On behalf of the SNBF and the Association L' Esprit de Concordia, we hereby congratulate you as new Executive-council of St. Maarten and we wish you well in confronting and dealing with the many tasks at hand, most of which are at best challenging for any Government.
And while we clearly understand and respect the fact that you as Government have the interests of all to consider, we look forward to you in showing great understanding and empathy for the many problems native-indigenous people of this island are faced with.
Many decades ago, we the native St. Martin people have been conditioned to welcome everyone coming from the outside to our shores and in that process we were so hospitable to all, that we earned the reputation as 'The Friendly island'.
At present, due to rampant, uncontrolled development, greed, corruption and the like, we the natives of this island are being 'repaid' for our hospitality with betrayal, exclusion and hostility, to the point where our very existence as a people is at stake.
Therefore, any new status, or even the current one becomes completely meaningless, irrelevant and even anti-St. Maarten, if finally Government does not acknowledge the existence of us as native-indigenous St. Martin people, along with defining and securing our rights to be first in our own country as a people.
Our position towards your new Government will therefore depend on the extent you are willing to step up to the plate and finally take care of the people of this country, without denying others their basic human rights as well; the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive..
Walking this 'tight-rope' will be your greatest challenge and we are prepared to make our contribution to you towards this process.
In ending, we urge you not to continue the policies of being insensitive and unresponsive to the native people of this island, as executed for decades by previous administrations.
Failing to create a moral foundation, which is the recognition, protection of the own native people, will most certainly deprive you of any justified and logical motivation for any new status and in such unfortunate event, you would have already failed before you actually have started.
Food for thought and may the good Lord bless you and guide you in the right way and protect you.
With respect,
--
Leopold James
President SNBF & L'Esprit de Concordia
