At the beginning of this 21st century, in June, 2000, by overwhelming majority vote, we, the people of Sint Maarten, asserted our aspiration for self-determination by proclaiming our choice for ‘Status Apart’ from the Netherlands Antilles.
That was a major milestone on the journey that is to culminate in the proclamation of Country Sint Maarten within the Kingdom of the Netherlands on December 15, 2008.
Our journey to that date with destiny, and the framework for our transition to the new beginning, will be of profound relevance to the way Sint Maarten votes in this year’s Election.
On Friday April 20, 2007, we, the people of Sint Maarten, will cast our ballots in the Island Council Elections that will be the most crucial in our history.
On that day, the collective will of the electorate shall decide the Government that will be vested with responsibility for our transition from Island Territory to Country Sint Maarten, next year.
Come April 21, 2007, we put aside our differences and we go forward together to a new beginning; and to a new world.
Come April 21, 2007, Sint Maarten will have reason to exhale.
On the eve of the Island council Elections, Sint Maarten stands at the threshold of an era of virtually unlimited opportunity.
With this vista of opportunity comes considerable challenge.
The immediate challenge for the people of Sint Maarten is the election of a Government that will bring fresh thinking, clear vision and new capacities to the transition from island territory to self governing country; this disqualifies a Government that is shackled to the special interests it has diligently served over the years, to the manifest neglect of Sint Maarten’s grassroots.
Country status within the Kingdom will be much more than a matter of formalizing the constitutional instruments that will transform Sint Maarten into a fully self-governing country, with external security and foreign affairs being Kingdom matters.
Sint Maarteners, and particularly young Sint Maarteners, know that business as usual will not deliver the promise of the new beginning to which we all aspire.
In that context, the people of Sint Maarten took a decisive step last year when they elected two National Alliance candidates to the Parliament of the Netherlands Antilles, against only one candidate from the other parties contesting that Election.
The people of Sint Maarten took a decisive step last year when they elected two National Alliance candidates to the Parliament of the Netherlands Antilles, against only one candidate from the other parties contesting that Election
That result confirmed that it is the collective will of Sint Maarten’s sons and daughters - those of us who are native born, as well as our adopted brothers and sisters from other lands – to entrust the preparation for Country Sint Maarten to the National Alliance.
It is the collective will of Sint Maarten’s sons and daughters - those of us who are native born, as well as our adopted brothers and sisters from other lands – to entrust the preparation for Country Sint Maarten to the National Alliance
Your renewed mandate for the National Alliance in this year’s Elections will be affirmation of your aspirations for a new beginning for our society.
On the road to Country Sint Maarten, the Government you elect on April 20 will have to deal urgently with the endemic neglect and deprivation that is the legacy of the outgoing administration.
Nowhere is that legacy more onerous than in education.
With close to four thousand children born in Sint Maarten since January 1, 2000, together with unknown numbers of undocumented children from other lands coming to live here in that period, the outgoing Government, led by the Commissioner for Education, has failed to build even one school in this century.
The school plant is inadequate and classrooms are ill equipped, overcrowded and understaffed.
Teachers are overworked, underpaid, under-trained and denied benefits extended to other public servants.
Sports and leisure space and facilities are markedly inadequate in our school complexes.
At over forty percent at one major institution last year, the failure rate in final examinations is depressing.
The level of alienation within the school population is frightening.
Confrontations between students and teachers have become commonplace.
A frightening one third of young persons between the ages of twelve to twenty four years are considered youth at risk.
Given that the leader of the Government is Commissioner of education, she cannot attempt to avoid responsibility for the appalling state of the schools system.
Given that the leader of the Government is Commissioner of Education, she cannot attempt to avoid responsibility for the appalling state of the schools system
The state of our education system is a compelling indictment of the entire administration that is about to demit office.
Our elderly and the otherwise vulnerable are also seriously at risk, with a callous administration essentially leaving them to fend for themselves.
The DP Government has also failed the country in sport, succeeding only in building structures that are little but shells, with inadequate equipment and facilities, and with virtually no coaching programmes to uncover and develop the potential of our promising young athletes.
All of this is the reality in Sint Maarten today, and it provides an instructive index to the performance of the leadership that has been in Government for the last eight years.
The deprivation and neglect are also endemic in other areas.
The unsightly and unacceptable use of The Great Salt Pond for garbage disposal is a continuing environmental outrage as well as a health hazard to Sint Maarteners and to the visitors who keep our economy afloat
Official neglect and indifference to environmental management has placed Simpson Bay Lagoon, a major haven for the luxury yachts of the world, at serious risk of rapid degradation.
Official neglect and indifference to environmental management has placed Simpson Bay Lagoon, a major haven for the luxury yachts of the world, at serious risk of rapid degradation
The existing sanitation, drainage and sewage standards are unacceptable in Philipsburg, capital city designate of Country Sint Maarten, and a Mecca for tourists from around the globehe
Government has no viable programme, and has provided no meaningful funding, for product improvement in this tourism dependent territory.
Despite the predictable flurry of pre-election roadwork, our roads system remains sub-standard, suffocating, stress inducing and inadequate.
The outgoing administration has failed to build any social housing in this century; and has done nothing of consequence to contain increases in house rent.
Now, to add insult to injury, the entire society - except for a favoured few - have all been victims in the Government’s notorious Belvedere land scam.
Yet, the leader of the Government has issued no rebuke to her Commissioner with responsibility for Housing for his manifest deception in the Belvedere land hoax that has so outraged Sint Maarteners; further evidence that under the incumbent leadership, the ship of state is adrift without a rudder.
Against this dismal backdrop, Sint Maarten is faced with spiraling rises in the cost of living that the Government has done much to ignite, nothing to curb.
Sint Maarten has for too long been saddled with a Government that has grown dangerously divisive in our cosmopolitan society.
Government policy and preferences have favoured the few, making the wealthiest wealthier and living conditions for the poor increasingly tougher
The leadership of the outgoing governing party have been the perpetrators of an unrelenting campaign to depict non-native Sint Maarteners as second class citizens in a land in which they have worked hard, to which they have contributed significantly, and in which they have ultimately, and legitimately, achieved the status of bona fide Dutch nationals.
The National Alliance condemns recent remarks coming from the outgoing governing party asserting that citizens who are not native Sint Maarteners should not be openly involved in the electoral process.
The National Alliance rejects that view.
Our position is that not-withstanding place of origin, a citizen is a citizen.
The National Alliance has been listening to the people of Sint Maarten, all of the people, those who are citizens by birth, as well as those who are citizens by choice and acceptance.
You have welcomed us into neighbourhoods and into your homes; we have engaged you wherever people gather; and we have listened to your voices on the radio talk shows.
You have told us that the Government does not care about the people and that the Government does not listen to you.
We understand your concerns, your needs and your aspirations, and we have formulated workable Strategies for placing the people at the centre of all Government planning, programmes and projects, and to improve living standards and the quality of life for all in Sint Maarten
I am fortunate to have a talented, accomplished and committed team of candidates who are dedicated to serving you, not serving themselves, and who are ready to deliver the undertakings we give in our Election Manifesto, “A New Beginning”.
We share a vision informed by Sint Maarten’s immediate realities and by the opportunities that are ahead.
The National Alliance’s immediate agenda is to make education relevant and accessible to all children; give our young people reason to hope; make social housing a reality and affordable; clear up congested roads, stop reckless building without proper planning and regard for the environment; ease the squeeze on the poor in our society, make our homes, our workplaces, our streets and our public spaces safe.
I thank you for the courtesy and the kindness you have extended to my National Alliance colleagues and to me during this long and spirited election campaign.
I ask you to vote for the National Alliance candidate of your choice on the white list on your ballot paper.
Friday April 20, 2007, we keep a date with destiny as, by God’s grace, you elect the National Alliance as the Government to manage the preparation for and to lead Sint Maarten to a country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Come April 21, we put aside our differences and we go forward together to a new beginning; and to a new world.
Come April 21, Sint Maarten will have reason to exhale.
Come Friday April 20, 2007, Sint Maarten will keep a date with destiny as, by God’s grace, you elect the National Alliance as the Government to manage the preparation for and to lead our country into full internal self Government as we determine our collective destiny
Come April 21, we put aside our differences and we go forward together to a new beginning and to a new world.
Come April 21, Sint Maarten will have reason to exhale.
I urge you to make it happen by making April 20 “Deliverance Day” by voting solidly for the National Alliance.
WILLIAM MARLIN
Senator and Leader of the National Alliance
Come Friday April 20, 2007, we keep a date with destiny as we elect a new Government lead Sint Maarten
Come April 21, 2007, we put aside our differences and we go forward together to a new beginning; and to a new world
Come April 21, 2007, Sint Maarten will have reason to exhale
The immediate challenge for the people of Sint Maarten is the election of a Government that will bring fresh thinking, clear vision and new capacities to the transition from island territory to self governing country; this disqualifies a Government that is shackled to the special interests it has diligently served over the years, to the manifest neglect of Sint Maarten’s grassroots
With close to four thousand children born in Sint Maarten since January 1, 2000, together with unknown numbers of undocumented children from other lands coming to live here in that period, the outgoing Government, led by the Commissioner for Education, has failed to build even one school in this century
The people of Sint Maarten took a decisive step last year when they elected two National Alliance candidates to the Parliament of the Netherlands Antilles, against only one candidate from the other parties contesting that Election.
It is the collective will of Sint Maarten’s sons and daughters - those of us who are native born, as well as our adopted brothers and sisters from other lands – to entrust the preparation for Country Sint Maarten to the National Alliance
On the road to Country Sint Maarten, the Government you elect on April 20 will have to deal urgently with the endemic neglect and deprivation that is the legacy of the outgoing administration
We pledge to consult with the people on major decisions and to do the right things on behalf of, and in partnership with all of the people in ‘One Sint Maarten
I am fortunate to have a talented, accomplished and committed team of candidates who are dedicated to serving you, not serving themselves, and who are ready to deliver the undertakings we give in our Election Manifesto, “A New Beginning”.
I ask you to vote for the National Alliance candidate of your choice on the white list on your ballot paper.
