Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
THE HAGUE--Appalled by the latest political developments in St. Maarten, Member of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament Ronald van Raak of the Socialist Party (SP) will be seeking a statement from the Dutch government that "St. Maarten is about to get a government that possibly has been bought."
Van Raak announced on Friday that he plans to ask Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk for a written explanation during Wednesday's procedural meeting of the Second Chamber's Permanent Committee for Kingdom Relations. If the minister's answers are not to his liking, he will consider requesting a debate.
The Member of Parliament (MP) took note of the report in Friday's edition of The Daily Herald that Democratic Party ((DP)) leader outgoing Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams and United St. Maarten Party MP-elect Leona Marlin-Romeo have joined the United People's (UP) party/De Weever coalition.
"Every country has the right to elect its own government, but it has to be a fair government, and it seems that the new St. Maarten government has been bought," Van Raak told this newspaper. He said it was unacceptable in this Kingdom to have a government that had ties to the mafia.
"St. Maarten will make things very difficult for itself and will place itself outside the Kingdom if the politicians on the island don't start to comprehend that their behaviour is intolerable," Van Raak said.
The Hague has every right to get involved in St. Maarten's political business, since it is the Kingdom that carries the ultimate responsibility for good governance in the countries. Van Raak said that "luckily," the notion is increasing in The Hague that certain politicians and parties need to be investigated.
Minister Plasterk announced plans last week to send a special justice team to St. Maarten to tackle white collar crime, appoint an integrity officer and install more direct supervision of The Hague on the island's justice sector. St. Maarten has been requesting assistance for the Prosecutor's Office and the National Detectives Department ("Landsrecherche") for almost a year.
Van Raak said that it was important to send people to St. Maarten who had knowledge of the region and who were suitable to work in an island environment. "We shouldn't send people who want to get a tan at the beach, but who want to work really hard to catch thieves."
According to Van Raak, democracy, the fundament of a country, is at stake when a government takes over that possibly has been bought by the underworld. "We have to prevent that St. Maarten gets a puppet show government. The people deserve better than that."
When asked how he envisioned this investigation, Van Raak said: "Just follow the money. It will become clear who gets stuck to it. The investigation will make clear which politicians have good intentions and which don't," he said.
