Power of the people
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By Hilbert Haar Something stuck in my mind about the address of attorney David Comissiong at the Governor’s Symposium about the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Related article: Comissiong makes strong case for slave trade reparations One of the elements of a reparation package, Comissiong said, was a demand for sovereignty, independence. Why? Because More...
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The real problem
By Hilbert Haar Plans to help St. Maarten move forward in a positive direction are wonderful, unless those plans are at odds with reality, or if those plans go in the opposite direction of other plans. I remember More...
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Plenty of options to improve energy supply, but nothing is happening
By Hilbert Haar The issues NV GEBE is experiencing to the dismay of many of its clients is not something that fell unexpectedly out of the blue sky. On the contrary, the issues the country has with its energy production More...
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A firm beating
By Hilbert Haar There are two reasons for putting an inmate at the Pointe Blanche prison in an isolation cell: because of serious misbehavior or for his (or her) own protection. Currently we do not know which one More...
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Legislative Oversight
By Hilbert Haar An unintentional failure to notice or do something. That is, according to the Oxford dictionary, the definition of the term oversight. The current discrepancies between Article 59 of the Constitution More...
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(In)stability
By Hilbert Haar Back in the day, I do not exactly remember the year, the Democratic Party came up with a lofty election slogan: Country above self. This may seem logical to well-meaning citizens but it is badly More...
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Government takes control of carnival organization
PHILIPSBURG -- The organization of carnival will from now on be under the control of a newly established St. Maarten Carnival and Planning Committee it appears from the restructuring policy for carnival published More...
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The Pirate Society
By Hilbert Haar My publisher Terrance Rey posed the question whether we can be both a socialist and a capitalist country. Interesting question. American politicians tend to use socialism as a derogatory term, accusing More...
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Will St. Maarten finally leave the monetary union?
PHILIPSBURG — The Social Economic Council advised the government more than ten years ago, in February 2013 to leave the monetary union with Curacao as soon as possible. Politicians may have read the advice, More...
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Laughing all the way to the bank
By Hilbert Haar Much has been said but little has been done about the generous pension plans for politicians who miss the cut during an election – and it is costing the country, and by extension the tax payers, More...