The Dutch meddling responsible for my demise
The former Prime Minister of St. Maarten MP William Marlin has blamed the Dutch with some help from local politicians for having him removed from Office after hurricane Irma of 2017. Mr. Marlin was at the time being interviewed on the Popular 12 O’clock radio show “View Point” when he outlined the series of events leading to his departure as Prime Minister. According to MP Marlin, the hurricane was used by the Dutch to gain more control of St. Maarten when they decided to attach conditions on their obligations to help the country after a disaster of this magnitude. The Parliament as well used the moment to side with the Dutch and gave Marlin’s cabinet of Ministers a vote of no confidence and forced their resignation.
Marlin said he objected to the manner in which the Government of the Netherlands laid down the conditions when it appeared that the Dutch Government was not talking about immediate help but rather asking to give up control of some autonomous areas of his government to be handed over to the Dutch. There was nothing wrong on his part other than charges of him stalling the help promised by the Dutch from coming; one year later, there is still no substantial help that came from the Netherlands other than to park the relief funds at the World Bank that requires supervision from Dutch persons attached to every committee connected to accessing the money.
When the MP was asked if that means the Dutch are in control, Marlin said “the Dutch have been giving the International community the impression that The Kingdom of the Netherlands is made up of 4 countries but internally they act as though the kingdom is Holland and three colonies. That’s how much they want to be in control. The Dutch, he said, certainly do not regard Curacao, Aruba and St. Maarten as equal partners in the Kingdom when at all political levels they seek to gain control and interfere in the government actions in these countries.
Although MP Marlin along with the other Ministers resigned immediately after the vote of no confidence, he was asked to stay on until another government was in place, but the Dutch pressured the governor to have Marlin removed since he was objecting to their control. He was then asked a second time to submit a resignation letter and vacate the position because the Dutch wanted no dealings with him. But the MP says to get out of the control of the Dutch, the citizens will have to understand their roll and our political leaders will have to clean up their acts themselves without having to be told by others what they are doing wrong. It’s the only way we can be in control of our destiny and sit at the United Nations like most Caribbean countries and be seen as equal. Until that happens the Dutch will always act as though they are the ones in control.
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