Dear Mr. Editor,
I found the Prime Minister’s remarks regarding the Dutch’s pending apologies for their part in the slave trade – or whatever they are calling it – amusing and a little shocking. I had my own doubts about what a specific apology would entail as soon as it was revealed. But that is neither here nor there.
Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs finally added her two cents to the debate and completely, once again, brought her integrity into question. Instead of sticking to the merit of the discussion, the Prime Minister used the opportunity to try and fill a problematic political hole and hope the people wouldn’t understand what she was cunningly up to.
She made an “argument” using the 12.5% cuts as a crutch and then soft-soaked the rest of her remarks to make it seem as if she genuinely cares what an apology for slavery would entail. But the Prime Minister’s only goal was to introduce the 12.5%, or its abolition, as a potential requirement to make an apology for slavery more credible.
But here is the problem. The Dutch did not come up with the 12.5% cuts on workers’ salaries, the Prime Minister and her government did, after Aruba had tabled its idea for austerity measures with a 12.6% cut. St. Maarten had the opportunity, just like Aruba and Curaçao, to table suggestions for austerity measures as a result of the pandemic, and chose not to do so. Instead, St. Maarten copied Aruba’s suggestion and the Dutch said, okay, forward. Agreements were drawn up around the main condition that St. Maarten proposed: the 12.5% cuts.
This is another illustration of why former State Secretary Knops referred to the Prime Minister as a liar and her administration as unreliable. Prime Minister Jacobs once more attempted to mislead the public by jumping on the bandwagon of the apology for slavery. She brazenly attempted to make it appear as though the Dutch were the ones who came up with the 12.5% and who voted it into being. The Parliament of St. Maarten who supports the Prime Minister and her government voted it into existence. And the Prime Minister led the charge on it. Not the Dutch.
So, to shamefully drag a slavery discussion into your biggest political faux-pas is a disgrace and yellow politicking. Going into an election the Prime Minister is setting up a discussion on the 12.5% and she saw the slavery discussion as the perfect vehicle from which to kick off these talking points. I hope most people see right through it, including the Dutch.
Name withheld
