Dear Editor,
In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Rutte in September 2015, former Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs, along with former Prime Ministers Eman of Aruba and Whiteman of Curaçao, questioned whether the Netherlands Antilles were ever decolonized. In the letter, all three Prime Ministers reminded Mr. Rutte that the United Nations had serious doubts about the sincerity of the Dutch State to decolonize these islands and questioned whether the Kingdom Charter had decolonized the islands.
The honorable Prime Ministers pointed out that the UN General Assembly had warned of the danger of abusing the position of governor to violate the autonomy of the islands. Additionally, the former Prime Ministers pointed out that the Antillian Prime Minister Jonkheer (circa 1955) managed to persuade a skeptical UN General Assembly that the Netherlands Antilles would not hesitate to call on the international community should their rights be violated.
The UN General Assembly suspicion of the Dutch intentions (at the time the Netherlands had a bad reputation because of its conduct during the war in Indonesia) was reflected in the vote on Resolution 945X of December 15, 1955. The General Assembly adopted two amendments which their sponsors (India and Uruguay) stated were intended to declare that the Netherlands Antilles were not fully self-governing, as well as restricting itself to only Article 73e of the UN Charter while allowing the rest of Article 73 to remain in force. Resolution 945X was adopted with a 28 per cent vote of approval while 43 per cent of the members abstained. It is the lowest score achieved by any nation during the decolonization process. Inge Klinkers, who wrote “De Weg Naar Het Statuut”, states that the UN vote was “a bitter pill” for the Netherlands.
Pro Soualiga Foundation
