Fixed date 'Country St. Maarten', while people not being ready, the beginning of real trouble.
Dear members of Parliament,
Hopefully this is a very clear response to the headlines 'Why fix a date' asks Parliament, that appeared in the local St. Maarten newspaper, the Daily Herald of Thursday, July 2, 2009.
Clearly, this rhetorical question raised by a majority of members in Parliament, implies a growing doubt of the sanity of our local politicians, to place a 'date' ahead of all other concerns and requirements about the 'readiness' for the 'Country St. Maarten status'
For the record.
We have said it before and care to repeat it again here.
For there to be a responsible change of 'status', the entire community should be ready and foremost, the native-indigenous St. Martiners and other Antilleans have to see how they will benefit and not lose out.
It is clear that the politicians are 'over-ready' read 'over-excited', because from the onset they were 'ready'.
They had long dreamt about assuming the nice positions that would become available and/or created for them and their 'inner-circle'.
Like one well-known 'technocrat' and 'insider', recently told me, that his dream was to become 'ambassador in Cuba'
Certainly, as far as wer the native St. Martiners and other Antilleans are concerned let us be clear.
We are absolutely NOT ready to give up what we have built up since emancipation of slavery and after the 'Trinta de Mei' 1969 revolt.
This historical date marked the advent of the 'Antillean-identity', coupled with its rights and privileges to be first on ALL islands of the Antilles.
On the contrary, the newly coveted date of '10-10-10' on 'ground-zero', where real people live and toil, means nothing, nada, niets.
On the contrary, it will only intensify our fight to reclaim our ancestral rights as natives and our rights as Antilleans to be first at home.
We as proud Antilleans will never allow for the political traitors to take away our 'Antillianiasatie' rights, simply to allow for the politicians to finally live out their dreams.
In ending, I challenge any politician to prove that there will be any meaningful 'public opposition', should the Dutch Government implement a well balanced 'transitional period' for the 'Friendly Island' after January 2010, when the Antilles as we know, might no longer exist as a constitutional structure.
I doubt, that the politicians will be able to fill even a 'mini-bus' of paid, unconvinced protesters.
The main reason being that regardless which 'color and/or color-combination' of any 'new' Government, their is a general and ever growing distrust of the current 'body-politic'
A transitional period after come 2010 should among others, also serve to bring about a new awareness in the population and the emergence of a new 'crop' of political leaders.
Not 'more of the same', hiding behind new 'shade of colors'.
And so mote it be.....
With respect and without apologies,
--Leopold James
President SNBF & L'Esprit de Concordia
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