Some readers may have been a bit bewildered regarding two stories on page 16 of Tuesday’s edition about a survey in Curaçao. While more than a quarter of the respondents there would like to see independence within 25 years, an amazing 32.3 per cent still want to return to the former Netherlands Antilles.
The latter obviously know by now their wish can no longer come true as that country was dismantled, and probably were just expressing a “longing for the good old days” sentiment. What they seem to be indicating as well is little faith in local politicians based particularly on events after the new constitutional relations within the Dutch Kingdom took effect per 10-10-10.
That’s no doubt also part of the reason a majority not only favour continued financial and legal supervision by the Netherlands, but believe the oversight on the police should be regulated. At the same time, many feel a lack of respect for and knowledge of the island among parliamentarians and public administrators in The Hague.
In St. Maarten too there appears to be a discontent between politicians and citizens, who have grown increasingly sceptical over the performance and behaviour of local leaders. This lack of confidence especially in elected representatives due mostly to the frequent so-called “ship-jumping” in the past six years needs to be addressed with positive action rather than words.
Under the circumstances, one can hardly expect voters to stand behind politicians with bold intentions such as calling for independence. It’s clearly a matter of trust.
Source: Daily Herald
A matter of trust
In this same article there should be the survey in Curacao about how much trust there is in elected representatives. That was an extremely low score. There is no reason to think our’s here in SXM would score much higher. As for the referendums, the first one clearly indicated the desire to stay in a “restructured” Antilles and it was for political reasons that this didn’t happen.
6 years after 101010 and we have to admit that we haven’t come very far, the excuse of being a young country is no longer applicable, and economically we are being outperformed regionally. A bit of nostalgia is allowed and hopefully it will lead to a turn-around in the prospects we are facing.