Netherlands-Antilles,
Drs. Anke BIJLEVELD-SCHOUTEN, Minister of Internal &
Kingdom Affairs,
While it is very understandable that the local St.Maarten politicians
and their cohorts on the island, are trying very hard to create the
perception, that after the recent political debacle, everything is back
to normal, we can assure you that such is most definitely not the case.
Quite to the contrary. An increasingly number of law-abiding citizens has lost every ounce of
hope that the local body politic has the moral authority to restore
trust in Government.
As a matter of fact, all the political machinations and maneuvering
typifying the functioning of this Government have seriously eroded
confidence in Government.
In addition, the strong public perception is, that those presently in
Government no longer are in the position to represent the best
interest of the people, because they apparently are controlled and
'held hostage' by certain 'interest-groups' with very deep pockets.
Therefore, there is a growing number of calls for some form of Higher
Supervision to safeguard the general interest of the citizens of the
island, and that can assist in 'cleaning the St. Maarten house', as an
absolute condition to proceeding with the process of constitutional
development
However, in our 'political culture', the people are not readily
provided with important information such as how to have Higher
Supervision imposed, by what procedures and by whom etc.
Also the public should be entitled to know what all the channels are to
request Higher Supervision.
It is for this reason, that we urgently request you to inform the
residents of St. Maarten of all aspects and details pertaining to the
requesting of the imposition of Higher Supervision.
At the same time, we urgently wish to indicate that the situation on
the island, does not necessarily permit us the 'luxury' of insisting on
strictly 'protocol', because such might prove to be very academic and
might come 'after the fact'.
After all, while 'prototcol' might be relevant, preventing the 'house
St. Maarten' from falling into complete 'anarchy and terrorism' might
also not be exactly a promising alternative.
Hoping to have done our part as good corporate citizens in trying to
prevent any undesirable social events, we look forward to your response
to the urgent request on behalf of all law-abiding citizens on the
island, who at this moment feel that they can not trust the system on
the island, which is still part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Needless to emphasize that any unfortunate consequences of not heeding
this warning, are for the sole responsibility of the powers that be.
We hereby rest our case to you.
Leopold James
President SNBF & L'Esprit de Concordia.