Govt thinks about best way to
approach Dutch Government
PHILIPSBURG--The St. Maarten Government is still contemplating the best strategy to approach the Dutch Government regarding the opinion expressed by the Dutch Parliament that St. Maarten cannot have separate status if the administration of justice and maintenance of law and order on the island have not improved.
Constitutional Affairs Commissioner Sarah Wescot-Williams said last week that while she had spoken about approaching the Dutch Government on the matter, St. Maarten still had not done so, “because we are considering what best approach to use.”
“We have seen how these matters are usually dealt with and answered by the Dutch Government. In essence, we don’t feel that just a letter to the Dutch Government or the State Secretary (of Kingdom Relations) will suffice. What other action will be necessary we still have under discussion,” she said.
She said she did not know what would be necessary for the Second Chamber to not only understand St. Maarten’s plight, but also act in accordance with understanding what St. Maarten was saying about justice and different things in which the island had been engaged. “It’s now becoming too easy for everybody to say agreement is agreement, yet we cannot bring these agreements together in true fashion to continue the discussion and the process of constitutional change.”
Wescot-Williams said furthermore that one of the remarks that had caught her attention was that of Dutch State Secretary of Kingdom Relations Ank Bijleveld-Schouten, who said that December 15, 2008, will not be a date on which it would be decided what date the new statuses, in particular that of St. Maarten, would go into effect.
The Commissioner said she believed the statement needed to be clarified, because if it was going to be held “in front of us,” based on all St. Maarten had been asked to do and had done so far, then St. Maarten would need to reflect on the processes in which it is engaged.
“All that we do is geared towards St. Maarten getting country status. Our sight is set towards January 1, 2010, but if up until December 15, 2008, that date is being brought into doubt, St. Maarten needs to re-address the matter of the process that we are engaged in,” the Commissioner said.
