FESTIVAL VILLAGE — Calypso is back with King Beau Beau as the 2022 Senior Calypso finals winner. We might as well call him Commander Beau Beau because with his rousing calypso song called “Tribute to St. Maarten” Beau Beau appeared on stage in full navy regalia and gave a commanding performance that had the crowd on its feet in no time. The people got a boost of positivity tonight when King Beau Beau confessed we in St. Maarten are truly blessed. The man was put to the test in this calypso contest and he was declared the best. With 899…
Author: The Publisher
By Hilbert Haar I don’t want to cause any trouble but this statement from the International Labor Organization (ILO) is too good to keep from the good citizens of St. Maarten and in particular from all those who have been, or will be, affected by the Kingdom’s insistence that government-owned companies cut the labor conditions of their staff by 12.5 percent in exchange for liquidity support. What’s going on here? The Dutch state demanded that the national airline KLM cut the labor conditions of its staff by 20 percent in exchange for financial support. The seven labor unions that represent…
By Hilbert Haar Member of Parliament Grisha Heyliger-Marten is sending mixed and confusing messages through her most recent letter to Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs. So maybe it is time to clarify a couple of things. What I get from MP Heyliger-Marten’s latest letter is that she opposes the establishment of the COHO, the Caribbean Organization for Reform and Development. That much, at least, is clear. What I do not understand is why she would still be interested, as she is now requesting from the government, in “a written overview and plan of action.” With regard to which trajectory she wants…
By Hilbert Haar The court case of a French teacher against the St. Maarten Academy offers a candid insight into the way this school is going about its business. It fired the teacher, who’d been employed since 2004, on such shaky grounds that the court ordered it to reinstate him, or to compensate him with a payment of 84,000 guilders. That’s not the most remarkable issue in play here. Related article: St. Maarten Academy had to rehire unjustly fired teacher – or pay What did the teacher do to get himself fired? He was training the school’s French third form…
PHILIPSBURG — The St. Maarten Academy has to reinstate a teacher French or otherwise pay compensation of 84,000 guilders ($46,927), the Court in First Instance ruled on February 23. The school dismissed the teacher on August 11, 2021, based on arguments that did not hold up in court. On June 6, the teacher trained for the end of year exam with the French third form. The real questions that would be posed during this exam were displayed on a so-called smart board; when the board malfunctioned, the teacher allowed one student to take a picture of the screen. The student…
PHILIPSBURG — Next week Tuesday, April 19, the parliamentary committee for Constitutional Affairs and Decolonization organizes a round table panel discussion with four experts about the Kingdom Charter, its relation to the United Nations in terms of decolonization and the democratic deficit in the kingdom. The invited experts are former Ombudsman Dr. Nilda Arduin, attorney Reynold Groeneveldt, prof. dr Gerhard Hoogers and political analyst Julio Romney. The position papers of the first three experts are available on the parliament’s website. Arduin kicks off her paper with the statement that “St. Maarten is far from being de facto decolonized.” She advocates…
Faction Requests Committee General Affairs Meeting to Discuss PHILIPSBURG – Party for Progress (PFP) Members of Parliament (MPs) Melissa Gumbs and Raeyhon Peterson took aim at the recently published Media Accreditation Policy 2022, calling the policy as contradictory, inflammatory, and improperly thought-out. The MPs are calling on members of the media to unify under the banner of a press association, and for the Government to work with journalists to amend the policy in a way that guarantees press freedom. “A press association is the norm in other Caribbean countries to ensure that policies, such as the one recently issued by…
By Hilbert Haar If something gets me really going, it is a government that imposes all kinds of silly rules on journalists. DCOMM certainly got me going with the publication of its media policy. Don’t get me wrong, the government is fully within its rights to set rules for attending the weekly press briefings of the Council of Ministers. But they’re overdoing it. Related article: DCOMM media policy triggers widespread criticism When you want to get access to the Second Chamber (Tweede Kamer) in The Hague there are also rules. But they are simple: from the age of 14, visitors…
PHILIPSBURG — The Department of Communications has published a media policy that is going to affect journalists who want to attend the weekly press briefing of the Council of Ministers, government press conferences, briefings and other public information events. The policy has attracted widespread criticism. Journalists will have to possess an approved media pass to attend these events. At the entrance of the press briefing room, members of the Executive Protection Unit will not only check the validity of these passes, they will also subject journalist to a scan with a handheld wand or a walk-through metal detector and inspect…
PHILIPSBURG — After more than 38 years of imprisonment, Ashton Lake will become a free man again on July 1. On May 9, 1984, the Court in First Instance sentenced Lake, who turned 59 on January 18, to life imprisonment for the kidnapping, rape and murder of Amy Velasquez in St. Maarten. The Velasquez-family vehemently opposed Lake’s release, but the court ruled that continued detention does not serve a reasonable purpose. Father, mother and two sisters of Amy Velasquez told the court that they are still traumatized by the crime Lake committed all those years ago. “They are of…
