Philipsburg:--- Sint Maarten's President of Parliament Hon. drs. Gracita Arrindell who was one of the guest speakers at the 25th Jubilee Anniversary of Aruba's House of Parliament, in her speech last week called for a closer functional cooperation between Aruba and Sint Maarten.
Arrindell in her speech told the gathering: "My friends, 25 years is but a brief moment in the life of a country and building Aruba is still a great work in progress. But, as you celebrate your silver Jubilee, as the great architects of the Aruba Miracle, you can hold your heads high, and with pride, bask in your accomplishments. Congratulations!
"As we in Sint Maarten embark on our own journey with full responsibility for our own nation-building, we hope to make full use of your archives and of your experiences. For there is much we can learn from you. There is much we can learn from each other. There is also much that we can, and must do together. We need to rekindle and reenergise our friendship. In partnership, we must explore and exploit to the fullest all possible areas of functional cooperation to the mutual benefit of our people."
The theme of the congress was: "The State without a Parliament, a desirous situation?"
Arrindell in her speech also called for the possible re-engineering of Sint Maarten's government organs: "The underlying theme; the separation of powers and the role of the Peoples representative therein.
"Important to any discussion of this theme must be consideration of how best can our relatively small societies achieve functional systems in the area of checks and balances without an overkill of regulations and institutions that stifle genuine policy making and how best do we establish legal frameworks that are financially affordable and sustainable, while allowing for our peoples' active participation and involvement in governance.
"While I do not pretend to be well-informed about what happens here in Aruba, I can assure you that in our case in Sint Maarten, we have several institutions and structures in place to facilitate the necessary checks and balances and we are beginning to realise that some of these institutions might even require some re-engineering.
"All of these entities are guided by their respective assessment regulations which serve as the light against which the actions of the political establishment are held. But against this background, one serious question arises: If there is not a balanced approach to the exercise of the power and the authority of these restraining entities, who will want to be a Member of Parliament in the next decade, especially if we add the effects of the social networks to the existing equation?
"Who will want to be a Member of Parliament in the next decade when taking into account that the social networks will continue to transform the way countries are governed with every word and every action being scrutinised and immediately transmitted to the rest of the world - sometimes defying familiar set of rules and regulations?"
The jubilee celebration took place last week Tuesday at the Westin hotel Aruba, Grand Ballroom and the keynote speaker was Dutch Second Chamber of Parliament President Gerdi Verbeet.
"At the jubilee celebration I expressed warm greetings and congratulations from the people of Sint Maarten. Aruba has been a pioneer within the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and they have done a great job these last 25-years," President of Parliament Hon. Gracita Arrindell said on Sunday.
