Now that the dust over Wednesday’s “I stand for St. Maarten” demonstration has settled, it’s good to analyse what took place. The immediate reason was obviously the decision to prosecute United Democrats leader Theodore Heyliger for suspected attempted bribery in the “Catfish” probe.
Of course, he is only the latest in a string of parliamentarians to formally be placed under investigation for irregularities, of whom several have been sentenced and some even went to prison. However, Heyliger is by far the Dutch side’s biggest vote-getter already for a decade and was “formateur” of the current government.
The protestors’ chant “let our leaders lead” is based on the idea that the latter are unfairly being targeted by judicial authorities mainly from the Netherlands. The reality that several other politicians were in fact convicted of taking a bribe, vote-buying and tax fraud doesn’t seem to change this perception.
In addition, NA faction member Christophe Emmanuel openly declared that “they” had tried to buy his seat for US $3,000 without saying who. He stated this during a meeting while enjoying parliamentary immunity and was interviewed by the National Detectives later.
Nevertheless, there is in principle nothing wrong with the demand made in a petition reportedly signed by some 700 persons for the Law Enforcement Council to delve into the workings of the justice system. Whether the Prosecutor’s Office can indeed be called “selective” is another matter, but the time it often takes before cases go to trial is certainly a legitimate issue.
Authorities have also become much more aggressive in combating certain forms of organised, cross-border and subversive crimes, including corruption, drug trafficking, money laundering and the financing of terrorism, in recent years. They use new, far-reaching approaches, tactics and methods such as, for example, the Asset Recovery Team, so having these reviewed would not be the worst thing in the world.
Nobody will disagree either with the notion that justice must be reasonably swift and not delayed for too long, despite lack of personnel and detention space. A possible statute of limitations is one way to address that, although having people “judged by their peers” seems a bit difficult with the non-jury court system in the Dutch kingdom.
By the way, that leaders are targeted is precisely because they have a greater responsibility as elected representatives and/or pubic administrators in whom society must be able to put its trust. As the Dutch saying goes, “hoge bomen vangen veel wind” (tall trees catch a lot of wind).
