The legal procedures against those involved in a by now more than 6-year old vote buying scandal have been dragging on for too long and public interest in the case has dropped to an all-time low. That is a pity because especially these types of cases are designed to prevent others from doing the same thing; hence the demand for suspended prison sentences and community service. But even the threat of these punishments – that quite some people consider way too lenient – has not worked over the past couple of years. There is a vote buying investigation into the…
Author: The Publisher
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GREAT BAY – With the appeal hearing against the last two defendants the 2010 vote buying case is nearing its conclusion, but election fraud remains alive and kicking in St. Maarten. while the legal battle of the defendants in the 2010-case is not over yet, the prosecutor’s office has two other cases on its plate: the accusations against United St. Maarten party MP Silvio Matser for vote buying in the 2014 elections and an investigation into similar practices during the elections in September of last year, whereby USp-MP Chanel Brownbill has been heard as a witness. Central question: agreement or…
THE HAGUE – Prime Minister William Marlin has hit a nerve with his remark that the Netherlands should “send in the troops’ to enforce the instruction for the establishment of an Integrity Chamber. VVD-MP André Bosman demanded yesterday in the Dutch Parliament talks on ministerial level about proper etiquette in the Kingdom. Bosman also finds that Minister Plasterk (Kingdom Relations) has to sound the alarm in cases of such ballyhoo. The statements of PM Marlin are the reason for Bosman’s remarks. Marlin said after the Kingdom Council of Ministers issued an instruction to St. Maarten last Friday that the Netherlands…
GREAT BAY – A mother who has struggled for years with her autistic son, is calling on government to acknowledge that there is a problem with autism on the island and to develop a policy to assist parents dealing with this issue. Today published Ingrid Nadal-Rombley’s story last Friday about her struggles of dealing with her autistic son, how she lost her job when she took leave of absence to help deal with her son’s condition in Holland and the apathy by St. Maarten and education authorities towards her. “Government has to acknowledge that this is a problem, that it…
How tinted should a car window be? (2) ~ About the Law ~ By Cor Merx, attorney at law I got many reactions and comments on my previous article from last week. I heard that Facebook and Instagram were very active in that way. Well it seems that these articles (with the intention to explain the law to the public) are working. In the meantime I got some documents from “official” sites and I started to peruse them. Let’s go from here. There is a document from 2001 (AB nr. 4) from the first of February. It was decided by…
Dutch politicians have a selective memory when it comes to their dealings with the kingdom’s Caribbean countries. The uproar about Prime Minister Marlin’s send-in-the-troops remark is another example. Who does not remember Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s infamous give-me-a-call statement in case St. Maarten wanted its independence? MP André Bosman now claims that this is not the way we deal with each other. We say: that is exactly the way we deal with each other. The thing is: one should not take these statements literally but in the spirit they were said. Just ask the Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem what…
GREAT BAY – Vromi-Minister Christophe Emmanuel has ordered Bobby’s Marina to break down all structures it has built without a building permit at its facilities in Great Bay. The deadline for the order is next week Friday, April 21, but so far there are no signs that the company will abide by the instruction. The minister’s instruction is a decision pursuant to various requests from Bobby Marina’s neighbor and competitor in the marine industry Dock Maarten, represented by attorney Roeland Zwanikken, to maintain the law and to undertake legal action against the illegal building activities at Bobby’s Marina. Since January…
Dear Editor, The more we learn about the Timeshare Authority proposal from the Dutch Side government, the more we think it’s imperative for timeshare owners to speak up in opposition to it. We understand the motivation behind creating the Authority, which is a sister proposal to the timeshare consumer protection ordinance which is also nearing final passage. Although the timeshare ordinance itself isn’t as strong as we’d like it to be, it nonetheless is a very decent start and can be improved over time. But the Timeshare Authority is a bad idea on the face of it that should never…
Where does St. Maarten stand with its intention to appeal the kingdom instruction about the Integrity Chamber? Not even on shaky grounds, because as things stand today, St. Maarten – and Aruba and Curacao as well for that matter – do not stand a chance in any dispute with the kingdom. Ruben Severina, a Curacaolenean who lives in Zoetermeer, once described that situation in a letter to the editor in the Antilliaans Dagblad. It was the time when Aruba’s Prime Minister Mike Eman went on hunger strike to protest to Dutch intervention in his country’s budget process. It is worrisome…
The silent march in Curacao against senseless violence fits St. Maarten like a glove. Like on our sister island, we too experience too much senseless violence – and not only by armed bandits. Apart from the outright criminal gun violence there is also an unhealthy dose of domestic violence taking place behind closed doors. The marchers in Curacao demand that their government take action. What that action should be remains unclear and for good reason because nobody has a solution. That may sound cynical – and it probably is – but it is a reality nonetheless. We would begin by…
