PHILIPSBURG:--- As a matter of principle, I was vehemently opposed to the interference by outsiders in the screening process on St. Maarten and I am on record as stating publicly that I rejected even the suggestion of such. It did not matter who the candidate ministers were. It was a matter of principle. The Wescot cabinet III is on record for standing up for the country on this matter. That too is public knowledge. We could have played politics, but we did not.
If I then read a front page article in the Today newspaper, quoting Minister Plasterk as saying that the Dutch secret service had an involvement in the local screening, it should have been expected that I would question if that was indeed the case and how it could happen. What is wrong with asking that?
Straightforward answers to the few simple questions would have set that matter straight, once and for all.
I have no desire for polemics (too early in the year for that), but neither will I allow the truth to be twisted. Sad to conclude this is exactly what happened in the first official answers to a member of parliament (me) by the Prime Minister.
I had nothing to do with the actual screening of the Gumbs cabinet ministers and the Prime Minister knows this full well. After all, he was not only informateur, he himself was candidate minister. Did he report to me? No. Did I have anything to do with his screening or that of his colleagues? No. Did the local services report to me on the screening? No. Does the Prime Minister care to confirm this? I hope he does, because he implied otherwise in his letter.
Luckily I got the answers regarding the involvement or not of the Dutch secret service in the screening process of the candidate ministers on St. Maarten from another source. Suffice it to say, it appears not to have been the case. Look what it took to get to this point.