Dear Editor,
A very interesting article appeared in the daily newspaper of April 20, 2019, entitled “St. Maarten delegation leaves The Hague with good feeling.”
In one of their public meetings scheduled for June this year, the draft proposal on the Dispute Regulation submitted by State Secretary Knops will be handled in the Second Chamber. We have read statements from our St. Maarten politicians such as they sympathize with us, or have understanding for our plight and the discussions were fruitful. But in the final analysis they support their own.
I don’t mean to be sarcastic, I would love to be positive, but we must face reality. It has been more or less 5 years now since the discussion began on having a dispute regulation. I believe it was Mr. Recourt, the then-chairman of the Committee for Kingdom Relations, who said in 2015, and let me paraphrase, that he would be very disappointed if a solution was not found within a year. In 2016 during the IPKO [Inter-Parliamentary Consultation of the Kingdom – Ed.] meeting on St. Maarten, the Caribbean parliamentarians wanted to submit a draft proposal on the dispute regulation, but the Dutch delegation felt it would be premature to do so. Need I say more?
Mr. Kapppen of the First Chamber warned at the time, and I paraphrase, “The dispute regulation for the Netherlands is politically sensitive. As we know, The Dutch Caribbean Parliaments are not in agreement with the text and content of the Kingdom Law proposal to establish the dispute regulation as submitted by the Dutch government and State Secretary of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops (a Junior Minister).
Do we honestly believe that they will vote against their own proposal? We all know of article 12 and afterwards article 12A as the latter was to help the other states/Dutch Caribbean Parliaments at the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles. The charter called for a ruling that would resolve conflicts within the Kingdom.
Do you believe they will give us equal treatment in the Kingdom when they themselves say we are not equal? Do they have an integrity chamber? Do they have a constitutional court? Does corruption only exist in the Caribbean part of the Netherlands and not the Netherlands?
I agree with most of the statements made by members of the Council of State Maria van der Sluijs-Plantz and Schwengle who, according to the article “We have to embrace integrity”, “spoke about integrity and good governance and the importance of the rule of law.” The many points relating to crime, society and her relation to our political culture.
This is so true. What we should not lose sight of, however, is the reality of “The Democratic Deficit” that exists in the Kingdom. The charter is constructed in such a way that the Netherlands has complete dominance. Where is the integrity in that?
What we have to take note of also, is that as it relates to the judicial system, although not perfect it is already functioning and addressing the behavior of those who have acted against the law.
A sign of goodwill towards the people of the Dutch Caribbean would be approving the draft proposal of the dispute regulation coming from this side of the Atlantic. Let the advice of the Council of State be binding. They are independent and non-political.
How can we expect to win a dispute with the one who has the final decision? I am not optimistic about the outcome. Will they prove me wrong? This is left to be seen.
George Pantophlet
