SXMElections.com

Dear Editor,

I have much respect for Professor Jaime Saleh, former Governor of the Netherlands Antilles. However, I was very disappointed by his presentation here in Statia on October 4, 2014, on invitation of the Statia DP.

My disappointment stems from the fact that Mr. Saleh seemed not in touch with what is going on in Statia today; he spoke of his days as governor when he walked the streets here and met the local people and listened to their concerns; that would have been a good place to start on this latest trip also. He would have known exactly the kinds of concerns the people of Statia have.

His message has been overwhelmingly that the status is not the problem, but rather what you as local government do with it; not the status is the problem, but the implementation; do not blame the status, he says, because there are other avenues to get results for the problems you are confronting.

What can a local government do with our present status when its hands are tied in so many ways; if implementation is the problem, how do we get civil servants in The Hague and Bonaire to change their implementation of laws and directives when they are simply to follow orders?

There are other avenues, he says, to solving problems, certainly, once you can get past the maze of bureaucrats, where one is constantly sent away singing and told to come back bringing, yet another stack of justification reports.

Some practical examples.

If we had a different status, those three social laws legalizing same sex marriage, euthanasia (mercy killing), and abortion would never be law in Statia today; they were imposed despite a signature from the former state secretary during status negotiations; despite a unanimous motion from our island council against such, despite on the spot advice from the minister in the Second Chamber not to do it; but two members of the Second Chamber could care less about such objections and presented a motion that got majority support, so they were passed; something again, that the people of Statia never asked for.

If we had a different status, we would right now have one and maybe two medical schools operating on the island; despite support from every sector on the island, full support from our government; despite the fact that granting this school a permit does not affect Dutch education or health care in any way whatsoever; despite our weak economy with many persons who invested in hundreds of apartment units over the years now missing that income, all of this could not convince the Dutch government to make some special arrangement or grant some exemption making this school possible.

If we had a different status our Voluntary Korps St. Eustatius (VKE) would be still assisting our law enforcement corps today; an organization into which we invested so much over the years and that offered good social and disciplinary training for many young people on the island. Here too the European standards and structures do not allow for this community organization to operate in its own Caribbean community.

If we had a different status we would have our own business law giving local government authority to regulate the establishment of businesses; the present Dutch law creates an open market that is very suitable for larger economies but detrimental to small communities like ours; companies like our local telephone company and even our water and electricity company are prone to takeover by outside competition.

If we had a different status we would know what our tax revenues are; for the past four years every local government in Statia, joined by those in Saba and Bonaire, have been asking the Dutch government for information on our tax revenues, to no avail. Such a basic principle of democracy, the right of a people to know what they are paying their government in taxes and we are not allowed to know; taxation without representation.

Delegations from the three islands even walked out of a meeting angrily when they were refused this information. No amount of meetings, summits, letters, petitions; by government, advisory bodies, or NGO's could change, up to this point, the Dutch thinking on this matter.

If we had a different status, our local contractors would still be able to get jobs for small and medium-sized construction work that right now they are shut out of. Meanwhile Dutch owned companies are establishing themselves here as local companies and enjoy an unfair advantage. How many meetings and memos have been dedicated to changing this problem? Each time the promise is made that changes will come. Nothing yet, no not yet, so we wait.

These are just some examples Mr. Saleh in which local government has, as you suggested, tried to do something with (in) the current status to bring about change; or, they have tried to influence implementation; or, they have tried other avenues to reach solutions. Still, the issues remain unsolved and in all the above cases, there is no reason to believe anything will change anytime soon.

And why, Mr. Saleh? Because the problem for all the issues lies in the status we now have. As long as we are in this status we will be constantly butting our heads with civil servants in The Hague about issues here. The laws and regulations are not of our making and do not suit our interests so we will forever be in this conflict resolution mode with Holland.

Politicians in Holland answer to voters in Holland and do not care what voters in Statia think. This leaves us effectively without representation.

Reason why I want a different status, so things like these can be resolved right here in Oranjestad, Statia by the people we elect in our government. It's nice to offer nice cozy solutions but we the people on the ground know the real problems and the real answers.

Glenn Schmidt