Parliament’s meeting about the controversial appointment of Dutch quartermaster Hans Leijtens to the non-existent Integrity Chamber drifted to its predictable conclusion yesterday afternoon. The Parliament stood united and condemned the appointment – a message Kingdom Relations Minister Plasterk will probably take in stride. More interesting is obviously what will happen next. Will Plasterk send Leijtens indeed to St. Maarten? And if so, what is the good man going to do here? Is it possible to issue a Trumpian entry ban? Will civil servants and ministers massively refuse to cooperate with whatever it is Leijtens comes here to do? The condemnation…
Author: The Publisher
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Dear Editor, A lot of indignation reigned during the discussions on the appointment of a quartermaster by the Dutch government and rightfully so. The Dutch Minister (Plasterk) has however remained undeterred and firm: “The quarter master will come, it was an agreement and SXM procrastinated.” Did we? The government of SXM learned of the appointment via the press, evoking a caution from Finance Minister Gibson that newspapers can be wrong. True, in this world of “false news” even newspapers can be tricked. However, in the Netherlands, this news was an orchestrated part of simultaneous and official publications. Algemeen Nieuws (BZK); Rijksbelastingsdienst of…
It may seem odd that the interim minister of tourism and economic affairs asks the minister of public health to attend the Caribbean Travel Marketplace in the Bahamas, but the background of Minister Emil Lee – a former president of the Caribbean Hospitality and Trade Association – justifies this decision. It is good to have a professional presence at this event, because destination marketing has been in the doldrums for too long, though one should not expect miracles from just one event. The government would do well to take the lessons from Isabel Mosk at heart about the use of…
GREAT BAY – Innovation is the key to success and with that in mind, the race committee of the 2017 St. Maarten Heineken Regatta has added a day to the already packed schedule of the event. Monday March 6, is the date for the first edition of the St. Maarten Heineken Star Event. This new racing series will take place on the French side in Nettle Bay, in front of Le Sand Restaurant, Beach & Bar and is sponsored by Yanmar. Winners of selected classes from the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta will be asked to nominate a member of their…
Professor Van de Ven about National Health Insurance: “Establish a purchasing agency today” GREAT BAY – It could take another two to three years before the National Health Insurance is up and running but in the meantime the government can already take swift action to address one issue: the purchase of healthcare service and medication. That is the conclusion from our interview with Professor of Health Insurance Wynand van de Ven, who is on the island this week at the request of Public Health Minister Emil Lee. Van de Ven addressed a closed door central committee of Parliament meeting on…
GREAT BAY – During the National Health Week that ended yesterday several meetings with various stakeholders have been scheduled by the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labor. This included sessions with the Social Economic Council (SER), the Council of Advice, the Council of Health, and Parliament as well as two-day session for invited stakeholders. Last Tuesday the Council of Ministers was briefed on the matter of National Health Insurance. To learn from others countries’ experiences, Minister Lee invited several experts in the field to discuss the topic at hand from different angles. After the introductory remarks of both…
THE HAGUE – Minister of Safety and Justice Ard van der Steur stepped down on Thursday night after a tough debate about the so-called Teeven-deal. Stef Blok will take over his job until the elections on March 15. Earlier State Secretary Fred Teeven and Van der Steur’s predecessor Ivo Opstelten saw their career cut short over the Teeven-deal. The matter became again a hot potato earlier this week after Bas Haan, a reporter for NieuwsUur reported in a book that Van der Steur had kept information back about the deal as a Member of Parliament and as a minister. The…
GREAT BAY – The government is considering an alternative to the Integrity Chamber, Prime Minister William Marlin said yesterday afternoon during a meeting of Parliament about the controversial appointment of Dutch quartermaster Hans Leijtens. That alternative would be expanding the General Audit Chamber with an integrity-investigation branch. The idea is currently subject to debate in the Council of Ministers; a decision has not been taken yet. Members of Parliament shed their light on the issue extensively, mainly by rehashing the history of the Integrity Chamber legislation and – in the case of MP Frans Richardson – complaining about the fact…
While the link between stress and heart attacks and strokes is well known, scientists have long failed to establish the exact cause. Now they believe they have finally cracked it, and it all comes down to heightened activity in the amygdala, the part of the brain that reacts to stress. The amygdala readies the body for harmful experiences, such as being physically attacked, by telling the bone marrow to temporarily produce more white blood cells. These help fight infection and repair damage to the body. Chronic stress can lead to a similar reaction, but in the absence of physical damage…
The National Health Insurance is a work in progress but its completion is still a long way away. As Professor Wynand van de Ven explains in our front page story, this does not mean that the country should do nothing in the meantime. The first order of the day is the establishment of a third party purchaser – a body that will negotiate price and quality of care with care providers at home and abroad. But there is more: the composition of the care package. What will fall under this insurance and what kind of care will people have to…
