minister Marlin decided on Friday immediately after the decision to step down, John Samson reports on Caribisch Netwerk. The parliament passed not once, but twice a…
GREAT BAY — Leader of the United St. Maarten (US) party MP Frans Richardson on Sunday said that anyone rejoicing over the unprecedented moves by the Dutch government to oust Prime Minister William Marlin is condoning a dangerous, self-defeating precedent that will be used again against St. Maarten. “We have our differences, we have our disagreements but to give our approval to the systematic dismantling of our processes and our people is self-defeating.” The MP said the divide and conquer tactics of the Dutch is on full display, with Dutch Prime Minister Rutte “boldly” claiming that 90% of the population…
Sint Maarten’s Most Important Wetland ~ Simpson Bay — One of Sint Maarten’s most important wetlands, Mullet Pond, was cleaned and restored by the Sint Maarten Nature Foundation as a part of the organization’s environmental response post hurricanes Irma and Maria. Mullet Pond is listed as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Treaty. The Ramsar Convention, signed in Iran in 1971, is a global commitment to maintain the ecological character of global wetland areas, including in the wider Caribbean region. “Using the disaster relief funds provided to us by the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance we were able to…
~ HYUNDAI AND SHELL WORKING TOGETHER WITH MOTORWORLD HOST MOBILE SOUP KITCHENS THROUGHOUT THE COMMUNITY OF ST. MARTIN COLE BAY — The Motorworld community outreach team has been on the move throughout various areas in St. Maarten/ St. Martin to host mobile Soup Kitchens. This major initiative is being coordinated in partnership with Hyundai and Shell, who have contributed aid of $150,000 in support of a variety of post-hurricane relief efforts. “The purpose of the Mobile Soup Kitchens is to provide assistance to the residents in need with a warm meal,” says Tariq Amjad, Managing Director of the Motorworld group…
Have you ever heard of the ‘Caribbean Friendly Skies’, an airlift concept where all the flight connections are fast, the schedules are efficient, the flight attendants are beautiful, the pilots are good looking, the assistance of the ground staff is above average, the fares are affordable, and the flying convenience is superlative? This concept is a secret tip in air transportation. So secret that very few people envisioned that it could even exist in the Caribbean. It is a beyond-average program that creates a new image for air transportation in the region. By Cdr. Bud Slabbaert The ‘Caribbean Friendly Skies’…
Tension means “ the state of being stretched tight”. It connotes unrest and depicts uncertainty. Recent events on St. Maarten has exposed the urgent need for the government to work together without aggravating the already tensed situation created. On the 17th of September, 2010, elections were conducted to usher in a new government. We had three major political parties “the red, white and green”. The white party won with 7 seats, green party 6 seats, the red party only 2 seats. A coalition was formed by both the red and the green party and that led to the appointment of…
By Hilbert Haar Prime Minister William Marlin put a brave face on it, but he could not hide the bitterness over the events that led to the fall of his government and his own departure from office. Marlin has every reason to be bitter but since he has been playing the political game for close to forty years he knows the pitfalls probably better than anyone. What was the real reason for the fall of the government? If you take a closer look at the events that ensued after Irma created unprecedented chaos, you cannot say with dry eyes that…
PHILIPSBURG- Prime Minister William Marlin stepped down on Friday afternoon, shortly after the Kingdom Council of Ministers had issued an instruction to Governor Holiday “to promote that the Prime Minister of St. Maarten is being fired and succeeded.” Vice Prime Minister Rafael Boasman will take over Marlin’s tasks. Marlin said during a press conference in the Government Administration Building that he had made his position immediately available on November 2, the day when the Parliament passed a motion of no confidence against him and against five of his ministers. When his predecessor Marcel Gumbs was confronted with a motion of…
