By Alex Rosaria
I still remember seeing our flag hoisted for the first time in 1984. The blue symbolising the sea and the sky, the yellow stroke representing the sun and the stars symbolising the five continents from which people have arrived on our island. The white colours of the stars standing for peace.
Do people still see the colours and what they represent? Or has the flag been stained beyond recognition?
The flag in my memory stood tall and proud. It celebrated the togetherness of all. Today, a minority group still lives in inequality under the law just because they want to be free to carry on their lives irrespective of their preferences.
I remember being able to freely sit on my parents’ balcony in Santa Rosa, walk outside, and see jovial faces. I can’t see them any more because they don’t leave their caged homes. I can’t hear them because they are afraid to speak out. The free and independent press incessantly questioning our choices and democratic deficits have been silenced by money and power. I remember us being proud of welcoming people looking for a bright future here. Today, we curse them, imprison them, take away their rights and bully them. If you care to listen, you’ll hear people speak about the appalling conditions in which they live, sometimes in hushed voices.
Were we not supposed to be born with the right to be free and equal with the same opportunities, no matter where we came from, what we believe in, and how we choose to live our lives? Were we not supposed to have capable and honest democratic leaders to look after our common interests?
I cannot recognise our flag any more. It is covered with ugly stains.
Alex David Rosaria (53) is a freelance consultant active in Asia & Pacific. He is a former Member of Parliament, Minister of Economic Affairs, State Secretary of Finance and UN Implementation Officer in Africa and Central America. He’s from Curaçao and has an MBA from the University of Iowa (USA)
Dear Editor,
There was recently a letter to the editor by Mr. George Pantophlet, long time MP and leading figure in area of economic affairs. He suggested that the best thing was for the Netherlands to convert the St. Maarten debt to a grant. He is not wrong that in the short term that would be very convenient. Every other developing country globally would like to have their debt forgiven too.
When an MP of St. Maarten makes such a suggestion it might make sense to those whose economic thinking is simplistic. It is, however, highly negative for the image of the country.
The point of financing developing nations by rich countries is to inject funds that will create the institutions and systems that will ensure that these countries are able to function effectively without deficits and the building up of debt. There are those that would argue otherwise and claim different motivations but mostly without good evidence.
It is certainly not the intention that rich country governments have been instructed by their electorate to fund deficits in poorly managed countries with their domestic tax income. Unfortunately, the Dutch [Caribbean – Ed.] part of the Kingdom is regarded as being poorly managed event though we may believe (and I do) that we have made great strides and have increasingly robust institutions.
When an MP of our parliament, especially one from the dominant coalition partner that is a leading light in economic affairs, exposes his lack of understanding of development goals, this negatively impacts the perception of St. Maarten elsewhere.
Robbie Ferron
~ Make ‘Cooling Centers’ part of the Resilience Agenda ~
Dear Editor,
Extreme heat warnings are becoming the norm and not the exception. People are dying from the heat. Last year in Europe, extreme heat claimed 20,000 lives between June and August.
Some of the ways to survive extreme heat are limiting outdoor activity, staying hydrated, keeping homes cool, checking on the elderly and young children.
What about the Caribbean? Have we been experiencing extreme heat? Have you noticed a change in the weather? Should we start planning for the future where extreme heat is concerned? I think we should. Better to be prepared and ready rather than dealing with the consequences thereafter.
Europe for example has been warming twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s. The State of the Climate in Europe 2022 report shows that decades of global heating has resulted in extreme heat, drought, wildfires, marine heatwaves, and glacier melt.
Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom had their warmest year on record last year, and the summer in Europe was the hottest ever recorded.
This cannot be considered as a one-off occurrence or an oddity of the climate. The 2022 annual average temperature for Europe was between the second and fourth highest on record, with an anomaly of about 0.79 °C above the 1991–2020 average.
Sint Maarten since 2018 has been in a phase of resilience building after the massive damage caused by Hurricane Irma in September 2017. New buildings have been constructed or re-enforced; human capital has received training; investments have been made in resources and vehicles, and the resilience building is expected to continue as the Sint Maarten Trust Fund still has some funds available to be invested this year and beyond.
As a country, we need to be prepared for other events that will have far-reaching consequences. Climate change is taking a major human, economic and environmental toll according to the report.
The report adds: “Average Sea surface temperatures across the North Atlantic were the warmest on record and large portions of the region’s seas were affected by powerful marine heatwaves. The rates of surface ocean warming, particularly in the eastern Mediterranean, the Baltic, the Black Sea, and the southern Arctic, were more than three times the global average.”
Hazards from warmer temperatures, such as rising sea levels and more frequent and extreme weather events, make the Caribbean the most vulnerable sub-region.
As a nation we must continue to build upon our resilience agenda. Public and private sectors as well as Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) need to come together and consider the establishment of “cooling centers” within the community for senior citizens, families with children and other vulnerable members of our community.
Not everyone has an air conditioning unit in their home or could afford the utility bill to run one during extremely warm days/weeks. There are a number of NGOs and other stakeholders who provide services to our senior community who could play a role in transporting these vulnerable persons to “cooling centers” where they could spend a few hours a day until the day cools down and then return to their home.
‘Coolingp prevent heat-related illness. Extreme heat has become a major public health centers’ can be community centers (air conditioned) – a safe location -that could be for example utilized for this purpose where persons find relief from the heat. Senior citizen organizations could compile a list of vulnerable seniors through a needs assessment survey and put this into a database.
‘Cooling centers’ hel concern and can cause a variety of health problems, but heat-related illness is largely preventable. As a nation let’s continue to build our resilience agenda by including other potential hazards as we prepare the country for warmer temperatures in a changing climate.
Roddy Heyliger
Dear Editor,
This year we will be celebrating Emancipation Day for the third time on Saba. It has been 160 years since slavery was abolished in the Dutch colonies. Many of us know of the Emancipation Day celebrations across the region and it is with this in mind that we have decided to observe this historic day on Saba. We should never forget the history of our island and know that freedom is not free but that it was paid by those who came before us.
While it is impossible for us to atone for slavery and the impact it had on our ancestors, it is feasible for us to reflect on the progress we have seen on Saba. Therefore, let us look how far Saba has advanced, where we all are able to inhabit this beautiful island, the unspoiled Queen, with equal opportunities regardless of color.
Slavery for some may seem a thing of the past, but it is not, for people are still held in bondage in different ways in present times, by poverty, incessant wars, and the abuse of those who cannot fight back. We should continue to be informed of the issues many people face even though they may seem worlds away.
Let us rise to the occasion in commemorating this event that would have closed a very painful chapter in our past that many Saban forefathers endured under the system of slavery. As we commemorate this day in history, I want to draw upon the wisdom of Karl Marx “Every emancipation is the restoration of the human world and of human relationships to man himself.”
Happy Emancipation Day!
Island Council member Rolando Wilson
Dear Editor,
“The Hague Plans to lend St. Maarten NAf. 60.9 million”. It cannot be business as usual. We don’t need any more loans, what we need is debt cancellation and the issuance of grants while the matter of reparations is being worked on. What the Dutch government is doing is increasing our debt.
What I find interesting is the following, and I quote: “If St. Maarten were to seek financing on its own on the international capital market it would be confronted with a high interest rate which would have a negative impact on the country’s debt tenability,” end of quote.
Can they explain to the people of St. Maarten the following: why would we have to pay a higher interest rate? It is it not so that the Dutch government is given loans for as low as 2% and 1%? And if we wanted to borrow on the international market will we not be offered the same interest rate as the Netherlands? Why do Caribbean countries, Latin American countries and the continent of Africa or the proverbial countries of the South have to pay higher interest rates?
Is it the World Bank and International Monetary Fund who determine these rates? Both these institutions are controlled by Europe and the United States of America. This is a bias structure.
The apology for slavery cannot be just a byword. Action has to follow and it starts with debt cancellation. My suggestion is that no payment be made to the Dutch government on any loans. My suggestion is that instead of paying any loans, the payments are used to invest in our island.
Discussions on reparations have begun, a report came out where the Crown earned some $600 million from the slave trade. And it was only from 1660 to 1770. Slavery was abolished in 1865 some 95 years later. Can you imagine when the research is completed regarding the Crown and it is no doubt when the entire Netherlands is included that it will run into billions, maybe trillions, of dollars.
I want to remind the people of St. Maarten that it is the same Dutch government who have budgeted some 2.5 billion euros to assist Ukraine, this is the same Dutch government whose market size for Defence in the Netherlands is estimated to be $18.1 billion.
Our illegal debt is around 1.4 billion guilders which amounts to a mere $650 million. This amount should be cancelled immediately. No more loans.
Member of Parliament George Pantophlet
