Dear Editor,
When a government carefully and consciously decides to withhold information from the people, or selectively inform them of what and how much they should know, democracy suffers. It is also extremely dangerous to excite and incite the people with half stories that we want them to know.
A few weeks ago the Dutch dictatorship appointed a quartermaster unilaterally and outside the scope of the agreed procedures and the government in Philipsburg reacted I believe decisively and correctly. They went further and came to Parliament to let the legislature know what was happening and have them take a position on the issue. While we have always maintained that we signed away our souls for this illusion of Country within a Country there are, however, acts of brilliance and courage in defence of our people. But, strangely enough our “Prime Minister” met with Minister Plasterk in Aruba on the very same matter and two weeks later total silence.
Why should we believe the meeting was so great when we are not allowed to know what transpired or what was agreed? How is it that the Dutch didn’t call the press to say what they will do like in their previous press release the threat to give and instruction or impose higher supervision. There is total blackout of information from both governments and we are to accept that all is well until “those across the pond” start to get their way and start claiming agreement is agreement.
Then there are reports on arrests at our border control services and as it should be in a law-abiding democratic country we are informed of the progress and the possibility of more arrests. At the same time, we are getting whispers of alleged fraud and embezzlement taking place at SZV. We are advised that people were sent home. The question is how do we decide who and when to prosecute or not is place or origin colour of skin or simply dependent on the ministry in charge. We want to know.
A new story making the rounds is about a new tax ordinance now at the SER for advice proposed by our Minister of Finance. This ordinance seeks to enforce compliance with the tax laws by setting a 30 per cent penalty on delinquents and permitting the tax inspector to go back 15 years in assessing compliance. Not too long ago the same minister, in preaching the values of the Tuitt approach, thought five years were adequate. What changed? Simply put, they are now implementing ordinances to placate the Dutch, close more businesses and contribute to an increase in poverty.
To date, the governing programme is still being awaited on. We are still at loss for actions proposed by government to recoup the loss of cruise ship calls at our port. Very little is known about the situation at GEBE and the incessant outages and load shedding. It would be nice if someone in charge could let us know when we can expect this to end. We are much more interested in the continued and dependable service than who is on the BOD. The people’s right to know is a basic human right not a privilege. Withholding information is as good as lying. We can’t build a nation by keeping our people ignorant of the happenings in and of government. Transparency is not served by trickling and selective releases from the powers that be.
Elton Jones
