Dear Editor, St. Maarten people should stop talking and put their money where their mouth is. If St. Maarten people wants to protect and conserve certain properties as nature parks then they should join forces, set up foundations, raise capital and purchase these properties outright and allocate these properties to the environmentally sustainable projects they have in mind. St. Maarten people, especially the activists, who calls on others to take action to protest, demonstrate and block the commercial developments of certain properties, should not solely rely on ‘government’ to take action. These properties are private properties and ‘government’ can not…
Author: The Publisher
GREAT BAY – Anenda Zaandam steps down today as the executive director of the St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association. Today is her last day at the SHTA-office. She is the fourth director to leave the organization within the last three years. Zaandam succeeded Karen Hana in February of last year. The organization has gone through a flurry of directors since the departure of stalwart Robert Dubourq who stayed on as an advisor until his departure for the Netherlands on July 1, 2013. In August 2012 the SHTA named former journalist Alfred Harley its director as the successor of Valya…
GREAT BAY – Port St. Maarten management welcomes the Pearl of China project especially its hub function that would benefit the countries two ports of entry, namely the airport and the Dr. A.C. Wathey Cruise and Cargo Facility, the company said in a press statement yesterday. “I would like to congratulate the initiators of the Pearl of China project for bringing such a project to the country. Our port has seen many changes over the past two decades in both cruise and cargo. We have expanded based on market developments, and we continue to plan according to those trends,” port…
It was rather predictable that some would consider the Pearl of China project an election gimmick. In terms of timing, that is of course quite understandable. But Saturday it became clear that the investor is for real, the project is for real and the impact the project will have on our economy will be – if everything unfolds as presented – humongous. Fear of the unknown – and who knows, fear of losing the elections – has driven some critics to comments that do not make a lot of sense. Today, former Minister of Tourism and Economic Affairs Claret Connor…
Dear Editor, St. Maarten, this friendly island, needs to allow its heart to beat again. We are all here together on this island and we all need to agree to puncture this cloud of personal focus and enter a place of benefit for and by the people of St. Maarten. How do we do this? St. Maarten’s position – We can do this by first considering St.Maarten’s position within the region and wider world. What makes SXM different – Looking at what different attributes does St. Maarten have that makes it different. Maximizing SXM’s Strengths – Looking at how to…
So now we know. The Pearl of China project is not tourism- but business-driven; not another hotel to add to the existing premises. With a promise of 400 well-paying jobs for locals and work for local contractors on the horizon the project feels just like what the doctor ordered for our sluggish economy. There are some obvious concerns in terms of environment and infrastructure, but the Chinese investors seem genuine with their commitment towards sustainable development. Whether all this will indeed materialize is at this moment an unanswerable question. Let us first see whether contractors will indeed go to work…
“No one wants to stay on a leaking ship in the middle of the ocean” GREAT BAY – More than twelve years ago, on January 28, 2004, current Minister of Finance Richard Gibson Sr. presented the Lionel B. Scott Memorial address at the Philipsburg Mutual improvement Association. Today, that speech puts the recent history of St. Maarten in perspective with a flurry of interesting data and observations. By Richard Gibson Sr. In his book “A Tale of Two cities” Charles Dickens opens his literary classic with the sentence: “It was the best of times, it was the worse of times”.…
PHILIPSBURG – Tax Reform is necessary. Responsible tax reform has to be approached with caution and with the necessary care. You cannot gamble with tax reform. The results have to be calculated in advance using actuary expertise to avoid unforeseen consequences. The result of the steps that will be taken has to be known up front. It cannot be done on a trial basis. That would be irresponsible and could cause misery for a lot of people. Wild ideas that tax reform should consist only of flat taxes or only indirect taxes – as has been proposed by some –…
Dear Editor, Wow! It has become unequivocally clear, that coalition governments do not work on St. Maarten. The unions are formed as a springboard to facilitate the thirsts of corrupt politicians and their entourage. Who could have thought that just before elections, MP Frans Richardson would be speaking this ill of the Finance Minister Richard Gibson? Is it not the same minister who the MP defended so fiercely, during the 2016 budget debate? Then how is it that all of a sudden, the minister is referred to as being too old to keep up with the times? This statement that…
About the law ~ The Suspect (4) ~ By Cor Merx, attorney at law From last week’s explanation about how difficult it is to identify someone as a suspect, today we will have a look at the process of handling a suspect. Let’s begin with a better definition to understand each other. I will name this period the pre-trial period. I mean to say, this is the period a suspect can be held in detention until his case (ultimately) comes to court. According to the law the term pre-detention is not correct but I want to explain a system and…
