By Hilbert Haar Is it the role of the media to educate as some politicians seem to think? I strongly disagree with that idea. Schools educate. Parents, if you’re lucky, educate as well. Serious news media inform. Back in the day, when a newspaper was considered to be a gentleman, people trusted what they read but those days are long gone and that makes it rather complicated to get your hands on information that is actually true. If we take the media landscape in the Netherlands as an example, we see that there are only a couple of big players…
Author: The Publisher
CAY HILL, St. Maarten – The Insurance of the West Indies (ICWI) Ltd hosted its first Annual Broker’s award ceremony on Friday, February 2, 2024, to celebrate excellence and recognize the outstanding contributions of local insurance brokers. The event showcased the dedication and professionalism of insurance brokers across the island. Enterprise/McRae Insurances emerged as the “Insurance Broker of the Year,” earning accolades for their commitment to excellence and customer service. Additionally, several other brokerage firms were honoured in various categories, highlighting their achievements and impact on the local insurance landscape. Among the winners in other categories were Boogaard Insurances, Sun…
PHILIPSBURG — National Alliance stalwart MP William Marlin said farewell to his political career in a speech during his last appearance as an MP on Friday, February 9. The family-tradition will continue though, as his son Cloyd Ondhae has in the meantime taken his seat as a member of the newly elected parliament. Marlin’s political career began 45 years ago, of which he spent 37 years as an elected candidate – be it as commissioner in the Executive Council of the island territory, a member of the parliament of the Netherlands Antilles, a member of parliament, as Minister of Public…
KRALENDIJK — The Island Council of Bonaire approved on October 3 a dramatic increase of $480,000 for its five factions but not everybody is happy with the 255 percent increase. State Secretary Alexandra van Huffelen was “amazed” when she heard about it and Hennyson Thielman, the party-leader of Movementu di Pueblo Boneriano (MPB) told a reporter of the website Bonaire.nu that he disapproves of the measure though his faction voted in favor. “There are significant differences between the first proposals and the regulation that has been approved,” he said. “We want to discuss this again, because something went wrong.” Dossierkoninkrijksrelaties.nl…
PHILIPSBURG — CSI Engineers from Uruguay has won the bid for the design of the new prison in St. Maarten, the Ministry of Justice announced in a press release. CSI, established in 1980, lists a global presence on its website with projects in North, Central and South America, Africa and the Far East. The design for the new prison is scheduled to be complete by May of this year. UNOPS, the United Nations Office of Project Services, supervised the selection of the engineering company. The CSI website shows an array of projects, though none of them are prisons. CSI was…
PHILIPSBURG — In a significant ruling on February 1, 2024, the Court of First Instance of Sint Maarten ordered the immediate release of Mr. R.J., a Haitian national residing in St. Maarten, marking a pivotal moment in the country’s legal history regarding alien detention and removal orders. R.J. who had been residing unlawfully in St. Maarten since his visa expired in August 2022, was detained on January 3, 2024, by the Minister of Justice of St. Maarten, deeming him an undesirable alien and initiating removal proceedings. This decision was challenged in court by his attorney Mr Remco Stomp,, citing the…
~ It is highly anticipated that the country will surpass the 2016 record in the coming years ~ By Hilbert Haar Our tourism industry is not out of the woods yet, not by a long shot. This appears from data provided by the Department of Statistics. The nature of the explanation with the numbers is jubilant but that is only because the researchers compare the 2023 numbers with those of the previous two years. And for sure, there is a positive trend but the numbers do not come even close to the pre-hurricane years of 2016. The Department of Statistics…
ST. PETERS — VidMedia Solutions, the video production company behind the groundbreaking ‘Election Watch: St. Maarten Decides’ coverage for the 2024 Parliamentary elections, concluded its final evaluation meeting following the successful live stream of the election results on January 11th, 2024. The project started in September, Mr. Reginald Richardson, Project Manager for VidMedia Solutions, explained. “It was very challenging to find the perfect combination of team members. Despite the hurdles, a team was assembled, and each member diligently tackled their respective roles.” At the concluding evaluation meeting, team members deliberated over the challenges encountered during the broadcast, proposed enhancements for…
StMaartenNews.com and SXMCommunityTV Launch News Cafe: A Weekly Intellectual Debate Show about St. Maarten news and developments St. Maarten, January 31, 2024 — StMaartenNews.com and SXMCommunityTV are excited to announce the launch of the new news debate show, News Cafe, airing every Thursday night at 8 pm. The inaugural episode is set for Thursday, February 8, 2024, with the intriguing topic of “The Political Reality in St. Maarten.” About News Cafe: News Cafe, hosted by Terrance Rey, owner, publisher, and editor of StMaartenNews.com, in collaboration with SXMCommunityTV, is a platform designed for thought-provoking news, views, reviews and interviews on critical…
PHILIPSBURG — Informateurs Dr. Nilda Arduin and Drs. Candia Joseph have been unable to present a coalition of parties that represents the broadest possible support in Parliament. This appears from their report they submitted to Governor Ajamu Baly under the title Beyond the Coalition Handshake. [Read our review below….] Editorial: Community involvement Informateurs involve community in consultations Governor appoints two informateurs New coalition warns outgoing government against practicing departure policy Coalition intends to align manifestos by February 3 Winners and losers: four top candidates were outvoted Comfortable win for National Alliance
