Maho:--- Several dignitaries and other invited guests gathered at the Maho Sonesta Pavilion on Thursday night to bid farewell to the Governor General of the Netherlands Antilles Fritz Goedgedrag. Among the invited guests were former Lt. Governors of St. Maarten Franklyn Richards, Ralph Richardson, Matias Voges, and the host acting Lt. Governor Reynold Groeneveldt.
Incoming Governor Eugene Holiday and his wife was also part of the gathering.
In his farewell speech Governor Goedgedrag told the gathering that ten years after the people voted for separate status the moment has arrived largely because of St. Maarten's persistence to reopen the constitutional discussion. St. Maarten he said has proven to be the driving force for change, and while the process took a long time, the people of the island will soon be rewarded.
Goedgedrag said over his eight years in office he has always done his best to discharge his duties to the people of St. Maarten even though his work and efforts might not be visible to the people because Governor's work behind the scenes.
The governor said once the Netherlands Antilles is dismantled, the boundaries between the different parts of the Kingdom in the Caribbean will be more numerous and complex. He said the there will be new borders between Aruba, Curacao, St. Maarten and the Netherlands. He said the State will be responsible for Saba, Statia and Bonaire while the European Union will eventually run between the islands.
Goedgedrag said his hope is that these borders will not form barriers for the people of these islands which will prevent them from seeing each other. He said if that were to happen then it would be a step backward for the citizens of the Kingdom and as human beings.
The outgoing governor said he also hoped after the constitutional reform the island would continue to deal openly with each other and to further aim for better cooperation between the countries and to offer better hospitality to each other.
Goedgedrag said he also hopes that this constitutional reform will draw the different countries closer since they all share a common destiny.
He warned that while St. Maarten has received the status they so badly wanted then they must know that the work here has just begun. He said the time now is to use the constitutional process the island has just won to promote prosperity for the island's inhabitants. He also advised the leaders to put the autonomy in the service of the people since no one can live in a constitutional structure and neither can anyone eat it. He said politicians have the complex task to form the new constitutional arrangement that would better suit St. Maarten and the people's interests.