SXMElections.com

~ Calls statements rhetoric~

PHILIPSBURG--The board of the United Peoples (UP) party says it "strongly believes" that the recent statements made by members of the liberal democratic VVD party and Socialist Party (SP) in the Netherlands is "rhetoric," and it "infringes on the fundamentals of St. Maarten's Parliamentary democracy."

The VVD and SP had been very critical of in particular UP leader Theo Heyliger, with both saying they would be calling for an instruction to have a criminal investigation focusing on Heyliger, during the handling of the draft 2015 budget of Kingdom Relations in the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament on Wednesday.

UP said in a press release on Wednesday that St. Maarten voters "did not vote for Dutch MPs," adding that "no Dutch politician will determine who governs St. Maarten, our people have that say and our Governor, appointed by the crown, sees the process through."

UP said there had been numerous integrity and corruption cases that Dutch political parties have had to deal with in the past two years alone. "Provincial Councillors hired themselves as their own party workers, Mayors falsified taxes and party deputies have been convicted of corruption, money laundering and fraud for arranging kickbacks. Why is it that in the Netherlands their political parties, commissions and the legal system are allowed to execute due process while the same, in the opinion of a few, is not applicable for St. Maarten?," the release said.

"In the first instance corruption has to be proven under rule of law and integrity accusations justified. There will be no witch hunt simply because two Dutch MP's said there should be. These views by certain Dutch MP's are undemocratic and by calling St. Maarten a banana republic is an insult to all St. Maarteners and the solid foundation of hard work and sacrifice this country has been built on."

According to UP, St. Maarten "continues to be confident in carrying out the integrity programme and that the majority of the recommendations of all three integrity reports, the PwC report, the report that the Wit-Samson Committee drafted in July this year and the integrity report of St. Maarten's General Audit Chamber, would be implemented."

"These sorts of superficial comments by certain Dutch MP's who are not solution oriented serves no purpose other than catering to their base and garnering colourful headlines. We have seen this before throughout the Kingdom by the same Dutch MPs, who, as their statements betray, do not see us as equal partners," the release said.

UP said the incoming Council of Ministers and Parliament should be given the opportunity to govern St. Maarten "without attempts of distraction, childlike insults and character assassination attacks by external influence."

The party said the people of St. Maarten "do not expect us to be distracted by Dutch MP's practicing wilful ignorance... While we look forward to a solid working relationship with the Netherlands and further identifying many areas of cooperation, St. Maarten will defend its right to govern autonomously and will not accept blatant forms of interference by any Kingdom partner."

In the meantime, Second Chamber Member André Bosman of VVD wants an investigation into Heyliger sooner rather than later. He said it could not be that someone gets away with election fraud and bribery. St. Maarten will receive assistance if that is needed to get this done, he noted. "But only on our conditions, which means broad prosecution authority and providing of information. Otherwise it makes no sense. Improvement is in sight for the island, so let's tackle this together."

Second Chamber Member Ronald van Raak (SP) considers it unheard of that "a man who buys votes and possibly even a member of the St. Maarten Parliament" will be taking over power. "A man of whom even the judge says that it is a shame that he is not being prosecuted," he said.