Reminiscent of Paul Revere’s “the British are coming!” warning of April 18, 1775, at the start of America’s independence war, “the Dutch are taking over” seems to be the latest battle cry among certain groups.
A lot of that has to with actions by law enforcement officials primarily recruited from the Netherlands for lack of suitable local alternatives. During the last few years they have targeted various elected representatives, high-ranking civil servants, businesspersons and executives of government-owned as well as private companies during investigations into alleged corruption, bribery, embezzlement, (tax) fraud, money-laundering, vote-buying and other alleged improprieties.
One needs to acknowledge that several politicians and their relations have been put on trial, while some were already found guilty. Despite this reality there have been persistent claims that it’s all part of a big scheme to re-colonise St. Maarten.
However, it’s hard to ignore the fact that, for example, a sizeable number of Immigration officers and even the department head at the time have been charged and/or convicted of irregularities involving the admittance of foreigners and residence permits. This is probably one of the reasons The Hague insisted on joint border control at Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA).
In any case, everyone knows most people in the Netherlands would probably rather do without the Caribbean part of the kingdom, mainly due to lack of information about and familiarity with the islands, although that is changing a bit with the growth of Dutch tourism especially in Curaçao. It’s also true that an exodus of often unskilled jobless school dropouts primarily from that island to the Netherlands during the latter part of the 20th century was perceived as creating a nuisance in certain cities.
But after two referenda in the former Netherlands Antilles where a majority on all islands chose to remain within the kingdom, the feeling in The Hague is that staying together also comes with conditions such as safeguarding basic rights as mentioned in the kingdom charter. In their view this includes free and fair elections, proper governance, respect for the rule of law and the administration of justice.
The doubts that exist among the Dutch political establishment about local authorities in these areas did not fall from the sky. It’s chiefly the consequence of relatively many people in high places apparently misbehaving.
