Conflict resolution begins at home
By Hilbert Haar Around fifteen years ago I attended a personal growth program designed by a Vietnam vet in the United States. I had to think about that experience when I attended the mediation congress at the Belair Community Center on Friday morning, because I learned a lot from that old soldier. One of the first things participants in the personal More...
An inexplicable oddity in the 2018 budget
By Hilbert Haar The 2018 budget contains a riddle that I have not been able to solve, despite several attempts to get clarity from those who submitted that budget to Parliament. So maybe there is someone out there More...
Desperate measures
By Hilbert Haar In September 2016 the Court in first Instance acquitted all suspects in the Masbangu-case. That they were later sentenced on appeal is irrelevant for the point I want to make here. Masbangu was about More...
Corporate Governance
By Hilbert Haar It sounded good when the government established the Corporate Governance Council back in February 2010, but history shows that it was predominantly a paper tiger. “The council will advise the More...
Pay or face the consequences
By Hilbert Haar It is rather unsettling that pro bono attorneys have to go on strike on an annual basis for one reason only: the government is not paying them. It happened in 2016, it happened in 2017 and now it More...
Introduce recycling now
Right now St Maarten is dealing with an ongoing issue, the landfill and fires that have become more frequent. Over the years many have “had the solutions” to fix the problem but still the people are, in More...
Worth every penny
By Hilbert Haar Should the court grant the public prosecutor’s office its wish to conduct a civil inquiry at the port companies? The answer to that question is currently under consideration. On June 26, the Common More...
Who is fooling who?
By Hilbert Haar A cornered cat tends to make unexpected and at times weird moves, a Dutch expression suggests. This applies to a certain extent to MP Frans Richardson whom one could label – with a stretch of the More...
An app for hearing better
By Hilbert Haar Here is a story for people like me whose ability to hear is going down the tubes. At age 68, my hearing is not what it used to be. Sometimes, my wife has to ask me something three times before I More...
Not a futile exercise
By Hilbert Haar The court story about the youngster who fired a flare gun at a guy who came at him with a two by four has triggered some questions, in particular this one: why was this case even brought to court More...
