St. Maarten too cooperative,
now seen as ‘enfant terrible’
~ Change in attitude likely ~
PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten will assume its moral responsibility and with that a change in attitude. The island has been too cooperative and therefore has become the “enfant terrible” of the constitutional change process.
Constitutional Affairs Commissioner Sarah Wescot Williams assured, after Tuesday’s meeting with Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, that a change in attitude in matters pertaining to the constitutional change process could be expected of St. Maarten.
“What I deduced of Balkenende’s message is the fact that, yes, we do have a moral responsibility. The moral responsibility that I have is to the people of St. Maarten and their choice to become a country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands,” Wescot-Williams said, reacting to Balkenende’s speech Tuesday in the Courthouse.
She said she had the feeling that the constitutional change process was going to be made more difficult for St. Maarten. However, St. Maarten will not accept everything it is fed and attaining country status will not be at all cost, she said.
“Maybe instead of flying our resources back and forth we should keep them here and deal with matters of setting up police and justice for St. Maarten, and all parties should be working on changing the Charter of the Kingdom showing St. Maarten should become a country.”
According to the Commissioner, St. Maarten has become too collaborative and maybe even too civil. “The moral obligation is not because of that choice that we should accept what is handed to us to become a country and burden this population and generations to come of St. Maarten,” she said.
She gave several examples in which she said the island had been too cooperative and where a change in attitude could be expected.
“We all speak of the need to work effectively and efficiently to work towards the process of constitutional change. Yet from a central level we have been told that a very import aspect of transition dossiers to be discussed with the island territories will not be discussed until March.”
But we are going to turn things around, she said. “We want to discuss those dossiers now. We are taking up the responsibility and where we don’t have the formal responsibility we will do it on the basis of the moral responsibility we have.”
Another example she gave was that St. Maarten had been blamed for the delay in the discussions surrounding the agreement on having one monetary system.
“Everyone knows, when those discussions were halted it was with the political situation that developed in Curaçao. It was St. Maarten that requested that these discussions once again be taken up. We were told that the technocrats from Curaçao will not be available until March, so we sat back again and accepted that.”
However, Wescot-Williams said she had indicated to Curaçao Commissioner Zita Jesus-Leito that, while the meeting will take place in March, politically they have to meet in the meantime and determine whether the basis created to work from is solid.
She also referred to matters pertaining to the judiciary. Former minister Richard Gibson will attend a meeting called by Justice Minister David Dick this weekend.
“However, it’s not sufficient to hear from the Minister what he is doing and will do with respect to the judicial chain in St. Maarten. We want the responsibility for that in our hands. Only then can we be held responsible for how, when, and whether matters are addressed,” she said.
One thing clear from Balkenende’s message was that St. Maarten needs to stop the kind of accommodating attitude displayed until now, because it is only to the detriment of the island and playing only into the hands of those looking at postponing the date of December 15, the Commissioner said.
“For me it’s not so much about December 15, but more critical is that until now the attainment of country status for St. Maarten is doubted. That is something, if we are to continue in this process, that needs to be addressed.”
