Fooling the people
By Hilbert Haar Let’s have a closer look at our government’s solidarity initiative of and in particular at the decision to cut the salaries of ministers and members of parliament. Based on a letter from the board financial supervision we know that parliamentarians will give up their 6 percent representation costs as of April 1st as well as their More...
List of essential businesses on St. Maarten: an eye opener
In the chaos of the corona pandemic, some things suddenly become very clear. While private businesses are the backbone of the economy, we now see that the heart of society beats with the grace of essential companies More...
Madness without borders
By Hilbert Haar “Unity (as of a group or class) that produces or is based on community of interests, objectives, and standards;” That’s how the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines solidarity. Ah, I did not More...
A People In Solidarity – Part 1
Solidarity is defined as: unity or agreement of feeling or action, especially among individuals with a common interest; mutual support within a group. In a recent article by Kathryn Jean Lopez for the National More...
Cracks in the coalition
By Hilbert Haar The Indian Merchants Association (IMA) is among the private sector organizations that chose the St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA) not even a week ago “to speak on its behalf More...
Just do it
By Hilbert Haar To write that these are challenging times qualifies as the understatement of the century. But here we are, smack in the middle of an unprecedented crisis that has turned all of our lives upside down. More...
A nightmare scenario
By Hilbert Haar For anybody who thought St. Maarten would be able to weather the corona-virus crisis on its own, José Jardim, the interim president of the Central Bank presented some sobering numbers during a press More...
After Social Distancing, let’s talk Economic Rapprochement for the island
Not all catastrophes produce a Renaissance. It is striking how big the problems for the private sector already are. The middle class, the backbone of the economy, is in danger of collapsing under the pressure of More...
We are all in the same boat
By Hilbert Haar We are all in the same boat and it is now a matter of rowing in the same direction. That’s the conclusion of an analysis published in the Antilliaans Dagblad (AD). The analysis is – like everything More...
The crown witness
By Hilbert Haar Did Theo Heyliger get a fair trial? Not according to his attorney Eldon Sulvaran and certainly not according to the United People’s party-founder’s diehard supporters either. For the defense, More...
