Dear Editor, I generally stay away from weighing in on Sint Maarten issues lately. There is too much going on, and most public commentary is noise. And for two decades I worked relentlessly for this island, so now that I’m more active regionally I tend to hold my tongue. To keep my peace when I am at home with my family. This one crosses a line with me though. What was published is sloppy, uninformed, and unfair. A Letter to the Editor that reads like a rushed Facebook post dressed up as “commentary,” built on assumptions, weak logic, and bad…
Author: The Publisher
By Hilbert Haar Former Minister of Education Omayra Leeflang hit a nerve when she said in an interview that it is wrong to link the history of slavery consistently with victimhood. The answer, she said, is to be found in two things: fighting poverty and strengthening education. In the past, I have written about the way our generation deals with the history of slavery. In an article that appeared in the newspaper Today I argued that it makes no sense to complain about the great injustice (no argument there) the slavery-practice has done to thousands of people if you close…
PHILIPSBURG – Omayra Leeflang, the former Minister of Education, Science, Sport and culture of the former Netherlands Antilles expressed her opinion about the history of slavery almost twenty years ago during presentation at a primary school in Sint Maarten. “I am not a slave. I was born free,” she said on that occasion. In an interview that was recently published on the website of curacao.nu, Leeflang shows that she has stuck to her beliefs throughout the years. Reacting to the Dutch plans to establish a thinktank designed to create measures for dealing with the history of slavery she said that…
Two subsidiaries of Dutch construction giant VolkerWessels have been ordered to pay a combined €480,000 for bribing Theo Heyliger in connection with the Causeway Bridge project. Separate confiscation proceedings could push the financial liability of the two companies to €2 million. The ruling, delivered by a three-judge panel of the Rechtbank Overijssel in Zwolle, also imposed a personal fine of €30,000 on a former director of the subsidiaries for giving what the court described as “effective leadership” to the bribery scheme. Heyliger himself is currently serving a five-year prison sentence following his 2020 conviction in the Larimar case for accepting…
The talented members of youth drumband Generation New Status STM have set their sights on traveling to Aruba to showcase their skills at Aruba Day celebrations next month. On Saturday, the group hosted a raffle at the parking area of the Cultural Department in Philipsburg as part of ongoing efforts to raise funds for the trip. Coach Urmain ‘Youmay’ Dormoy explained that the initiative was organized after the group received an invitation to perform in Aruba. “We’re being invited to Aruba for Aruba Day, so of course we need to raise funds,” Dormoy said. “It’s all about raising the money to go to Aruba, so we decided to try a…
Saint-Barthélemy is in the midst of one of the most far-reaching administrative reforms in its recent history: a comprehensive street-naming and address-standardization project that will assign an official address to every road and every individual property on the island. While the initiative is often framed as a technical upgrade to improve navigation, emergency response, and mail delivery, President of the Collectivité territoriale Xavier Lédée says its impact will extend far beyond logistics. At its core, the project is also expected to bring greater transparency to the island’s housing and rental market—an increasingly sensitive issue on an island where housing is scarce, demand is high, and informal arrangements have long flourished. …
Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) Grisha Heyliger‑Marten has announced the official establishment of the St. Maarten Tourism Authority, set to take effect on March 1, 2026. The move marks the culmination of more than two decades of discussions, stalled reforms, and incremental efforts to modernize the island’s tourism governance. Speaking at Wednesday’s Council of Ministers’ press briefing, the minister said the authority will play a central role in aligning marketing, policy coordination, and industry development with St. Maarten’s long-term economic strategy. The initiative reflects longstanding calls from government officials and private-sector stakeholders for a more structured, accountable approach…
Member of Parliament Egbert Doran of the National Alliance (NA) delivered a forceful statement on Wednesday during the St. Maarten Parliament’s public session regarding the proposed ad hoc parliamentary committee on NV GEBE. Speaking as the only MP to take the floor, Doran emphasized the urgent need for concrete results for residents rather than additional committees that risk becoming bureaucratic exercises. “Madam Chair, to be honest, I don’t believe the people need another headline,” Doran said. “They need stability, clarity, and above all, relief. We’ve had frequent outages, confusing and inflated bills, threats of disconnection, and a lack of transparency. This is not political theory — these are families…
Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) Grisha Heyliger-Marten unveiled a new public transportation compliance sticker during Wednesday’s Council of Ministers press briefing, warning operators that participation in the 2026 Public Transportation Confirmation Process remains “very low” ahead of the February 27 deadline. The minister stressed that the confirmation process is not a simple administrative formality but a mechanism to verify that operators are active, authorized and compliant. “It strengthens oversight, protects passengers and ensures fairness for operators who follow the rules,” she said. As of February 9, participation numbers remained limited. Of the 138 registered buses, only 36 had completed submissions,…
From our St. Barths Correspondent Although separated by only a few nautical miles, St. Maarten and Saint-Barthélemy remain far apart when it comes to communication and mutual understanding. According to President of the Collectivité territoriale of Saint-Barthélemy, Xavier Lédée, the lack of familiarity between the neighboring islands is striking—and regrettable. “We don’t know each other very well,” Lédée observed, noting that geographic proximity has not translated into cultural familiarity. Rather than assigning blame, Lédée views the issue as a consequence of limited cultural exchange. He illustrated the point with an anecdote from 2022, when he invited then Prime…
