Marlin said the Democratic Party considers every meeting of the Island Council of utmost importance, however the actions of the ruling coalition government since taking office on June 8, 2009 leaves much to be desired. "We are experiencing an acceleration of the ruling coalition trying to thwart democracy." The release states that during the past couple of months on several occasions the ruling coalition government did not have a majority to convene meetings of the Island Council called for by them, but the Democratic Party gladly lend its support to ensure that these meetings continued. Despite these efforts from the Democratic Party, we see more and more that this government has no regard for democracy. Point in case is e.g. the meeting requested by the Democratic Party to discuss the consequences of the Island not having a 2010 budget in place. On two occasions, this meeting was convened and members of the NA/Heyliger/Laveist government while being present in the hall of the Island Council, refused to lend their support as good democracy dictates. Information and clarification from government being requested time and again by the Democratic Party faction on important issues, is met with deafening silence from the NA/Heyliger/Laveist coalition. The budget 2010 debate is a clear example of the coalition government again shirking its responsibility, by not providing the report to the Island Council to substantiate the projected income in additional taxes for 2010 of almost Naf 28 million guilders.
Central Committee meetings are requested and the Chairman of the Central Committee totally disregarding the timeline for convening of these meetings in accordance with the rules of order is yet another example of this NA/Heyliger/Laveist government's lack of adherence to our democratic system.
The Permanent Committee of the Island Council for Constitutional Affairs being sidelined by not obtaining information in a timely manner, or no meetings of this body being convened to update the members. In the meeting scheduled for April 19, 2010, the agenda of the Island Council included an agenda point which would deal with the Kingdom Law on the Plans of Approach for country Curacao and St. Maarten. Considering that this is a draft Kingdom Law it would have been prudent for the government to first have deliberations in the PCCA before taking the debate to a public meeting of the Island Council for decision making. These are just a few examples of the NA/Heyliger/Laveist coalition dodging its responsibility and these actions and the irresponsible behavior of this government needs to be stopped. The Democratic Party while accepting its role as the opposition party in the Island Council is always willing to lend support to ensure continuity within government, but the NA/Heyliger/Laveist coalition must start making a serious effort to respect the role of the Island Council.
