Time to grow UP
Dear Editor,
You will not meet a more nationalistic person than me. I bleed St. Maarten through and through. So when you hear me say that it’s time for the Dutch to step in, you know it’s serious. We have had so-called self determination for 12 years now. In the first 5 or 6 years we could expect some ups and downs as we learn to navigate through this new system but after 12 years you would think that we would learn by now how to run the island with the minimum amount of competence.
We already went through the embarrassment of switching governments every few years and even worse, calling elections when a few people want it. There was no valid reason to call elections. None of the governments that were thrown down were not functioning. Maybe they were not functioning up to par according to you or me but that is what elections are for. We get a chance to evaluate governments every 4 years.
Why is it that a few people can decide on their own that we need elections? Why can’t they wait for scheduled elections? What gives members of Parliament more rights than the rest of us? Why does the Governor even entertain the request for new elections when a new 8 want to form a government? This is plain old abuse?
The behavior in Parliament is another thing. Are members of Parliament sheep? Are they supposed to just tow the party line no matter what? It seems that the minute a member of a party doesn’t agree with their party they go independent or the party removes them from a position. What kind of childishness is this?
All members of Parliament take an oath to vote their conscience but when they do this, they are removed from the Chair of Parliament. MP Heyliger-Marten was all over the media with her side of the story. Whether you agree with her or not, I see no reason to remove her from the chair. She is not hampering the functioning of Parliament. She simply voted contrary to her party two times.
Then we have the constant complaining. MP Emmanuel is the king complainer, with MP Wescott-William not too far behind and I don’t even know what PFP is doing. Yet not one solution coming from either of them. For some reason, it seems that when MPs are in opposition, they can see ALL the problems but when they were in government, different story.
Can you imagine going fully independent with this group? We would be a dirt poor country in a matter of 5 years. They can’t even run a proper Parliament IN the Dutch Kingdom. What a mess it would be if they were running the island with no oversight.
Every week we have one former MP on social media with hour long speeches. He thinks we forgot what all he did as a civil servant. Sitting there all high and mighty. The bible says, judge not lest ye be judged. Yet another complainer.
The people we elect are supposed to take care of ‘the people’s business’ but instead they are busy bickering and complaining about any and everything. They really need to grow up, else the Dutch need to take over until we can act like adults.
Name withheld on request
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