Rumours that Theodore Heyliger would step down as United Democrats (UD) leader were confirmed during the weekend (see related story). There had been much speculation he was breaking with the party out of anger due to his current legal predicament, but that is not evident from the resignation letter.
The bribery suspect detained in Bonaire said he remains committed and dedicated to the people of St. Maarten. This indicates his political career might not be over just yet.
Although suspended as Member of Parliament, Heyliger won’t be dismissed as such pending an irrevocable criminal conviction and of course remains innocent until proven guilty. The biggest vote-getter of every election he contested in recent history and the only candidate to directly earn an own seat with personal votes at last year’s early poll mentioned his “inability to serve” as he is being held “in a foreign land,” referring to Bonaire’s status as part of the (Caribbean) Netherlands.
Some were suggesting this move came in response to the Romeo-Marlin cabinet not being able to stop Heyliger’s transfer or arrange his return. However, the reality is that Justice Minister Cornelius de Weever could hardly do anything about it, as individual judicial cases must in principle be left up to law enforcement authorities.
One interesting aspect in the longer term is that the UD is in fact a cooperation between the United People’s (UP) party led by Heyliger and the Democratic Party (DP) led by Sarah Wescot-Williams. This happened after the catastrophic passage of Hurricane Irma to bring about a change in government seen as necessary not to derail the recovery with Dutch funding, so it will be interesting to see how that develops in the near future.
Heyliger chose “for continuity of St. Maarten progress” because he cannot be part of the decision-making process in the UD. That is a different attitude than displayed by other politicians notably in monetary union partner Curaçao, who have tried to hang on to power even while serving a prison sentence.
In that sense, Theo is doing the right thing.
