Appearances are deceiving

By Terrance Rey A Dutch friend of mine was once amazed at the size of my house. He concluded that I must be rich. In the Netherlands he lives two floors high in a flat. I drive a jeep, he rides a bicycle. One might think that we only live in villas here. But that’s all appearances. The reality is very different. On Sint Maarten people often speak More...

Applying magic to Caribbean tourism
by Cdr. Bud Slabbaert Having aspirations to be part of the Caribbean tourism industry? Get education in hospitality programs of universities or academies, right? Not always right! Webinars or workshops of hospitality More...

Life Insurance, the why and the why not
Life insurance is insurance based on a specific payment to one or more beneficiaries upon the passing of the insured. The reasons that motivate people to take out insurance on their lives can be many and have far-reaching More...

The elephant in the room
By Hilbert Haar Minister Kajsa Ollongren (Home Affairs) has suggested that the residents of Caribbean Netherlands (Saba, Statia and Bonaire) ought to spend less time in the shower and go easy on the use of air-conditioning More...

A lesson from the history of Sint Maarten
By Terrance Rey There are several parallels from Sint Maarten’s past with what is now happening around the establishment of COHO, the Caribbean Agency for Reforms and Development. The Netherlands has lent More...

St.Maarten/St.Martin Research and Development Center
by Cdr. Bud Slabbaert It is common knowledge that the economies in the Caribbean desperately need diversification. Being dependent for about 70-85% on tourism is insane. It is sad that no realistic alternatives More...

What entrepreneurs need to get their projects off the ground
Now more than ever entrepreneurs need to know what it takes to get their business startup projects off the ground. StMaartenNews.com invited Clifford Illis to once again share his expert opinion with our readers. More...

Anti-Corruption Day 2020: whistleblower protection program needed
Wednesday, December 9th, was International Anti-Corruption Day. The difficulty of exposing corruption makes a mechanism to support whistleblowers essential. In St. Maarten, the Integrity Chamber was established More...

How do we tackle the issue of trash everywhere on St. Maarten?
~ How to deal with litterbugs? ~ What do you do when you see people littering? ~ Many people are seen littering the streets and beaches despite there being bins for the same. Throwing light on this, we interviewed More...

“Without regard to persons,” they claim.
By A Contributor The predominantly Dutch European Judiciary and Public Prosecution Service consistently claim that adjudication and prosecution takes place without regard to persons (‘zonder aanziens des More...