PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament Franklin Meyers who was off island on medical travelled back to St. Maarten over the weekend to ensure he got the opportunity to inform Parliament that at no point he will support the draft ordinance to establish an integrity chamber on St. Maarten presented by the Prime Minister and Minister of Justice of St. Maarten.
MP Meyers made a few quotes from Martin Luther King, such as 'do not let any man pull you down so that you can hate them","I prefer dying on my feet rather than living on my knees, and No cooperation with justice is cooperation with injustice." MP Meyers said he is very close to hating the Dutch because what St. Maarten is facing right now is not far from decolonization. MP Meyers further informed Parliament and the two Ministers namely the Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs and Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson that his decision has nothing to do with them rather it's what St. Maarten is facing. MP Meyers said he will not support anything that will regress the people of St. Maarten. He explained that while St. Maarten is doing everything to avoid the Dutch from forcing their will on St. Maarten he wants them to know that the Dutch is already here. He said while the Dutch is forcing their will on St. Maarten to get what they want they never contributed to St. Maarten financially even when the island was devastated in 1995 by hurricane Luis and Lenny. He said that ever since St. Maarten was part of the Netherlands Antilles the island got nothing from the Dutch, everything regarding infrastructural development St. Maarten did on its own and the Dutch did not contribute one dime, in fact they pulled back their funding for PJIAE when Governor Eugene Holiday was appointed Director of PJIAE, yet St. Maarten built its airport, the harbor and other infrastructures and developed the island. He said that while the Dutch never contributed to St. Maarten financially they are the ones asking St. Maarten to remove the Turn over Tax from Saba and Eustatius.
Furthermore, MP Meyers said that the Dutch is claiming that they don't trust St. Maarteners but he wants to know who told the Dutch that St. Maarteners trust them because they are not even respecting the decisions taken by the parliament of St. Maarten.
MP Meyers further stated that while the PWC report was done and there are a lot of accusations against certain persons such as Ministers, he said none of these persons ever got the opportunity to defend themselves.
MP Meyers also informed Parliament that in his view now is the time for independence, he said that the Dutch and others will always say that St. Maarten is not ready but he believe that this is the time for St. Maarteners to take the next step.
He also informed Parliament that while St. Maarten shared condolences and felt terrible for what happened to over 200 Dutch citizens by Ukraine, the Dutch sat back and did nothing in defense of their own people instead they acted more like cowards towards Ukraine while trying to enforce their will on St. Maarten because they believe they are the bosses.
