Dear Editor,
Please allow me some space to address the people of St. Eustatius.
My dear people, the die is cast and now the Netherlands Antilles is faced with a grim reality. The parties known to have no good intentions towards the Netherlands Antilles are the big winners of the Dutch elections of June 9, 2010. The VVD of Mark Rutte went from 21 to 31 seats and the PVV of Geert Wilders has a gargantuan victory: they grew from nine to 24 seats.
Why is this a grim reality? It is glaringly obvious because of the facts of the campaign issues of these two parties. It also screams volumes about the thinking of the Dutch, when it comes to the Antilles. The VVD proposed draconian cuts across the board in all funds earmarked for the Netherlands Antilles.
This means drastic cuts when it comes to development aid. Late last year, they retracted their support of the ongoing constitutional process of the Netherlands Antilles and went so far as to demand, of the national government, that it stop the debt cancellation for the Netherlands Antilles and redirect those funds towards the proposed budgetary cuts of the Dutch budget of 2010.
On the other hand, it is a fact that more than 1.5 million people supported Wilders' party, meaning that these people are in favour of giving Holland back to the "indigenous" people of Holland. They support the move to ban Muslims from entering the country, deny social support to other immigrant groups and introduce a tax on head scarves. Also, fresh in our memory, is the proposal of the PVV to sell the Netherlands Antilles on the open market, by means of open bidding.
Regardless of the reasons for Wilders' surge in popularity, in my humble opinion, the success of the Freedom Party makes for a complicated election aftermath. The current election results mean that no major decisions will be made in the coming months, which could be a negative for the Netherlands Antilles.
The worst-case scenario would be fighting within the coalition, delaying reforms, and potentially resulting in re-elections in one or two years' time, if not sooner. Although I have the distinct feeling that the negotiations to reach a workable and moreover a progressive coalition will take many weeks of slow and difficult negotiations, I sincerely hope that, after this daunting task, Holland does not end up with a coalition of VVD, PVV and CDA augmented by CU.
If that becomes the case, the Netherlands Antilles will be faced with a national government, which does not favour us, and whose representatives will not hesitate for one moment to make such feelings known.
The Kingdom Commissioner Henk Kamp will have carte blanche, and since he is a card-carrying member of the VVD, the biggest party and the base of the new government, he will surely make his slave-master attitude even more visible than ever. Statia, when integrated on 10-10-10 without any representation, faces some very rough years ahead.
Of course, you may want to know what I see as the best coalition combination.
Okay then, I will go out on a limb here and say that I am hoping that PVV is kept out of the coalition at all cost, and that the national government will be based on a core common combination of an unwieldy four-party grouping of Mr. Rutte's Liberals (VVD) with a center-left trio of Labour (PvdA), and augmented by Democratic Liberal (D66) and Green parties Groen Links. The other parties in this combination will surely be able to tone down VVD's negative position towards the Netherlands Antilles.
In closing, I am convinced that in the 121 days left before 10-10-10, Statia will need to fight for an important and significant change. Therefore, I am calling on all the people's representatives in Statia, for once, to dare to rise above political colours and beliefs, to put island above self and call for a referendum, with the possibility of integration with representation – in other words, integration just as it is in the system with the French islands in the Caribbean. They enjoy representation in the national assembly and Senate of France. This is the only way that we will be respected as a people in the Dutch Kingdom.
Reginald C. Zaandam
