A new Political Movement emerges
On the eleventh anniversary of St. Maarten’s new Status in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, often refer to as 10-10-10, Dr. Luc Mercelina announced the birth of a movement which he heads, called the Unified Resilient St. Maarten Movement (URSM). Dr. Mercelina himself served two years as an MP and at one point was instrumental in the fall of the Government when he shifted his support to join a new majority. That move by the former MP speaks of the political climate that St. Maarten had to endure during the first ten years of our new constitutional status: so what’s different about this new Movement?
Mercelina in an Interview with Wendell Moore on “View Point” and cmoorejournal.com speaks of what gave birth to this new Idea and what makes the movement different. Mercelina claims the country is crying and is desperate for hope. The time is ripe now for us to reset our minds hold each other’s hand and seriously construct a successful new country in the near future. The Idea he says, was built on inclusion and unification. We have proven over the years that we are a resilient people and that’s the reason for the name (URSM). He hopes that the movement can birth in the hearts of our people a deeper sense of pride and commitment when we see the flag. We are a great Country in the way we are constructed and the unity we have with over 120 different nationalities, is exceptional. We are able to live peacefully together in unity, we want to build on that going forward. Mercelina acknowledged with that many different nationalities and culture living together brings some challenges that we need to work on. One such challenge is that of Identity and Patriotism; he feels that the URSM is bringing that sense of inclusion to stimulate and strengthen Country Identity to be able to handle Autonomy.
Mercelina further stated that his movement URSM do care for the needs, hope and aspiration of the people. We stand for principle. We want to govern, (he stated) this country with Principles, with Morals, Integrity, Transparency and accountability towards the people who put us there. We have to govern this country with a vision. Mercelina says currently we have a pragmatic approach of governing the Country. They Show up to work sign some papers and believe we had our day. What they did not do is contribute to an existing vision and that’s the difference to expect from URSM.
Mercelina says from 10-10-10 they have been talking of an autonomous country but they have not think on a long term plan for this country and because we did not have a long term plan we did not know how to guide our way forward. We never thought of a long term vision for education. We started a journey without first defining what type of education we want for our people in an autonomous country St. Maarten. We never define the level of Health Care for this country. We also lacking a financial model that will guaranty sustainability for this country. There is no policy vision for garbage collection and processing of garbage for the Island; Our monetary Union and currency. After 11 years its painful having to mention all these important necessities that are lacking and are fundamental pillars that must be well define if we want to have an autonomous country.
Dr. Mercelina also addressed the failure of Parliament of which he was apart for two years, the exhaustion and stressful state of the citizens; Poverty and illiteracy all of which are below acceptable level.
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