Dear Editor,
Last week during the IPKO on St. Maarten I noticed that many parliamentarians were quite angry with me because I have often criticized the political situation on the island in The Daily Herald. However, on the road, I was approached quite differently: many people came to me with a smile and encouraged me to continue my criticism. Many people told me that I name the problems that they are afraid to talk about.
I needed that support from the people, because the meeting with the parliamentarians had made me gloomy. They assumed a tone and used big words to blame the Netherlands for almost all problems on the islands, while Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten are autonomous countries with their own management and their own responsibilities.
This is how it happens too often in the Kingdom: problems that the islands have caused themselves have to be resolved by the Netherlands. But if we intervene and try to tackle the problems, we get the reproach of racism and colonialism and the accusation that we want to take over control.
I can assure every resident of Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten that this is absolutely not the case. The opposite is true: the less we have to interfere with the islands in the Dutch parliament, the better it is.
The Netherlands was blamed by many parliamentarians from Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten for the problems that the islands face with refugees from Venezuela. But as much as we would like to, we can’t do anything about the terrible dictatorship in that country.
Off the record, island politicians admitted that many Venezuelans were once brought to their country as cheap workers in construction or in the tourism industry. These are not actually refugees, but people who are deliberately illegally taken to the islands by companies, which the local government has always tolerated.
A number of politicians from Curaçao demanded that we now send planes to collect thousands of Venezuelans. I really want to offer help, but then the islands have to state more seriously what it is that we can help them with.
Politicians from St. Maarten were angry about the slow reconstruction after Hurricane Irma, for which the Netherlands has made more than 550 million euros available. But when we inquire further, it often appears that unwillingness and ignorance of the St. Maarten government itself leads to postponement and delay.
The Netherlands wants to invest 100 million euros in the reconstruction of the badly hit St. Maarten airport and the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport is willing to help with the recovery. However, some St. Maarten politicians do not want this help, because the Netherlands wants decent supervision of the expenditures and demands good governance.
The Netherlands is internationally criticized if things go wrong at the prisons on Curaçao and St. Maarten, or with the refineries on Aruba and Curaçao, or if public finances get out of hand in the islands. But if we do intervene, everyone is angry with us.
Last week I noticed that the love for islands is fading a bit for many Dutch parliamentarians, because we can never really do things right. If the Netherlands does nothing, politicians on the islands will get angry. But if the Netherlands does intervene, some politicians on the islands will become even angrier.
Last week I spoke to several politicians from the islands and many admitted off the record that things can’t really continue like this. It is time that we make new agreements. Let Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten clearly indicate what they want to do themselves, and the Netherlands will not interfere anymore. And let the islands say what they think the Netherlands can do better, but then we must also be able to assume our responsibility and do it on our own way.
The Kingdom is dead, long live the new Kingdom!
Ronald van Raak
Member of the Second Chamber for the Socialist Party (SP)
