The Dutch asking too much
In a statement published on CuracaoChronicle.com, Ronald Plasterk, Minister of Kingdom Relations, is quoted as saying that the governors of the countries of Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten serve primarily the interests of The Hague and not that of the country where they are. They are representatives of the King, who is the head of the Kingdom Government.
This was stated in answers to queries from the Dutch members of the Second Chamber in Holland to the minister about the position of the governor after the disagreement between the Kingdom government and the Aruban government headed by Mike Eman.
What we learn from this latest echec – on the part of Aruba – again! – is that every time the island tries to give the Kingdom government the finger, the Dutch government ends up taking the whole hand. With that in mind we are reminded of the quote from the British Prime Minister George Canning who in 1826 sent a coded dispatch to the British Ambassador to The Netherlands in which he wrote “In matters of commerce the fault of the Dutch, is giving too little and asking too much”.
Here on St. Maarten successive governments since 2010 have experienced this phenomenon of the Dutch giving too little and asking too much all too well. The Dutch offers to help St. Maarten with their tax administration problem, but the Dutch government wants St. Maarten to first abolish the turnover tax imposed on the citizens of the BES islands of Saba and St. Eustatius who shop in St. Maarten; force Winair to lower their fares and allow their phone company to land an underwater cable in Great Bay without having to pay the necessary license fees to St. Maarten.
In these matters, the Kingdom government instructs the governors to act on its behalf even though the governor is also tasked with looking out for the interest of the island governments, a dual role that has come under pressure the past six years since the islands obtain country status on 10-10-10.
What we learn from all of the above is that the dual role of the governor has gone flying out the door like Eman did when Plasterk sent him packing after his latest visit in a huff and a puff to The Netherlands with the intention of giving Plasterk a piece of his mind regarding the one-sided Dutch appointment of the new Aruba governor. Unfortunately, he was too little too late. So much for asking the Dutch for nothing much but the right to appoint your own governor.
